Monday, August 10, 2015

Catching up on 2015 Reads

As it turns out a few of you are still following me! Yay! I thought I'd catch you up on what I've been reading so far this  year.  I've read 27 books of my 75 book goal for 2015. I've read a lot of really great books this year but these were some of my absolute favorites:
  • Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand - This was the heartbreaking and inspiring story of Olympic athlete and POW, Louis Zamperini during WWII. I don't know how one person could survive so much. Also, this was about 1000x better than the movie. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Edward Herrmann (the grandfather on Gilmore Girls!) who was a fantastic narrator!
  • Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews - Ilona Andrews. 'Nuff said.
  • Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - This was so much fun. I listened to the audio book, narrated by Wil Wheaton which really upped the nerd factor. The story takes place in 2044 when the world has gone to shit and the majority of people spend their time in the Oasis, a virtual reality utopia. People go to school, work, and spend their leisure time in this virtual reality. The creator of the Oasis, a Steve Jobs type, created intricate puzzles hidden within this world, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with 1980's pop culture and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. It's the story of Wade Watts and his adventurous race to win the ultimate prize and to stay alive. It's a really, really fun book.
  • Mosquitoland by David Arnold is one of the best contemporary YA novels I've read of late. It's quirky and sweet. As my Goodreads "review" stated it made me "feel all the feels!"
  • The Martian by Andy Weir was another book I loved. It was the first book in a long time that I started, read, went to bed then had to get up and read more because I HAD TO KNOW what would happen next. It's about an astronaut that accidentally gets left behind (his crew though he was dead) on Mars. It chronicals  his struggle to communicate to NASA that he's alive and to survive until the next mission can pick him up (FOUR YEARS AWAY). It has a lot of science-y stuff that can get a little old but the main character, Mark Watney is so funny, self-deprecating, and sarcastic yet through his whole ordeal he has hope and fights to survive. I just really loved this one. They're making a movie based on it too. I'm glad I didn't look up information about the movie until after I finished because the cast does not match up to the characters I'd imagined. Although I'll probably end up seeing the movie! 
I would say those are the highlights of what I've read thus far in 2015. I've really enjoyed almost everything I've read so it was difficult to just highlight a couple! 


Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Burn for Me
Then Came You
The Darkest Minds
Iced
All the Light We Cannot See
Burned
Austenland
Mean Streak
Still the One
I Was Here
Ready Player One
Not a Drop to Drink
Mosquitoland
Havoc
Paper Towns
The Martian
Get A Clue
A Game of Thrones
Greywalker

4 comments:

  1. I haven't read or seen Unbroken but he's a hometown hero. He went to Torrance High School (where my niece goes right now) and the Torrance High field is named after him. So I've known who he is but I haven't ever watched or read the book but I keep meaning to since we both grew up and attended local high schools in the same town.

    You've read a lot of Jill Shalvis this year. Go you! I want to read Landline by Rainbow Rowell but haven't gotten around to it. Is it great?

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  2. You should definitely read the book or listen to the audiobook (which is what I did, amazing!) That's so cool that he's local to you! It's such an amazing story!

    I love Shalvis I'm looking forward to more of the Cedar Ridge books!

    I didn't love Landline!!! :( I didn't really like the main character for the first part of the book so that made it difficult. I ended up enjoying it well enough but it's not one of my favs. I'll be interested to see what you think of it! I liked Attachements, her other adult novel, better.

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  3. LOL, lots of Jill Shalvis this year for you!!

    Interesting list of highlights!! I haven't read any. Actually, except for Burn for Me, I haven't heard of any... Or perhaps I would recognize the cover.

    Did you know that Edward Herrmann passed away? Your recap of Unbroken made me think of The Other Side of Love by Jacqueline Briskin. Although I bet The Other Side of Love was more soap opera-ish.

    How was If You Only Knew by Kristan higgins? Would you consider it contemporary romance or chick-lit?

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  4. Nath, I love me some Shalvis!!! Yea not a lot of romance on my list so far this year. Quite a few YA the Not A Drop to Drink/In A Handful of Dust series was really, really good too.

    I heard Edward Herrmann passed away, so sad. I loved him in Gilmore Girls and he was a fabulous audiobook narrator! I've never hear of The Other Side of Love. Will check it out.

    I enjoyed If You Only Knew but it definitely leaned more toward chick-lit than straight romance. Didn't love it as much as I love her straight romances!

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