I read a lot of really good books this year.
* = recommend
** = strongly recommend
 |
| Some of the 43 books I read this year! |
**1 -
You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh
1/9/25
This was a reread because I'm teaching a course on mindfulness and meditation this quarter. This book is a really nice, approachable introduction to mindfulness. We're using it as our textbook, so I wanted to get back through it again before assigning readings. The only weird thing is there are some jarring moments when he uses really traumatic examples, sometimes out of no where, but overall, it's just a really peaceful, calming, thought-provoking book.
2 - So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth edited by aracelis girmay
1/25/25
I'm hoping that one day soon, I can rejoin Haymarket's Book Club because when I was a member, they sent me lots of nonfiction books on (sometimes very niche) topics that I am glad I've learned more about. Every book I've read from that club has been insightful and presented me with new ideas. So We Can Know is no exception. Being a purposefully childfree person, I wasn't sure what I might learn from this collection, other than learning more about other cultural traditions and socialization around pregnancy, loss, abortion, and birth and how women experience medical environments differently--particularly Black women who are often not heard or believe by medical professionals. This book was all of that and a lot more. I also really enjoyed the range of genres: essays, poetry, conversations, visual art, etc. The diversity of how stories were shared matched the diversity of perspectives and really demonstrated that while there were some themes throughout the book, there are infinite stories out there and no universal experience. It is a really lovely collection.
3 - Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers by Scott Norton
I had gotten maybe halfway through this book for my developmental editing class, and it's something I'm curious about, so I finished it. I did appreciate the technical and practical advice, especially in that it made developmental editing for nonfiction works seem a lot like coding qualitative literature and then looking for the narrative within the themes. That felt familiar, and I didn't expect that. I already do a version of developmental editing and call it "coaching" for doctoral dissertations, yet academic writing is so stylized that I don't think I'll use all the techniques presented in the nonfiction section. I did feel affirmed in some of the practices I've adopted based on experience. I was hoping for more information on developmental editing for fiction because that's probably the type of developmental editing I'd want to branch into.
4 - What Editors Do by Peter Ginna (Editor)
2/26/25
For someone who wants to become an editor but isn't quite sure of all of the routes and options, this book is really helpful. There are so many perspectives that give the ups and downs. It does seem like some are written from old-school folx who don't quite realize how much luck paid into their ascension through the ranks, but the descriptions of the actual tracks are great. I don't know that I got much out of it, as I already have my lane (academic freelance), but I did learn a lot about other tracks.
5 - James by Percival Everett
3/7/25 for Bingo Book Club
I really enjoyed this book and understand why it's received so many nominations and awards. It's a very thoughtful retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim's point of view. In my perspective, it felt like Everett really loves Huckleberry Finn but wasn't quite at peace with his love of it because of how Jim is portrayed... through Huck's eyes. So, he wrote a book that is 100% compatible and, if taken as truth, makes both books and characters complicated and lovable. It also had a similar style and weight, keeping the tone very literary. I think it's beautifully written and a compelling story.
*6 - Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway
3/17/25
I am so thankful that Tori Carl recommended this book to me. It really breaks some things down nicely, and it's full of great reading recommendations and writing prompts. I plan to revisit it during revisions of my novel.
7 - Everything's Eventual by Stephen King
3/22/25
This was a fun collection of short stories. I liked that there was a range, but the monsters and creepiness stayed very human. It made me want to read more of King's stories where the bizarre and fear come from otherworldliness.
8 - Yule by Llewellyn
3/22/25, gifted to me by Jerry and Kathy Krone
In 2022, when I asked my parents to do a Winter Solstice celebration with a solstice fire at their place, they not only said yes, they recruited their neighbors to join us and got me this book to learn a bit more about yule (Pagan) traditions. I really liked the approachability, explanations, and ideas and will definitely use it as a reference book moving forward!
**9 - Circe by Madeline Miller
3/29/25, for Bingo Book Club
I loved rereading this book yet again. It's definitely in my Top 10.
