june: 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23

big month of reading here!  though one is a book of poetry and two are audiobooks...

the very secret society of irregular witches, by sangu mandanna (this was another battle of the books pick - not something i would have chosen for myself but i liked it!  a witch comes to a house to mentor three little witches and hijinks ensure.)

heart the lover, by lily king (i loved this book about relationships past and present and things said and unsaid.  it made me cry but only for a few pages and it also made me want to keep reading.  this could be a best book of the year for me!)

water, water, by billy collins (love his poetry and this collection is no exception!)

a marriage at sea, by sophie elmhirst (this was a new york times best book of the year, about a couple who are shipwrecked.  it's about the time lost at sea but it's also about the marriage and i loved that angle.  this is not a long book and it's beautifully written - i would recommend!)

the correspondent, by virginia evans (this is a book that everyone has been talking about so i decided i need to see what the deal was - i liked it but didn't love it.)

carl's doomsday scenario, by matt dinniman (book two.  still obsessed.  listened to this one with arron in the car to and from the upper penninsula of michigan.  will be continuing the series!)

circle of days, by ken follett (i really liked this book - the story of part of the building of stonehenge, 2500 bce.  ken follett isn't the most eloquent of writers and you really have to be in this for the characters and the plot, not the dialogue or writing.  but a ken follett book every now and then scratches an itch, and i enjoyed this one!)

may: 13, 14, 15 & 16

water moon, by samantha sotto yambao (i read this for my adult battle of the books competition and it's not one i would have picked up otherwise.  the world was magical and the author really asked you to accept that paper cranes were time or that a market could exist in the clouds.  i grew to understand the world, but this isn't a book i was super comfortable with or fell in love with.)

paper girl, by beth macy (i listened to this audiobook over several months.  i've heard this book described as a liberal version of hillbilly elegy, as the author goes back to her homework in ohio and see how it has changed since industry left and the local newspaper shut down.  she does an effective job of combining statistics and current events with the lived experiences of people in this small town, and by extension many small towns.  she also reflects on trump's election and modern day politics and the impact of those on driving people apart.  it was a depressing read at times with twinges of hope, and i'm glad i read it.)

how to solve your own murder, by kristen perrin (another battle of the books pick.  a charming little cozy murder mystery - not my typical genre, but i was happy to dabble it for the competition.)

murderland, by caroline fraser (i loved this nonfiction book, though the subject matter is dark - the author's premise is that iron smelting and leaded gasoline and other environmental factors played a role in the pacific northwest having a disproportionate number of serial killers in the 1970s and 80s.  the author grew up in the area and takes us through her own personal history alongside the history of ted bundy and others.  it was fascinating and she's an incredible writer.  i loved her previous book, a biography of laura ingalls wilder, and now i think i would read anything she's written.  highly recommend this, if you can handle some horrible murder details.)

april: 9, 10, 11 & 12

war and peace, by leo tolstoy (arron and i loved this book, which we read from late november to early april, about 75 pages a week.  we had weekly book club talks over dinner.  i read a short companion guide along the way.  this book is both pretentious (did we read it because we felt like educated people have read this book?  yes we did) and an actually great book (the character development was brilliant and the observations about humanity were spot on).  if you have a 1,400 page book in you, i would like to recommend this one.)

portrait of a thief, by grace d. li (i read this for the adult battle of the books competition i've joined, and it was fine and relatively enjoyable but not worth recommending to others.)

when women were dragons, by kelly barnhill (veronica recommended this book to me and i really enjoyed it - a world in which women in the 1950s spontaneously turn into dragons instead of accede to patriarchal demands, and then the implications for those they leave behind.  really intriguing premise and had enough plot to keep it going.  i'd recommend this!)

dungeon crawler carl, by matt dinniman (well, now i'm obsessed.  i alternated between listening (in the car and on walks) and reading (in bed) and then as soon as i finished i forced arron to listen to it and i listened to it all the way through again.  i love carl and princess donut.  i loved the audiobook narrator.  i didn't think i would enjoy a litrpg book but it turns out i really did.  read this book!)

