2015 Round Up and Bookish Survey

The amount I have blogged this year has been shockingly low.... I do aim to have time to rectify that, because I love the community, but school and doing everything is difficult. *sigh*

Anyway, like last year, I'll fill this out as best as I can! Thank you, Jamie (The Perpetual Page Turner) for making and hosting this!

2015 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 93

Number of Re-Reads: 4, I think: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Genre You Read The Most From: ...not sure. A bit of many things. Not much historical. A fair bit of contemporary.

Best In Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2015? Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli- see my review here.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Honours by Tim Clare. I love Clare's poetry, and was very excited for this, but it's not as gripping as I hoped and it's just been sitting by my bed.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. End Part One. Huge twist. Loved it.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? Half of my time as literacy prefect at school has been spent pushing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Also, Cat Clarke's Undone (three people immediately wanted to read it after I featured it in an assembly, which I call an immense success).

 5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

The Gentlemen Bastards/Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Fantasy, adventure, sass. And the sequel- all that, plus lady pirates!!!

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015? I'm choosing two (collaborating) authors -Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison, who wrote Lobsters - their book is good and in person they're absolutely lovely: Look what they wrote in my copy!

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison (contemporary, not LGBT focussed, romance) was light, funny, and true.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz- fantasy, beautiful descriptions, and a really unique take on magic.

 9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Simon vs, aka the hug in book form. Or King Lear by Shakespeare, because that's for my English exam...

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015? The US cover of Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley.

11. Most memorable character of 2015? The Count from The Snow Child, in The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. Anyone who knows that story knows why. Anyone who doesn't know is probably better off that way.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015? Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. So much happiness. Review here

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13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015? This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. So many perspectives, insights, and emotions. Review here.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?   How To Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lilis. Such an adorable story, aware of
fandom, and happy and funny and lovely.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015? I want to put something from the James Michie translation of Catullus' poems, but I can't choose a favourite.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015? Pub Stuntman by Tim Clare, 67 pages. The Secret History by Donna Tart, 628 pages.

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, as detailed earlier.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) Aristotle and Dante, as they discover the secrets of the Universe.

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year The epistolary friendship between Ollie and Moritz in Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke – review here.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, as a result of peer pressure. My review here.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015? Locke, Ezri and Zamira from Scott Lynch's works.

23. Best 2015 debut you read? The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Wiliamson - I reviewed it here

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? The worlds in Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and Otherbound by Corrinne Duyvis

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Prudence by Gail Carriger.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015? This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

 and All of the Above by Juno Dawson.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? … I don't know

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015? The Bees by Laline Paull. Entire dystopian set in a beehive.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?  Can't decide.

Your Bookish/Blogging Life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015 I can't think of one. I met lots of new people on twitter and real life, but I can't call one a favourite!

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015? Not of a book, but a theatre review of Secret Shakespeare with theHandlebards.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog? Bisexual characters for Bi-visibility day!

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)? Hmm.... attending YALC, Love Hurts signing, and YAShot, hosting people like Lisa Williamson and Kim Curran for blog tours.... many brilliant things.... but I'll go with TEDx! Non Pratt, Tom Pollock, Sarah Sky, and Faye (A Daydreamer's Thoughts) and Fionnula (Books for Birds) came, we had lots of talks, one by me (also, the editing people are very busy so the videos are going to be a long time coming... should I record as a vlog my talk on why you should read diversely? I was proud of it, and my ability to deliver it to 100 people without too many mistakes...)

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015? the many excellent twitter chats with people. Or my first Drink YA- lots of awesome people, and book themed cocktails! 

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year? Keeping up with it all!

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)? By view, according to Google Analytics, it's my EPQ on whether YA reinforces or challenges gender stereotypes...

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? ….do any of them really deserve much love? eh... Not about a book, but my review of Spring Awakening performed by Renegade Theatre was nearly 1,000 words and no-one commented on it...

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? Thanks to Jim (YA Yeah Yeah) and Stacey (The Pretty Books) , Judd Books! Second hand book store in London, cheap, great non-fiction section. Yay!

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? Haha probably not.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

  Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars, for a research project which has become neglected in the last few weeks.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)? Robin Talley's As I Descended- I'm scared to read it because I've built it up to be mindblowing and I don't want to be disappointed but LESBIAN CONTEMPORARY MACBETH!!!

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? Can't think of any.

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016? Can't think of any.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016? Keep up with reviews!

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone: This is Where it Ends.

Thank you for staying with me for another year of intermittent blogging and overenthusiastic tweeting! It's been a busy year for me, what with AS exams, starting work for A2, taking on a weekend job, applying for unis, and trying to gain some order with my life,  and next year looks to be similar or busier... anyway, happy new year, everyone!