10 - Image of Organization by Gareth Morgan
4/1/25, learned about from Zachary Green
I started this book around 2015, got through the first few chapters, and, I assume, then had to focus on my dissertation and didn't have time to read about organizational theory for fun. I don't remember why i picked it back up this year, but this book is, actually, kinda fun.
Morgan offers 12 metaphors to describe and understand organizations. Every one of the metaphors rings true... and also seems to clash with several others. It's a really interesting way to play with metaphor to bring about deep understanding of the way organizations and, more importantly, the people in them function.
11 - Hidden Potential by Adam Scott
4/5/25
I liked this book. There were some interesting tidbits. I just think it could have used a little more development and deeper examples. Like, some of the examples demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the field (such as suggesting there are faculty at universities who teach but don't do research, and there are those roles at every university. They're undervalued and underpaid, but they're there). But it was interesting.
12 - As You Like It by William Shakespeare
4/12/25
This wasn't my favorite Shakespeare play, but it does have some lovely lines. It was also nice to have a story where nothing super terrible happens and everyone ends up happy.
13 - Dream State by Eric Puchner
4/17/25
I read this book for a narrative writing class. Honestly, I really didn't like it. I'm pretty sure it's because I didn't like or even feel like I knew the characters. When we discussed it in class, our professor had us go through some sections in detail, convincing me that there was some decent writing and beautiful scenes/ideas, but when I read it myself, those sections just didn't hit because I didn't care about the characters. I also have a really hard time when cismen write women, and this book begins and ends in the main woman character's point of view. It just didn't hit right.
14 - Luster by Raven Leilani
4/26/25
I read this book for the same narrative writing class. I did like this one. The narrator was interesting and surprising. I'm not sure I loved it all the way through, but I enjoyed being surprised by a character who did strange things and had strange thoughts, yet they all seemed consistent with the her character.
*15 - The Question of Palestine by Edward Said
5/25/25
I learned a lot from this book, and it was also really wild to read about the situation with Palestine and Israel with a perspective from the early 1990s... and to realize that so little had changed and things have only gotten worse and worse and then exponentially worse, while we all watch.
16 - Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
6/8/25
This book is a small collection of William Wordsworth's poetry, and I must have had to have bought the book for a class because there is a lot of underlining in some sections and a few notes. I remember being very into Wordsworth's poetry, so I revisited it, and honestly, it was fine. Like, there are a few beautiful poems and lines, but altogether, it feels repetitive: nature is pretty, and he lost his wife. A few of the poems were so long that it was tough to maintain focus and follow them, but again, there are some really beautiful moments.
17 - Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
6/19/25
I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this book. We read it in a class, and at first, I was into it. I liked the voice and characters. Then, it got a little too icky with teenagers have sex and some very questionable situations. Then, it takes a hard turn, and I wasn't into it... and then I kinda was? I didn't realize there was going to be so much uncertainty, almost mystery, around the events and then what the "truth" was in terms of the message of the book. I still don't quite know what happened, but it did have us talking and trying to figure things out, while reading through some very well-written passages. So, if you read this book, I recommend making sure someone else you know has or will read it to because you'll probably want to talk about it!
18 - Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
6/29/25
Teesha is always making us read the most depressing books, and this one is right on up there. I got pretty excited when there was a supernatural element, and then it was just sad sad sad some more. It's really well written. But sad.
19 - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Future by Douglas Adams and Mitch Been
7/10/25
I accidentally purchases this book when I was trying to purchase The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as an audiobook, and then it was so cumbersome to return it for some reason that I just kept it. Then, I thought it might be a good option for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge list item about reading a book about a favorite piece of media, but then, once I got well into it, I realized it was just a series about Douglas Adams's takes on the future of certain technologies (books, music, etc.) and not at all about his science fiction writing. By the time I realized we weren't getting to the Hitchhiker's Guide at all, I just finished it. It's kind of fascinating how much he got right, but then again, like all people, smart or not, he got a lot of things wrong. It was a few too many hours just to hit that message.
