february: 3 & 4

atmosphere, by taylor jenkins reid (i listened to this audiobook and really enjoyed it.  love story around a NASA mission...with enough of a twist to keep it interesting.  taylor jenkins reid can tell a compelling story!  would recommend.)

the wilderness, by angela flournoy (the author is coming to pittsburgh next week and i'm going to see her speak - that was the impetus for reading this book.  it follows four friends through chapters narrated by all four women - relationships (that you see from multiple perspectives), life changes, reflections on society.  i liked this book, though four narrators and a non-linear storyline did make it a bit hard to follow.  i'll be interested to hear more from this author!)

january: 1 & 2

when will there be good news?, by kate atkinson (this is the third book in the jackson brodie series and i enjoyed it.  mystery without being formulaic and with a depth of characters you don't always find.  i'll be continuing with the series!)

before i forget, by tory henwood hoen (this was a book of the month club pick and i liked it more than i thought i might.  it's about going home again, our relationships with our parents, and how the past impacts our present.  i won't be running out to recommend it to anyone, but i'm glad i read it.)

2025 in books

this year i read 42 books, which is fewer than last year but in line with the last five or so years of reading.  9 of those books meet some sort of diversity standard (as in, the main character or author is not white) - not a terribly impressive number and one i hope to change for next year.  and 23 of those books (more than half) were from the library. 

a goal of mine in 2026 is to read more books that i own - ones i want to read but keep putting on the back burner as something new and exciting comes out.  let 2026 be the year that i whittle down my stash!

my favorite books of 2025:

nonfiction:

• eve, by cat bohannon
• prairie fires: the american dreams of laura ingalls wilder, by caroline fraser
• travels with charley in search of america, by john steinbeck
• everything is tuberculosis, by john green

fiction:

• lonesome dove, by larry mcmurtry
• wild dark shore, by charlotte mcconaghy
• the slip, by lucas schaefer

december: 42

i only read one book in december...which isn't entirely true, because i read 400 pages of war and peace as well, but i am still 1,000 pages away from finishing that.  i only *finished* one book in december:

the slip, by lucas schaefer (this is a book by a college classmate of mine and it was so fucking good.  how is this a debut novel?  how do i know someone who wrote a book this good?  there's a non-typical sex scene but otherwise i recommend this to everyone, with the caveat that there are a lot of characters to keep straight.  but there are so interesting and the mystery is so good and i read the last 75 pages on super speed claire mode so i could find out what happened.  loved it!)