What Have You Read In 2015?

~ Vincent Mars
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(c) Ephraim Rubenstein – Books: Pile XIX

I don’t know about you, dear reader of my agreeable blog, but after I finish a book or story I note it down in a Books I’ve Read list. Keeping track of what I read helps me recall books and authors more easily, and I think it’s an innocent way to challenge the oblivion that threatens to swallow most books after we put them down.

With 2016 almost here, I’ve compiled a list of all the books and stories I’ve read in 2015 in both English and Romanian (my native tongue). Don’t you want to take a look at it?

  1. Andrea Delfin And Other Tales – Paul Heyse (novellas, paperback, Romanian)

  2. DSLR Photography For Beginners – Brian Black

  3. Building Your Book For Kindle – Kindle Direct Publishing

  4. Various Essays by Michel de Montaigne

  5. Various Paris Review Interviews

  6. Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller

  7. The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende

  8. L’Arabiatta – Paul Heyse

  9. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

  10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling

  11. The House in the Woods – Bernhard Schlink (short story)6376011

  12. Selected Writings of Guy the Maupassant (short story colelction)

  13. How to Instantly Connect with Anyone – Leil Lowndes (audiobook)

  14. O Scurta Istorie a Romanilor Povestita Celor Tineri – Neagu Djuvara

  15. Pierre and Jean – Guy de Maupassant (novella)

  16. The Beast in the Jungle – Henry James (novella)

  17. Rip Van Winkle – Washington Irving (short story)

  18. Everything Reminds Me of Something Else – Ernest Hemingway (short story)

  19. The Science of Self Confidence – Brian Tracy (audiobook)

  20. The Great Stone Face – Nathaniel Hawthorne (short story)

  21. An Amateur Peasant Girl – Alexander Pushkin (short story)

  22. The Shot – Alexander Pushkin (short story)41v9237ovwl-_sy344_bo1204203200_

  23. The Death of Ivan Ilych – Leo Tolstoy (novella)

  24. Chippings with a Chisel – Nathaniel Hawthorne (short story)

  25. The Devil – Leo Tolstoy (novella)

  26. The Kreutzer Sonata – Leo Tolstoy (novella)

  27. Death in Venice – Thomas Mann (novella)

  28. The Flood – Emile Zola (short story)

  29. In the Penal Colony – Franz Kafka (short story)

  30. The Death of a Clerk – Anton Chekhov (short story)

  31. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami (novel, audiobook)

  32. First Love – Ivan Turgenev (novella)

  33. The Love of Long Ago – Guy de Maupassant (short story)

  34. The Wash-tub – W. Somerset Maugham (short story)

  35. The Cloak – Nikolai Gogol (short story)

  36. What Do Women Want From Men – Dan True (audiobook)

  37. What Women Want Men to Know – Barbara de Angelis

  38. The Sisters – James Joyce (short story)

  39. The Dead – James Joyce (short story)

  40. A Painful Case – James Joyce (short story)

  41. Eveline – James Joyce (short story)

  42. Clay – James Joyce (short story)

  43. Araby – James Joyce (short story)

  44. After the Race – James Joyce (short story)

  45. The Boarding House – James Joyce (short story)

  46. An Encounter – James Joyce (short story)the_bell_jar_harper_05

  47. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath (novel – audiobook)

  48. Found On a Drowned Man – Guy de Maupassant (short story)

  49. Dead Woman’s Secret – Guy de Maupassant (short story)

  50. The Grave – Guy de Maupassant (short story)

  51. Two Gallants – James Joyce (short story)

  52. The Sea Change – Ernest Hemingway (short story)

  53. A Canary for One – Ernest Hemingway (short story)

  54. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare (play – audiobook)

  55. At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque – Anatole France (novel, paperback, Romanian)

  56. Tombstones – Guy de Maupassant (short story)

  57. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote (novella)

  58. The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story)

  59. No Death, No Fear (Comforting Wisdom for Life) – Thich Nhat Hanh (audiobook)

  60. A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story)

  61. A Talk With Gabriel Garcia Marquez – New York Times

  62. Siddhartha – Herman Hesse (second reading)

  63. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (audiobook, 11th read)

