Books Read in December

 

Closing out the year reading on a beach in Mexico which has helped me sail through and read 80 books for 2025.

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry (YA/Sci-Fi/Book Club/Library)
2. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (Audiobook/Fiction/Library)
3. More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (Audiobook/Fiction/Library)
4. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Fiction/Shelves/Book Club)
5. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (Romance/Shelves)
6. Nora Goes Off Script by Anabel Monaghan (Romance/Shelves)
7. The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware (Mystery/Library)

Looking forward to a great reading 2026!

Books Read in November

 

Books read this month:

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Fiction, Library)

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson (Fiction, Library)

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson (Memoir, Library, Book Club)

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig (Fiction, Library)

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (Thriller, Library, Book Club)

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangdu Mandanna

It's been a busy December at work, but hoping that the end of the year will bring a few days of solid reading time to close the year our strong!

Happy Reading!

Books Read in October

 

The fall season is upon us - we've had a couple lovely rainy reading days - and another one on the way tomorrow!  I'm starting to set aside my to-read piles for Thanksgiving Break and the winter holidays...and all the books I'm sure I will get through in 2026 - never taking into account that so many new books come my way each year to keep adding.  But, here's what I made it through last month:

1. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Fiction; Shelves)
2. Trauma Stewardship by LauraVan Dernoot Lipsky (Nonfiction; Bookshelves)
3. We all Live Here by JoJo Moyes (Fiction; Library)
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell (Fiction; Shelves)
5. Project Hair Mary by Andy Weir (Sci-Fi; Book Club)
6. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (Fiction; Bookshelves)

Books Read in September

 

1. Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Fiction/Library)
2. Friends Like These by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez (YA Fiction/Borrowed)
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Fiction/Book Club/Shelves)
4. The Golden Gate by Amy Chua (Mystery/Book Club/Library)
5. The Tenant by Freida McFadden (Mystery/Library)

Books Read in August

 

1. Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt (YA Fiction/Borrowed)
2. North Woods by Daniel Mason (Fiction/Shelves/Book Club)
3. Fire Exit by Morgan Talty (Fiction/Library/Book Club)
4. Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green (Nonfiction/Book Club/Shelves)
5. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (Fiction/Shelves/Book Club)
6. State of the Union: A Marriage in Ten Party by Nick Hornby (Fiction/Library)

Books Read in July

 

1. The Girls from Corona Del Mar by Rufi Thorpe (Fiction/Shelves)
2. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida (Fiction/Shelves)
3. Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams (Romance/Shelves)
4. Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang (Mystery/Library)
5. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (Fiction/Library)
6. Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales by Terry Pratchett (Children's Short Story/Borrowed)
7. Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (Fiction/Library)

Books Read in June

 

1. Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Claire Pooley (Fiction/Shelves)
2. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (Fiction/Library/Book Club)
3. Havoc by Chirstopher Bollen (Thriller/Library)
4. The Marvelous Land of Snergs by Veronica Cossantelli (Children's Fiction/Borrowed)
5. Upgrade by Blake Crouch (Sci-Fi/Shelves)
6. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (Fiction/Library)
7. Braiding Sweeetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Non-Fiction/Library/Book Club)
8. The Off-Limits Rule by Sarah Adams (Romance/Shelves)
9. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Sci-Fi/Shelves)
10. The Crossing by Michael Connelly (Mystery/Library)

Books Read in May

 

1. Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books that Saved Me by Glory Edim (Memoir/Library)
2. The Framed Women of Ardemore House by Brandy Schillace (Mystery/Library/Book Club)
3. Fairy Tale by Stephen King (Fantasy/Library/Audiobook)
4. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (Mystery/Library/Audiobook/Book Club)
5. Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (Nonfiction/Library)

Books Read in April

 Books Read: 

1. How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key (Memoir/Library/Book Club)
2. Cold Crematorium by Jozsef Debreczeni (Non-Fiction/Library)
3. Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus by (YA Fiction/Borrowed)
4. Search by Michelle Huneven (Fiction/Library/Book Club)
5. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (Romance/Library)
6. By the Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle (NonFiction/Library/Book Club)

