Books Read in 2015

43 books read - 2 of which were rereads
4 plays
1 poem
1 poetry collection

I plan to use this blog mainly as a place to keep track of the books read each year.  As seen from the list so far, my reading has been eclectic and varied.

• New favorite female authors are Margaret Atwood and P.D. James. 
• A number of books below, both old and new, reinforce my belief that death is not an end but rather a beginning to another type of existence. 
• Read books by three poets who expressed their loss in different ways: Hirsch in a long poetic eulogy to his son; Doty in a prose memoir and Atwood in a collection of poems. 
• Chipped away at my goal to read all the plays of the Greek tragedians (still have a few from Euripides left).
• Finally read The Great Gatsby and did not like it at all.
• Much to ponder from Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, Tolle, Thich Nhat Hanh and Chodron. I regret not being interested in these teaching earlier in life. Why did it take a horrible tragedy to begin what I now see as a true awakening? 
• Been listening to the BBC World Book Club podcasts in the car where authors read from their book and answer questions (would highly recommend). As a result, read Corban, Haddon, and P.D. James. 
• Circling back to WWII by reading about GI Brides and an incredible horse. I plan to visit the Marine Corps Museum to see the statue of Sgt. Reckless. 
• Indulged in brain candy (Kinsella)

January

• Bhagavad Gita translated by Stephen Mitchell (5)
• 8 Limbs of Yoga by Bhava Ram (4)
• The Forks Over Knives Plan by Drs. Alona Pulde and Matthew Lederman (4)

February 

• How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind by Pema Chodron (5)
• I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb (4)

March 

• My Land and My People by Dalai Lama of Tibet (4)

April

• West With the Night by Beryl Markham (4)
• Finding Peter by William Peter Blatty (3)

May

• Gabriel: A Poem by Edward Hirsch (4)
• Heaven's Coast: A Memoir by Mark Doty (4)
• The Hand on the Mirror: A True Story of Life Beyond Death by Janis Heaphy Durham (4)

June 

• A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich (4)
• Phoenecian Women by  Euripides (4)
• Orestes by Euripides (3)
• Bacchae by Euripides (4)
• No Mud, No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh (5)
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (3)
• Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien (4)

July 

• Six Years by Harlan Coban (3.5)
• A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (4)
• Blonde: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates (5)
• My Story by Marilyn Monroe with Ben Hecht (5)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (5)
• The Map of Heaven by Eban Elexander with Ptolemy Tompkins (4)

August 

• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (5)
• Tao Te Ching version by Stephen Mitchell (5)
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (4)
• GI Brides by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi (3.5)
• Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing by Margaret Atwood (4)
• Beowulf: A New Version by Seamus Heaney (4)
• Morning in the Burned House: New Poems by Margaret Atwood (4)
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (5)
• Death in the Holy Orders by P.D. James (4.5)

September

• Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (4)
• Sgt. Reckless: America's War Horse by Robin Hutton (4)
• I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella (3)
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (4)
• The Incarnations by Susan Barker (4)

October

• The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz (1)
• The Story of Art by E. H. Gombrich (5)
• Marilyn Norma Jean by Gloria stenhem/George Barris (photos) (4)
• An Army at Dawn (Vol I of Liberation Trilogy) by Rick Atkinson (4)
• Re-read:  The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (5+)
• Memoirs of the Second World War by Winston Churchill (4)
• Re-read: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (4)

November

• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (4+)

December

• Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes (5)
• Play: Electra by Sophocles (4)
• Play: Electra by Euripides (4) 
• Inside Outside by Herman Wouk (4)