2025 books read ... though I"ve probably left some off because I forgot to document them before they got sucked back to the library or kindle unlimited. oops.
1 A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.... I read it for my January grad school residency..... the book is about Antigua, where I went every summer of my childhood. Mom's best friend Taylor was raising her kids there. Of course we visited. The book was especially good because of its familiarity to me.
2 Please Be Advised by Christine Sneed. Hybrid oddity. Very unique and cool read. quirky wonderful, story of a company told through office memos (the author spoke at residency in January)
3 Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid .... i loved A Small Place so wanted to read more by JK. billed as a novel but likely semi autobiographical, Lucy leaves home, Antigua, and works as an au pair as she grapples with self identity.
4 Being Reflected Upon ... poems by Alice Notley.... beautiful, stream of conscious poems navigating grief and nostalgia
5 All the Colors of the Dark... Jan book club (MP)
6 Mama Day... Jan book club(KS) ...
7 Mary Jane... Jan book club (CB)
8 reread Fourth Wing by R. Yarros. Love.
9 reread Iron Flame by R. Yarros. V.good.
10 new release, love the series: Onyx storm by R. Yarros.
11 Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler .... grief and resilience. strong read.
12 Miracle Creek by Angie Kim .... a reread because a friend was RAVING about how good it was ... and when i looked it up, I already owned it on my kindle. so. with no recollection til part way in, i reread and really enjoyed again. this makes me think I maybe could just quite buying/checking out books and just reread the ones on my kindle and my shelves. haha.
13 The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult .... really great book... weaving current times and a Nazi living in the US. loved by all as a baseball coach. interwoven with WW2 historical fiction. intriguing. really well done.
14 Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti .... i got it cause it was weird ... and I've totally bought in. Weird hybrid collage of words.
15 Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. Brie LOVES this book and I finally read it so that I could tell her I love it too. It's not KH's best book, but it was plenty entertaining.
16 There There by Tommy Orange.... novel about native americans in northern cali. Aaron from school was reading it and I owned it... .so it jumped to the top. well written. smart book. like the characters.
17 House of Thorns and Roses ... Feb BC (LS)
18 The Uncommon Reader ... Feb BC (FH)
19 The Wishing Game.. Feb BC ( MBH)
20 If Some God Shakes Your House by Jennifer Franklin .... poetry ... a modern day tale of the ancient Greek story of Antigone ... defying expectations and gender norms in this version.
21 Story Genius by Lisa Cron. a reread. I'm still no a story genius, but hopefully I'm learning.
22 Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. same as above. a reread. trying to learn through repetition as it didn't stick the first time through. haha
23 How to Clear Your Clutter by Karen Kingston. I read it because I need to clear my clutter. hope it helps!
24 Persuasion by Jane Austen ... cause sometimes you just want to read an old book. pretty sad ... but hopeful.
25 No Matter How It Ends A Bluebird's Song by Kat Lehmann ... a haiku memoir: beautiful!!
26 Paladin's Grace
27 Paladin's Strength.... by T. Kingfisher. Fantasy romance .... liked..... don't think i'll read the rest of the series.
28 Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman... some stories I know, some were new .... i'm reading mythology to garner ideas for some writing I'm doing.
29 Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton. lovely book. my intentions same as above.
30 Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding. Sophie mentioned it as one of her favorite childhood series and I CAN"T BELIEVE I didn't read it with her. So I read it now. clever YA. smart book. wish I had read it with her.
31 Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka ... she wrote the Swimmers about a funny group tied together by a swimming pool (that broke) .... and i loved that so i read this .... Very emotional. Japanese "picture brides" brought to the US and married to strangers.
32 Kate Bowler, Have a Beautiful Terrible Day
33 Kate Bowler, The Lives We Actually Have...... read this and the one above because my pal, DM, brought Kate Bowler to town as a speaker. good reads... great speaker. more self help than I generally read but found worthwhile.
34 West with Giraffes ... March BC (TP)
35 Time of the Child ... March BC (SB)
36 Little White Lies... March BC (DR)
37 The Peacock and the Sparrow... March BC (@JM)
38 The secret life of sunflowers .... I LOVE vincent van gogh.... .this is a beautifully woven story of van gogh's sister in law's struggles and a current time line of an auctioneer in Cali.
39 Picture Perfect by J.Picoult..... an anthropologist and a movie star ..... nuanced relationship .... like they are in real life, but deeper exploration than most books.
40 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins .... a HUNGER games book. i hate the premise of children set up to kill children, but i'm totally bought into the world that SC created. this is my favorite sort of dystopian novel with a well developed, believable world. and hamitch. it is his story. I read it FAST and then read it again slowly. a fave of mine ... if you like her other books you'll appreciate this too.
