The year in reviews: 2015

I didn’t read quite as many books as I had hoped to this year, but quality over quantity was a trend. I read lots of different types of books, which reflect my varied interests and curiosities. Here is a quick overview.

I noticed I read about twice as much nonfiction as fiction, yet my bookends (pun not intended) for 2015 were both fiction. Coming full circle, kind of, the first fiction I reviewed (“The Frangipani Hotel”) was a collection of Vietnamese short stories; my most recent review (“The Sea Is Ours”) is also a short story collection from Southeast Asia. The first novel I reviewed (“The Word Exchange”) and my most recently read (“Station Eleven”) are both dystopic, and both are excellent. “Black Moon,” for that matter was also apocalyptic. I began the year with Jane Austen’s classic “Emma,” revisited a modern favorite (“2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas”) and am excited that Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” is being made into a t.v. series by Syfy. My novel reading this year, though, was dominated by catching up on David Mitchell’s, up through “Slade House.”

It is a little curious that the last two books I read this year are collections/anthologies (“The Curious Mister Catesby” and “The Sea Is Ours”). As mentioned in my review of the Catesby book, I find this a fitting end to the year, since early on I read the Library of America’s tome by John James Audubon. I read two books about the Northern Goshawk (“The Goshawk” and “H is for Hawk”) and look forward to Scott Rashid’s new book on the same species. His book “The Great Horned Owl” was one of two I read about those funny, awesome birds; Matt Sewell’s quirky “Owls” is the other. Also in my favorite field of natural history writing were “Rain” and “Voices of the Wild.” “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating,” which leads nicely to “Spirals in Time,” and Anthony Doerr’s nature-inspired short stories, if not eco-fiction “The Shell Collector,” round out the wonderful world of seashells. I even read a couple books geared towards younger readers: Alice Hoffman’s lovely “Nightbird,” and the classic “From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” which I often think of when I go to art museums.

Turning to other nonfiction, three related to food (“The Slanted Door,” “Public Produce” and “A Bone to Pick”) but only one was about music (“Letters to Yeyito”). While not strictly nonfiction, Jodorowsky’s “Where the Bird Sings Best” falls between genres and classifications. Also from Latin America was the great novel “Prayers for the Stolen,” and partly related to Ecuador was “Law of the Jungle.” From Iran, I read “Persepolis” and “Persepolis 2” by Marjane Satrapi, and for Afghanistan, “The Underground Girls of Kabul.” In general science, the fantastic “Headstrong,” an outstanding biography “Alan Turing: The Enigma” and the timely “Atmosphere of Hope.” In DIY, “Sketch!” “John Shaw’s Guide to Digital Nature Photography” (I did a little of my own this year) and the ever-relevant “What Color Is Your Parachute?” which I might be consulting in 2016. I think that covers everything! I look forward to many more great books; my reading list has grown:

Peace! :)