Last year I realized that I had been telling people I loved reading, while simultaneously never making time to read. Other than design books and other non-fiction reference books, I hadn’t actually read a novel in…. :/

This made me really sad, as I truly did love reading. So at the very end of 2014, right before getting into a wonderful, warm bath, I grabbed a novel off my shelf and started reading. I finished 22 novels after that.

I’m really happy I kept a running list of what I was reading. I look at the books and can remember easily and fondly where I was and what was happening at the time. Like in February when Michele and I were holed up in Northern Michigan and the only books I could find were from a small, left-behind-book library where we were staying. This year has been an incredible journey (more on that tomorrow), and so the emotions I was experiencing while reading these books is still very palpable. Since I’m standing on the other side, now, I can remember those times nostalgically and gently; proudly. These dark, fun, and intriguing books really made 2015 special. Even the duds…I guess..

I’m not going to write about each one, but there are definitely some honorable mentions! First off, my very favorite books of 2015 were Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Out of all the dark and twisted things I read this year, nothing quite made me feel as eerie or ominous as Rebecca. I was hesitant to read an older book (1938) as I really struggle to follow the cadence and demeanor of the writing; for example, sometimes I can’t tell if someone is being sarcastic or what they’re saying is just part of the time. This book held no barriers for me, I was totally into it from the windswept beginning. Bonus: Hitchcock directed the movie, which BC and I watched after I finished the book. It’s free to watch in multiple places online and totally worth it. Brooks liked it, too.

The Name of the Wind is entirely different. I’m not a fantasy/sci-fi reader, it just has never been my thing. My co-workers, however, took that as a challenge and urged me to read this book (out of a series entitled “The Kingkiller Chronicles”). What Rebecca did with eeriness, NoTW did with wonder. The prose were beautiful but not at all fluffy or frivolous, the story grand and large; I don’t want to give anything away, except to say it was truly a gem.

If you aren’t a reader, or haven’t tried using a book as a little escape, TRY IT. Try it at least once. I wouldn’t be where I am at the end of 2015 without these books, I just know it. (…and they aren’t exactly great works of timeless literature, guys, you don’t have to read intelligent, critically acclaimed books if you don’t want to. Read a trashy romance novel, pick up a historically based thriller, anything you want! Even if it’s intelligent, critically acclaimed books…)

Until next time
(P.S. I welcome (nice, kind, sweet, gentle, funny) punctuation advice)