book-reviews

I read (by eye or by ear) 174 books this year, and here’s my 10 favorite nonfiction and 15 fiction, listed by alphabetical order.

Nonfiction

Accountable: The true story of a racist social media account and the teenagers whose lives it changed, by Dashka Slater. Many takeaways, but the one that was the most relevant with a 15-year-old boy in the house: boys’ social cache is how funny they are and boy humor is “edgy” (which quickly becomes racist/sexist). And follow up, this is very hard to manage well by anyone called to deal with it.
Awake, by Jen Hatmaker (memoir). I am surprised how simpatico Jen was to my life, as a darling of evangelicals … until she wasn’t. She wrote this book a few years after her divorce after being radio silent for a while. The raw honesty of this book kept it from being muckraking, but aside from the ‘he did WHAT?!?’, Jen is a role model for her wisdom, thoughtfulness, her diverse friend group and openness to other ideas, and her strong stance for her love and beliefs in spite of being punished for them by previous followers. Her humor (especially the absolute schizophrenia we both felt about educating our kids through the pandemic) drove her writing– this is the sort of book I wished I could write if I ever upgraded from my annual Christmas letter.
Being Mortal: Medicine and what matters in the end, by Atul Gawande. This book stuck with me for the rest of the year. With examples across time and cultures and countries, what is the best (housing and medical) practice for aging humans? What many of us Westerners assume would be best– cultures where the extended family lives together and takes care of their aging parents — might not be at all. But there also might not be a practical best idea, at least not yet.
Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of evolution, by Cat Bohannon. What if we consider evolution from a female lens? As soon as we swap out “she” for the ubiquitous “he”, we start imagining perhaps some of our more remarkable “upgrades” were born more from the mother of necessity– carrying food AND a baby, outliving our fertility, language and stories, and the absolute necessity of gynecology as a part of reproduction and society. Fascinating read, if too long (meaning that the most interesting points were buried in my memory by less important ideas).
Girl on Girl: How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves, by Sophia Gilbert. Ugh, there are some ugly truths here. ‘Back in the day,’ pop stars could be older, bitchy women. What does it say about misogyny that the more you look and sound like a prepubescent girl, the better you do? What about advertisements (Abercrombie) that seem more like porn– what does “real porn” have to do to still be a draw? Answer: it must be edgier. This is not good for women. Or men. This book covers many topics, and it gave me some perspectives that resonated, especially in this year of MAGA II, as much as much of it made me ill.
How To Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success, by Julie Lythcott-Haims. The wisdom that has remained with me is that many of us traveled a very non-straight line from A to B (and then added C and D to our life journey before ending up at J or Q), but we want to give our kids the “wisdom” of taking the straight path from Here to Where-I-Want-You-To-Be, to save them from mistakes. Of course, those mistakes may not be mistakes, or just valuable life lessons. This book is written more for the Palo Alto crowd trying to get into Ivy Leagues, but that is only a more extreme Woodinville, honestly.
Memorial Days, by Geraldine Brooks (memoir). I did not know she was married to another author (Tony Horwitz, who I also should now pick up a title or two) and in 2019, lost him very unexpectedly when he was just sixty. Her time of grief is recorded here, jumping between when it first happened and a few years later when she spends time alone in Australia to face her grief head on, for really the first time. I was touched.
Notes to John, by Joan Didion. How embarrassing that I did not know of this famous author before this collection of notes was published, I believe after her death. This is mostly a story of John and Joan’s daughter, and the true heartache Joan has for this child, this adult as she wanders through the world, debilitated by mental health struggles. It is intimate and beautiful and wrenching and crushes the lie that “it will all be okay in the end, and if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed. How have I not heard of the online advice column Dear Sugar? This is the wisdom, compassion and love I want to give the world. This is what she has in addition to being a wonderful writer/wordsmith. Now I will need to read her novels and other collections.
Unshrunk, by Laura Delano. Wow, this tickled my brain with new ideas. In short, what if the medicine for mental illnesses actually causes mental illness? This very honest memoir reflects closely on her life (with medical and therapist records) from ages 13 to 27 when she was treated for worsening mental illness. Did she have bipolar disorder or did the withdrawal from meds make it seem like she had? Is “borderline personality disorder” the new “this woman is too hysterical to deal with” diagnosis? She rejects the sacredness of the DSM-5 and points out that PhD’s are far better trained to prescribe meds than to get patients off them. Lots to think about!

