Top Reads of 2015
Each year brings an interesting air about it when it includes books. Stories, like any other form, can
incapsulate memories for us. With each title, we hold the ability to look back at it and
remember the people who were in our presence when we read it, the way we were feeling, and how
the text made us feel. This list is for the people who were there when I read these, the people that
weren't there when I finished some; the feelings that were there when I read these, and the feelings
that fleeted after.
For clarification, these are just books I read this year, not necessarily all were published in 2015.
My Top Reads of 2015
by Josh Sundquist
This one is a lovely little non-fiction title
written by Josh Sundquist, jumping from his first crush to his current
relationship outlining how he got there. It is, on the surface, an ode to his dating
life, but it is sweet and light hearted. I read it in one night, and it easily
weaselled it’s way into my heart and made me smile, it’s incredibly relatable.
by J.D. Salinger
I hated Catcher in the Rye throughout high
school. When my friend suggested it to me, I tried and failed miserably, but the
lesson in this is that there is always a time and place. Books are only good to
us when we are ready for them to apply to us. The characters don’t have to
mirror us, or even be as old as us, but the messages and the values, they line
up. I read Catcher in the Rye in Central Park, in New York and finished it in
the Upper Eastside. I was there while with Salinger’s writing style taught me
that novels can be written as if someone is speaking to you, and they can be
beautiful. There is a reason this one goes down in history. Holden Caulfield is
one of the best fictional characters.
by Jasmine
Warga / by Jennifer Niven
I read a couple of novels on teen suicide this
year, one of them being My Heart and Other Black Holes and the other All The
Bright Places. Like no other, both had their sad points and both their
empowering. The one thing that has them tied up together on this list for me is
that they both follow the story of two, not couples really, but two pairs of a
boy and a girl who are brought together by their wishes to die. In MHOBH, it’s
through an online site that matches people up to be suicide partners, and in
ATBP, it’s when the two meet on a ledge at school in attempt to end their
lives. Both authors take very different approaches on it, but essentially teach
the reader, and the some, if not all, of the characters how to live again. They
were not sappy, they did not end happily, but they both ended with a sense of
hope. They’re tied because I found them both beautiful and although
particularly different, they shared their core and the feelings they gave me.
by
Courtney Maum
My favourite part about this one was that it
wasn’t set in the typical American town; it was set in Paris, England and
briefly in North America, making it WAY more intriguing. My least favorite part
was that I dropped my copy in a puddle of water and was forced to blow dry it
until I could binge read it again (the shape of the spine will never be the
same). However, the story follows a male protagonist, Richard, who, ironically
to the title, is having absolute no fun without his wife. They become separated
when she learns of his affair with a young journalist. The entire story bases
then on him falling back in love with his own wife, and proving to Anne-Laure
that he can be the man she married. Through his painting, his art and his
actions, Richard finds himself and his life again.
by Miranda July
This one was a little weird, and you probably
need an acquired taste to like something like it, maybe an open mind as well. The
only word I can use to describe this novel is contemporary. It is so modern and
in touch with things that are taboo to most. Through the story of Cheryl, July
creates a world that challenges normal, embraces ones quirks and explores
sexuality and family in a way like no other. I did a review on this one,
so, if you want to know more click here.
5. Brooklyn
by Colm Toibin
This one was reviewed previously as well, so of course I am adding it to the list because it is simply one of the best I’ve
ever studied. For my fiction class, we studied this book for a few weeks, but I
finished it within the first days of it being assigned to read. It starts off a
little slow, but tells the story of Eilis Lacey, who immigrates to Brooklyn
from Ireland. It encompasses a coming-of-age, family and personal values in a
sweet way that historically captures the 1950s.
4. Attachments
by Rainbow Rowell
Rainbow Rowell is super quirky and cute. Many
know her for the likes of Eleanor and Park, but this one was my absolute
favorite work of hers. Essentially it is a love story of a tech guy falling in
love with an employee through reading her emails to her friend. He falls for
her sarcasm and wit, it’s just cheesy and cute. It takes a good spin on love
using technology.
by Joanna Rakoff
This memoir was about so much more than just
J.D. Salinger. Joanna Rakoff, tells a true story of her
start in the publishing world in My Salinger Year. As a young, 20-something-year-old in New York
City, Rakoff finds her way in establishing a career and building it from the
ground up at an agency that represents Catcher in the Rye Author, J.D.
Salinger. It is a story about growing up, facing the real world and becoming
who one wants to be.
2. Every Day
by David Levithan
This was a super unique novel written by one of
my favorite contemporary authors, using a character with no gender. Through the
eyes of whomevers body A slips into, A experiences one day. On one of these
days, A slips into the body of a boy and falls into love with his girlfriend. Throughout
the novel, A finds ways to get to her and eventually tries to figure out how to
make the relationship work, if they can. What struck me most was the concept of
it all, without distinguishing a physical character, Levithan constructed a character,
which had no qualities other than that of personality. It speaks to volumes of
readers through this as A is relatable to multiple genders, people of
practically any sexuality and race.
by Gabrielle
Zevin
Surprisingly, this was actually the last book I
read this year, and without a doubt my favorite one. I literally shifted the
whole list for it. It took some of the most unexpected turns and explored
everyday life, second chances and love in such a beautiful way. Following the life of the main character A.J.
Fikry and his bookstore, the book begins when an important copy of an Edgar
Allan Poe book is stolen from his possession, thus leading into a life with an
unexpected daughter, a new relationship and ties that would spoil the whole
book if I tried to explain them all. Things connect in the most unexpected ways
in this novel, making it my favourite.
Other titles read this year by me:
After by
Amy Efaw
Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
The Book for Dangerous Women by Claire Conville, Liz Hoggard & Sarah-Jane Lovett
It's Kind
of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
The Maze
Runner by James Daschner
A Stolen
Life by Jaycee Dugard
The
Shining by Stephan King
Fairytales
by Brothers Grimm
The
Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
East of
Eden by John Steinbeck
The Educated
Imagination by Norbert Frye
Aristotle
and Dante Discover the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Stargirl
by Jerry Spinelli
Love,
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
A Long
Way Down by Nick Hornby
More Than
This by Patrick Ness
The
Causal Vacancy by J.K. Rowlling
Paper
Towns by John Green
The Iliad
by Homer
The Odyssey
by Homer
Animal
Farm by George Orwell
The Bell
Jar by Sylvia Plath
Perks of
Being a Wallflower by Stephan Chbosky
Gathering
Blue by Lois Lowry
Messenger
by Lois Lowry
Son by
Lois Lowry
Landline
by Rainbow Rowell
All the
Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The
Present Age: On the Death of Rebellion by Soren Kierkegaard
Notes
From the Underground by Fydor Dostoyevsky
The Myth
of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Go Set a
Watchman by Harper Lee
Comments
Post a Comment