100 books in 2015

I love to read. Our family gave up cable TV a few years ago so we only use Netflix or DVDs and I personally watch almost no television or movies. Movies make me fall asleep; just ask my high school friends how many times I paid to sleep in movie theaters throughout Westchester County. Books, however, totally engage me and I'm not picky about reading hard cover, paperback or on my iPad. I read fiction and non-fiction, adult and young adult. I don't do dragons, vampires, ghosts, or zombies (with the exception of Harry Potter, of course). For the past few years I have set my goal at 100 books for the year. Last year I fell short with only 86 books, but today, December 31st, I finished my 100th book! I keep track of my books using Goodreads. Quite frankly I was pretty disappointed that when I clicked on "I finished this book" for the 100th time the app didn't set off virtual fireworks or something to acknowledge that I met personal reading challenge goal. I've been waiting a year to hit the 100 mark and nothing special happened! A little extrinisic motivation wouldn't hurt, Goodreads! Anyway, I read some great books this year, along with some not so great ones. I won't write about the not-so-great but I will mention some of my favorites.

Just this past week I finished reading The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain. This was a book I couldn't put down. It's fiction and falls into whatever genre you want to put Gone Girl or Girl on a Train. The Girl Who Wrote In Silk by Kelli Estes reminded me of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan; I enjoyed both books for their bits of Chinese history. Sloane Crosley's The Clasp certainly entertained me, but the main reason I first picked it up was because I went to high school with Sloane; I knew her back when she was the managing editor of The Courier, our middle school newspaper. I was so glad to see her book getting lots of positive publicity and I was even more happy to read and enjoy it. State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett, was recommended by the book group I recently joined. They said it was their best book discussion to date and I can see why. There is so much to think about as a woman reading this book and recommend it highly if you haven't yet read it (it is from 2011). A few other books that got a lot of publicity but that I also enjoyed include Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, Judy Blume's In the Unlikely Event, The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant, and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

I read more non-fiction this year than I have in past years. A combination of attending multiple education conferences, my longstanding passion for urban education, a growing interest in American history and my current obsession for learning about how the brain works (particularly in teenagers) accounts for this uptick in non-fiction books. One of my favorites was Jill Leovy's Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America. I also found How We Got To Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson to be absolutely fascinating. I learned so many interesting facts in this book and couldn't put it down. Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town was terrifying, eye-opening, and shocking. As a parent of two girls that I hope will someday be off on their own in college it scares me to think about the way female victims of rape have historically been treated and there needs to be change. Another book that kept me busy for several days was Bill Bryson's One Summer about the summer of 1927 when all sorts of big historical events were converging: Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, The Jazz Singer was the first "talking" picture to be filmed and more all happened over the course of about 4 months. My other American history favorite of the year was The Roosevelts by Geoffrey C. Ward. Last year a friend gave me two signed letters Eleanor wrote and ever since I've wanted to learn even more about the Roosevelt family and this book satisfied that craving. I would like to watch the documentary as well since it is on Netflix, but probably won't get around to it.

I always read quite a few young adult fiction books but this year there weren't nearly as many as in the past. I have enough real life teenage drama in my life as a boarding school teacher; I didn't need any more fictitious angst masking as entertainment. However, I did re-read John Green's Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines and they were both still great. We Were Liars was my favorite young adult book of the year. I tried to read it about a year ago and just couldn't get into it. I picked it up again this year and I'm really glad I did because I loved it. I also re-read R.J. Palacio's Wonder and agree with all the notice and acclaim it has received. I can't wait until Tea is a little bit older to read it with her.

Finally, I typically count my audiobooks in my "read" books and don't differentiate between the two. Usually the books blend together and I don't always remember which books were from Audible and which I read. However, You by Caroline Kepnes is a huge exception. It's about a creepy guy who is obsessed with a girl and I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. I simply have to mention it because the reader of this version on Audible was phenomenal. He just sounded so creepy and really convinced me that he was the creepy main character

. I am looking forward to the next book in the series mostly because I just want to listen to him narrate again.

It was another great year of reading and I'm looking forward to more books this year. I'm trying to put a bunch of books on my iPad before I leave for Finland. I'm not quite sure which book apps will allow me to download books overseas. I will set my goal for 100 again, but may have much less time to read books for fun as I will probably be reading a lot more research as I embark on this Fulbright journey. As I will start taking the bus around Jyvaskyla perhaps I will get a chance to listen more. We will see what 2016 brings!