  64. Eyes of a Blue Dog – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story collection)

  65. Chronicle of a Death Foretold – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (novella)

  66. 77 Laws of Success with Women and Dating – David DeAngelo (audiobook)

  67. US History In Brief – Bureau of International Information Program (minibook)

  68. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast – Laura Vanderkam (audiobook)

  69. The Miracle of Self Discipline – Brian Tracy (audiobook)

  70. Big Mama’s Funeral and Other Stories – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story collection)

  71. As You Like It – William Shakespeare (audiobook)

  72. Measure for Measure – William Shakespeare (audiobook)

  73. The Horse-Stealers – Anton Chekhov (short story)

  74. The Raven – Edgar Allan Poem (poem)

  75. The Landscape Garden – Edgar Allan Poe (poem)

  76. Poems and Short Stories by Boris Vian (I Wouldn’t Wanna Die & Others | The Swimming Priest, April’s Daughters)

  77. Blindy – Ernest Hemingway (short story)

  78. Give All to Love – Waldo Emerson (poem)

  79. US Literature In Brief – Kathryn VanSpanckeren (minibook)

  80. A Simple Enquiry – Ernest Hemingway (short story)

  81. The Diary of a Superfluous Man – Ivan Turgenev (novella)

  82. Oliver Colors – The Autobiography of a Moonbeamed Painter – Vincent Mars (novel)

  83. Good Manners For People Who Sometimes Say Fuck – Amy Alkon209574

  84. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching – Thich Nhat Hahn

  85. Paris Review Interview with Truman Capote

  86. Dogs, Death, and Desire – Boris Vian (short story)

  87. Miriam – Truman Capote (short story)

  88. A Tree of Night – Truman Capote (short story)

  89. Aurelia’s Unfortunate Young Man – Mark Twain (short story)

  90. Ward No. 6 – Anton Chekhov (novella)

  91. A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees – Kenko (Penguin Little Black Classics)

  92. One Autumn Night – Maxim Gorky (short story)

  93. Her Lover – Maxim Gorky (short story)

  94. The Log, The Door, Farewell – Guy de Maupassant (short stories)

  95. Death Constant Beyond Love – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story)

  96. The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (short story)

  97. No Death, No Fear – Thich Nhat Hahn (audiobook)

  98. Anton Chekhov – The Kiss, Two Volodyas, Gooseberries (Penguin Little Black Classics)

  99. Nostalgia – Mircea Cartarescu (novel, Romanian)374233

  100. I Hate and I Love – Catullus (Poems – Penguin Little Black Classics)

  101. The Atheist’s Mass & The Conscript – Honore de Balzac(Short Stories – Penguin Little Black Classics)

  102. Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings – Johann Wolfgang van Goethe

  103. If on a winter’s night a traveler – Italo Calvino (e-book)

  104. The Kiss – Anton Chekhov (short story, audiobook)

  105. It was snowing butterflies – Charles Darwin (Penguin Little Black Classics)

What have you read this year? If you have a Books I’ve Read in 2015 list do share it us… If not, then perhaps you can mention a few special reads? You know, books that have moved you, made your heartstrings quiver, or just blew your mind away? Here are a few great reads I’ve had this year:

  • If on a winter’s night a traveler – Italo Calvino
  • Ward No. 6 – Anton Chekhov
  • The House of the Spirits – Isabel Allende
  • The Death of Ivan Ilych – Leo Tolstoy
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
  • The Cloak – Nikolai Gogol
  • The Flood – Emile Zola
  • Nostalgia – Mircea Cartarescu
  • A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees – Kenko (Penguin Little Black Classics)

 

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Happy New Year!

Published by Vincent Mars

I write as a way of life: stories, blogs, articles, almost-poems. I'm a freelancer, a vegetarian, and I listen to Leonard Cohen and enjoy French films. We are dying a little more with each new day we live, so shouldn't we make the most of our time?

36 thoughts on “What Have You Read In 2015?”

