Top Books of 2015

Neil Gaiman's simply one of the best storytellers in the market right now. Mixing the whimsical and macabre, he uses an uncomplicated story to convey a powerful, understated effect. My dad described his writing thus: "It's like you're walking down an ordinary street and then you take a left turn and there's Faerie." The Graveyard Book is close to my favorite of his novels (Coraline might be the winner), and in it he sets us into a small world with a supernatural twist. Bod is an ordinary boy, raised by ordinary parents, who just happen to be ghosts. 

I read My Antonia once before in what was probably Middle School, but I obviously didn't get it. This was the time it finally clicked: the atmosphere, the untamed prairie, the romantic realism of it all. Also, that epilogue was about the most winsome portrait of a huge family that I've ever read.

Everything I Read in 2014

While it's a significant step down from the 80 books I read last year, I'm fairly proud of this year's list. For my best of list, check here.

Top Books of 2014

It's that time again. The Best Of Lists, which dominate your social media page with hyperbole and self-congratulation. However, all of these other lists are infinitely inferior to this list, which is, indeed, the best of all Best Of Lists, mine. It's selected from the 53 books I read this year, and is in no particular order.

80 Books I Read in 2013

• This is probably bragging. But I'm feeling rather proud of myself, so here's the list. It's been a good year. I set the goal pretty early on, but didn't actually expect to reach it. About a month ago, I started getting a bit strategic and finished the last eleven books, throwing a few short ones in. (Hey, Les Mis and Middlemarch ought to have counted for several.)

Long story short, I finished the last two before lunch December 31.