Books Read in March

 Books Read:

1.  Good Material  by Dolly Alderton (Fiction/Library)
2. The Lost and the Found by Kevin Fagan (Non-Fiction/Library)
3. Parachutes by Kelly Yang (YA Ficiton/Borrowed)
4. Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum, Shanna Tan (Fiction/Library)
5. How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (Fiction/Library/Book Club)

Books Read in February

 Playing a lot of catch up!  I have been tracking my books in Goodreads but just haven't been able to keep things organized.  This year seems a bit more busy/overwhelming that past year - but it could be more an issue of focus and motivation than actual time!  

Whatever the case, here are the books I managed to finish in February:

1. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (Fiction/Shelves)

2. The Mother by Yvette Edwards (Fiction/Library)

3. Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven (YA Fiction/Shelves)

4. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (Science Fiction/Shelves)

5. The Racism of People Who Love You by Samira Mehta (Memoir/Library/Book Club)

6. Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams (Romance/Shelves)

7. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (Fiction/Library)

8. Darkness Visible by William Styron (Memoir/Library)

On to updating the next month!

Books Read in January

January always seems like the longest month.  It starts with a few days off, and some time for reading, and then it marks the return to school and work and lots of trying to catch up with everything.  I typically read a good number of books in January, so I was happy about how the month went on that front!

Books Read in January:

1. Scythe by Neal Shusterman (YA Sci-Fi/Borrowed)
2. Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds (YA/Library)
3. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman (Mystery/Library)
4. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Mystery/Shelves/Book Club)
5. Weyward by Emilia Hart (Fiction/Library)
6. Playground by Richard Powers (Fiction/Book Club/Audio)
7. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction/Shelves)
8. Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune (YA Fantasy/Shelves)

Looking forward to having some time off in February for the kids' school break to get some reading in!

Books Read in December

Closing out 2024!  I read about 20 fewer books this year than last, but I don't think it was a function of longer books or spending time doing more "living."  I have to admit that I was probably spending too much of that extra time on screens.  There are certainly things I do need to take more time for in 2025 - like meal prep and exercise, but I think I can/should be more mindful about the amount of time just scrolling in the evenings and mornings is taking up!  Let's see if I can make 2025 a little more productive - and a little less zombie!

And to close out the year, here are the books I read in December:

1. The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (Romance/Library)
2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (YA Fiction/Library/Book Club)
3. Subtle Acts of Exclusion by Tiffany Jana and Michael Baran (Nonfiction/Library/Book Club)
4. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (Nonfiction/Audiobook)
5. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Mystery/Library)
6. Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood (YA Romance/Shelves)
7. The Women by Kristin Hannah (Fiction/Shelves)

Here's to clearing more of my shelves in 2025!

Happy Reading,

Anne

Books Read in November

 

Books I read in November:

1. I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel (Non-Fiction/Library)
2. Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan (Fiction/Borrowed)
3. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (Short Stories/Library/Audio)
4. All Fours by Miranda July (Fiction/Library)
5. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (Short Stories/Library)
6. Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior (Romance/Shelves)
7. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (YA Fiction/Library)
8. The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones (Anthology/Library)
9. The Mystery Guest  by Nita Prose (Thriller/Library)
10. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson (YA Fiction/Library)

With 73 books read so far in 2024, I won't read the 100 books I did last year ,but I'm looking forward to finishing out the year strong.

October Review and Ten Before the End!

 

Books Read in October

1. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout by Cal Newport (Self-Help/Library)
2. The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (Fiction/Library)
3. Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann (Fiction/Library)
4. The Housemaid is Watching (Thriller/Library)

Ten Before the End: I have read 60 books so far this year.  I read some thing where people are trying to read 10 more books before the end of the year, so I thought I might as well jump in and get organized!