*20 - Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
7/22/25
One of my professors recommend I read this book, as I jump into a new writing project that has some (kinda) similarities. I'd seen the film and liked it, so I decided to give it a go. Then, I was also able to get my book club's support in selecting it for our next read. I can't wait to discuss it with them. I usually hate when (1) cismen write from the perspective of women and (2) characters aren't given names. This book had both of those things and yet... I loved it. It was short and quick and had fascinating (nameless) characters, and I never had any idea where it was going next. (The film is based on the premise of the book but the two differ greatly.) It's a bit of a sci fi thriller... with some horror bits. If you like any of those things, I definitely recommend it.
21 - Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
7/30/25
I read this book to get ahead for reading for my fall writing course. I really didn't like One Thousand Years of Solitude, so I was prepped to hate this too. This book, however, didn't have any of the things I hated about the other. It was short, easy to read, easy to follow, and had all kinds of little twists along the way, even though it's presented from the start which character will die. He takes the reader through the how and why and all of the strange circumstances that meant the character should have lived and why he didn't. It was fairly enjoyable.
22 - The Avengers: 76:492
I have a bunch of random comics and sometimes read them, with no context. At least I knew most of the characters for this one... except one. And then that character dies in this issue. That was unexpected hello and goodbye, new character.
23 - House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
8/11/25, loaned to me by Cassie Branderhorst
I really wanted to like this book because Cassie and Stephen King and so many others have said it's great. But I just couldn't get into it. It was so much work, and I just didn't find I cared enough about the characters or the story itself for the work to pay off. There were some really cool themes throughout, but I wanted more out of them.
*24 - Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
8/11/25
I read this book for #19 on the Book Riot 2025 Read Harder Challenge list: Read a queernorm book. This was a middle grade book, and while I've come to really enjoy YA, middle grade isn't quite my thing. That said, there were parts of this book that were really beautiful. In particular, I enjoyed the main character, Jam, and her relationship with Pet, the "monster" she accidentally summons. I could picture them and enjoyed their growing relationship, even with its constant tension, as Pet was there to destroy an actual monster, someone Jam knew even though she didn't know who it was. Jam's friendship with Redemption was also very sweet and believable. The characters, their relationships, and the mystery element of the plot kept me invested in the story.
**25 - Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
8/12/25
I read this book because I've been trying to learn how to be more engaged in activism work. There were some vital lessons I learned from this book, particularly in keeping long-term, versus short-term, impact in mind when deciding where to spend my energy in working to create a better world. In particular, it was helpful to have some clear guidance on engaging with nonprofit organizations, as many of them solve problems in the short term, rather than challenging and dismantling systems that create the conditions for the problem in the first place, and how many nonprofits recreate harmful systems and structures, contributing to barriers to liberation for all. I do think much of the work is beyond the current scope of my current circle, but it was a small book packed full of thought-provoking and useful information.
**26 - My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
8/17/25
I read this book as an assigned read for my novels writing class. Based on the title, I figured it would be fun. I was even more pleasantly surprised when I realized the chapters were short and very easy to read. Quickly, I was immersed in the characters and story. The premise of the story is pretty obvious from the title, and while it is an intriguing premise, and the author jumps right into murder, I was even more fascinated by the layers and layers of family dynamics, cultural influences, workplace tensions, unrequited love tropes, and really round main characters. I really adored this book and can't wait to talk about it with my classmates and professor.
*27 - They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh
8/18/25
I read this book for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a book about a moral panic. I picked They Came for the Schools for this item because of the recent attacks on education, especially public education. It was a hard read (i.e., listen). While the author told a compelling story and shared how people fought back, the main events of this story occurred in 2020-2022, and things have only gotten worse, particularly with the new presidential administration working to dismantle the Department of Education and privatizing K-12 education, and I see so much of the South Lake strategy spreading, while counter strategies do not seem to have been effective in pushing back. While I learned a lot, this was a stressful read.
**28 - The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
8/19/25
I read this for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Reread a childhood favorite. The Outsiders is the first book I remember loving. Like, I know I was a kid who liked to read, but this is the first book that made me think, wow, I really love reading. I remember being even more shocked because it was assigned in my seventh grade English class, and I don't think I realized that I could love, like, not just do well, but really love something that was assigned.