march: 5, 6, 7 & 8

not my father's son, by alan cumming (i listened to the audiobook and it turns out i read it before!  thanks, blog for reminding me of that when i got halfway through and was like I HAVE DEFINITELY READ THIS BEFORE HOW ELSE COULD I KNOW WHERE THIS WAS GOING.  loved it - great memoir - would highly recommend if you have any interest in alan cumming.  he reads the audiobook, which is excellent!)

imbeciles: the supreme court, american eugenics, and the sterilization of carrie buck, by adam cohen (this was not a light read but was an important one and i was glad to dive into this (really problematic) era of american history.  i definitely recommend this to people who like reading nonfiction.)

isola, by allegra goodman (i read this because we were considering it for a summer reading book for students; we ultimately decided not to pick it but i am glad i read it - historical fiction that was pretty interesting and compelling.  well written.  i'd recommend!)

the road to tender hearts, by annie hartnett (i looooooved this book and have added the other books by this author to my list.  funny, touching, compelling - i really wanted to know how the storyline was going to play out.  my version of an excellent beach read that you could read in a weekend!)

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!)

november: 39, 40 & 41

black woods blue sky, by eowyn ivey (this was an odd book, creepy and mysterious, that i think i really enjoyed.  great to read in the winter, as it's set in alaska...if you're up for a little mysticism, i would highly recommend this!  but i don't think i can give it a wholehearted recommendation for everyone.)

little town on the prairie, by laura ingalls wilder (book 7 of 9!  i don't think i'd ever read this one...the blackface scene, which i knew was coming, was interesting to encounter.  as with all the little house books, we take the bad alongside the nostalgia...)

lightbreakers, by aja gabel (this was a book of the month club pick that i don't imagine i would have picked up without that recommendation.  a main character had a child die at age 3...he joins a time travel experimental project with the promise that he can go back and relive moments with his kid.  can he change the past?  we find out the answer to that in the book.  again, hard to know who to recommend this to: i can't imagine i would recommend it to anyone with young kids.  i'm glad i read it - it's well written - but it's in my free little library right now ready for someone out there to grab it.)

october: 35, 36, 37 & 38

the river is waiting, by wally lamb (there are a few wally lamb books that i LOVED and had a big impact on me, but some of his newer books haven't made the same impression on me.  this was a tough read (father goes to jail for accidentally killing his child - you find that out in the first chapter) and didn't ever reach a super uplifting place.  lamb is a great writer, but this was a tough one.)

how to be perfect, by michael shur (this is a tour through philosophy and different takes on how to live a good life.  i listened to this audiobook, which was a great listen (and had some celeb appearances) and enjoyed this book - and learned a bunch! - though i'm not sure i have retained much of what i learned...)

everything is tuberculosis, by john green (i loved this book, the nonfiction telling of what tuberculosis is and its history as a disease, interspersed with the contemporary story of a boy in sierra leone who is fighting TB. there is so much here about public health and what we prioritize or don't as a society.  i was really moved by this book and would highly recommend it!)

slow dance, by rainbow rowell (i like rowell as an author and this was in line with other books of hers that i've read - relatively light but well written.  i can't imagine this will stick with me long term, but i enjoyed reading it!)

september: 33 & 34

september's reading!

so far gone, by jess walter (i really liked this book, the second i've read by this author.  it's got cool character development where the first part focuses on one character, we get introduced a few others and one of them becomes the focus of the second part, etc.  the story is continuous but we see it play out through different character's perspectives.  it feels au courant, with the 2016 election the backdrop for a falling out of characters that propels the plot, but it's not so mired in that as to be depressing.  i'd definitely recommend this one!)

all the way to the river, by elizabeth gilbert (i read this because a friend invited me to see her speak in pittsburgh; having read it, this is one of those books that i'm not sure who to recommend it to.  the author falls in love with her best friend who is dying of cancer.  the book is about the friend/lover's decline and death.  but it's also a really interesting take on friendship and addiction and it's beautifully written...but the whole time i thought, there's no way this book would have gotten published had the author not already been super famous.  but i read it quickly and was definitely interested...this one needs the right audience, for sure.)

