2025 reads
2025 in order
Blake Crouch - Dark Matter
Muriel Spark - A Far Cry from Kensington
Haruki Murakami - The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Sarah W. Jaffe - Wanting What’s Best
Rufi Thorpe - Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Becky Chambers - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Zadie Smith - Swing Time
Isabel Allende - The Wind Knows My Name
Elle Cosimano - Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
Virginia Sole-Smith - Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture
Torrey Peters - Detransition, Baby
Sarah Harman - All the Other Mothers Hate Me
Colum McCann - This Side of Brightness
Sequoia Nagamatsu - How High We Go in the Dark
Hildur Knutsdottir - The Night Guest
Aml El-Mohtar - The River Has Roots
Tan Twan Eng - The Gift of Rain
Gu Byeong-Mo - The Old Woman with the Knife
Joanne Harris - Chocolat
Margaret Renkl - The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year
Carl Hiaasen - Fever Beach
Benjamin Labatut - When We Cease to Understand the World
Elly Griffiths - Bleeding Heart Yard
Colson Whitehead - John Henry Days
Nnedi Okorafor - Death of the Author
Catherine Mack - Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies
Megan Cummins - Atomic Hearts
Carl Hiaasen - Skinny Dip
Ottessa Moshfegh - My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Jessica Anya Blau - Mary Jane
Lillian Fishman - Acts of Service
Percival Everett - James
Deborah Crombie - A Share in Death
Barbara Kingsolver - Prodigal Summer
Melissa Broder - Milk Fed
Kristin Chen - Counterfeit
Joanne Harris - The Blue Salt Road
Noah Hawley - Before the Fall
Andrea Mara - Someone in the Attic
Elly Griffiths - Postscript Murders
Deborah Crombie - All Shall Be Well
Max Gross - The Lost Shtetl
Attica Locke - Bluebird, Bluebird
Deborah Crombie - Leave the Grave Green
Lauren Groff - The Vaster Wilds
Deborah Crombie - Dreaming of the Bones
Attica Locke - Heaven, My Home
Rebecca Makkai - I Have Some Questions For You
Carl Hiaasen - Bad Monkey
Barbara Kingsolver - The Bean Trees
Deborah Crombie - Kissed a Sad Goodbye
2025 in review
1 book short of a book a week average. Very end-of-year heavy, thanks to seemingly thousands of hours of nursing and consoling my newborn since November 1. My only rereads were Barbara Kingsolver this year, and they were delightful. I read some physical books but the majority were audiobooks because parenting. I read a lot of sad books and a lot of funny books and a bunch of mediocre mysteries but as usual there were many bright spots.
Notable mentions: I think my favorite of the year was The Vaster Wilds, but Prodigal Summer is a close second. The most fun were Mary Jane, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and Milk Fed. James was as amazing as everyone says. Detransition, Baby taught me a lot and was dark and deep. The River Has Roots was beautifully inventive, Finlay Donovan is Killing it and Every Time I Go on Vacation Someone Dies were fun and different mysteries (and I Have Some Questions for You was a great but decidedly not fun mystery). Carl Hiaasen was a revelation for me. Wanting What’s Best and Fat Talk were incredibly important books that every parent should read, IMO. And a huge shoutout to Atomic Hearts by Megan Cummins, because I went to college with her and am so relieved that her book was actually fabulous (though incredibly sad so watch out, but also enjoy).
Happy reading in 2026 and maybe I’ll surpass 52 books!
2025 in detail
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2025 in detail *
12/28/25. Probably the best of the series so far - a good mystery, interesting history, lots of personal drama.
12/28/25. A reread and as wonderful and timely as ever. She is such a marvel and absolutely one of my favorite ever writers.
12/24/25. Not as good as the other Hiaasen books this year but fun nonetheless.
12/18/25. I really liked this but it was pretty upsetting. Great writing, well-threaded storytelling, very sad picture of Me Too and misogyny.
12/12/25. I give up! Just cannot care less about the Ranger who is such a bad cop who makes overall very bad decisions. The Texas history is interesting but this did not have to be a thin mystery, it should have been something else.
12/9/25. The best in the series thus far, though took me a bit to get into it. A lot more story and plot than just murder, but pretty good once it all connected.
11/29/25. A beautiful masterpiece of a book. Loved the writing, the syntax, the imagery. Sad but phenomenal storytelling. Almost gave up after the first 30 minutes but eternally grateful I didn't - this is definitely in my top 5 of the year.
11/26. Getting more invested in the detectives but the plot is still surprising and I just can't believe how often they interview suspects over meals and drinks. Seems a bit unprofessional but what do I know!
11/23/25. I had read another book by this author a while back but I didn't love this one. Just don't feel sympathy for the Ranger but the plot was ok.
11/17/25. Engrossing, funny, and fascinating. Surprisingly sad! But really imaginative and worth the read.
11/10/25. My mom implored me to keep reading the series and I've definitely warmed to the writing and the detectives. Felt like the plot was too out of left field to guess, though.
11/6/25. A fun listen and I really like the detective in this book. Not crazy about the other cast of characters but I enjoyed it overall.
11/2/25. Very creepy book and finished it the night after I gave birth. A decent thriller with an interesting portrayal of divorce but not my favorite.
10/31/25. Pretty weird to read a book about a plane crash amidst a seeming slew of real life crashes. Have thought about this book a lot and really like the writing.
