Reading in the New Year, vol. 3

It’s December 31st and once again I’m counting down the last minutes of the year by doing my long-awaited 2025 review of books!

Each year, my reading habits surprise me. 2025 was unusual in that I was going along at a nice pace and had read 24 books by September. I was feeling pretty good about that.

At which point I mysteriously (to myself anyway) stopped cold. I didn’t read a single book after early September.

Part of the problem was that I decided to cut down on Amazon purchases and resist the urge to get a book on my kindle whenever I wanted to read something new. This is an admittedly low-sacrifice form of resistance, so I thought I really should try to stick with it.

Instead, I tried to use the library for most of my books this year, as any good library board member should do. Libraries are amazing and I loved visiting several branches and using the online library regularly. But getting books this way does take a little more planning and when life gets busy, my planning abilities tend to disappear.

Anyway, I have now stumbled upon the best New Year’s resolution ever—to build up my “hold list” and to get in the habit of going to the physical library much more often.

At the same time, looking at my 2025 list, I feel pretty good! I’m struck by the diversity of titles—I read biography, memoir, cozy mysteries, speculative fiction (including hard core science fiction), literary fiction, humor, and several sagas, which are normally not a go-to for me. I even had one book that I ended up not liking at all—this is unusual because by the time I read a sample and examine the jacket, I have a sense for most books. In a way, it was a good experience to make a mistake and pick one I didn’t like—nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that!

But now the minutes are ticking away.

And so, here’s my list, in roughly chronological order:

