Well, another year is in the bag. My year finished fast and great. I hope yours did too. Right around the end of the summer life put its foot on the gas and it took off with a roar, but thanks to the folks at work, my family and some wonderful book finds, I’m feeling good heading into 2016.
I just wanted to share a few highlights and recommended reads. If you get the chance, please share something you read this year that you think I’d enjoy. I’m always looking out for something new-to-me.
First, the digits: 15, 265 pages in 55 books. Thanks to the cool folks at LibraryThing.com I know that:
- if laid end-to-end, these pages stretch 0.0003% of the distance to the moon.
- I would need 3.1 U-Haul boxes to pack these books;
- I would need 2.17 IKEA Billy bookcases to store them;
- and, the value of their weight in gold is currently $203,351,975.
Also, if stacked on top of each other (end-to-end) then my 2015 list would be taller than Stonehenge.
That’s a pretty good year for me.
I also track where I “first heard of a book”. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years and it’s the first time that “Podcasts” came in at #1. “From Friends” dropped to #3 and “Blogs” is #2. I think this means I need to get out more.
I was also a very “current reader” as (when averaged) most of my books were only 2 years old when I read them. This is something I’m going to change in 2016.
Without a doubt the best book I read this year was Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. It impacted me more than anything else I read and it is the book I most recommended last year.
Best Fiction
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey
Fates and Furies: A Novel by Lauren Groff
Best Non-Fiction
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Evenings at Five by Gail Godwin
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
Anyway, please share any 2015 finds you had. And most importantly – Happy New Year to you and yours!
