Olga Godim came up with this creative way of summing up her reading year and challenged everyone to do their own.  Well, while I'm back here ... I'm in!

Olga writes: "Creatively, I decided to interview myself about my reading in 2015. The answers could only be book titles I read during the year. In the year 2015, what was your..."

Most Memorable Encounter

The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

An old and treasured acquaintance, who still easily managed to outshine any and every other bookish encounter of the year.  Thanks again to Troy for making me seek him out again!

Best Vacation Spot

The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton)

New Zealand!

Most Exciting Adventure

Tie: The Secret Life of Winnie Cox and The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q (both by Sharon Maas)

Favorite Place

Shire (Ali Smith)

Least Favorite Place

Cloud Howe (Lewis Grassic Gibbon)

Worst Person You Met

Tie: Joseph Fouché (Stefan Zweig -- biography) and The Sticklepath Strangler (Michael Jecks, Knights Templar series)

Most Embarrassing Memory

Fifty Sheds of Grey  (C.T. Grey)

Worst Weather of the Year

Tie between the two extremes: Burmese Days (George Orwell) and Grey Granite (Lewis Grassic Gibbon)

Scariest Event

The Skeleton Road  (Val McDermid)

Funniest Moment

Hogfather (Terry Pratchett, Discworld)

Saddest Moment

Tie: Post Mortem  (Kate London) and The Gods of Guilt (Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer series)

Worst Food You Ate

The Five Orange Pips (Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes)

Best Food You Ate

The Christmas Pudding (Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot)

... and a few additions of my own:

The Understatement of the Year

A Place of Greater Safety (Hilary Mantel)

The French Revolution, from Robespierre's, Danton's and Desmoulins's point of view.

Most Precious Acquisition

The Blue Carbuncle (Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes)

Favorite Garment

The Chinese Shawl (Patricia Wentworth, Miss Silver series)

No fancy graphics and no astounding numbers – in fact, rather average numbers for me, these days – but anyway, here we go:

Total Number of Books Read:

68

– including rereads
– but excluding my current read, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell (which is bound to take me all the way to the end of the year).

Rereads:

21

                         Including my annual Christmas revisitings:

                         Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

                         Dorothy L. Sayers: The Nine Tailors

                         Arthur Conan Doyle: The Blue Carbuncle

                         Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

                                                 The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

The Year's Top Reads

                    Sharon Maas: The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q.

                                         The Secret Life of Winnie Cox

                     J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit (reread)

                     Val McDermid: The Skeleton Road

                     Hilary Mantel: A Place of Greater Safety

                     Stefan Zweig: Joseph Fouché

                     Andrew Nicoll: The Secret Life and Curious Death of Miss Jean Milne

                     Anaïs Nin: Henry and June

                     Michael Connelly: The Gods of Guilt

                     David Baldacci (ed.), Various Authors: Face-Off

                     Anthony Horowitz: Moriarty

                     Terry Pratchett: Hogfather (begun Dec. 2014)

Breakdown of Ratings:

  10

   10

   18

   23

   6

   1

Average Rating

Including Christmas rereads: 3,94

Excluding Christmas rereads: 3,87

Books Shelved as Favorites:

25 

Of these, new reads: 14

Rereads: 11 – including 5 Christmas rereads

Breakdown of Shelves:

(Note: Virtually all of my books are shelved in multiple ways)

Nobel Prize Winners: 1

1001 Books: 6

Classics: 46

Short Fiction: 37

Theatre: 3

Poetry: 2

Mysteries and Crime Fiction: 44

– American: 3

– British: 41

Fantasy: 2

Romance: 4

20th Century & Contemporary BritLlit: 16

20th Century & Contemporary America: 1

Canada & Canadian Literature: 1

Germany & German Literature: 1

France & French Literature: 5

Italy & Italian Literature: 1

Scotland: 6

Eastern Europe: 1

Russia: 2

California & Southwestern USA: 1

Down Under (= Oz & NZ): 1

Orient & Asia: 2

– India & Indian Subcontinent: 1

– Southeast Asia: 1

Africa: 1

Historical Fiction: 8

Key Historic / Period Elements or Setting (in contemporaneous fiction): 5

Nonfiction: 7

– History: 4

– Politics: 1

– Memoirs - Biographies - Letters - Diaries: 4

– Essays - Addresses - Lectures: 3

– Art & Architecture: 3

– Travel: 1

– Reference: 1

Humor - Comedy - Satire: 6

Children's & YA Literature: 1

Cats: 1

Anthologies: 1

So, not one of my most diverse and international reading years, it would appear – lots of classics, lots of mysteries and crime fiction, and predominantly British literature.  But on the plus side, in their vast majority good or even great reads, which ultimately is what's most important!