41 Whisper and Shout: Poems to Memorize edited by Patrice Vecchione ..... I bought it at a used bookstore in LA: The Last Bookstore. I"ve read all the poems but memorized none yet. I still have time. haha
42 The Many Lives of Mama Love ... April BC (JR) a favorite... a memoir
43 The God of the Woods ... April BC (KJ)
44 The Secret War of Julia Child's... April BC (JH) ... weirdly real seeming historical FICTION
45 The Great Divide .... April BC (@JM) ....Fiction about the making of the Panama Canal. Learned a lot.
46 Orbital by Samantha Harvey .... I love a good space book ... usually with a fantasy, sci fi, dystopian tilt.... but this one is realistic fiction.... well, as much as i can vouch for it having never been to space. I read it because it won the Booker award. Highly regarded book. I loved it.
47 The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li ... excellent.... award winning even. two imaginative girls in post war france are story tellers and writers..... and their lives veer and part and of course they fight. Really great. A favorite.
48 The Book of Alchemy : a Creative practice for an inspired life .... by Suleika Jaouad... a compilation of creativity essays by lots of known creative folks. good read. sat on my coffee table for ages.
49 Translation from Icelandic: A Woman Looks Over Her Shoulder by Brynja Hjalmsdottir, translator: Rachel Britton. Universal story of being in a world that is hard on women.
50 I Hope You Remember by Josie Balka.... Brie made me read it ..... the poet is a viral tiktok star .... making poetry main stream. i liked it.
51 In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado..... wow. super intense book. linked essays on abuse. so well done.
52 The Briar Club... May BC (DB) great for book club discussion
53 The Frozen River ... May BC (MM)
54 Take My Hand (Perkins-Valdez) .... May BC (@JM)
55 Broken Country ... May BC (KB tue) AND June BC (AF Th) .... love story, lots of twists
56 Whom the Gods Would Destroy .... by Richard Powell. This is my fave book of my middle school/high school years. I reread the hard back pretty regularly BUT it finally came out on kindle. So i read it in the new way! (and I learned that I stay up reading later with a kindle book than I do with a physical book cause of that whole book light difficulty. haha.
57 If Tomorrow Never Comes .....easy romance book ..... cute
58 Flashes of Insight by Lynda Allen.... magical realism unless you believe in premonitions..... and menopause... and mystery. fun.
59 Lion .. june BC (CG) .... this was a daughter's memoir about her remarkable father. it was a great discussion.
60 The Pact by Jodi Picoult... BC @my house. I've been re interested in JP books. so current, always some surprising twists. this one was not my favorite but it was really great... and was excellent for talking about at BC
61 Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill. Julia thought I should read this book. so I did. excellent.....
62 Foster by Claire Keegan .... July BC (SB) .... a reread from i think two years ago.... beautifully written and worth rereading
63 Variation by Rebecca Yarros .. because I loved her Fourth Wing Series..... this was a romance... hot guy and a ballerina. I liked it.... but not like I've been captured by Violet et al. in FW, Iron Flame, and Onyx Storm
64 The Short Story of the Novel by Henry Russell.... saw it at book club at CG's house...... was intrigued enough by the title that I was thumbing through it and offered it to me to read. It covers specific historically significant novels, genres, themes, and techniques. Worthwhile.
65. Artemis by Andy Weir. I loved Project Hail Mary so much... and the Martian by the same author so I read Artemis, the name of the station in space that is a full colony of earth folk. Completely different than the other two of his I read ... AND I also enjoyed it immensely. Weir does an amazing job creating a whole world .... this book, like the others was artful sci fi with suspense.
66. Guncle by Steven Rowley. Guncle=Gay uncle ..... cute book for W book club at MR's house. Primary theme is grief .... but also family, love, resilience, be yourself (is that a theme?)
67. the things we leave unfinished by rebecca yarros. a fine book. good story. good story telling... but does not compare to her fourth wing series.
68. fourth wing. rebecca yarros. summer reread for me. it's kind of astonishing how much you miss on first reads .... and then well into the series you come back and there are hints and ideas that had gone unnoticed that you then realize are BIG plot points. fun reread.
69. iron flame. rebecca yarros. summer reread. see above. love.
70. onyx storm. rebecca yarros. the third in the fourth wing series. i'm mad at the ending AGAIN on the second read. haha. worth noting, i have a bunch of series that i love rereading. harry potter, lord of the rings, hunger games, clan of the cave bear. i'm sure there are others but those come to mind. it's like comfort food. revisiting something that feels captivating. nostalgia for the first time you read it and got to learn all the amazing new things in that world.