Fiction

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick (Historical fiction). Yes, please. I really liked the setting of the 60s and 70s and the reality for (white) women– a women couldn’t get her own credit card until the year I was born. And I finally, peripherally, “read” The Feminine Mystique through this accidental book club of four new neighbors. Maybe this book is best enjoyed by troublemakers, but I was glad I got my hands on it.
The Briar Club, by Kate Quinn (historical). I loved this perfectly crafted story so much, from the house-narrated interludes to the almost-short story sections as characters told their own stories, dancing around Grace’s presence in this 1950s boarding house. The twist was everything I could hope for, and Kate Quinn remains one of my favorite writers.
The Correspondent, by Viginia Evans (fiction). A book I wish I had written. A story told through letters to and from Sybil, a retired lawyer, who eschews most phone and text communication for hand-written letters. The book is poignant with an achingly beautiful ending.
Deep End, by Ali Hazelwood (romance). I do not care for romances with college students and particularly student athletes (I’ve tried to read some pretty misogynistic hockey stories). I also don’t care for this protagonist’s particular brand of kink. And yet. And yet. Ali Hazelwood takes unabashedly smart women, gives them character flaws and personal difficulties, and watches them work through their issues, have break throughs, and great sex. She definitely delves into brains and feelings and allows them to both be important. I love Ali.
The Framed Women of Ardemore House, by Brandy Schillace (mystery). Possibly a new favorite detective. Jo Jones is autistic and hyperlexic, an American who has inherited a crumbling English manor in a small town where she’ll never fit in…but might make friends anyway. I’ll read the sequels!
The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (historical fiction). There are the briefest entries in the 27 years of diary keeping of the remarkable Martha, a real midwife who delivered over 800 babies, often just involving notes on the river and whose baby was born that day in a small Maine town in the late 1700s. From this real diary, Lawhon creates a tale murder, justice, and the reality of women-as-second-class citizens. It’s fascinating and the images of this 1789 winter will stay with me for a long time.
Full Speed to a Crash Landing (#1), How to Steal a Galaxy (#2), Last Chance to Save the World (#3), by Beth Revis (Frolic = SciFi + Heist + Romance). So, so, so fun. Female protagonist, long-game heist, cute boy, excellent twists, secrets held from first book to last– chef’s kiss for perfect reading frolic. Best listened to–the narrator is far better than the voice in your head for this one. (Books are 4 hours long each so lumping them together.)
Heartless Hunter (#1) & Rebel Witch (#2), by Kristn Ciccareilli(Witchmance thriller).

(#1) I was thrilled to see the author was influenced by The Scarlet Pimpernel— the too shallow aristocrat/socialite couldn’t possibly be the outlaw Crimson Moth, who was helping persecuted witches escape, even if the most famous (and sexy!!) witch-hunter has his suspicions. The magic is a clever system, which I appreciate the author making sense of, and the writing makes the sexual tension palatable.

(#2) The sequel and final ending to Heartless Hunter and I loved it so much. I didn’t get bored of the characters and continued being surprised and angered and amused and hopeful. My favorite trope is a couple who like each other, and I kept forgetting this didn’t start out this way, but there was something about these characters that even when they completely betrayed each other, it still worked. I do like the cat-and-mouse games– which of them is 3 steps ahead of the other and for how long?