    1. Nishantindia.com/2016/01/08/care-for-your-well-wishers/
      We often dont care about others and usually neglect our well wishers because of our stubbornness and ego and because we dont see any short term benefits but its better to take some learning from the lion before nature explains it in its own brutal way.

      Reply

  2. Very interesting and varied is your list. I am forever chasing a good read, and 2015 was the worst year for good reads. So you sharing your list is a great blessing to me.

    Reply

  4. It’s very impressive that you could read so many books and stories in one year! I’m quite proud to say I’ve read 2 from your list. Thank you for listing your Great Reads — I’ll definitely read them in 2016.

    Reply

      1. They are Norwegian Wood and Tropic of Cancer. By the way, Tropic of Cancer was not my choice — it was a required reading in my undergrad Library Science course.

        Reply

    2. Nishantindia.com/2016/01/08/care-for-your-well-wishers/
      We often dont care about others and usually neglect our well wishers because of our stubbornness and ego and because we dont see any short term benefits but its better to take some learning from the lion before nature explains it in its own brutal way.

      Reply

  5. Well I too have a similar list but not so lengthy due to my board exams but I will mention just my best reads of this year.
    1) The brothers karamazov by Fyodor dostoyevsky
    2) war and peace by Leo Tolstoy.
    3) Emma by Jane Austen.
    4) 100 years of solitude by Gabriel Gracía Márquez.
    5) Short stories by Guy de maupassant.
    6)Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand.
    7) The Guide by R.K.Narayan.
    8) A thousand splendid suns by Khalid Hussain.
    9)Crime and punishment by Fyodor dostoyevsky.
    10) for whom the bell tolls by Ernest hemingway.
    11) Silas marner by George Eliot.
    12) A house for Mr.Biswas by V.S.Naipal.
    They were the special reads and I read few more books but the impact was not there.

    Reply

    2. Nishantindia.com/2016/01/08/care-for-your-well-wishers/
      We often dont care about others and usually neglect our well wishers because of our stubbornness and ego and because we dont see any short term benefits but its better to take some learning from the lion before nature explains it in its own brutal way.

      Reply

  6. Oh, I wish I could keep up with your reading list. I have started the BBC “book challenge” because I was ashamed about how many classics I didn’t know, so I spent some good days of the year on that reading list – I’ve just posted it in my blogs. (I have two blogs, one in my mother tongue (German) and one in English, because England is my new home now.)

    Welcome


    https://theadventuresofsarahinnottingham.wordpress.com/

    Happier new 2016 to you!

    Reply

  7. Hey, Vincent!
    CONGRATULATIONS on being published! Woohoo!
    I’m not sure I can remember all the books I read this year. I’ll have to make a list next year. Right now, I have three next to my bed that I’ve struggled to finish.

    Which was your favorite?
    Happy New Year to you!

    Reply

    1. That bit about Oliver was a little joke of mine… Glad someone figured it out. 🙂 I have finished a version of the book, but I haven’t considered sending it to publishers yet because I would like to continue to improve it. I’m in no hurry. 🙂

      It wouldn’t be easy to pick a favorite, but if I absolutely must, it would be Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler…

      Happy New Year Susie, and may all your good wishes come true, one by one, so as not to overwhelm you all at once. 🙂

      Reply

      1. Thanks, Vincent! I’d be happy if one came true. Ha! I wish the very best for you!
        I’ve been in search of an agent and am still rewriting! I will check out “If on a winter’s night…”

        Reply

  8. Vincent, I am VERY impressed with your reading list that appears to be dominated by classics. I think that’s wonderful. I didn’t keep a list of books that I read, but now after perusing your list I think I’ll do just that. It’s a good idea. Hmmm, a few of the books I read are:
    Fathers and Sons – Turgenev
    An Outcast of the Islands – Conrad
    Malice – Keigo Higashino
    The Haiku Apprentice – Abigail Friedman
    Muso Soseki – Sun at Midnight
    As You Think – James Allen
    Madame Bovary – Flaubert
    David Copperfield – Dickens
    Pere Goriot – Balzac
    The Warden – Anthony Trollope
    Framley Parsonage -A. Trollope
    Barchester Towers – A. Trollope
    The Sound of the Mountain – Yasunari Kawabata
    1Q84 – Haruki Murakami
    After Dark – H. Murakami
    Selected Poems of Po Chu-I
    Selected Poems of Chia Tao
    Du Fu: A Life in Poetry – David Young, translator. I think I read this one five times.
    So thanks for the great suggestion. I’m going to set up my list page this week for 2016.

