WOOO! We made it guys, another year gone! I feel like this should all be a whole lot more sad than it feels, but meh. I’m excited, I’m happy – who cares?! I’ve been pondering how to do this without making it so terribly boring for you all, and I think the best way to do it is to steal Goodreads’ year in review thing-a-ma-bob. And then add a bit more.

The official page for this is HERE, and it’s pretty snazzy.

But, onwards! Bring forth the stats and drag out the book covers: it’s show time.

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The Goodreads recap:

Number of books read: 70 – my challenge for the year was 55, thumbs up

Number of pages read: 23,740

Shortest Book: Origins (#0.5 in the Summoner series by Taran Matharu), 102 pages

Longest Book: A Game of Thrones (#1 in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin), 780 pages

Most Popular Book Read: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein, read by over 2.3 million people

Least Popular Book Read: Wishing Cross Station by February Grace, read by 47 other people.

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Books that made my Goodreads favourite shelf:

Reawakened by Colleen Houck

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

Ensnared by A. G. Howard

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

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Best of Genres:

Best YA (Young Adult): Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

Best YA Fantasy: Reawakened by Colleen Houck

Best Fantasy: Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Best NA (New Adult): Losing It by Cora Carmack

Best Sci-Fi: The Martian by Andy Weir

Best Thriller/Mystery: The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

Best Children’s Fiction: The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

Best Debut: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Best Non-Fiction: The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

Best Retelling: Ensnared by A. G. Howard

Best Classic: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Best Historical Fiction: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Best Romance/Character Relationship: The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brokenbrough

Best Fae*: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

*This is for books set primarily around faeries – Such as the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, or, the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa.

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Favourite Covers:

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 Series I Finished in 2015:

His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers
Final book: Mortal Heart
This series is a really fun take on historical fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed all the books. I’m very sad to see it finished.

The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
Final book: Ruin and Rising
I really enjoyed each of these books and was thrilled with the ending. I found myself surprised with which  characters I sympathised with and was taken by surprise with the final plot twist.

Splintered trilogy by A. G. Howard
Final book: Ensnared
I absolutely adored this series – I love Alice in Wonderland retellings and this is my favourite one that I’ve read so far.

Penryn & the End of Days trilogy by Susan Ee
Final book: End of Days
This series started out so strong but I think it gradually got worse for me. It was ‘alright’ but felt a bit too pushed.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Final book: The Last Battle
This series was brilliant start to end. Full of magic and wisdom.

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What about me?

I finished my second year of University in 2015 – my major is History and my second major is Italian Language.

I spent 5 weeks in Europe – one whole month studying in Italy in a beautiful city called Bergamo. The other week in Ireland visiting family. I also raided the Cork Waterstones and brought back 12 books to Australia.

• I went to The Expo in Milan whilst in Italy – it was very  interesting.
• I took a Gondola ride in Venice.
• I traversed Lake Como in Italy over the water.
• I climbed the Duomo cathedral in Milan.

I’ve booked flights back to Europe to spend a month in England seeing family and friends in July of 2016. I can’t wait!

I bought a new bookshelf for my books! Hooray!

I saw The Lion King for the third time (I’ve seen it twice in the UK previously).

I saw The Umbilical Brothers live at the theatre- they’re hilarious comedians.

I saw Stephen Fry live at the theatre chatting about life – such a brilliant man.

I saw Eddie Izzard perform a ridiculously hilarious bit of comedy at the theatre.

I met Billie Piper (who plays Rose Tyler in Doctor Who) at Comic Con – SO EXCITING!

I achieved fantastic marks for university and I’m really pleased.

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And there we have it! 2015 was a great reading year for me and I’m super excited for what 2016 has in store. I’m really pleased with all the books I read and think that that was probably one of my best reading years so far.

I’m participating in four challenges in 2016 so be sure to head to my challenge page to see what I’ll be up to. I’m aiming for 60 books this year so we’ll see how I go.

Here’s to hoping 2016 is even better!

Did you have a good reading year? Let me know your thoughts below.

Arrivederci tutti and happy reading!

~~ Kirstie ~~