2015 Reading Challenge

Much to no one's surprise, I finished the 2015 reading challenge (at the beginning of November). It was a good way to expand my reading habits at least a bit. Of course, many of the books I would have read anyway fit into at least one category, but there were some books that I searched out to fit the categories.

Here are some books that I enjoyed but wouldn't have found if I hadn't been doing the challenge:     

1. A book written by someone under 30: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. He's pretty interesting (I also read Paper Towns) and not as depressing as you'd think given the popularity of The Fault in Our Stars.
2. A book set in a different country: The Ink Bridge by Neil Grant. This one takes place in Afghanistan and Australia. It's interesting and sad.
3. A book based on a true story: The Great Pearl Heist by Molly Caldwell Crosby. This is about the theft of the most expensive necklace in the world, and gives some information on the formation of Scotland Yard, London a hundred or so years ago, and the jewel trade.
4. A book that scares you: Dracula by Bram Stoker. It's not a book I'd read just before turning out the lights, but I really enjoyed it.
5. A book based entirely on its cover: Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton; also In the Forests of the Night and When the Stars Throw Down Their Spears. It took three tries to find a book based on the cover that I was willing to finish, but this one was really good (enough that I read the trilogy). It's based on Irish mythology.
6. A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. London and Paris both, and a story that had me staying up to finish the last chapters.
7. A graphic novel: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin (the Manga Classics version; story adaptation by Stacy King; Art by Po Tse). I liked this format enough that I also read the Manga Classics version of Les Miserables and The Scarlet Letter.
8. A book that takes place in your hometown: Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger. Granted, much of the novel takes place in the states, but they do have to travel to Thunder Bay and the surrounding area.
9. A book originally written in a different language: Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. It's about sheep who are detectives, trying to find out who killed their shepherd. What's not to like?

      There were more, of course, but these ones were my favourites. At some point over the next few days, I'll give you my top picks for fiction and non-fiction over the past year. And then I'll get started on this reading challenge: http://www.challies.com/resources/the-2016-reading-challenge. I'm planning to do the light, avid, and committed reader, with some forays into the obsessed reader (but I don't think I'll finish that). Granted, I read 135 books in 2015, but a lot of those were light reads, children's lit, and the like. I think 2016 will be a deeper reading year, and that tends to slow down the number of books read.