I haven't revisited the book since then, so I was both excited and nervous to pick it up again. I was worried I wouldn't love it... or maybe I'd even hate it. Maybe revisiting it would ruin my first book love. Good news: I loved it so much. Again, I didn't want to put it down. The characters are vivid and riveting. The story keeps moving. And it's so beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.
I'm thinking this will enter my reread rotation. It's definitely at the top of my YA fav list, and that is a very strong list. Unlike other books on that list though, this one was actually written by a teenage girl (about teenage boys), and I definitely did not realize that until reading the preface and afterward. Honestly, it's mind blowing and inspiring. I might just reread That Was Then, This Is Now after this.
8/23/25, gifted to me by Laura Lee
I liked the vibe of this book. It was super freeing and realistic, and I can't wait to try some of the rituals.
30 - Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
8/24/25, audiobook
I read this for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read the first book in a completed young adult or middle grade duology. I found this book through a search for ideas for this list item. It was fine. Some of the descriptions were pretty, and it's always fun to have a badass girl/woman main character. But it was all, she's a badass, and there's a love triangle, and of course she's going to save the day. I suppose I didn't see one of the twists coming, but it wasn't super compelling. So. Yeah, it was fine.
31 - The Entrepreneur's Guide to Financial Well-Being by Wayne Titus
9/2/25
This is a very helpful book. Some of it was over my head, but it's good.
32 - Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer by Dan Buettner
10/8/25
I read this for research for a book. It's silly but also made me want to make some healthier choices.
33 - Duma Key by Stephen King
10/20/25, audiobook
There were bits of this book that I liked. But it kind of goes off the rails at the end. The characters and setting were fun though.
34 - Hip Hop Is History by Questlove
10/27/25, audiobook
I picked this book because I've been a long-time hip hop fan and have always felt like I needed to know about the history of hip hop and how hip hop has affected history, especially in the United States. This book gave a lot of that, though I feel like the real meat of it was confined to a few chapters in the middle, when Questlove really goes into the emergence of hip hop and then how it evolved and was influenced and influenced into the 90s and 2000s. But I found the centering of The Roots, while understandable considering the author, to be frustrating. Like, I'd get if he talked about how various artists and albums affected his own music and the group, which he does discuss, but the whole beginning of the book is just him rambling about himself, in the middle he talks about how he and The Roots were affected (and kinda not really affected) by rap beefs and such, and then the end just feels like him spewing opinions on younger artists. Like, I get his opinions on the genre and hip hop artists are definitely more informed and nuanced than mine are, but it was just a little weird that he made it seem like The Roots were the center of all of it, rather than just telling the story as an insider who has a unique perspective.
*35 - The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
11/16/25, given and recommended to me by Kathy Krone
It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I was in, I was in. It's a really sweet story with great characters, but more than that, it's about what gets left out of official records and whose stories go untold because of it. Williams keeps things focused though, talking specifically about how the words women and poor people used were left out of the Oxford English Dictionary and the value of those words and those stories. It's not too heavy handed because there's still a focus on the characters and how their lives weave together and influence each other.
36 - The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
11/16/25, assigned by Rebecca Johns-Trisler
I read this book for a second time, not because I loved it, but because it was assigned for my novels class, and I wanted it fresh in my mind. Some of it is really great. I really enjoy the characters in Evelyn's story. I find Monique to be boring though. Her problems seem to simplified, while Evelyn's problems and solutions are deep and complex. It still does read, however, as a white woman writing two biracial women, and I don't even know why the characters needed those identities. So, yeah, Still meh.
37 - Billy Summers by Stephen King
11/24/25
I liked this much more than I thought I would. There was no horror, though there is violence. It was honestly kind of a nice story.