    Reply

    1. I see quite a few Japanese and Chinese authors in your list. I would like to read more Asian literature in the near future, as so far I am only familiar with Kenko… What would you recommend?

      Reply

      1. Sorry for the late response. I’ve been thinking much of what to recommend regarding Asian lit. First: Kawabata. He’s the only Japanese to win the Nobel for Lit. His late work The Sound of the Mountain is definitely something for you to read.

        Soseki Natsume is another Japanese author I think you’d like. I just finished a novel of his, “And Then.” Great read.

        Junichiro Tanizaki’s novel “The Makioka Sisters” is a classic.

        Haruki Murakami I like, but his magical realism doesn’t work for me as well as it does in works of Gabriel Marquez.

        On the Chinese side, I read ancient Tang period poetry every night. My favorite is “Du Fu: A Life in Poetry.” The translator is an American poet, David Young. It’s exceptional.

        Other volumes of Chinese poetry I enjoy are “When I Find You Again It Will Be in Mountains: Selected Poems of Chia Tao” and “The Selected Poems of Po Chu-I.”

        Of course there’s the famous Japanese Haiku poets: Basho, Issa, and Buson. Any volume of their works, you’ll enjoy.
        I hope these recommendations get you started on a journey of discovery. Thank you for your interest.

        Reply

        1. Thank you for your thorough recommendations. I look forward to discovering the books and the authors you mentioned. I’m having a “Russian period” at the moment, with plenty of Chekhov and Dostoevky, but after this fades I’ll turn my attention to Asian authors.

          Reply

          1. Sounds like a great plan. Be sure not to consume any alcohol while reading Dostoevsky! If you do, you might end up in a nervous wreck. Of course with Chekhov, a nice glass of wine is perfect. 🙂

            Reply

  10. You should try House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski 🙂 I think you’d appreciate it based on your list! Psychological mind trip with the edge of a thriller novel. Not an easy read but very well worth it!

    Reply

  11. Thank you for the list, I´m thinking about havin your list on mind for the next year and take your advice and write down the books i´ve read but in 2016. I´m amazed for how many book you’ve read this year. For my have been a bit difficult to keep my goal, so I haven´t read as much as I want. Even so, some of the books I did read this year were:
    – Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
    – Howl´s moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
    – Forest of the Pygmies by Isabel Allende
    – The fault in our stars by John Green
    – The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

    Well, my list nothing have to do with yours, but, there you have.

    Reply
  13. Pingback: New Year, New Me—It Must Be That Time of Year Again! | Gut Instinct

  14. Ah…admittedly, I have not read as much as you, not even close!
    But thanks for listing the books that you have read….it gives me some direction towards what I may want to read.

    Reply

  15. Nishantindia.com/2016/01/08/care-for-your-well-wishers/
    We often dont care about others and usually neglect our well wishers because of our stubbornness and ego and because we dont see any short term benefits but its better to take some learning from the lion before nature explains it in its own brutal way.

    Reply

  16. My favourites in 2015 :

    The Dangerous Bride by Lee Kofman
    The Foal’s Bread, by Gillian Meares
    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
    The Good Parents by Joan London
    Gilgamesh, Joan London
    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
    Flight Behaviour Barbara Kingsolver
    Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
    Acute Misfortune by Erik Jensen
    Flesh Wounds by Richard Glover
    Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
    The Poet’s Wife by Mandy Sayer
    March by Geraldine Brooks
    The Paris Wife by Paula McClain
    A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
    For Whom the Bells Toll Ernest Hemingway
    Love in the Time of Cholera by GG Marquez
    Double Madness by Caroline de Costa
    The Fourpenny Axe and a Snooker Cue by Garth Alperstein
    My Year With Sammy by Libby Sommer
    The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga by CG Jung

    Reply

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