Another year of reading has come and gone (very quickly, might I add). It's time to look back at the books I read this year with all sorts of geeky statistics. And maybe a pie chart or two, just for fun.

Books read: 140
   (3 of those were audiobooks)
Pages read: 42,910
Fiction: 77%
Nonfiction: 23%
Male authors: 44%
Female authors: 56%
Books I owned: 47%
Books from the library: 51%
Set in the United States: 46%
Set in Europe: 39%
Set elsewhere in the world: ​15%

Favorite fiction book: The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (also House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann)
Favorite nonfiction book: Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground by Mark Mason
Favorite children's/young adult book: The Black Reckoning by John Stephens
Favorite series: Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

This blog has been the best way I've found to keep myself on track for resolutions. Every New Year's resolution I've posted on here, I've actually kept! This year, I even accomplished TWO resolutions! So I thought I would celebrate a bit.

In January, I posted about my resolution to comment on at least 5 blogs a week. Commenting is one of those things that is all too easy to let slip through the cracks, and I was tired of forgetting to do it. I successfully kept this resolution, although it would be more accurate to say I commented on average on 5 blogs a week. Some weeks still got forgotten, but I always made it up later. I have loved being a more regular part of the blogging community through commenting, and I plan to keep this resolution up in 2016!

At the end of 2014, I realized that I had purchased 120 books that year. That was a lot, and certainly more than I thought I had bought. It worked out to an average of 10 books a month. In 2015, I decided I needed to get things under control a bit. So I set a limit for myself of only buying 5 books a month. That would be a total of 60 books for the year, which would be half of what I bought in 2014. I'm happy to say that I successfully held myself to this limit! Like commenting, it really worked out to an average of 5 books a month - some months I didn't buy any, some months I bought a lot. But as of right now (and granted, there are still a few days to go in the year. . .​), I bought only 57 books in 2015 - three to spare!

I'm really proud of myself for accomplishing this goal, because I didn't think it was possible. But now that I know I can do it, I can hopefully hold myself to it for another year! (Although I make no promises.)

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas, complete with family time and lots of reading time! What bookish gifts did you receive?

Return to Me by Lynn Austin (It took me awhile to get into this one, but I ended up really enjoying it!)

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan (As an introvert, I both love and dread all the socializing during the holidays. This book title really spoke to me. . .​)

The Grand Tour by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (Looks like this will be my last book of 2015. A magical Victorian England is a great place to spend the end of the year!)

Hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block

This was a challenge to read books that have been sitting on your shelves for a year or more. I signed up for the Mt. Vancouver level, which meant I needed to read 36 neglected books from my shelves. I was actually able to pass that, and I'm hoping to squeeze in a couple more before the year is over!

​1. Mistress Pat by L.M. Montgomery
2. Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
3. The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
4. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
5. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
6. The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey
7. Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
8. The Little Book by Selden Edwards
9. The Tale of Applebeck Orchard by Susan Wittig Albert
10. An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan
11.  Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott
12. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. The Big House by George Howe Colt
14. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
15. Never A City So Real by Alex Kotlowitz
16. Keys to the Castle by Donna Ball
17. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
18. Symphony by Jude Morgan
19. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
20. Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope
21. The Guardians by Ana Castillo
22. The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
23. Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
24. On the Water by Nathaniel Stone
25. Old School by Tobias Wolff
26. Walk the Lines by Mark Mason
27. Ivy Days by Susan Allen Toth
28. Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer
29. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
30. The Great Bridge by David McCullough
31.  Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
32. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
33. The Real Boy by Anne Ursu
34. Around the World on Two Wheels by Peter Zheutlin
35. The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland
36. Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
37. The Turquoise Ledge by Leslie Marmon Silko
38. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
​39. The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma
40. The Diary of Nobody by George Grossmith
41.  Grave Consequences by Lisa T. Bergren
42. Brainiac by Ken Jennings

Hosted by Gina at Book Dragon's Lair

The other main source of my books is the library. I signed up for the Adult level, which was 36 library books. Um, I kind of passed that one. . .

​1.  Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
2. A Passion Redeemed by Julie Lessman
3. Balance by Nik Wallenda
4. I Kill the Mockingbird by Paul Acampora
5. In the Woods by Tana French
6. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
7. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais
8. The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag
9. The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
10. The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley
11.  A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
12. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
13. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
14. A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
15. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
16. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
17. A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
18. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
19. The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson
20. The Black Reckoning by John Stephens
21.  Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! by Scott Adams
22. A Passion Denied by Julie Lessman
23. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
24. The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty
25. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
26. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
27. The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl
28. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
29. The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
30. The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
31.  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
32. The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
33. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
34. The Maintenance of Headway by Magnus Mills
35. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
36. Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
37. The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett
38. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
39. Between You & Me by Mary Norris
40. The Priest by Francine Rivers
41.  My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
42. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
43. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
44. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
45. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
46. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
47. Because I Said So! by Ken Jennings
48. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
49. This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson
50. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
51.  Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
52. The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera
53. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
54. Holes by Louis Sachar
55. The Martian by Andy Weir
56. The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
57. Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith
58. Dragon on Trial by Tui & Kari Sutherland
59. Goodnight June by Sarah Jio
60. The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
​61.  Faith of My Fathers by Lynn Austin
62. The Monopolists by Mary Pilon
63. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
​64. America the Beautiful by Ben Carson
65. The Hidden White House by Robert Klara
66. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
​67. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
​68. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
69. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
​70. Blessings by Anna Quindlen
​71.  Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Hosted by Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book

For this challenge, I needed to read a book that started with each letter of the alphabet. Easier said than done, especially when it comes to something like X!