Vera Wang’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto: I saw a review of this on BookTok and decided to give it a try. The characters make it, especially Vera, but it was also a joy to visit San Francisco and the plot was a page turner. I enjoyed it much more than the Dial A for Aunties from the same author so give it a try even if you didn’t love that book. 5/5
Dial A for Auntie by Jesse Q. Sutanto: It’s entertaining but the characters don’t feel as 3 dimensional as Vera Wang, and I had a few issues with tone and plot. Actually, the humor really was not funny when you got down to it. 2/5
Women Talking by Miriam Toews: I understand this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it was everything to me–luminous glimpses of humanity, courage, insight, revelation. I read it right after watching the movie. I found the movie incredible, but this is more artful. The character of August as an observer and the plot twists with him were most satisfying. 5/5
The English Chemist by Jessica Mills: I can’t remember where I first heard of the scientist Rosalind Franklin, but she seems to be having a moment this year, with the death of her colleague who ended up with a somewhat tarnished reputation plus a few other anniversaries of events. I remember looking at a couple of biographies before settling on this one, which is both a fascinating story and a choppy structural mess that is, at times, almost impossible to follow. It’s worth it but it wasn’t a lot of fun. 3/5
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher: This is a very clever, full circle book told in the format of letters of recommendation. The humor is well done but ultimately I couldn’t totally get into it. It reminds me of Elemeno Pea, the book where letters are systematically cut from the alphabet, if that gives you an idea! 3/5
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke: Confession time: I am into cults. (into, not in—important distinction) They are a great distraction! And, wow, was this a page turner. The writing showed such maturity and nuance. In the end the survivors’ humanity gave it a hopeful tone. It is also a great cautionary tale for everyone. Sometimes I can’t understand how people get drawn into the spell of another person and this showed that process. Very well done, especially from someone so young. 5/5.
We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter: The nonfiction background at the end of the novel pushed this up to a 5 for me. I found it fascinating. But don’t read this part until you’ve finished! Otherwise the book is compelling, but as others have said it was difficult to keep up with the different characters. The family tree at the beginning was helpful but not quite enough…I would have appreciated a label for some of the characters to differentiate a few of them. More distinctive character development in the text would have also helped. Even so I was pulled in and totally invested and the book was inspiring. It was also interesting to watch the TV series afterward. 5/5
The Long Way to a Small Planet by Becky Chambers: A classic sci fi novel that had echoes of the bar scene from Star Wars, the sentient robot from Star Trek and the oligarchs who abandoned Earth to live large on Mars from … oh wait, that’s not fiction, haha. It started off a tiny bit slow but the characters drew me in and the plot was well done. I especially loved that most of the main characters had a secret AND I’m sure the whole thing will tick off the oligarchy, so it’s easy to add a star for that to bring it up to 5/5.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: An engrossing saga with well developed characters set in southern India where Christianity is surprisingly older than it is in Europe. I waffled between 4 and 5 – sagas never quite seem like they are worth the effort to me but I loved learning about this place and its people. 5/5
The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese I wanted to read Verghese’s book set in the American South as a contrast to the Indian saga. The book is about the tragedy of addiction from a friend’s POV, which is different and interesting, but ultimately the lack of artfulness made me dock it a bit. 4/5
Any Human Heart by William Boyd: My daughter got this book for me at Shakespeare and Company in Paris. I’m always a little wary of gift books, especially from my kids, but I was happy to find that I enjoyed it. It’s another saga—formatted as an autobiography—and it could have been shorter by one third so I gave it 4/5
Conclave by Robert Harris: I wanted to read this before watching the movie. I can’t decide which is better—the movie or the book!! I loved them both. Intrigue. Moral Dilemma. Atmosphere. Maybe my favorite of the lot. 5/5
Enigma by Robert Harris: I thought I had seen the movie version of this WWII mystery surrounding code breakers, but I definitely had not! It was good in an interesting kind of way, but nowhere close to Conclave. 4/5
The Women by Kristin Hannah: This story of nurses in Vietnam was eye opening for me since I was about a decade younger than the protagonist. I can remember things from that time but from a child’s perspective. It held my attention and felt real, but again, the sagas wander too much to be at the very top of my list. 5/5
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: I’d heard about this alternative history in which the US lost WWII and finally picked it up to read after bailing on the TV series. Clever. Intriguing. Not completely satisfying. 4/5
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: This is close to Conclave for my ultimate favorite and like Conclave it has a nice film version to do a compare-and-contrast. I actually think I prefer the film, but the book is a page turner too. Oddly, I had tried to start this book a couple times. I’m not sure what it is about the first few pages, but they didn’t grab me. Still, 5/5
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: Also near the top, this is an entertaining, redemption story that I recommend as therapy. It’s not all saccharine though—real human dilemmas and a not so happy ending give it substance. 5/5
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer: Apparently this is a well known “horror” novel. It is basically a haunted house story and doesn’t make a lot of sense. The first part works. The second, not so much. 3/5
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez: This book is set in my county and some of the characters are mighty familiar. It tells the story of a group of former enslaved people who were able to establish their own “kingdom,” as did happen in places after the Civil War. The personal dynamics and the connection between past and present are what make it compelling. 4/5
The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian: We saw the HBO version of this years ago. The mystery about an alcoholic flight attendant who gets caught in a crime web is entertaining and well done, but it hasn’t really stuck with me. 4/5
Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian: I wanted to read a totally different type of novel by Bohjalian and this fit the bill. Set in New England, the book’s history was interesting and atmospheric and the drama felt real. 4/5
Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand: This is the one I did not like. I think I picked it because I do sometimes like Nordic Noir TV and the title is very intriguing. There were a few redeeming qualities such as the mystery elements, but it was pretty icky. Do not recommend. 2/5
Book Lovers by Emily Henry: This is an entertaining rom-com that is supposed to be an anti-rom-com somehow. It’s a fast read with a Hallmark feel. A lot of hype that didn’t quite hit with me. 4/5
One Night Two Souls Went Walking by Ellen Cooney: This was my re-read for the year, one of my top shelf books! I originally found it via an NPR review on Twitter. I debated getting it because the preview didn’t grab me, but I did and it felt as if it were written for me. It is quiet for sure, but compelling and, in the words of the narrator, gets close to *the other thing* in a way that few books do. I thought the ending was perfect. 5/5

Have you read any of these? What’s your take? Let me know and happy reading in 2026!