What I’m reading in 2015

Welcome once more to The Library, where I maintain a list of all the books I read in a given year. This will be my sixth year of cataloging and in that time I’ve read just shy of 400 books, with my best year being 2011 when I read 95. My goal is simple — to average at least a book a week over the course of a year. 52 books. Sounds easy enough. In 2010, the first year I began this project, I read 59.

The style has changed nearly every year, and I suppose it will again, at least until I come up with one that strikes my fancy. It’s the books read that matter, but not in their number, but in their content. I believe you can tell a lot about a person based on what they read. Well, that’s certainly true for me.

This year, we’ll keep the style simple and to the point: title by author/format/year of publication

So, what book gets the distinction of being the first read in 2015? Let’s find out together, shall we?

01. Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence /kindle/2011
02. Bad Twin by “Gary Troup” (Laurence Shames)/hardcover/2006
03. John Dee’s Five Books of Mystery, edited by Joseph Peterson /trade/2008
04. Demon Street USA by David Roundtree & Robbie Lunt /trade/2014
05. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins /kindle/2015
06. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman /kindle/2015
07. The Final Transmission by Brian F.H. Clement /trade/2013
08. Shadowland by Peter Straub /hardcover/1980
09. The Divine Spark, edited by Graham Hancock /trade/2015
10. The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, & Divine Relationships by Diana L. Paxson /trade/2015
11. Paradigm Busters, edited by J. Douglas Kenyon /trade/2015
12. The Traveler’s Guide to the Astral Plane by Steve Richards /trade/2015
13. The Evidence for Phantom Hitch-Hikers by Michael Goss /trade/2015
14. Johnny Saturn: Intelligent Redesign by Scott & Benita Story /pdf/2015
15. In Search of Vikings, edited by Stephen Harding, David Griffiths, Elizabeth Royles /pdf/2015
16. Tortured Souls (Jake Helman 4) by Gregory Lamberson /trade/2012
17. Storm Demon (Jake Helman 5) by Gregory Lamberson /trade/2013
18. Human Monsters (Jake Helman 6) by Gregory Lamberson /trade/2015
19. Toward the Light by Amy Major /trade/2015
20. Conan, screenplay by Oliver Stone /pdf/1978
21. Gothic Cathedrals by Karen Ralls /trade/2015
22. Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry /trade/2008
23. I am Haunted: Living Life Through the Dead by Zak Bagans & Kelly Crigger /kindle/2015
24. Brood of the Witch-Queen by Sax Rohmer /kindle/1918
25. “Sorcery from Thule” by Manly Wade Wellman /pdf/1944
26. Liber L. Vel Bogus : the Real Confession of Aleister Crowley by Richard T. Cole /trade/2015
27. The Witch’s Guide to Wands by Gypsey Elaine Teague /trade/2015
28. Lammas Night by Katherine Kurtz /mmpb/1983
29. The Magical Battle of Britain by Dion Fortune & Gareth Knight /trade/1993
30. Dead Boy Detectives: vol 1 “Schoolboy Terrors” by Toby Litt & Mark Buckingham /trade/2014
31. The Ritual by Adam Nevill /kindle/2012
32. The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies by John Langan /kindle/2013
33. The Last Templar by Michael Jecks /kindle/2009
34. Conan by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague DeCamp, & Lin Carter /kindle/1968
35. Medieval Swordsmanship by John Clements /pdf/1998
36. H.P. Lovecraft & the Black Magickal Tradition by John L. Steadman /trade/2015
37. Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig /kindle/2015
38. The Haunted House Diaries by William J. Hall /trade/2015
39. The Afterlife Healing Circle by Candace L. Tsalmadge & Jana L. Simons /trade/2015
40. Celtic Mythology by Ward Rutherford /trade/2015
41. Alchemy: The Great Work by Cherry Gilchrist /trade/2015
42. The Complete Book of Aquarian Magic by Marian Green /trade/2015
43. The Tantric Alchemist by Peter Levenda /hardcover/2015
44. Forgotten Origins edited by J. Douglas Kenyon /trade/2015
45. A Dark Matter by Peter Straub /hardcover/2010
46. Incredible Adventures by Algernon Blackwood /kindle/1914
47. Levitation by Steve Richards /trade/2015
48. Witches’ Almanac Issue 35 (Spring 2016-2017) /trade/2015
49. The Dragon Done It edited by Mike Resnick & Eric Flint /kindle/2008
50. The Royal Occultist Halloween Special by Joshua Reynolds /pdf/2015
51. The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard /trade/2008
52. The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King /kindle/2015
53. Numero Zero by Umberto Eco /kindle/2015
54. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn /kindle/2015
55. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell /kindle/2005
56. Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock /hardcover/2015
57. The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones /kindle/2014
58. Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner /kindle/1975
59. Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page by Brad Tolinski /kindle/2012