​A - Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
B - Balance by Nik Wallenda
C - The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
D - The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
E - Emma by Jane Austen
F - The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
G - Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott
H - The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais
I -  In the Woods by Tana French
J - Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
K - Keys to the Castle by Donna Ball
L - Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
M - The Maintenance of Headway by Magnus Mills
​N - Never A City So Real by Alex Kotlowitz
O - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
P - Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Mongomery
Q - The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
R - Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
S - Symphony by Jude Morgan
T - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
U - Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
V - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
W - Walk the Lines by Mark Mason
X - Xanadu by John Man
Y - The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey
Z - The Zucchini Warriors by Gordon Korman

Hosted by Samantha Lin

This is a similar challenge to the last one, only you had to find a book for each letter based on the author's last name, rather than the title. I love the challenge of this one!

​A - Allen, Sarah Addison (Lost Lake)
B - Bennett, Alan (The Uncommon Reader)
C - Colt, George Howe (The Big House)
D - Dickens, Charles (Oliver Twist)
E - Edwards, Selden (The Little Book)
F - Falvey, Patricia (The Yellow House)
G - Groff, Lauren (Arcadia)
H - Hurston, Zora Neale (Their Eyes Were Watching God)
I -  Ibbotson, Eva (Island of the Aunts)
J - Jerome, Jerome (Three Men in a Boat)
K - Kean, Sam (The Disappearing Spoon)
L - Lewis, C.S. (Chronicles of Narnia)
M - Montgomery, L.M. (Pat of Silver Bush & Mistress Pat)
​N - Norris, Mary (Between You & Me)
O - Ozma, Alice (The Reading Promise)
P - Praag, Menna van (The Dress Shop of Dreams)
Q - Quindlen, Anna (Blessings)
R - Riley, Lucinda (The Seven Sisters)
S - Stone, Nathaniel (On the Water)
T - Trollope, Anthony (Autobiography of Anthony Trollope)
U - Ursu, Anne (The Real Boy)
V - Vreeland, Susan (The Passion of Artemisia)
W - Wallenda, Nik (Balance)
X - Xiaolong, Qiu (Death of a Red Heroine)
Y - Yousafzai, Malala (I Am Malala)
Z - Zheutlin, Peter (Around the World on Two Wheels)

Hosted by Jen at The Introverted Reader

I really enjoy reading nonfiction, so I signed up for the Master level. That meant I needed to read 16-20 nonfiction books. I'm pretty happy that I passed that number!

1. Balance: A Story of Faith, Family, and Life on the Line by Nik Wallenda
2. The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
3. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
4. The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt
5. Never A City So Real: A Walk in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz
6. Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope
7. On the Water: Discovering America in a Rowboat by Nathaniel Stone
8. Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground by Mark Mason
9. Ivy Days: Making My Way Out East by Susan Allen Toth
10. Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
11.  The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
12. The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson
13. Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! by Scott Adams
14. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
15. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba
16. Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
17. My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
18. How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown
19. Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids by Ken Jennings
20. This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson
21. The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game by Mary Pilon
22. Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride by Peter Zheutlin
23. Turn Right at Machu Picchu:​ Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams
24. America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great by Ben Carson
25. The Turquoise Ledge:​ A Memoir by Leslie Marmon Silko
26. Xanadu:​ Marco Polo and Europe's Discovery of the East by John Man
27. The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence by Robert Klara
28. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
29. The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma
30. Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings

You probably saw this one coming a mile away. I signed up for the In Flight level, which meant I had to complete 11-15 reading challenges. Here are the 15 challenges that I completed:

• ​Mount TBR
• I Love Library Books
• Birthday Month
• Hard Core Rereading
• What's In a Name
• Color Coded
• Victorian
• Reading England
• Around the World in 12 Books
• European
• Chunkster
• Alphabet Soup
• Authors A-Z
• Nonfiction
• Newbery

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of those books that everyone knows the plot of, whether they've read it or not. Its premise has been recreated in various movies, from A Muppet Christmas Carol to Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It's so embedded in our popular culture that calling someone a "scrooge" has meaning even if you have no idea that it's referring to a character in a book.

I am one of those people who, until recently, could summarize this book for you without ever having read it. I don't know how I missed reading it when I was younger, but somehow I did. I finally decided to rectify that this Christmas season.

It's strange to read a book for the first time whose story you already know. Nothing was a surprise to me, except some of the details. I enjoyed getting to know more about Scrooge's childhood and why he may have turned out the way he did. I enjoyed the descriptions of Victorian London and the feasts and parties that Scrooge viewed. I even laughed out loud a couple of times, which I honestly didn't expect from Dickens.

