Better late than never right?
It never fails that after my yearly trek to NC to spend time with family that I get sick. I’ve been sick since I got back on the 28th and it’s been no fun. I guess flying 600 miles, driving 900 and flying back another 600 really takes it out of me!
I’ve not been able to sort out this December and year-end recap and I haven’t been able to edit the last episode of Come Read With Me either. That also means this will be a shorter than usual post because I just don’t have the energy to do everything. Thankfully, a lot of my stats and stuff are preloaded for the year-end. I’m going to do a quick December Recap and then a 2015 Recap immediately after.
Books Read December 2015
I’ve kept up pace of reading books that are on my TBR shelf crossing five more off that list! I also read two galleys (starred below) and am looking forward crossing even more off my list in 2016! I thoroughly enjoyed starting Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. The first one was a bit slow, but they’ve definitely picked up! I also loved that he created a separate “People’s Republic of Wales (right). Add in they’re basically Brontë fan-fiction and you know I’m sold 🙂
- The Dante Club – Matthew Pearl
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Prejudice & Pride – Lynn Messina*
- What Millennials Want From Work – Jennifer J. Deal and Alec Levenson*
- The Woman Who Walked Into Doors (Paula Spencer #1) – Roddy Doyle
- Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners – Josephine Ross
- The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) – Jasper Fforde
- Lost In A Good Book (Thursday Next #2) – Jasper Fforde
Books Aquired
I did go a bit overboard with new books this month, but part of that is because of the holidays I got quite a few as presents including this beautiful hardback collection of Austen’s works:
I cannot WAIT to read the juvenilia as I’ve never read it before! In addition I got all of these, some were from the Boston Public library sale and others were gifts. The one’s I’m probably most excited about are the Ruiz’ as the HR person at work recommended them and she really likes Paulo Coelho so she obviously has good taste 🙂
- Jane Slayre – Charlotte Brontë and Sherri Browning Erwin
- The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next #3) – Jasper Fforde
- Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) – Jasper Fforde
- First Among Sequels (Thursday Next #5) – Jasper Fforde
- What We Remember – Michael Thomas Ford
- H. The Story of Heathcliff’s Journey Back to Wuthering Heights – Lin Haire-Sargeant
- The Rook – Daniel O’Malley
- Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams – Sylvia Plath
- The Four Agreements (Toltec Wisdom Collection #1) – Miguel Ruiz
- The Mastery of Love (Toltec Wisdom Collection #2) – Miguel Ruiz
- The Voice of Knowledge (Toltec Wisdom Collection #3) – Miguel Ruiz
- The Emperor’s Soul – Brandon Sanderson
Culture Corner
As if traveling wasn’t enough of an excitement, we also went and saw Chris Botti perform at the Wilbur earlier this month. Tim bought tickets ages ago, and to be honest I wasn’t too enthusiastic about it but I ultimately really enjoyed myself. Botti and his musicians were so far beyond talented I was shocked at their skills.
I did realize that what I was hesitant about was the “jazz.” I’ve never been the biggest fan of jazz, the lack of structure and the meandering around and the fact that it can just go on for ages and ages just isn’t my style, but like I said they were so far beyond talented I couldn’t help but appreciate their skill!
2015 In Review
Like I said this will be pretty quick and based on my stats that I keep throughout the year as I read. You can see my WordPress Annual Report here.
Quick Facts
- Total Books Read: 81
- Library Books: 13 (16%)
- Galleys/ARCs: 21 (26%
- Kindle/Digital: 28 (35%)
- Physical Books: 53 (65%)
- TBR Books: 30 (37%)
- Fiction: 62 (77%)
- Nonfiction: 1 (23%)
- Translated: 7 (9%)
- Total Pages Read: 24, 875
- Shortest Book Read: #First Impressions, #Second Chances by Heidi Bellieu (49 pages)
- Longest Book Read: Don Quixote (Part 1 & Part 2) by Miguel Cervantes (1060)
- Authors:
- New to me: 42 (70%)
- Most Read: Jane Austen (6); Jeff Wheeler (6); Nancy Butler (4), Helen Fielding (3); Michael Thomas Ford (3)
- Author Gender Split:
- Male: 41%
- Female: 51%
- Multiple: 9%
Highlights of 2015
- Paolo Coelho sharing my response to The Witch of Portobello. Seriously, the amount of views I got in one day DWARFED my usual monthly views. I was very confused until I figured out what happened.