1. I'd Rather be Reading by Anne Bogel (Non-Fiction/Library)
2. Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan (Romance/Borrowed)
3. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw (Short Stories/Library)
4. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (Short Stories/Library)
5. 1619 by Nikole Hannah Jones (Non-Fiction/Library/Book Club)
6. Not Even the Dead by Juan Gomez Barcena (Fiction/Library/Book Club)
7. Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (YA/Library/Book Club)
8. All Fours by Miranda July (Fiction/Library)
9. Weyward by Emilia Hart (Fiction/Library/Book Club)
10. All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (YA/Library)

Looking forward to closing out the year with lots of quiet reading time!

September Review

Books Read in September:

• The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (Mystery/Library)
• Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant (Non-fiction/Library/Book Club)
• The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley (Mystery/Library)
• The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (Fiction/Library)
• The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Mystery/Library)

August Review

The weeks are flying by - and while the heat is still around in these parts through October, I'm still starting to feel like the lazy summer reading days have passed...and maybe it's time to move into the cozy reading evenings of fall!  

Books Read in August:

• Funny Story by Emily Henry (Romance/Shelves)
• The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen (Nonfiction/Library/Book Club)
• After Annie by Anna Quindlen (Fiction/Library)
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Fiction/Library)
• Real Americans by Rachel Khong (Fiction/Borrowed)
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (Nonfiction/Library)

Books I Hope to Read in September:

• Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan (Romance/Shelves)
• You Like it Darker by Stephen King (Horror Short Stories/Shelves)
• Chemistry by Weike Wang (Fiction/Library)
• An Unnecessary Woman by Rabith Alameddine (Fiction/Library)

Work has seemed to piling up and the school/sports schedules are so time-consuming, but I am hoping that a little hibernation will set in and I'll be able to get through the growing stacks on my shelves over the next couple months.

Happy Reading!

July Review

 It is August - my birthday month!  I am excited to celebrate all month long, which hopefully means a lot of reading.  As I look ahead to my schedule for the month, it looks like I have two work trips on the horizon and an overnight soccer tournament with one of my kids - that means a few hotel nights, which usually means time to read!!  I am excited and want to be a little bit more organized about my reading this month.  We will see.

In the meantime, here are the books I finished in July:

1. The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd (Fiction/Library)

2. The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker (Non-Fiction/Library/Book Club)

3. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (YA Mystery/Shelves)

4. Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (Short Stories/Library)

5. Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford (Memoir/Library/Book Club)

Happy Reading,

Anne

June Review

 

Spending two weeks in Italy this month did allow for some good reading time - on the plane, by the pool, on the beach, in many cafes!  But, still I didn't finish that many books. It made me realize that perhaps I am becoming a slower reader in my old age, or maybe reading a couple longer books!  But, it was a good month for reading books I enjoyed, so I am trying to focus more on quality versus quality!  

In July, I seem to have a lot of book club books to get through and I'm finding that I need to plan my reading time to ensure that I get it all done!  I will have to evaluated whether I like that approach, or whether the "requirements" of book club are feeling too stressful.  But, I do like the idea of setting aside time to read that allows me to really dive into a book instead of just catching snippets here and there.  We'll see how it all goes!

Books read in June

1. Class by Stephanie Land (Memoir/Book Club/Library)

2. Zero Days by Ruth Ware (Mystery/Shelf)

3. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Fiction/Shelves/Book Club)

4. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (Mystery/Shelves)

5. James by Percival Everett (Fiction/Borrowed)

I have a lot of book club reading to do this month, so hoping that will motivate me to get through a few and keep my reading up for the summer!

~ Anne

May Review

I don't know what happened in May - a lot always going on with the end of school, but I just couldn't get my reading legs.  I started about 10 books and ended up just returning them.  And one book I finished never quite got off the ground.  I'm hoping to re-orient myself as summer is starting and find some good page turners to get things going again!

Books Read:

1. Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi (fiction/library)

2. How to Know a Person by David Brooks (nonfiction/library/book club)

3. Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan (fiction/shelves)

Happy Reading,

Anne