This is a sweet little story, with a very important moral - give generously, help and love those around you. But I couldn't help but notice that the motivation for such behaviors was never really mentioned. We should give and help and love others because God first gave and helped and loved us. Living life with the "Christmas spirit" should really be living life filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't know what Charles Dickens' views on religion were, but I feel that this story would have only been made stronger and more powerful if God had been brought into it.

This is a great book to read at this time of year, with a cold wind howling outside and a house full of Christmas decorations. I'm sure I'll revisit it during future Christmases. I just won't let it replace the real Reason for the season.

We had a few flakes of snow over the weekend, and it's gotten a lot colder. But that's about it, winter weather-wise. I've got my fingers crossed for a white Christmas, but it's not looking that promising!

Top Ten Tuesday - Best Books I Read in 2015
Challenges Complete - Round 2 of Wrap-Up Posts
​Reading Together: A Family Exploration Book Club (Join us!)

Grave Consequences by Lisa T. Bergren (Just as good a sequel as I had hoped!)
Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings (I've loved every book I've read by Jennings, and this one is no exception!)

Return to Me by Lynn Austin (I've been hoping for awhile that someone would write about this era of Biblical history, and now my favorite Biblical fiction author has! Bookish wishes come true!)

I'm not entirely sure, and that doesn't happen to me all that often. It's a very nice feeling, though!

Jessica from Quirky Bookworm and Sheila from The Deliberate Reader are hosting a family-oriented book club in 2016. They asked me to be one of the co-hosts, which I am beyond excited about.

There are six themes throughout the year, each one stretching over 2 months. There will be a picture book, a middle grade book, and a teen/YA book for each theme. Discussion will be held on the Facebook group page for the book club.

These are the six themes for the year:​

The Arctic books are up first in January & February. Here's what we're reading, if you want to start hunting down copies now: In Arctic Waters by Laura Crawford, The Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill, and Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George.

You can check out Jessica's post for more details. I hope you consider reading together with us!

Hosted by You, Me, and a Cup of Tea

You needed to read a book each month by an author who had his or her birthday in that month. This was a really fun challenge, and I used it to make a dent in my Classics Club list!

January: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
February: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
March: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
April: Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope
May: Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome
June: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
July: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
August: The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
September: The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
October: ​The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
November: ​The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
December: ​The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith

Hosted by You, Me, and a Cup of Tea

I signed up to reread anywhere from 10 to 20 books. I made it with 16 (and rereading the Chronicles of Narnia for the umpteenth time certainly helped!)

​1. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
4. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
7. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
8. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
9. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
10. The Princess by Lori Wick
11. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis
12. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
13. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
14. Holes by Louis Sachar
15. The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
16. Emma by Jane Austen

Hosted by Becky's Book Reviews

Book published in serial format: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Anthony Trollope: The Autobiography of Anthony Trollope by Anthony Trollope
Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Book published in the 1880s: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

Hosted by Behold the Stars

I read a lot of books set in England. I signed up for level two, which is to read books set in 4-6 different counties. I actually managed to reach 9 counties, plus about 10 additional books set in London!

1.  Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (London)
2. The Tale of Applebeck Orchard by Susan Wittig Albert (Cumbria)
3. An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan (Somerset)
4. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton (Cornwall)
5. Sorcery & Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (London & Essex)
6. The Dress Shop of Dreams by Menna van Praag (Cambridgeshire)
7. The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett (Oxfordshire)
8. Emma by Jane Austen (Surrey)
​9. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (Yorkshire)

Hosted by Rose City Reader

I also read quite a few books set in Europe, but I'm only allowed to count one book from each country. So here are the ones I picked to count for this challenge:

Ireland: The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey
Austria: The Little Book by Selden Edwards
United Kingdom: An Accomplished Woman by Jude Morgan
France: Keys to the Castle by Donna Ball
Sweden: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Spain: The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera
Italy: The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

2015 was a great year of reading! I read so many books I loved that it's going to be hard to narrow it down to just ten. Here goes!

Walk the Lines: The London Underground, Overground by Mark Mason (I read this book in May and have been raving about it ever since. Random trivia about London automatically makes this one of my favorite books of all time.)
Cinder & Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (I finally started reading this series after hearing how amazing it was. And now I can echo all of those reviews. It is amazing!)
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma (A memoir that is just as delightful as the title sounds.)
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (Such a satisfying ending to this series.)
Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (If only Victorian England had magic. . .​)

The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (Because it showed a real relationship, not just a fairy tale. And because those characters are still living in my head.)
Because I Said So! by Ken Jennings (I learned so many random things from this book. It was great fun.)
Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman (I read several reviews that said this second book in the series stretched on way too long. I disagree - I could have lived in that world for several hundred more pages!)
My Salinger Year by Joanne Rakoff (This was such an enjoyable memoir of life in a literary agency in the 1990s.)
How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown (You don't even have to be science geeky like me to enjoy this book. And as an added bonus, I finally understand why Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore!)