71. dictionary of lost words by pip williams. (gosh i love the name pip) historical fiction about the oxford english dictionary and feminism! (aug BC inkTH)
72. we all live here. jojo moyes . (tennis BC) my house. i enjoyed the book while i read it. i always love jojo moyes books, but in hindsight it isn't as memorable as some of hers. a divorced woman dealing with all the stuff, including a philandering dad coming back into the main characters life, her kids, her step dad, aging, negotiating, forgiving, moving on. well rounded, real characters.
73. Table for Two: fictions. by Amor Towles (tennis BC @SJ, i couldn't attend) i'm interested in short stories these days for writing/learing purposes... so this was OK to read. thought i do think harder to have a good book club discussion around. partly because one or the other story stick in different readers head and others become hard to remember. whereas a novel there's a growth over time that pulls readers along in a similar manner.
74. Atmosphere by taylor jenkins reid. (my pick for W book club in september) i LOVED this book. i was reading the end of it in an airplane on my way back from Vermont in august. the flight attendant asked me if i was ok. SOBBING but just fine, thanks. it is a NASA fiction book. i like space and kick ass women astronauts, but this was really about historical lack of equal rights, feminism, being true to yourself, and a love story. a beautiful, suspenseful love story. a favorite
75. culpability by bruce holsinger. (AF's choice for aug tues BC, hosted by KB) i LOVED the notions of this book... it was AI and ethics and family dynamics and keeping secrets. SO entwined and interesting but centered on the story of a family in trauma. (car accident) . SO much to think about and discuss.
76. the sirens by E. Hart ... ( SEPT inkBC at CW's) .... i missed the discussion. wah. the book was family dynamics, secrets and a titch of magical realism (which i love)
77. Nowhere for Very Long : the unexpected road to an unconventional life.... by Brianna Madia.... social media #vanlife story of a woman living the life of a nomad. I think it is written as a hero's journey of classic literature .... with no resemblance to classic.... it's all 21st century. but aren't we all the heroes of our own journeys? it's about her relationships and self identity .... or learning herself... are all nomads searching for themselves? maybe?
78. At The Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier ....(T BC @JP) ... my favorite book by this author is Remarkable Creatures. everyone else's ( i boldly state) fave book by this author is girl with a pearl earring. she has LOADS of books. from what i can tell, all very well done historical fiction. she must love doing a research deep dive! this one is 1800s, ohio, johnny appleseed, gold rush, family conflict/relationships. i liked the weaving of perspectives/ chapters from different characters' points of view.
79. Teahouse of the Almighty by Patricia Smith. poetry by an amazing poet. reread in the summer while taking a workshop from her.
80. Let Me Count the Ways: A Memoir by Tomas Q Morin. A poet writing a novel, so it is beautifully written. themes of poverty, machismo, drug addiction, mental health that were all quite hard to read, beautifully written, but difficult for me.... but, the best books make you feel things, particularly things you aren't accustomed to.... ultimately satisfying for this optimist/romantic with some forgiveness and surviving a difficult childhood
81. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. now i know i always like her books. this one was lighter ... but perfect for tennis book club (october th LD)
82. Bookclub for Troublesome Women (W BC at JK's) historical fiction and feminism. good read. great choice for a book club
83. Less ... th INK october .... a reread for me..... main character is on a literary tour... themes of love, self discovery (am i reading more of those than usual or is that pretty much a constant theme in modern novels?), personal growth with growing pains. i think this book is satire which isn't my favorite genre..... but it is a well done story of a growth journey.
84. A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen.... a reread as I cleaned some bookshelves.
85. Monster Fashion by Jarret Keene ..... an intense book of poetry published in 2002 by a student of my mom's.... and inscribed to her.. Really nice to me that a kid (like me) raised at our conservative, academically rigorous, religious elementary school has written and published such an intense, off beat, creative, wonderfully weird, book of poetry.
86. The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo... he's a poet and a spritual advisor. this book is meant to be read by the calendar year, less than a page a day..... but i plowed through it. ADHD ya know? i think it is lovely and thoughtful and i think i'll try to read it slowly in 2026. wish me luck.
87. The Fifth Season by Mark Nepo. creativity in the second half of your life. i'm well past my half way mark but plodding successfully on my endless creativity journey ..... so this book spoke to me.
88. Wearing God by Lauren Winner. clothing, laughter, fire and other overlooked ways of meeting god..... i'm reading this for a six month book group. I'll need to reread assigned bits for later meetings. I like it. It will be good to talk about it with friends.
89. Ella Minnow Pea, a novel in letters by Mark Dunn. I read this book when it came out 2ish decades ago? and was telling someone about it. i love an epistolatory novel! ..... so after talking about it, i needed to do a reread. say the title out loud. say it again faster. haha
next up:
theo of golden .... tennis BC in december
the girl with the red balloon by k.locke ... th INK november
call of the camino for january camino gathering
perhaps to read soon: the hobbit, the fellowship of the ring, the two towers, the return of the king. j.r.r.tolkien
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