Top Ten Tuesday #57 {Favorite Books of 2015}

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Top Ten Favorite Books I Read in 2015

I didn't read many books this year so this list is basically just the best ones. Though I did enjoy them all, none really stood out as my favorite of the bunch besides maybe Six of Crows. I also threw in a children's picture book at the end to make it 10 books. 

What were your favorite top ten books that you read this year? I'd love to know so maybe I can add some to my TBR list for 2016!

Revisiting 2015 - ABC Challenge

I didn't have extensive reading goals this year so I'm surprised that I did so well with this challenge.  

A

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

B

Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance

C

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

D

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Death Cure by James Dashner

E

The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

F

Fable: Blood of Heroes by Jim C. Hines

G

The Ghost of Graylock by Dan Poblocki

H

I

In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

J

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

K

The Kill Order by James Dashner

L

The Library of Souls (#3) by Ransom Riggs

M

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis

N

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

O
Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The October Faction (#1) by Steve Niles

P
Paper Towns by John Green
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Q

R

The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum

S

The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George 
Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
Six of Crows (#1) by Leigh Bardugo
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson

T

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman
Tik Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum
TruthWitch by Susan Dennard

U

V

W

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski 
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkland
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio

X

Y

Z

Revisiting 2015 - Series

One of my goals was to try to avoid starting a bunch of new series this year. Instead I wanted to try to finish some series that I have already started.

Here's how that goal went for me!
*Hint*
Not so well!


Series I 'Accidentally' Started in 2015

The Oz series by L. Frank Baum
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
The Road to Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
TikTok of Oz

The Winner's Curse (The Winner's Trilogy #1) by Marie Rutkoski

Silver in the Blood (#1) by Jessica Day George

Serafina and the Black Cloak (Serafina #1) by Robert Beatty

Six of Crows (#1) by Leigh Bardugo

The Map to Everywhere (Map to Everywhere #1) by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis

Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1)



Series I Made Progress On in 2015

The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
The Mark of Athena


Series I Finished in 2015

The Maze Runner series by James Dashner
The Scorch Trials
The Death Cure
The Kill Order

Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children trilogy by Ransom Riggs
Library of Souls


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Hopefully next year I can stick to starting fewer new series and finish more that I've already started!

Revisiting 2015 - Goals/Resolutions

Revisiting my 2015 Goals & Resolutions

I tried hard to reach my goals this year but didn't do well. But that's okay. My reading goals now come after taking care of my family. I did reach my low goal of reading at least 25 books so I'm happy with that.

Here is my beginning of the year post about my goals and resolutions. 

I'm going to go through that list and see what I have accomplished.

*Book to Movie Adaptations*
I read:

North and South
The Jungle Book
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Scorch Trials
The Death Cure (a future adaptation)
Paper Towns
The Walking Dead (tv adaptation)
The Martian
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

That was only 4 off my original list. 

*1001 Books to Read Before You Die List*
I read:

North and South

FAIL

*1001 Books to Read Before You Grow Up*
I read:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Flotsam
The Polar Express

Another fail
BUT
I don't have a full list of these books so I may have read something on the list without knowing it. I've been reading a lot of books to my daughter so who knows. 

*The rest of my lists*

More fails!

BUT

That's ok! I'm not bummed about it. Hopefully I will have more time to read next year, but if not, that's ok too! I love spending the whole day playing with and reading to my daughter and if that means I read less or read slower out loud, than so be it!


Now it's time to start making unrealistic goals for 2016! 

Anticipating December 2015

December 2015

Most Anticipated

Piques My Interest

Other
(Sequels in series I haven't started yet)

November 2015 Wrap Up

Books I Read

Started but haven't finished

Challenge Progress

(See my overall progress here) 

New Places Visited

Arizona (The Map to Everywhere)
The Moon (The Martian)

--------

Made no progress this month

--------

ABC CHALLENGE PROGRESS

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How did you guys do on your goals this month? What was your favorite book? 

Book Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Title: Six of Crows

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #1

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Publication Date: September 29, 2016
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Length: 465 pages

Source: Borrowed

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Synopsis: 

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price - and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past. 

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums. 

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes. 

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction - if they don't kill each other first.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this! It reminded me a bit of 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' but it's been years since I read that book so that may not be the best comparison. I liked learning about this new fantasy realm known as 'The Grishaverse'. I'm even more curious about the Grisha now and am wondering if I should read 'Shadow and Bone' next instead of just waiting for 'Crooked Kingdom'.

I loved the characters! All of the back story for the characters did seem to slow down the first half of the book but now I feel really attached to at least 4 out of the six main characters and can't wait to read the next book. If I had to pick a favorite it would either be Kaz with all his flaws or Inej with all her prowess. 

I think one of the only things that bothered me about this book was not learning more about the Grisha. We get Nina's backstory but I felt like there was something about the Grisha that wasn't being explained well enough in this book but might have been covered in The Grisha Trilogy. I don't know. I guess I just expected to learn more about them since the whole world seems to be based around these magical people.

Also, the guns and tanks threw me. I'm an old fashioned fantasy type of girl. Swords, staffs, bows and arrows, and every type of magic imaginable. Finding modern man-made items in a fantasy world just seemed really off and unexplained. Maybe it would have made more sense to me if it was a parallel universe to our own Earth or something. But I guess the heist wouldn't have planned out well without them so I'll give in.

Overall I really enjoyed Six of Crows but I'm beating myself up mentally over starting yet another series that is going to take years to finish.