august: 30, 31, & 32

now we move to august's reading!

calypso, by david sedaris (this was a re-read, but i love david sedaris's books so much that i could probably re-read all of them and be joyful.  they're amazing both as audiobooks and traditional reads!)

in the heart of the sea, by nathaniel philbrick (i tore through this audiobook about the whaleship essex's sinking at the hands (fins?) of a whale in 1820.  an incredibly well told story, great narrative nonfiction - i learned a lot and had a lot to report out to arron along the way.  highly recommend!)

a court of mist and fury, by sarah j. maas (this is the second book in the series of five...but the last one that i will be reading.  i liked but didn't love this series and the books are long and my reading list is also long and i don't think i'll derive enough joy out of continuing to read them.  glad i got a glimpse into the world of romantasy, but this book was just okay for me. hot take!)

july: 26, 27, 28 & 29

oh boy - terribly behind on logging my reading!  here we go to catch back up...in july i read:

wild dark shore, by charlotte mcconaghy (loved this book - this is the third book by this author that i've read, and while all are stand alone books with separate characters and plots and settings, they have this in common: an admiration of the natural world and a strong female protagonist.  and they're gorgeously written!  if you don't know this author you should.)

supercommunicators, by charles duhigg (i read this as a little professional development over the summer.  i folded some pages back and made some notes but ultimately this was not life changing.)

brave new worlds, by salman khan (another professional development read - this was pretty interesting in terms of talking about AI and education and so i'm glad i read it...but it was also an unabashed advertisement for khan academy and sal khan's other ventures and that got pretty distasteful by the end.  i don't think this is a necessary read in book form - these ideas are ones you can grab onto from shorter articles.)

the names, by florence knapp (i liked this book - three parallel stories of the same woman taking the same baby to record his name - and picking three different names.  does she pick the name her husband wants, she wants, or her older daughter wants?  we see her make different choices from here and the life of the new baby change based on what name he's given.  i liked the premise a lot and was eager to see how the storylines would play out.  this would be a great read to take on a vacation with you!)

june: 22, 23, 24 & 25

a tale for the time being, by ruth ozeki (this was a great premise - a diary washes ashore on the west coast of canada, written by a teenager in japan.  we go back and forth between the life of the woman who finds it and the diary entries as we try to unravel the mystery of who the author is and how the diary got across the ocean.  there's some dark undertones that emerge - suicide, bullying, sex work - and ultimately i was glad the book was over.  it's well written and was interesting to read, but it isn't one that i will be rushing out to recommend.)

the long winter, by laura ingalls wilder (book 6 in the little house series, taking us through a real winter in dakota territory when it started blizzarding in october and didn't end until april.  i was startled as an adult to realize how close the ingalls family came to starving to death, and i don't actually remember reading this one as a child.  this was a quick read, and i'm glad to be continuing through this series.  3 more books to go!)

my friends, by fredrik backman (oh, this one disappointed me.  i loved a man called ove and a few others and was eagerly anticipating this book's release.  while a lot of what i like about backman was still there, this book was sadder than the others and there is a lot of foreshadowing of bad things to come later in the book.  I DO NOT NEED THIS ANXIETY IN MY LIFE.  it didn't make me want to keep reading.  so yes, i liked the characters and i was moved by the story, but it felt emotionally manipulative and i wasn't in the mood for that right now.)