- A year of Jane Austen. 27% of what I read this year was Jane Austen related. It was probably a bit more, but I only included the first book in two series (Bridget Jones and Thursday Next) I read a lot of Jane Austen fan-fiction throughout the year, including more nonfiction than usual, but I also had the great pleasure of doing a year of Jane Austen with my friends in our bi-monthly book group! (We’re doing biography/memoir/autobiography in 2016!
- What Matters in Jane Austen? – John Mullan
- A Jane Austen Education – William Deresiewicz
- Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
- Northanger Abbey – Val McDermid
- Emma – Jane Austen
- Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones #1) – Helen Fielding
- Jane Austen Cover to Cover – Margaret C. Sullivan
- Persuasion – Jane Austen
- Jane Bites Back (Jane Fairfax #1) – Michael Thomas Ford
- Jane Goes Batty (Jane Fairfax #2) – Michael Thomas Ford
- Jane Vows Vengeance (Jane Fairfax #3) – Michael Thomas Ford
- Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
- Pride & Prejudice (Marvel Illustrated) – Nancy Butler and Hugo Petrus
- Northanger Abbey (Marvel Illustrated) – Nancy Butler and Janet Lee
- Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
- Emma (Marvel Illustrated) – Nancy Butler and Janet Lee
- Emma (Manga Classics) – Stacy King, Crystal Chan and Po Tse
- Sense & Sensibility (Marvel Illustrated) – Nancy Buttler and Sonny Liew
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Prejudice & Pride – Lynn Messina
- Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners – Josephine Ross
- The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) – Jasper Fforde
- I spent a lot of time working on Professional Development and plan to read more about management and interoffice relations this year too!
- I passed 500 posts and I’m nearing 100,000 unique page visits!
Looking Forward to 2016!
I’m keeping it simple again this year: no challenges, more TBR and diversifying my reading to include more authors I’ve not read and more nonfiction. I was proud to see that more than 1/3 of what I read was from my TBR shelf and I think that’s why my library numbers were down. I’ll probably try and keep them down except for the new must-read books that I feel I should read. I’ve made a dent on my TBR shelf and finally got it under 200, just in time to boost it back up again from the holidays! If I can get it under 175 this year I’ll be MORE than happy! I’m also really looking forward to exploring some Brontë fan-fiction this year! I doubt I’ll go as in depth as I did with Austen this year. That being said I do need to clear off room on my Austen shelf for that beautiful set up there!
I am also working on a new project to bring book bloggers and lovers together to help support nonprofits. You can see the preview site here: bibliopihlanthropy.org. It doesn’t tell you much, but if you’re interested I can give you a link that shows you more. I’m hoping to go live in January, but with getting sick everything has been pushed back a few weeks. Thanks to Alie, Caitrin, Heather and Sarah for helping out so far!
Hope you all had a great 2015 and I can’t WAIT to see what you read and blog about in 2016! What are you looking forward to?
Got my heart set on that gorgeous Austen collection! <3
It’s so nice. I almost feel like I should wear gloves so I don’t get it dirty.
I wouldn’t even open them!
The Rook is a great book! I definitely look forward to your thoughts on it.
And its long awaited sequel is due out this year! (I think sometime in the first half of the year)
Also I got a Jane Austen collection as well! It came in a box so I thought it was individual books but they’re all in one. It’s a nice, solid hardcover. (I also got the same thing for the Sherlock Holmes stories. ☺)
Yay! I’m hoping they’ll release a Brontë collection too!
I’m sure they will!
