Favorite Books of 2015
FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2015
2015 has been a strange year for me with a major move and the adjustments that entails. Less attention to reviewing books on my blog and to Challenges has been the result. But I have still read some incredible books. As always my choices are highly personal with more praise for books that meant something significant to me than any abstract literary ranking.
This year I have particularly appreciated books which fell between usual genre definitions, especially those which blended nonfiction and more creative approaches. As I struggle with my own aging, I have also read a few fine books on the topic; especially books by older authors like Penelope Lively and Isabel Allende.
See my blog Me, You, and Books for my reviews of favorite books.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, MEMOIR, AND REFLECTIONS
Dancing Fish and Ammonites: A Memoir, by Penelope Lively.
A House of My Own: Stories from My Life, by Sandra Cisneros.
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, by Marie Mutsuki Mockett.
FICTION
The Japanese Lover, by Isabel Allende.
The Girl in the Road, by Monica Bryne.
When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka.
Picking Bones from Ash, by Marie Mutsuki Mockett.
The Wolf Border, by Sarah Hall.
Haifa Fragments, by Khulud Khamis.
The Mountain, by Drusilla Modjeska.
NONFICTION
The Gay Revolution, by Lillian Faderman.
Me, you, and books 
Thank you for all the beaut reviews you’ve written over the past year – I’ve added quite a few to my TBR, but I’ve also had my horizons widened by your thoughtful reviews. Happy New Year!
Thanks for the compliment. I particularly value it because I think so highly of your reviews. And thanks for all the good books i learned about from you. Happy New Year.
Hi there! Love your list, “Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye” is such an intriguing title and now I really want to read The Making of Asian America! Happy 2016 🙂
Thanks. You’d probably also like Mockett’s Picking Bones from Ashes. Enjoy.
I just signed up for your blog and found we share some favorites books and overall diversity interests. Found some new ones for my TBR list. Thanks.
I’ll have to look for a copy, thanks 🙂
Have you read any of Diana Athill’s books on aging? I read her book Stet, which was about her life as an editor, she retired at 75 from editing all those novels and now no longer reads fiction, preferring memoir and non-fiction. She became a writer at 80 and just published her most recent memoir at 90 I believe, immensely readable and frank about all things, she’s quite an inspiration.
Her two memoirs on ageing are Somewhere Near the End and the latest Alive, Alive Oh!
Thanks for the recommendation. I don’t know Athill, but will try to find her books. And thanks for coming by my blog regularly.