travels with charley in search of america, by john steinbeck (this had been on my to be read list for a long time and i understood (correctly) the premise that Steinbeck drives around the country in a truck with his dog and documents it.  but whomever told me that this was the premise really undersold it.  it's September 1960.  Steinbeck is 58 and he's going to die at 66 (thanks, wikipedia).  the JFK-eisenhower election is upon us, and by the time Steinbeck finishes with the trip JFK will have won.  so yes, he does travel around the country and tell us about the people he meets and the places he sees, but it's so much deeper than that.  he talks with people about the election and muses on his own beliefs about which is the better candidate.  the threat of the atomic bomb is present in many chapters - it's clear he's ruminating on that.  He goes to new orleans where ruby bridges is desegregating an elementary school and he watches her walk into school one day while people spew hate at her.  he muses on masculinity.  he muses on the soul of his dog.  it's really beautifully written and there is SO MUCH TO UNPACK.  i loved it and would highly recommend it to you.)

may: 20 & 21

the ministry of time, by kaliane bradley (i enjoyed this sci-fi-ish romance-ish book about time travelers and their "bridges" to the modern world.  it helped that i had a little obsession a few years ago with the HMS erebus and the terror expeditions to find the northwest passage in 1845 - this plays a role in the plot.  i felt like this book was doing something different with its plot and the author had the chops to fill out the whole story line.  i enjoyed this!)

margo's got money troubles, by rufi thorpe (i read this over memorial day weekend while we were camping - i don't think i ever would have picked it up on my own (the plot revolves around a single mother getting on only fans to make money while building a relationship with her former-WWE-wrestler father) but a friend gave it to me and spoke highly of it.  i really enjoyed this and sped through it!  a well written beach read - the best kind.)

april: 17, 18 & 19

in april i read:

the life cycle of the common octopus, by emma knight (this was a read with jenna book recommendation and i've already almost forgotten what this book was about.  spoiler alert: it's not about octopi.  not rushing out to recommend this one to you, though i didn't dislike it.)

the heaven & earth grocery store, by james mcbride (i read this because we were considering it as a summer reading choice for the students at our school, and i liked it much more than i expected to - deacon king kong is the only other book by this author that i've read and i didn't love it.  this one was really compelling, the interwoven stories of a jewish community and a black community outside of philadelphia in the 1920s and 30s.  we did put it on the summer reading list, and i'm also going to lead a faculty book club on it now!  definitely recommend this one.)

the frozen river, by ariel lawhon (this was a book of the month club pick that i really enjoyed - historical fiction based on the real life story of a midwife (martha ballard) in maine in the 1700s.  i wrote a paper on birthing practices in an american history class in college and knew a lot about martha ballard already - she's a big deal because she wrote daily in a diary that survived her.  loved this fictionalized retelling of parts of her life, revolving around a murder.  would recommend this one!)

march: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16

i read 8 books in january and february combined and another 8 books in march alone.  2 were short and 3 were audiobooks...and i had spring break in there, as well...but it was a productive month of reading for me!  in march i read:

by the shores of silver lake, by laura ingalls wilder (continuing the series - this is the fifth book and i actually don't have a lot of memories of reading this one as a child.  i assume i did, but it seems like one that i didn't re-read often.)

h is for hope, by elizabeth kolbert (this was a short book with one essay per letter of the alphabet, all on climate change.  beautifully illustrated and easily digestible, i'm glad i read this one.)

revenge of the tipping point, by malcolm gladwell (i continue to love gladwell's writing and i listened to this audiobook.  he revisits the tipping point 25 years after it was published, but what comes out if it is an entirely new book.  i really enjoyed this and would recommend it!)

lonesome dove, by larry mcmurtry (making my nerd dreams come true, arron and i read this book at the same time from early january through mid-march, 100 pages per week and had book club each weekend to talk about what we read.  arron put up with me googling book club questions when we were all done and we went through those, too.  i loved this book, and i loved reading and discussing it with him.  this summer we plan to do the same with travels with charley and we have designs on war and peace next winter. <3)

prairie fires: the american dreams of laura ingalls wilder, by caroline fraser (cannot say enough good things about this book.  an incredible biography or laura, her family, her daughter, and america as they lived in it - and as it changed throughout their lives.  one of the best researched but most readable books i've ever read.  listened to it on audiobook and loved this as a companion to re-reading the little house books.  highly recommend!)

