2015 Book List

While traveling, we occasionally found ourselves with a bit of downtime. Whether it be on long bus journeys, cooped up in bed with a bad case of a stomach bug, or hunkering down inside while it rained for 9 days straight, I would use these times to curl up with a good book. I’ve long been a fan of reading, and I can even remember perching up on my Nana’s knees to read with her when I was quite young. The story remains the same today and I thought I’d share my 2015 Book List for any other fellow book worms that are looking for inspiration. I’ve indicated my favourites (there are WAY too many of them) in bold.

Fiction

Book of Negroes – Lawrence Hill

I am Pilgrim – Terry Hayes

Goodnight Nobody – Jennifer Weiner

Cuckoo’s Calling – J.K. Rowling

Bliss – Hilary Fields

Can You Keep a Secret? – Sophia Kinsella

Friendship Bread – Darien Gee

I am the Messenger – Markus Zusak

Wedding Night – Sophie Kinsella

The Apple Orchard – Susan Wiggs

Is This Tomorrow? – Caroline Leavitt

Salem Falls – Jodi Picoult

The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling

*As Rowling’s first book after the Harry Potter series, I was pretty disappointed in this novel. The story line was quite boring (in my opinion), and the characters were much the same. That being said, I did quite like her 2nd post-HP novel – Cuckoo’s Calling (listed above).

Paper Towns – John Green

Indian Horse – Richard Wagamese

Sisterland – Curtis Sittenfeld

The Dinner – Herman Koch

The Monk who Sold his Ferrari – Robin Sharma

Still Life with Breadcrumbs – Anna Quindlen

The Paper Swan – Leylah Attar

*Really loved this book! A border-line thriller/romance/drama – I couldn’t put it down!

The Nightingale – Kristin Hanna

*A WW2 fictional drama about a female heroine that helped with the French resistance. A real page turner!

The Martian – Andy Weir

*This book is hilarious & I couldn’t put it down! I saw the movie as well and though not as amazing (when are movies better than books, anyways?), it’s still worth a watch.

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins

*Also another fantastic page turner!

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

*I originally read this in grade 11, but decided to re-read it to “prep” for Go Set a Watchman.

Go Set a Watchman – Harper Lee

*Honestly? I didn’t really like this book. I was often bored while reading it as I thought the storyline was rather slow.

The Beekeeper’s Ball – Susan Wiggs

The Sandcastle Girls – Chris Bohjalian

Non-Fiction

Into the Wild – John Krakauer

The Elephant Company – Vicki Constantine Croke

Cradle to Cradle – William McDonough & Michael Braungart

*An AMAZING book about redefining our way of thinking when it comes to consumerism. Totally eye-opening & definitely worth a read.

One Straw Revolution – Masanobu Fukuoka

*The story of how one man chose to farm in a way that is against the ‘norm’, but reaped fantastic results.

Modern Romance – Aziz Ansari

The Wright Brothers – David McCullough

Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown

*A story of the 9 boys that made up part the 1936 US Olympic Rowing Team & their quest to win gold.

Dead Wake – Erik Larson

*This book narrates the events leading up to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915 by a German U-Boat.

Autobiographies/Memoirs

A House in the Sky – Amanda Lindhout

*Amanda (a Canadian), and a friend were kidnapped in Somalia and held captive for over a year. This harrowing memoir was very raw, and at times painful to read, but Lindhout’s story of survival was incredible.

Highest Duty – Chelsea Sullenberger

*Sullenberger was the pilot that landed an airplane in the middle of the Hudson river with no casualties. A very impressive feat to say the least!

Not That Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham

The Funny Thing Is – Ellen DeGeneres

Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson

Spiced – Dalia Jurgensen

Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain

My Fight, Your Fight – Ronda Rousey

*Rousey is acclaimed with being the first female UFC champion. She also holds an Olympic medal in judo. It was interesting to read her story, but as someone with little to no interest in competitive fighting, it was somewhat hard to relate to this book.

Series*

Divergent (& Insurgent, Allegiant)

Harry Potter

The Hunger Games

Graceling (& Fire, Bitterblue)

*All of these except for the Graceling series were re-reads. I powered through Harry Potter while we were battling through sickness in San Juan del Sur. HP will likely always be one of my absolute favourite series. #NoShame.

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As I’m sure it’s clear to see by the total randomness of these books, I really don’t have a method to picking which books to read. While traveling I downloaded a large file containing the New York Times best sellers (10 fiction & 10 non-fiction) for some week in July – so these books made up a decent-sized portion of my book list. I really liked having these books available as I’m sure I would have never have thought to read otherwise (I’m looking at you, Ronda Rousey bio!). Alternatively, I browse the available ebooks from the library and borrow them for 3 weeks. My ‘to read’ list grows weekly, but I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Please do let me know if you have any great book suggestions!! Happy reading!