A Book Lover Celebrates the New Year

Everyone says that Christmas is the most wonderful time of year, but as for me, I prefer the New Year.  Its a time of new beginnings and fresh starts.  I love that.  As a book lover,  I set a reading goal every year because I always want to challenge myself to read new things and expand my horizons outside of my favorite genres.
I really like Goodreads for setting and trying to keep a reading goal.  I have set a goal for myself for the past two years.  Sadly, I didn't quite achieve my goal this year, but I remain undeterred.  I know some people would reduce their goal to help them attain it, but as for me,  I am going to persevere.  With one week left,  I am thirty books behind my goal of 150.  I will keep my goal at 150.
I know some of you are thinking, "You call yourself a book lover and you've only read 130 books this year?"   Please keep in mind that I don't usually read fluff, a romance novel is almost unheard of, and I don't count audio books.  Audio- that's listening - it isn't reading.  It's an entirely different skill set, but that is just my opinion.    If I were reading romance novels, well, I could polish off one - two a day, so a reading goal wouldn't be an issue.  I try to read books that will allow me to learn new things or expand my experiences or knowledge base.
At any rate, back to why I love the new year:   along with setting a reading goal, I select the first books of the new year.  The idea today as I perused my ever-growing to be read list was to select 10 books.  I managed to winnow it down to 19.  The first 19 of 2015.   Here they are:

I will be posting reviews on these books, and all my travels through the literary world as they occur.  I hope you will join me.  Don't hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments and share book suggestions.  I'm always looking for something good to read.