everything we never had, by randy ribay (this was a decent but not exceptional YA book.  i appreciated that it introduced me to the filipino-american experience in much greater detail than i understood previously!)

james, by percival everett (this book was getting so much attention - and now has won the pulitzer prize - that i had to read it...and i had to refresh my memory of huck finn on wikipedia first, as you're meant to have an understanding of that book before reading james.  i think this book is beautifully written, has a great concept, and gives a dignity and humanity to the main character that is necessary - and i sort of can't believe hasn't been done already.  i liked but didn't love this book, but am definitely glad i read it and i've passed on my copy to a friend.)

the indifferent stars above, by daniel james brown (i listened to this one and was fascinated by the story behind the donner party expedition.  highly recommend for people interested in american history, though parts of it are really gruesome to read/listen to.  i love this author and was really moved by this story - i talked about it to anyone who would listen for a few weeks there.)

february: 6, 7 & 8

one of our kind, by nicola yoon (i had read this author's YA fiction before and really enjoyed it - this is her first adult fiction and it was creepy and interesting.  the main character is a black woman who moves into an all-black country club community with her husband and child.  and then weird stuff happens.  i would recommend it!  but her YA stuff is the tip top so you should read that first.)

all-american boys, by jason reynolds and brendan kiely (i read this as we were contemplating whether to give it as a summer reading option at school - spoiler alert, we decided not to - and i don't think i would have picked it up otherwise.  two YA authors, one black and one white, write two teenage boy characters in this novel, one black and one white.  the plot centers around police violence from a white police officer towards the black teen.  it was a pretty heavy topic and revisited the same scenes multiple times as the characters reckon with it.  i'm glad this book exists, but i'm not rushing out to recommend it.)

the wide wide sea, by hampton sides (i listened to this audiobook that the nytimes called one of the 10 best books of the year, and i was so glad that i did.  it follows captain james cook's third (and final) voyage around the world as he attempts to find the northwest passage from west to east.  this is impeccably researched narrative nonfiction at its best and i loved it.  highly recommend!)

january: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

the mighty red, by louise erdrich (this is the first louise erdrich book that i've read and it definitely made me want to read more of her books.  compelling story but with a lot of characters and i finished kind of feeling like i didn't know any of them well.  this won't be a favorite book of the year, but was a good start.)

definitely better now, by ava robinson (this was a book of the month club pick that i really enjoyed - the story of a one-year-sober woman's first relationship post-sobriety, as well as the story of her relationship with her estranged father.  very readable but hard to know who to recommend this to - don't read if you've had a parent with a serious illness.  it surprised me by making me cry at the end.  was glad i read it!)

hidden potential, by adam grant (i listened to this one and really enjoyed it, as i did grant's previous book think again.  my favorite pop sociologist right now.  is that such a thing - to be a pop sociologist?)

entitlement, by rumaan alam (i eagerly awaited this book from the library, as i loved his previous book, leave the world behind...but this one didn't hit me in quite the same way.  i'd still recommend the previous book, if you haven't read it.  this one did hit some interesting themes of race and, per the title, entitlement and i did enjoy reading it but i won't be rushing out to recommend this to anyone.)

eve, by cat bohannon (i listened to this book and loved it, the story of how different parts of human women's biology evolved.  from breast milk (was first sweated through pores and licked by early rat-like mammals) to the use of tools by female mammals in history to menopause (humans and whales are the only species to experience this), i found it super interesting and the author was able to condense a ton of research into a really readable book.  would highly recommend this for all women and all non-women interested in biology!)

2024 in books

this year i read 46 books, 7 more than last year.  13 of those books meet some sort of diversity standard (as in, the main character or author is not white).  and 36 (wow - all but 10!) of those books were from the library. 

my favorite books of 2024:

tom lake, by ann patchett 

the best minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions, by jonathan rosen

rough sleepers, by tracy kidder 

shark heart, by emily habeck

the god of the woods, by liz moore

gather, by kenneth m. cadow

brooklyn and long island, by colm toibin