Help Wanted, by Adelle Waldman (fiction). A Barak Obama best book that gives some Xray insight into a group of blue-color workers at the bottom of the food chain at a box store in Small Town, USA. I crave these insights while sitting in my golden, over-educated, upper-middle class progressive tower. I like that there aren’t really any heroes, but no villains, either. We are a product of personal and social circumstances and not many can make heroic thrusts out of their own stratosphere.
The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (mystery). #5 of the Thursday Murder Club. I don’t know if the stories/mysteries get better each book, but the characters certainly do. I read Osman’s first book in a new series this year, and I have every hope for the next books based on how well he has written this series.
Lily and the Octopus, by Steven Rowley (fiction). I think this will make the TOP! TEN! BOOKS! THIS! YEAR! Lily is Ted’s life– even if he had much of a life, his dog would still be important. I loved the voice Ted (and the author) gives to Lily as she (or Ted) grapples with the “octopus” growing on her head. It gave me all the good feelings with a particularly excellent ending.
My Friends, by Fredrik Backman (fiction). If I ignore his Beartown novels, Fredrik Backman’s writing started off excellent and has only improved. This book stabbed me in the heart and brain, and only sweet tears came out. I loved how he unraveled this parallel story of friends and art and genius. It is a love letter to friendship.
The One In My Heart, by Sherry Thomas (romance). Before she wrote The Elemental Trilogy and Lady Sherlock, Sherry Thomas loved romance novels, and she is quoted to write what she loves to read. This is an unabashed modern fairy-tale, too easy to pick apart for his “millions and millions” and aristocrat background, but I absolutely adored the banter and he-loved-her-first trope. Maybe I shouldn’t give such cotton candy five stars, but it was the perfect book to finish at 2am on my first day of summer break.
Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles (historical fiction). I loved the dialogue in this 1930-40’s novel that felt like contemporary fiction. This author “shows, not tells” about his characters, and I liked this intelligent, scrappy New York protagonist very much, even if I didn’t love her romantic choices. There was a hint of a more readable Proust in this book and Towles always writes with wit and insight.
Scythe (#1), Thunderhead (#2) and The Toll (#3), by Neal Schusterman (Sci-Fi). I read the first two books twice (the second time so I could be ready for the 3rd book). Once human conquer death (but don’t institute birth control), then the eventual outcome is Scythes, or reapers who must choose humans to kill. I think what I liked about this series is that the AI was consistently good, mostly keeping the world from becoming dystopia. Without once mentioning current politics or Trump’s name, Schusterman clearly wrote the trilogy during Trump’s (first) term and even more clearly, hates the man. And yet, I think you could be MAGA and love epic Sci-Fi and not find warnings about Trump. My brain was obsessed with this series for a decent amount of time in 2025, so I had to include it.

Of the 160 books I consumed this year, these rose to the top, somewhat in order and split between fiction and nonfiction. I want to know what you loved this year!

	Fiction
1	Just for the Summer	Abby Jimenez	Even better than a good Emily Henry story (and she is one of the best) is a new Abby Jimenez novel. Again, supposedly a romance (and in this case, a bold romance where they actually really like each other, without contrived plot twists) but really, this is about how to be a better human, recognizing brokenness, working both with repairing relationships and rejecting harmful one and putting yourself first sometimes. Best when read after Part of Your World.
2	Funny Story	Emily Henry	A reread, for the lovely social-emotional learning and insight and good romance story, dealing with trauma, assumptions, families.
3	The Women	Kristin Hannah	This made the list because I know little about the Vietnam War but, as is Hannah’s magic, I was immersed in this field nurse’s experience, both during and after her service. I didn’t relate much to this character, but I learned more about the Unites States in context of recent-ish history.
4	Not in Love	Ali Hazelwood	As Ali says in her intro, this is more erotic than romantic, but I love her complex (spectrum, likely, heroine) characters and how they bravely try to translate their feelings into communications skills.
5	Warrior Girl Unearthed	Angeline Boulley	Sequel to Firekeeper’s Daughter, loved it. I feel like this is a place I’ve visited now, a quality shared with Kristin Hannah, but Boulley has better, realistic characters.
6	The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4 Years Old	Hendrik Groen	Supposedly observations of an elderly man in an assisted living home in Amsterdam, but Hendrik comes to life and even becomes a model of how to get older and better. This is the first in a series that is thoughtful, mundane, funny, morose, bittersweet, and all the other reflections of a good human life. And I will be starting my own “Old But Not Dead Yet” club someday.
7	The Running Grave	Robert Galbraith	I love the Cormoran Strike series but hate some of the books. The latest brought our gumshoes into a UK cult, which paired well with my NF readings about fundamentalism in the US. Not only a good story, but an excellent continuation of the story arc. She is an excellent writer.
8	The Fragile Threads of Power	V.E. Schwab	Yes! The first book in a series that takes place 7 years after the Shades of Magic trilogy. Love the old characters and adore the new ones.
9	Plan A	Deb Caletti	Wow, what a heartbreaking story of a bright girl in small town, TX, who gets pregnant (neither by having sex or by consenting) and the difficulty of getting an abortion on this side of the overturning of Roe v Wade. I was fully immersed in the story, even when I had look away because the treatment this girl received was beyond my capacity to witness. I want all my kids to read this book. I will need to read more by this author.
10	A Ruse of Shadows (Charlotte Holmes, #8)	Sherry Thomas	Considering this was the 8th book, I was very surprised when I finished and immediately had to reread it to unravel the story once I knew the ending. Bravo, Sherry, bravo!
Bonus	Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone	Benjamin Stevenson	Picked it up for the title, stayed for the narrator’s voice. I’ll read more of him.
Bonus	A Line to Kill	Anthony Horowitz	This is the third Hawthorne book, and the clever narration still amuses me through the entire novel. And, no, I did not guess the ending before poor Horowitz had it unraveled for him.