38 - The Matzo Ball by Jean Meltzer
11/25/25
I read this book for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge item "read a holiday romance that isn’t Christmas." I kinda hate Christmas, so I was down for this one. So, you can imagine my disappointment when the book opens with the main character being obsessed WITH CHRISTMAS. I was so mad. But I'd bought the book, so I just kept going. And it didn't really end up being about Christmas, but there was a lot of Christmas. I also dislike a main character who is a writer. It feel so lazy because the person writing it is obviously a writer, and there are way too many writers who are main characters. In the middle, there were a lot of cute details, and I was brought back in. But then, the Jewish man who was throwing a Hannukah party ordered a meat-and-cheese charcuterie platter for his staff. And I was right back out. And then it just got so cheesy and stupid. Like, these characters hadn't seen each other in nineteen years, since they were twelve years old, yet somehow they knew they were meant to be together and were in love and should get married a.s.a.p. So dumb.
39 - Holly by Stephen King
12/4/25
I picked this up at an airport because for one time in my life I hadn't packed enough books on vacation and wanted something to read on the plane ride home. Even though I didn't realize this book was a spin off of another of King's novels, which I haven't yet read, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of Silence of the Lambs, where we know there is a killer and the grotesque thing the killer is doing, and we have someone hunting down that killer, unsure of who they are and what grotesque thing they're doing, only that some is missing. It is a bit of a long book, but the characters are great, and the whole time, I assumed they'd catch the killer, but I wasn't sure who we'd lose along the way. Plus, it takes place during the prime of Covid and BLM protests, and it's really fascinating how King wove those elements into the setting, allowing those pieces to add to the character development, rather than being distracting. There are some pretty gross parts, but overall, I liked this a lot.
40 - Scrapper by Matt Bell
12/14/25
I got this book because Matt Bell mentioned it in his book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts, which I read last year. He talked about being inspired by the ruins of the Packard Plant in Detroit, and that's all I really knew about the book. It was really good and then a bit icky but in a very intriguing way and then there were a couple extra stories thrown in there that I don't quite know how to make sense of. I don't know if I'd recommend it per se, but I did enjoy the read. It had me hooked from the moment the tension starts (which does take a few dozen pages).
41 - Harlem Shuffle by Colton Whitehead
12/27/25, for book club
When Deanna picked this book for book club, I was pretty excited about it. I really like Colton Whitehead's writing, both his style and his creative way of weaving stories that are surprising, compelling and meaningful. This is also a duology, and I was excited to have a follow-up book if I liked this one.
But I didn't like this one. From the start, I couldn't get into it. I could barely tell the characters apart, and I'm just not into organized crime stories. This one may have been deeper than that, but I had such trouble following the story that I was supposed to be paying attention to that I'm sure I missed a lot. So... meh.
42 - There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
12/28/25, for book club
When Leanne picked this book for book club, I was like, dang, Leanne, why such a long book? But once I got into this one, I wanted it to never end. Shafak created three fascinating characters and wove their stories from different time periods around each other, using beautiful language and intriguing, thought-provoking themes. I also learned a lot, but it never felt like she was trying to teach me something. She was only telling stories. She very artfully, however, gave enough information about settings and events that I was very unfamiliar with, yet it all just feels like part of the story. While I felt there were some pacing problems at the beginning (too slow) and end (too fast), I really loved this book.
43 - Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
12/28/25, for the Book Riot challenge
I picked this for the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge item Read a Queer Mystery. I was really expecting to like this book, but I didn't. I don't know. I guess I was expecting a murder mystery or some other kind of crime mystery, but, instead, it's more of a high school mystery that turns into a major conspiracy. But the actual conspiracy just felt too much like the real world, so it wasn't a super shocking reveal. Some of the characters were okay, but others were too flat to really care about. So. Meh.
44 - Gmorning, Gnight by Lin Manuel Miranda
12/31/25, for the second time
I reread this book for the Book Riot item "Read a 'cozy' book by a BIPOC author." I would have rather read something new, but I really wanted to finish the Book Riot list this year. I already had this book, and it's a very quick read. I really enjoyed it the second time as well! It's just really sweet and encouraging and humanizing. I highly recommend it.
