TURNING THE PAGE ON 2025
READING WRAP-UP
BEST BOOKS READ
A YEAR OF ONE BOOK A WEEK
ANOTHER YEAR OF ONE BOOK A WEEK
(at least I tried, ha ha)
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After reading 105 books in 2021, in 2022 I decided to try and keep my reading down to a book a week and make time to do other things: playing my instruments, baking, and listening to music while walking and doing chores instead of audiobooks.
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IN 2022 I WAS THREE BOOKS OVER
IN 2023 I WAS TEN BOOKS OVER
IN 2024 I HIT MY TARGET OF 52 BOOKS ON THE NOSE
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THIS YEAR IN 2025 I WAS THIRTY-TWO BOOKS OVER
(oopsie)
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I was seriously ill from November of 2024 to around September of this year and am still slowly recovering, so I have had an overabundance of reading time during the last year. No instrument playing, or baking, leads to reading more books!
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In 2026 I'm going to go back to setting my Goodreads Challenge goal to one book, and only using it as a counter again.
2025
BOOKS READ
84
(25,072 pages)
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PERSONAL CHALLENGES
NONFICTION 10/6
MIDDLE GRADE 12/12
NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST NATIONS AUTHORS 4/4
MUSIC 1/4
PLAYS 1/4
BACKLIST ARCS 4/4
CLASSICS/VINTAGE 12/6
RE-READS 8/4
FREEBIES/99¢ KINDLE BOOKS 16/4
NYT 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY 5/4
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Only two were failures this year. Three were right on target and five were over. I hit Classics/Vintage and Nonficton out of the park! I would be prouder of the Freebies/99¢ challenge except for the fact that more than half of them were newer buys. I will be keeping all these challenges (some will have amended goals both lower and higher), and adding a Booker Award winner category for next year.
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INTERESTING STATS
MIDDLE GRADE - 12
YOUNG ADULT - 17
ADULT FICTION - 45
NONFICTION - 10
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GRAPHIC NOVELS/MANGA - 10
AUDIOBOOKS - 9
EBOOKS - 73
PHYSICAL COPIES - 2
BORROWED - 34
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I read two physical books this month! I haven't read a physical book since I read one, as in just one, in 2021. More than a third of the books I read in 2025 were borrowed. A good bit more than half were Adult Fiction. Last year I read a little bit less than half in Adult Fiction. Ebooks are still king making up over seventy-five percent of my total. This is the first time in over ten years I have read more Young Adult than Middle Grade. However, this is due to the Flying Witch and Witch Hat Atelier mangas I read.
The two physical paperback copies
I read this year: Small Things Like These and Mother Courage.
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LITERARY FICTION
STANDALONE
CONTEMPORARY
HISTORICAL FICTION
VIETNAMESE CULTURE
IMMIGRATION
LGBTQ
Published 2019 - Libby Audiobook Borrow/Own Paperback
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The writing is exquisite! I'm not crowning a top book for 2025, but this one, without taking too much time thinking about every book, probably ties with one other for that honor. I read it for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I do own a paperback, which was gifted to me by Liis who book blogs at Cover to Cover, but I wanted to first listen to the audiobook narrated by the author because his narration has been highly recommended by so many people. The paperback will be wonderful for annotations when I do a re-read of this stellar novel.
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LITERARY FICTION
STANDALONE
HISTORICAL FICTION
ENVIRONMENTAL FICTION
THE HUMAN CONDITION
Published 2023 - Own Ebook
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This would be the other novel in contention for my top book.
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NONFICTION
THE ENVIRONMENT
RECIPROCITY ECONOMICS
COMMUNITY
NATIVE AMERICAN TEACHINGS
Published November 2024 - Libby Borrow
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Reading Kimmerer's book Braiding Sweetgrass was pretty much life-changing for me, and those kind of books don't come around very often. The Serviceberry is also mind opening, and at a mere 124 pages is an easy way to get your feet wet with her gentle, non preachy, teachings.
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MEMOIR
ROD SERLING
Published 2013 - Own Ebook & Hardcover
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One of the few books I have wanted to turn around and re-read immediately. Besides giving insight into Rod's at home family man personality, and his inspirations for many of his Twilight Zone episodes and other screenplays, this memoir shows how hard Serling fought to bring diverse content to television back when censorship was rampant.
I like this cover better.
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YOUNG ADULT
STANDALONE
CONTEMPORARY
PARANORMAL
MALASIAN GHOSTS
Published 2020 - Libby Borrow
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I loved this as YA, not as Middle Grade as it was published. There were some more mature themes that made this, in my opinion, not suitable for suggested MG age readers.
