2025 Reading Highlights

 

 

I was thinking that 2025 was just a so-so reading year until I looked back at my list and thought, "Actually, there are a lot of gems here."  As ever, I am mixing it up:  physical books, ebooks, audiobooks.  I like to have options ready for any situation from emptying the dishwasher or folding the laundry to waiting for a podiatrist appointment or teen practice pick-up to making a plane trip fly by or taking my poolside relaxation to the next level.  

I no longer offer a lot of commentary in these annual wrap-up posts.  If you want brief reviews of these books, check my Instagram -- I'm @booksandcarbs there!  You can always hit me up via email or text or in the comments of this post.   

Most of the books below were published in 2025.  I'll note the exceptions.

 

Fiction Highlights

All the Colors of the Dark (2024) by Chris Whitaker

Heart the Lover by Lily King

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin

Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven

Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley

Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler 

 

Honorable Mentions 

Far and Away by Amy Poeppel

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

No Two Persons (2023) by Erica Bauermeister 

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes 

Fiction Highlights with Romance Vibes -- not separating out because I find romance to be a lesser category but because I know some people avoid this genre (their loss!)

Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman 

Love Sick by Deidra Duncan

It's A Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Take Me Home (2024) by Melanie Sweeney 

 

Books I loved (and feel protective of) that you may NOT love...

Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian 

Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman 

The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers 

 

Memoir/Non-Fiction Highlights 

A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting by Casey Johnston

Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin

Be Ready When the Luck Happens (2024) by Ina Garten

Open (2009) by Andre Agassi

When Gavin Met Stacey and Everything in Between by Ruth Jones and James Corden 

  

Series that I am "series-ly" loving...

Shannon Bowring's The Road to Dalton series -- read the final installment of the trilogy this past year, In A Distant Valley

Beth Brower's The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series -- I listened to the first eight of these books this year via Hoopla!

Elin Hilderbrand's The Academy series -- co-written with her daughter Shelby Cunningham, book two publishes in 2026

Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series -- I read all of them in 2025 and FREAKING LOVED the experience!  The first book in the series is called Case Histories and you must read in order

Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series -- the first is Still Life and most recent is The Black Wolf, must be read in order 

 

A Mixed Bag: 25 in 25 Recap

For the past two years, I have made a list of goals/intentions for the year and recorded my progress for the 0-5 readers of this blog.  My results for this year are revealed below in this color.  I have made a 2026 list in a slightly different format, but I am just keeping it to myself.   

1. Reflect often on this mantra:  I have all that I need, and I am grateful for all that I have.

Obviously this intention was tough to measure, but I did, in fact, reflect on this mantra from time to time.   

2.  Meet my Peloton minutes goal of 15K.   I reached 15K on Monday 12/28, but it would have been sooner had I not rolled my ankle on 12/12, which limited my activity.  

3.  See three movies in the theater with Diet Coke and generously buttered popcorn.  I went to see The Roses by myself (enjoyed it) and saw Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery on Thanksgiving Night with two of my kids (loved it).  Popcorn with generous butter and DC on both occasions.  I love going to the movies but wish there were more movies I wanted to see (or that the movies I want to see were more widely distributed).  

4.  Stream three documentaries at home.  I watched The Perfect Wife (about Sherri Papini) on Hulu and it was nuts!  I watched Glitter & Greed: The Lisa Frank Story and am relieved that I was too old to be really into her stuff because she is shady and greedy.  I watched The Girl in the Picture on Netflix and was pleased to see dogged investigative work lead to closure.  I watched The Sins of the Mother on Netflix and it was just plain sad.  I also watched A Deadly American Marriage on Netflix (yikes), American Murder: Gabby Petito (so sad and his parents suck), and Mr. & Mrs. Murder on Hulu (geez Louise!!!!).  And, I almost forgot the most powerful of all:  A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Reed.  I am easily disturbed by intense fiction on page and screen but have seemingly no problem watching true crime.  

5.  Make three new recipes from cookbooks on my shelves.  Nope.  

6.  Make three new recipes from those saved in the Paprika app.  I tried a couple of new recipes I had saved online but no big winners.  

7.  Read two Agatha Christie books.  I listened to Murder on the Orient Express and read the ebook of Murder at the Vicarage.  I felt that both of them were fine, but I didn't finish eager for more Agatha Christie.  

8.  Try the Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie mystery series.  I absolutely, positively loved each every volume of this six-book series, and I pray that Atkinson writes more.  These are so, so good and so smart.  The first book in the series is called Case Histories.  I listened to all of them via audiobook.  

9.  Try a little harder with my finger nails.  I didn't do much, but I did try some press-on nails right before Christmas and felt pretty fancy (though partially handicapped) for about a week before I pulled them off.  Would try again before a big event.  Way less of a time commitment than a manicure.

10.  Finish transforming our playroom/family dumpster into an organized storage space.  Nope.

11.  Work out five times at Courts Plus. I did this and then some.  I never quite made it into the weight machine zone, but I had some good sessions with treadmill and recumbent bike during the winter months.  

12.  Clean out the bottom half of my china cabinet.  I did do this and organized all of my Nora Fleming minis in my china cabinet drawers.  

13.  Clean out the bottom half of the family room entertainment center.  Nope.

14.  Get a new rug for the family room.  I finally selected carpet to be cut and bound for a rug.  It was delivered in August.  

15.  Log the clothing items I purchase.  I logged every clothing purchase and every return.  I think the logging actually motivated some returns.  It was, um, enlightening.  I won't tell you how many new items of clothing I acquired (twas in triple digits though), but I have some data to ponder as I make purchases in 2026.  I will be logging clothing/accessory/shoe purchases again this year.

16.  Walk the Steps at Swallow Cliff.  Nope.

17.  Take a walk at Lake Ellyn.  Nope.

18.  Visit the Art Institute of Chicago.  I went twice!  I went in winter to meet a friend from college who lives downtown.  I went this Fall with an older friend with whom I volunteer at the nursing home.  We saw the Gustave Caillebotte exhibit and had a late afternoon snack in the AIC's gorgeous courtyard I never knew about!

19.  Visit the National Museum and Shrine of St. Therese in Darien.   Nope.

20.  Encourage/Force family to watch a comedy special as a family.  Nope.

21.   Clean out linen closet.  Sort of.

22.  Clean out upstairs hall closet.  Worse than ever up in there.  

23.  Find a series to stream with my husband.  We watched Season 1 of White Lotus and are almost through Season 2, except that I was getting so stressed out about whether Jennifer Coolidge's character was going to get bamboozled that I haven't wanted to finish.  

24.  Try food at Aunt Tina's Kitchen, a newer restaurant Elmhurst.  My son and I really enjoyed the food when we got takeout there, but, sadly, this spot has closed.  I think location was the main obstacle to success.  

25.  Take walks with 50 different people in honor of my 50th birthday.  I did take walks with friends, as I always do, but I didn't actively make walking dates and ended up walking less than usual this year because I started doing strength workouts with a trainer and that cut into some of my walking opportunities.