Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I Read in 2015. I pulled up my Goodreads stats for 2015… and discovered that I gave 5-star ratings to 48 books.
Granted, some of these were re-reads (A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein) or audiobook versions of classics I read long ago (all the works of Jane Austen), but still, it’s kind of thrilling to see how many books I truly loved in 2015!
For the purposes of this list, I’m narrowing it down to the best of the bunch, excluding re-reads and graphic novels, and probably leaving out some of the books I’ve already raved about ad infinitum. In no particular order, here are the best of the bunch:
Note: If you want to know more about any of the books mentioned here, click on the links to see my reviews.
1) Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova (review)
2) The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (review)
3) Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf (review)
4) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (review)
5 & 6) The Uninvited (review) and The Cure for Dreaming (review) by Cat Winters
7) The Marvels by Brian Selznick (review)
8) Winger by Andrew Smith (review)
9) Depth by Lev AC Rosen (review)
10) The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson (review)
Look, I read too many great books this year to stop at 10… so onward we go!
11) You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (review)
12) The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (review)
13) The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian (review)
14) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (review)
15) The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (review)
What were you favorite books from 2015? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10… or 15!
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I have a copy of Winger. I’m really excited to read it! 🙂 Really need to read All The Light we Cannot See as well. Great choices!
I think you’ll love Winger! It made such a huge impression on me. Thanks!
Great choices 😀 I cannot wait to read The Aeronaut’s Windlass!!!
Thanks! I love everything Jim Butcher writes, but I’d been hesitant about starting a new series… it’s so worth it!
I’m always a bit nervous when authors I love bring out new series. Though Jim Butcher’s writing is easy to love. I’m not sure why I haven’t picked it up yet… a timely reminder anyway!
Well, it’s a big book, and so it did feel a bit daunting at first, especially because there was so much to learn about the new world he’s created. Didn’t take me long to fall in love!
I might just have to sneak into the bookshop tomorrow and pick up a copy!
I am reading All the Light We Cannot See at the moment, really enjoying it! I also really want to read Inside the O’Briens soon. Great list!
Thanks! All the Light is really an incredible book. I think you’ll really like Inside the O’Briens too!
Ah I need to read so many of these!
My list is here: https://lipsyy.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-of-2015-ttt/
So many books, so little time! 🙂 Every time I read a top ten list, my own TBR list grows and grows…
What a great list! I still want to read a few of these that I haven’t already. I actually was on hold for a long time to get Inside the O’Brien’s, but when my name came up I was in the middle of reading a chunkster. I will have to see if I can get my hands on it now.
I have that happen to me all the time with my library holds — the timing always seems to be off! Inside the O’Briens is so moving, and the family feels so real. I hope you get a chance to read it!
Great list! Cat Winters and Sue Monk Kidd are both on my TBR. 🙂
They’re so good! I feel like I just NEED to read everything by Cat Winters at this point. 🙂
I really want to read Your Never Weird on the Internet, so its nice to see it on someones list this week 🙂
It’s such fun, especially if you’re a Felicia Day fan. Really funny and honest — I loved it. 🙂
Great list! I desperately need to read DEPTH and ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE. I’m hoping to get some more Cat Winters for Christmas 🙂
Depth is so great! I hope you enjoy it. And I need more Cat Winters too! I have another book by her out from the library, and hope to read it this week!
I love that you couldn’t stop at ten. Great year! I really meant to read The Boys in the Boat this year. I’m sure that would have made my list as well.
The Boys in the Boat is so good! I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, so I was really glad that my book group picked it. (I actually listened to the audiobook, and loved it.) Thanks!
All the Light We Cannot See made my honourable mentions list 🙂 I think I mentioned it before but I’m glad you enjoyed The Light in the Ruins and The Bookseller–both are on my TBR pile 🙂 And I really want to read Our Souls at Night–maybe next year? Great list, Lisa! 😀
My TTT
Thanks! All the Light was such a good read, and I especially enjoyed it because it led to some great book group conversations. Our Souls at Night is a quick book (less than 200 pages, I think), but it’s just so beautiful. 🙂
Winger was one of my favorites from last year. I just adored that book. Stand-Off made my list this year. I thought it was such a good sequel to Winger.
I really should have listed both! I read Winger early in the year, and just read Stand-Off last month. Loved them both — Winger left such a hole in my heart.
I haven’t heard of any of these but The Marvels. The cover is so gorgeous that that alone makes me want to read the book!
The inside is even more gorgeous than the outside!
I can’t wait to dive into The Marvels! (And Selznick’s backlist!)
His books are so beautiful! I really loved Wonderstruck. 🙂
I really want to pick up Winger. It’s one of those books I always hear praised, but for whatever reason, I haven’t picked it up myself. Nice list!
Thank you! I’d heard so much about Winger before I finally read it myself. It’s worth making time for!
I read All the light we cannot see last year and it was one of my favorite books from last year. Seeing it on your list makes me think that I need to reread it. I read The Uninvited by Cat Winters this year and I loved it. I need to read more of her stuff. Awesome list.
Thanks! I’ve only read the two Cat Winters books on my list so far, but I loved them both enough to be sure that I’ll want to read ALL her books. 🙂
I only delved in to Lisa Genova’s writing this year with Still Alice, but I’m keen to read more of her works. Seeing one as a top 10 (or 15) of the year is quite reassuring and makes we want to check out more of her work asap – Still Alice was so well written!
I have The Marvels sitting on my TBR currently, added not too long ago, and I can’t wait to get stuck in to that one.
Looks like you had quite a good reading year.
Thank you! I’ve read one other Lisa Genova books (Left Neglected – fascinating!), and I’m looking forward to reading Still Alice in the coming year. The Marvels is just wonderful — I hope you enjoy it!
I don’t know most of these! Looks like I have some research to do.
That’s the beauty/danger of reading these lists — I’m always finding more and more that I need to read! 🙂
I adored The Uninvited. What an ending! Have you read In the Shadow of Blackbirds yet? That’s my second favorite of hers. 🙂 And yay for The Marvels! I think that was one of the hidden gems of the year.
The Shadow of Blackbirds is next for me! I have a copy from the library, and plan to start it tonight. 🙂 I agree about The Marvels — have you read Wonderstruck? I really loved that one too.
I’ve been wanting to read Felicia Day’s book! I need it in my life.
It’s so good! Really funny and smart, just like Felicia!
Great picks! The Uninvited looks really great. So does The Bookseller. I might have to check them out soon!
I hope you do! Such awesome books. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!