We know…you probably don’t need another “Top # List of 2015”, but the DPL staff couldn’t resist compiling our favorite books, movies, and TV shows from the past year so we could share what we loved with all of you. While you may have already read or seen some of the items on our list, hopefully there’s a few new selections that you can add to your own lists.
With the new year, we didn’t want to just focus on 2015, especially since there are so many books, movies, and TV shows coming out in 2016 that we’re really looking forward to. Be sure to check out our lists of “What the DPL Staff is Looking Forward to in 2016” to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new in books, new DVD releases, and TV on DVD in the new year.
And, in case you missed it, check out our list of Top Circulating Multimedia Items of 2015, as well as a list of ALL our top circulating items from the Deerfield Review.
Staff Favorites of 2015 – Adult:
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande (Adult Nonfiction)
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Adult Nonfiction)
- Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Adult Graphic Novel)
- Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin (Adult Fiction)
- Breezeway – New Poems by John Ashbery (Poetry)
- Career of Evil: Cormoran Strike Series, Book 3 by Robert Galbraith (Adult Mystery)
- China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan (Adult Fiction)
- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (Adult Nonfiction)
- Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg (Adult Fiction)
- Disclaimer by Renee Knight (Adult Fiction)
- First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen (Adult Fiction)
- Gamelife: a Memoir by Michael Clune (Adult Nonfiction)
- I Take You by Eliza Kennedy (Adult Fiction)
- My Brilliant Friend – Book One of The Neapolitan Novels series by Elena Ferrante (Adult Fiction)
- My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman (Adult Fiction)
- Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin (Adult Nonfiction)
- Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few by Robert Reich (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Art of Forgery: The Minds, Motives, and Methods of Master Forgers by Noah Charney (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons (Adult Fiction)
- The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (Adult Fiction)
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Adult Fiction)
- The Lake House by Kate Morton (Adult Fiction)
- The Martian by Andy Weir (Adult Science Fiction)
- The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott (Adult Fiction)
- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Adult Historical Fiction)
- The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli (Adult Fiction)
- The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories by Joy Williams (Adult Fiction)
- Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta (Adult Fiction)
- Trashed by Derf Backderf (Adult Graphic Novel)
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Adult Fiction)
- Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling (Adult Nonfiction)
- Wildflower by Drew Barrymore (Adult Nonfiction)
Staff Favorites of 2015 – Teen:
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (Teen Fiction)
- Coding Games in Scratch by Job Woodcock (Young Adult Nonfiction)
- I am Princess X by Cherie Priest (Teen Fiction)
- Soundless by Richelle Mead (Teen Fiction)
Staff Favorites of 2015 – Kids:
- A Dog Wearing Shoes by Sangmi Ko (Picture Book)
- Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr (Middle-Grade Fiction)
- Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley (Picture Book)
- Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley (Middle-Grade Fiction)
- My Pen by Christopher Meyers (Picture Book)
- Some Things I’ve Lost by Cybele Young (Picture Book)
- Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper (Juvenile Fiction)
- The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt (Picture Book)
- The Only Child by Guojing (Graphic Novel)
- The Odds of Getting Even by Sheila Turnage (Middle-Grade Fiction)
Staff Favorites of 2015 – Movies/TV Released on DVD:
- Gone Girl
- Inherent Vice
- Inside Out
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
- Outlander: Season 1
- The Peaky Blinders
- What We Did on Our Holiday
- Whiplash
- Wild
- Woman in Gold
Wish I had Gotten to in 2015:
- A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders (Adult Mystery)
- Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving (Adult Fiction)
- Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt (Adult Nonfiction)
- Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal (Adult Fiction)
- Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton (Adult Fiction)
- Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (Adult Fiction)
What Staff is Looking Forward to in 2016 – Adult:
- At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier (Adult Historical Fiction)
- Back from the Dead by Bill Walton (Adult Biography)
- Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (Historical Romance)
- Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Adult Fiction)
- Eligible: A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld (Adult Fiction)
- Is That Kafka?: 99 Finds by Riener Stach (Adult Biography)
- Kick Back (Kick Lannigan #2) by Chelsea Cain (Adult Fiction)
- Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man by William Shatner (Adult Biography)
- Lust & Wonder: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs (Adult Nonfiction)
- My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich (Adult Fiction)
- Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics by Rick Shenkman (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Big Rewind by Libby Cudmore (Adult Mystery)
- The Ex by Alafair Burke (Adult Thriller)
- The Fate of the Tearling (The Queen of the Tearling #3) by Erika Johansen (Adult Science Fiction)
- The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley by Eric Weiner (Adult Nonfiction)
- The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian (Adult Mystery)
- The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell (Adult Fiction)
- The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin (Adult Historical Fiction)
- The Travelers by Chris Pavone (Adult Thriller)
- Zero K by Don DeLillo (Adult Fiction)
What Staff is Looking Forward to in 2016 – Teen:
- Front Lines (Soldier Girl #1) by Michael Grant (Young Adult Historical Fiction)
- Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee (Young Adult Historical Fiction)
- The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey (YA Science Fiction)
- The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry (Young Adult Historical Fiction)
- We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman (Young Adult Non-fiction)
What Staff is Looking Forward to in 2016 – Kids:
- Are we there yet? by Dan Santat (Picture Book)
- Booked by Kwame Alexander (Middle-Grade Realistic Fiction)
- Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glen Ringtved, author; Charlotte Pardi, illustrator; Robert Moulthrop, translator (Picture Book)
- Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths by Marilyn Singer (Third in a Series)
- Firelight (Amulet #7) by Kazu Kibuishi (Middle-Grade Graphic Novel/Fantasy)
- Ideas Are All Around by Philip C. Stead (Picture Book)
- Quackers by Liz Wong (Picture Book)
- The Thank You Book by Mo Willems (Early Reader; Final Elephant & Piggie book)
- Untitled (The Land of Stories #5) by Chris Colfer (Middle-Grade Fantasy)
What Staff is Looking Forward to in 2016 – Movies/TV Released on DVD:
- Creed
- Downton Abbey: Season 6
- Hail, Caesar!
- Learning to Drive
- Macbeth
- Sisters
- Spotlight
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Suffragette
- The Assassin
- The Martian
Wishful Thinking: What Staff Hopes Will Be Published in 2016:
- Anything from Bryan Gruley or Michael Koryta
- Fourth Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith???
- Sue Grafton with her alphabet mystery series – 2016 is too soon, though, since she just came out with X this year!
- The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire #6) by George R. R. Martin, which in our dreams is being released this year, but no official release date, yet. (Adult Fiction/Fantasy)