Oh no! I didn’t realize they’re would be a sequel. That makes me a little less excited about it. Haahaa. #jadedreader
Haha! See if you can hold off til it comes out so you don’t have to wait!
I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling very well. Are you feeling better now? 2015 sounds like it has been a great year of reading and getting that massive TBR down; well done! I wish more great reading and hope you knock even more off that TBR in 2016 🙂
p.s. you are so luck that Jane Austen set is gorgeous!
Mostly better. Took today off work to swing by a doctor and they were like it’s just a bad cold keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll be okay.
I hope I can keep the TBR going it was nice to downsize for moving and then keep going! Hope you have a great year planned!
Look after yourself then and I hope you feel better soon 🙂
Hope you feel better soon. I got nailed with an illness last month and am teetering on the edge of another I think, which is annoying as I usually don’t get sick that often. I blame dating a flight attendant for it!
Interested to hear your thoughts on that Sanderson book, and also intrigued by your Bibliophilanthropy page. I signed up to get the update when you guys go live.
Yeah definitely the flying! I’ll send you the backpage to it so you can check it out.
How exciting to get so many books for Christmas! I typically get an average of one. :/ I love your Austen focus and look forward to seeing what you find for your year of Bronte. (also, I think driving 900 miles sandwiched by flights would take it out of anyone!)
Haahaa I usually don’t ask for books as I’m so impatient and buy them when I want. It was a nice surprise.
Nice post! Always nice to look back at the year gone by and hope for greater things in the coming year. Loved your Austen boxed set. They are SO SO beautiful. Clothbound classics are so lovely
Thanks for stopping by and for commenting! They really are delightful, I haven’t broken into one yet, but Love and Freindship: And Other Youthful Writings is calling me!
Happy New Year, Geoff! That Austen set is gorgeous!
Thanks Bev! I hope yours is off to a great start.
I hope you’re feeling better. Being sick sucks. I know this because I’m battling the flu at the moment and it sucks.
Love all your stats. How in the world do you keep track?
Thanks! I’m feeling much better (finally). I keep track in a google document: as I enter each book I put in a column the authors gender, fiction/nonfiction, translation and any other notes. And then it all works with an “IF” statement to count and create the percentages for me. (AKA I’m a big nerd :-P) I can send you a blank copy if you’re really that interested.
I hope you’re feeling better now!
That Jane Austen collection is gorgeous. I was browsing in my local bookstore last week and they have a whole shelf of classics in those editions. Absolutely beautiful! The Thomas Hardy Far from the Madding Crowd is particularly nice — a beige cover with bees on it.
I was interested to read your comment above about how you keep track of each book. I published a blog post yesterday about my 2016 reading goal, which is to maintain a spreadsheet with each book I read. Your way of keeping track sounds much more organized though! I’d be interested in a blank copy. 🙂
Thanks Grace! I’ll shoot you an email later with a copy and/or send you a google docs save as link.
That’s very kind of you. 🙂
Hey Grace, I just tried to find your email address at your blog, but the image/link is broken on your About page. Shoot me an email (books@geoffwhaley.com) and I’m happy to send over a link to a googledoc or Excel document.
Happy New Year! I really enjoyed The Witch of Portobello, and it’s neat that Coehlo shared your review. I read it many years ago when I was studying in Russia–very few of us thought to bring books written in English, and so those of us that did passed them around. I found the spirituality thought-provoking.
Thanks and I’m glad to find others that have enjoyed it too.
Wow, that’s a fine Jane Austen collection, I was given some old hardback copies of her books and am thinking I should really read them, I don’t remember whether I’ve read them or not, I’ve seen a few of the films, but need to commit to reading these some time soon, for the moment I’m off with my head in translated works and international authors, I don’t want to read too narrowly and I guess I feel like Jane gets a lot of publicity already. 🙂
She really does and sometimes I think I should feel guilty about re-reading her as much as I do. Then I just think nahhhhh! Definitely worth it when you get (back) around to it.
Yes, after hanging out here for a while, I retract all that and say, you know what, there’s no one like Jane Austen, she’s universal.