New to the List:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (A book with more than 500 pages)
• The Hunger Games and Philosophy edited by William Irwin, George Dunn, and Nicholas Michaud (A book you own but have never read)
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (A book at the bottom of your to-read list)
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare (A play)

And here it is, my final update for the 2015 Reading Challenge…

I don’t know if I have said this before, but John Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors of all time. I have read many of his books during my secondary academic career, but I still continue to enjoy him. East of Eden, in my opinion, might be his best book ever. It may be lengthy, but ever word is worth the read. In a previous post I mentioned how I did not like The Hunger Games Trilogy, and while this is still true, I did enjoy reading The Hunger Games and Philosophy. It was very interesting to examine the trilogy from a philosophical standpoint. I like pretty much everything I read, but I have to say The Sense of an Ending was slightly underwhelming for me. I don’t know if it was the plot, or the style of writing, but it was a real struggle for me to get into the story. Finally, I read Hamlet. This was not the first time I have read the amazing play, but I decided to do a bit of a refresher before seeing the great Benedict Cumberbatch play the title character in a live broadcast performance.

Overall, I am very pleased with everything that I have read this year; it was an amazing journey, even if I did not read everything on the challenge list. I have decided that for 2016 I am going to start on the 30 Books You Should Read Before You’re 30 list. Since I have only just turned 22 on Christmas Eve, I am not going to try and cram all 30 of these books into next year (I have eight more years to complete the list after all), so…

As always, I already have a pretty long running list of Books to Read Next, but if anyone has suggestions for other great reads let me know and I will add them to the list 🙂

What I’ve read thus far:

2014

• I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Smith of Wootton Major by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Farmer Giles of Ham by J. R. R. Tolkien
• The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
• Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
• The Hundredth Monkey by Ken Keyes Jr.
• The Truth by Michael Palin
• The Divine Comedy: Inferno by Dante Alighieri
• The Divine Comedy: Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
• Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord
• The Divine Comedy: Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
• A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin
• This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
• A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
• A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
• An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Pearl by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Sir Orfeo by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
• A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
• Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari (started Dec. 14 – finished Jan. 15)

2015

• Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari (A memoir)
• Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim (A nonfiction book)
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (A book with a love triangle)
• I’m Not a Terrorist, but I’ve Played One on TV by Maz Jobrani (A funny book)
• Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (A mystery or thriller)
• The Hours by Michael Cunningham (A Pulitzer Prize-winning book)
• The Twits by Roald Dahl (A book from your childhood)
• It’s What I Do by Lynsey Addario (A book that made you cry)
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (A book published this year)
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (A trilogy)
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (A trilogy)
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (A trilogy)
• Irish Fairy and Folk Tales by Multiple Authors (A book of short stories)
• The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles edited by William Irwin and Gregory Bassham (A book a friend recommended)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (A book with nonhuman characters)
• Someone by Alice McDermott (A book by a female author)
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway (A book written by someone under 30 – he wrote it when he was 27)
• The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby (A book you can finish in a day)