Past Book Lists: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021
I had started off the 2024 blog post calling it a roller-coaster of a year and, with the benefit of hindsight, I can now say that it was instead a warm-up for the shitshow that 2025 turned out to be. And my reading reflected that, in terms of the topics, of the ebbs and flows in my reading frequency, etc. I was all over the place with some specific patterns mixed in.
Sometimes I read for comfort, when the world and/ or my personal life got too intense. Sometimes I read for direction, for education, for preparation for the times we live in. A few times I needed the comfort books after the education books and several times one education book led to more on related topics. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf introduced me to Belinda and Evalina and I’m so grateful it did (mental note to go back and look for more books mentioned in that fascinating deep dive into the women writers who were influences and contemporaries of Austen and who have mostly been lost to history). That loss, at times deliberate and others just plain patriarchy, folded in so neatly with Invisible Women, Men Who Hate Women, Content and Extremely Online. I would put them all on a recommended reading list together.
Let’s Move the Needle taught me that I need to pick my cause if I want to be an effective activist. I can still care about and support other causes, but focusing on the main one with allow me to have more impact. The previous paragraph made it clear that feminism is my cause- always has been and always will be.
Meanwhile, The Cult of Trump and Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism spoke to each other with Dying of Whiteness joining the conversation. On Tyranny, Let This Radicalize You and Mutual Aid joined Needle in offering maps, lessons and resources for navigating these extraordinary times.
Still getting the vast majority of the books from the Libby/ Overdrive app via the Los Angeles Public Library. I started sharing my monthly lists with reviews on Instagram, which probably confused my algorithm even more, oh well.
Favorites:
Top 5 Fiction:
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhorn
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
- Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Top 10 Nonfiction:
- Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
- Men Who Hate Women: The Extremism Nobody Is Talking About by Laura Bates
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
- Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shapes a Legend by Rebecca Romney
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Let’s Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives and Makers: Build Community and Make Change! by Shannon Downey
- Content by Kate Eichorn
- Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence and Power on the Internet by Taylor Lorenz
- Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care You by Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba
Honorable Mentions: Every Tool’s A Hammer by Adam Savage, You Gotta Be You by Brandon Kyle Goodman, A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern and Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry- all audiobook memoirs that healed something necessary in me during a year of trial and growth
| Title | Author | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| The Briar Club | Kate Quinn | Historical Fiction |
| The Ministry of Time | Kaliene Bradley | Sci-fi |
| The Etymologicon | Mark Forsyth | Nonfiction |
| Content: MIT Press | Kate Eichorn | Nonfiction |
| The Personal Librarian | Marie Benedict | Historical Fiction |
| Every Tool’s a Hammer* | Adam Savage | Memoir |
| Viral Justice | Ruha Benjamin | Nonfiction |
| Extremely Online | Taylor Lorenz | Nonfiction |
| The Frozen River | Ariel Lawhon | Historical Fiction |
| The Phoenix Crown | Kate Quinn & Janie Chang | Historical Fiction |
| You Gotta Be You* | Brandon Kyle Goodman | Memoir |
| Men Who Hate Women | Laura Bates | Nonfiction |
| Dating and Dragons | Kristy Boyce | YA Romance |
| All The Sinners Bleed | SA Cosby | Thriller |
| The Message | Ta-Nehisi Coates | Nonfiction |
| Straight Outta Crawley* | Romesh Ranganathan | Memoir |
| Go Ahead in the Rain* | Hanif Aburraqib | Nonfiction |
| Cadillac Desert | Marc Reisner | Nonfiction |
| The Wild Road | Gabriel King | Fantasy |
| Emily Wilde’s Compendeum of Lost Tales | Heather Fawcett | Fantasy |
| My Year of Rest and Relaxation | Ottessa Moshfegh | Fiction |
| Jane Austen’s Bookshelf | Rebecca Romney | Nonfiction |
| You Get What You Pay For | Morgan Parker | Essays |
| Belinda | Maria Edgeworth | Fiction |
| Evalina | Frances Burney | Fiction |
| Dungeons & Drama | Kristy Boyce | YA Romance |
| Braiding Sweetgrass | Robin Wall Kimmerer | Nonfiction |
| Let’s Move the Needle | Shannon Downey | Nonfiction |
| Let This Radicalize You | Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba | Nonfiction |
| Against White Feminism | Rafia Zakaria | Nonfiction |
| Time Is A Mother | Ocean Vuong | Poetry |
| The Buffalo Hunter Hunter | Stephen Graham Jones | Historical Horror |
| The Cult of Trump | Steven Hassan | Nonfiction |
| Legends & Lattes | Travis Baldree | Fantasy |
| Dying of Whiteness | Jonathan M. Metzl | Nonfiction |
| Bookshops & Bonedust | Travis Baldree | Fantasy |
| Shield of Sparrows | Devney Perry | Fantasy Romance |
| The Serviceberry | Robin Wall Kimmerer | Nonfiction |
| Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing* | Matthew Perry | Memoir |
| Project Hail Mary | Andy Weir | Sci-fi |
| The Spellshop | Sarah Beth Durst | Fantasy |
| Fourth Wing | Rebecca Yarros | Fantasy Romance |
| Iron Flame | Rebecca Yarros | Fantasy Romance |
| Girls Can Kiss Now | Jill Gutowitz | Nonfiction |
| The Teller of Small Fortunes | Julie Leong | Fantasy |
| Onyx Storm | Rebecca Yarros | Fantasy Romance |
| Braving the Wilderness* | Brene Brown | Nonfiction |
| Invisible Women | Caroline Criado Perez | Nonfiction |
| Greenglass House | Kate Milford | Fantasy |
| Written on the Dark | Guy Gavriel Kay | Historical Fiction |
| A Tropical Rebel Gets The Duke | Adriana Herrera | Romance |
| Cultish:The Language of Fanaticism | Amanda Montell | Nonfiction |
| Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Fiction |
| Brigands & Breadknives | Travis Baldree | Fantasy |
| On Tyranny | Timothy Snyder | Nonfiction |
| Exhibit | RO Kwon | Fiction |
| How to Age Disgracefully | Clare Pooley | Fiction |
| A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeepings | Sangu Mandanna | Fantasy |
| The Poppy War | RF Kuang | Fantasy |
| A Different Kind of Power* | Jacinda Ardern | Memoir |
| Mutual Aid: Bulding Solidarity During This Crisis | Dean Spade | Nonfiction |
*audiobooks
Did Not Finish & Plan To Someday: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 by Taylor Branch
Did Not Finish & Don’t Plan To: A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande, The Year of Less by Cait Flanders, Mecca by Susan Straight
As evidenced by my Top 5/10 Lists, I was more excited by the Nonfiction I read this year compared to the Fiction. I learned I get tired of military fantasy easily (all battles all the time) and that as much as I love historical fiction, if it’s poorly written, no amount of curiosity about the actual historical event will get me to finish the book- in this case, the Mexican-American War and the hanging of Irish soldiers who fought for the Mexicans.
I had predicted more wedding themed books in 2025 in my previous year’s post and, well, not one. I guess I had gotten my fill.
I’m lowering my Reading Goal for 2026 to 50, down from 60. I want to take more time with each book and feel less pressure to cram ’em in during the busy months. I look forward to seeing what I read in 2026!
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