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YOUNG ADULT
MANGA
WITCH HAT ATELIER SERIES VOLUME ELEVEN
WITCHES
Published 2022 - Libby Borrow
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This was the best one yet. I wish I could give it six stars! It even made me tear up and I hardly ever do that. This series might be my favorite manga of all time.
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LITERARY FICTION
BOIS SAUVAGE SERIES #3
BLACK CULTURE
NYT 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Published 2017 - Libby Borrow
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This book was absolutely brilliant. I was unaware this book was part of a series! It worked well as a standalone, though. I am going to read the other two in order. Jesmyn Ward is one of my favorite new to me authors.
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YOUNG ADULT
SERIES NUMBER THREE
FANTASY
Publishes July 8th 2025 - Publisher ARC
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There's not much I can say because this is the third book in a planned four book series, except Intisar is the ultimate storyteller If you want to sample Intisar's storytelling without a big commitment, read Thorn, which can be read as a standalone even though it's considered the first book in the Dauntless Path trilogy. Thorne is also my favorite story of hers.
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MEMOIR
CULINARY
BLACK CULTURE
BLACK FOOD HISTORY
RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
Published 2019 - Own Ebook
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BIGGEST SURPRISE
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YOUNG ADULT
STANDALONE
HISTORICAL FICTION
FAMILY
MENTAL HEALTH
Published 2019 - Own Ebook & Hardcover
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This is a story about family secrets, resiliency, and redemption as seen through the eyes of two fifteen year olds, mother and daughter, told in dual narratives between 1918 New York City and 1955 San Jose, California. This was a 99¢ ebook! It only has 115 reviews on Goodreads and fifty-four reviews on Amazon, so I wasn't expecting much, but it was a remarkable read, so much so I purchased a used hardcover from Better World Books for my shelves. I have kept the used paperback on my BWB wishlist because I want to buy copies for our local public city parks Little Free Libraries as they become available.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS
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(4.5)
LITERARY FICTION
STANDALONE
HISTORICAL FICTION
HUCKLEBERRY FINN RETELLING
FRIENDSHIP
SLAVERY
Published 2024 - Libby Borrow
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James is a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim the runaway slave's point of view. All in all it was brilliant, but in the last chapter the author threw in the "all White people" sentiment, as in no White people actually helped Black slaves or wanted an end to slavery out of the goodness of their hearts; there was always an ulterior motive. I don't understand how authors of books with diverse content don't see how blanket statements like this, in the most part, undo all the previous "education" many White readers have taken in, as to the truth about how many Civil War era Whites' actions weren't as benevolent as they wanted people to believe. I always think about how the selfless Quakers seem to always be left out of these stories. I have seen this sentiment in some contemporary books, also. Anyway, what I am trying to say is when people are made to feel like nothing they do is genuinely heartfelt, or good enough, they might just say why bother. Hence the 4.5 star rating.
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YOUNG ADULT
WICKED PREQUEL
FANTASY
OZ RETELLING
WITCHES
Published March 2025 - Edelweiss ARC/DRC
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Unexpectedly this story was very much a Young Adult coming of age story, after all the other The Wicked Years titles being dark adult fiction (Literary Fiction in my opinion), with graphic sex, violence, and heavy political elements; which is most likely going to confuse parents and teens even more in thinking Wicked with its: beastiality, orgies, and graphic violence is Young Adult. The new Wicked movie tie-in cover has some parents buying it for preteens. Good grief. These books aren't fluffy like the musical and movie adaptations. My one star deduction is for the step down in depth from what it could have been as adult fare. I still really liked it, though.
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CHICK LIT
STANDALONE
CONTEMPORARY BLACK CULTURE
BLACK HISTORY
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Published January 2025 - Libby Borrow
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This was not Literary Fiction like the author's previous novel, Black Cake, which was disappointing to me. There was too much standard romance in it. However, I understood what the author was doing. She was swinging back and forth between typical romance fare and what I call "Upper Chick Lit"; writing lightly tickling the depth of Literary Fiction. This way she was reaching more readers with her message of diversity, and Black history lessons than with Literary Fiction. I respected this approach, and loved the Upper Chick Lit with Black history content so much it was still a four star read for me. That being said... I still hope she goes back to full on Literary Fiction for her next book.
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(4.5)
SCIENCE FICTION
SERIES ONE
POST APOCALYPTIC
Published 2012 - Own Ebook
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I really liked this story. The story was a little bit wandering in the beginning with some dull spots. However, by forty percent it had hit a solid stride. I am excited to read the next one. If it's anything like the back-half of this one, it will be a five star read.
Happy New Year and happy reading to you!
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