10/25/25. Almost gave up after part 1, but then part 2 started to get more interesting. I would've liked it more if it was shorter, and I care nothing about fashion, so I'm not even sure why I listened haha.
10/19/25. Gave her another try and I liked this more than Chocolat but was still unimpressed. Fairy tales are hard to mess up but it was weirdly sexist??
10/15/25. This was a lot of fun. Definitely triggering for disordered eaters but otherwise sweet and delectable and more than a little sexy.
10/8/25. This is a reread and I liked it well enough the first time around, but absolutely loved it this time. A beautiful novel about love, sex, loss, and so much ecology. She's such a wonderful writer.
9/24/25. Didn't really love this one - thought the detective was a little too high and mighty, not to mention ageist and fatphobic. But the mystery was engaging and I didn't see it coming.
9/21/25. Harrowing and exceedingly clever. Even though I somehow never read Huck Finn, I couldn't put this book down. I'll be thinking about this for a long time.
9/20/25. This was an utterly delightful coming-of-age novel. Funny, sweet, and genuine, darling Mary Jane learns about sex, drugs, and rock and roll all in one summer. A really fun audiobook as well.
9/9/25. Not at all what I expected. I thought this would be a lot more titillating, but instead it was philosophical, though fell flat for me. I didn't like any of the main characters and the premise just never made any sense.
9/3/25 - Absolutely absurd book, laugh out loud funny, while sometimes poignant and even sad. A treatise on what it means to lose everything, do nothing, and take a hell of a lot of drugs.
8/27/25 - Utterly fun, and as I'm learning about Hiaasen, satisfying in the way that only novels can truly be.
8/19/25 - A fabulous read by an old friend from college (!!). A total gut punch, hit a bit close to home, and really excellent writing.
8/18/25 - Loved this immensely. A fun mystery (that I guessed! but not because it was too easy) and great writing with breaking the fourth wall. Delightful.
8/12/25 - I always have high hopes for Okorafor but I just don't love her characters. The story was meaningful and thought-provoking though.
7/31/25 - I love Colson Whitehead but this book just took me forever to read. It was basically a hundred or more vignettes, so while the writing is excellent, it never captured my interest for more than a few chapters at a time.
7/28/25 - A great recommendation from my aunt. Good mystery, interesting suspects, wonderful detective.
7/19/25. Very fun and laugh-out-loud absurdist picture of modern day America, only the bad guys actually get what's coming to them, making it more of a fantasy than reality. Read it in just a few days and definitely needed the laugh.
7/18/25. Very strange, almost stream of consciousness writing about the history of murderous science, physics, and strange and smart men.
7/12/25. Not my favorite nature book, but a lovely treatise on finding life in your own backyard in the middle of a planet on fire.
6/9/25. Fun at first but a little too black and white - church bad, witch good. Never saw the movie and honestly probably won't now.
6/7/25. Very strange book about an aging assassin. Interesting insight in what it means to be an old woman in society, with a bunch of action. The characters weren't super well developed but it was a fun listen.
6/2/25. Not my preferred style of writing and I wasn't crazy about the characters or their paths, but I learned a lot about Malaysia and the Japanese during WWII. Ultimately very sad, unsurprisingly.
5/25/25. A beautiful little fairy tale about love and grammar and family. Lovely illustrations as well.
5/20/25. Another Libby find and extremely unsettling, without a real resolution. Excellent creepy novella.
5/13/25. A surprise find from Libby with climate apocalypse mixed with pandemic. Powerful, extremely sad, sweet, hopeful at the end.
5/3/25. One of his earliest books and wow has he become a better writer. Not the hugest fan of the characters or main story, but I liked the history.
4/24/25. A bit over-the-top but fun with some real character growth. Loved the focus on friendship!
4/20/25. A real gut punch, phenomenal writing, very beautiful and poignant and sad. But not without hope or humor, at least. Very much like life.
4/9/25. One of the most influential books I've ever read - totally upended so many ideas and beliefs about dieting, fatness, weight, and our society. A must read if you've ever eaten or thought about food before, especially if you're raising children.
4/4/25. Funny and fun albeit very silly and a little predictable. Overall a real romp!
3/15/25. Not my favorite Allende, but an important read for today's world. Covid, refugees, immigration policy.
3/15/25. Zadie Smith is a difficult writer. Lots of playing with time and characters with little exposition. Took me a long time to finish but ultimately a pretty stunning book.
2/24/25. A sweet space opera. Not thrilling, but light and enjoyable. Clearly influenced by The Expanse but not nearly as good. Will still likely read the rest of the trilogy because we all need a little more levity right now.
2/22/25. A real delight. My cousin recommended it before she died last year and it was almost like we got to have a conversation again through this absurd and very funny book about onlyfans and family and motherhood. While it wasn't all so believable that didn't really matter, because I laughed out loud a whole lot.
2/8/25. Required reading for parents, especially white parents.
1/31/25. Somehow had never heard of Muriel Spark before a friend mentioned her in response to last year's reading list. Doesn't always hold up but laugh out loud funny. Looking forward to more of her books.
1/26/25 - Not even close to my favorite Murakami, but still a quiet, thoughtful, read. Makes me want to revisit all of my old favorites.
1/9/25 - I think I'm just not a Blake Crouch fan. Too rote, too predictable. Only one real plot twist for me and even that was too oddly violent.