	NonFiction
1	A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s plot to take over America, and the woman who stopped them.	Timothy Egan	A book that rattled me the most, which, considering #4-6 on this list, is quite a feat. The title says enough.
2	Revenge of the Tipping Point	Malcolm Gladwell	Possibly his best yet. Opioids & triplicate prescriptions; college admissions–race v. athletics; gay marriage and Will & Grace; Miami’s outrageous Medicaid fraud culture; how the Holocaust came to be remembered decades and decades after the end of WWII. Gladwell tackles all this, and suicide clusters in high achieving high schools and how this relates to cheetahs, this in his inimitable style. I want to listen a few more times to get a good grasp on his bigger ideas. Oh, and a tipping point, such as women in the board room, is about 1/3 to go from token to part of the community.
3	The Small and the Mighty	Sharon McMahon	Profiles-in-courage-esque, but really focusing on Americans overlooked in history, usually because of their gender, skin color, or religion. Even if the topic were dull (and it’s not!), McHahon is gripping in her storytelling. But she is very much an educator (history prof, actually), and describes events and remarkable people in the context that they should be appreciated. She really needs to write more books, or I need to start listening to podcasts. This is the American History that we’re not taught in school.
4	A Well-Trained Wife	Tia Levings	Remembering scenes from this escaped-from-fundamentalist (ok, completely un-Christ-like) marriage still makes my stomach knot. But it gave me a chance to walk in shoes I would never willingly wear, and when the 2024 election cycle made voting differently than your husband an issue, I understood it better than I wanted to.
5	Baptistland	Christa Brown	“When Christa Brown first spoke out about the sexual abuse she endured in her Texas childhood church, she never imagined it would expose the ethical chasm at the core of the Southern Baptist male religious leaders so focused on institutional protection that they sacrifice the safety of children. A book about speaking out and speaking up, Baptistland weaves together Christa’s revealing story of hope amid Southern patriarchy and religious fundamentalism.”
6	Disobedient Women: How a small group of faithful women exposed abuse, brought down powerful pasters, and ignited an evangelical reckoning	Sarah Stankorb	More reason to hate fundamentalist Christianity, or any system deliberately made to benefit the powerful few and oppress women. This was a good summary of earlier reading I did by Christa Brown and Tia Levings. Yes, there was a theme to my reading this year.
7	Maybe You Should Talk to Someone	Lori Gottlieb	Full of, well, gentle truth bombs, as this therapist sees patients and is a patient. I underlined many passages to continue to reflect on. She also writes an “Ask the Therapist” for The Atlantic.
8	Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma	Claire Dederer	Premise: What do you do about art you love when the artist (author, musician) is someone you abhor? Is there a difference between ethical thoughts and moral feelings? The author delves in to genius and Lolita and Little House on the Prairie. and monstrousness as a stain that can’t easily be removed. And people aren’t just a product of their time–often they had the opportunity to know better but chose otherwise. “If male crime is rape, the female crime is failure to nurture” (abandoning children). “I wondered: wasn’t calling them monsters, writing about their monstrousness, enumerating their monster sins, just a way of keeping them at the center of the story?” (p 45). End thought: With so many options, we can avoid what we naturally dislike and as humans, justify what we do; however, how we consume art is not morally good or bad.
9	Shortest Way Home	Pete Buttigieg	Read by author— wow, I need to vote for this guy for Pres someday! Excellently written memoir of his life into his 2nd term of mayor, with plenty of admitting of mistakes, learning from them, matter-of-fact thoughtfulness and intelligence.
10	The Salt Path	Raynor Winn	I did not think I’d like this as much as I did. She somehow did not get bogged down in the travelog nature, not dwelling on the best or worst of the hike itself but wove her tale together with social and political realism/commentary. They hiked because they were homeless and broke– and were treated differently depending upon what they’re fellow travelers knew about them. She truly is an excellent, later-in-life writer.

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