My reading goal this year was 75 books, an ambitious goal for me, the highest in memory, and I am very proud to report:I did it! Exceeded the goal by one book in the end, and could have kept going if I hadn’t decided to take a break to get caught up with my stack of New Yorker short stories. I nearly demolished this unread pile of short fiction before the new year, twenty or so stories. It helped that you can listen to writers read their stories over at The Writer’s Voice podcast. This way if I needed to cook dinner or do something else that required use of hands I use to prop magazines, I could listen to the story. If you keep up with this podcast week to week you can listen for free, but you need a subscription to get into the archives.
Here’s a recap of what I read in 2025, including a review in brief. I’ve added links to the books I loved, loved, loved.
The No-Self Help Book: 40 Reasons to Get Over Yourself & Find Peace of Mind by Kate Gustin
I’m drawn to this sort of thing philosophical, plus in the moment the phrase “get over yourself” drew me in. Not tranformative, but not a regret either.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
I’ve read enough Keegan now that I will read anything and everything of hers I can get my hands on—holy precise, spare, breathtaking prose! This short, moral tale of poverty and community is so strong that they made a whole movie based on it.
James by Percival Everett
Even better if you read or re-read Twain first, or if you’re a teacher and you’ve taught it so many times you remember the key scenes. An important and brilliant book that exemplifies the power of who controls the narrative. We were lucky enough to see him live at SAL!
All Fours by Miranda July
I am a sucker for a story where the main character follows a seemingly absurd sequence of actions, so this one got me on that alone. It also happens to be beautifully written.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Read for Battle of the Books1 , I may piss off some tweens and teens with this one, but I just can’t get behind a book where the jerk, abuser, bully turns out to be nicer than you thought in the end. Been there, done that, and it didn’t turn out well.
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
This is Strout’s most recent, and it weaves together all her characters from her very first book to this one. If you’ve read the others, the effect is that her heart will grow three sizes over the course of reading this book and revisiting those characters.
The Message by Tanehesi-Coates
Considered “a call to action for writers”, it’s also just a call to action. Part travel journalism, part memoir, this collection of essays ring so true and is so powerful and lyrical. We also had the privilege of hearing him speak at SAL.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
This was a re-read for my completist2 Toni Morrison book club. This is one of my favorite novels of all time. I have read it at least a dozen times, and it always has something fresh to offer.
Neverworld Wake my Marissa Pessl
Another Battle of the Books read. A bit YA Secret History with more true supernatural elements and a feminist twist at the end. I didn’t hate it.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Dream-like, evocative, metaphorical, and totally compelling and affecting. You don’t want to look away even when you aren’t sure what you’re looking at.
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater
Another BOB book! This mix of journalism and narrative works well. You inhabit different identities and consider common humanity.
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Another BOB book for 2025! This book told a morally complex story that touched on issues of race, poverty, immigration, and family. Lines from one of my fav poems by one of my fav poets are dropped, so that was a bonus.
Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
Of all the Morrison I read this year, this one surprised me most, partly because it was set in the Caribbean. As usual, Morrison does not shy from the complexities of the intersections of identity. As a bonus, shots are fired at colonialism.
The Best American Poetry 2024
I love a year-of anthology from time to time. This one, edited by Mary Jo Salter, had a few of my favs: Dove, Addonizio, and Gluck. There were many standouts, including “Each Other Moment” and “Space in the Final Frontier” by Jessica Greebaum and Amy Glynn.
Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux
This was a delightful read, and I am still using all the poetry exercises.
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
The pairing of gorgeous writing and dark humor in this book had Chris and I completely wrapped up in its horror, beauty, satire, and drama. A must!
The World Began With Yes by Erica Jong
A fine read, but when you read a poet at sixteen, and she completely blows your mind and has you memorizing her poems, the bar is high. This collection was a letdown, but it probably isn’t her fault.
I Do Everything I’m Told by Megan Fernandes
She does not do everything she’s told, and her feisty, powerful, disobedient poetry communicates that.
Lucky Wreck by Ada Limon
Oh, wow. Going to need to keep this and play it again like a favorite record. Limon has moves and nuance.
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
Funny and enlightening! If you are wanting to expand your ideas about what neurodivergence looks like as you should be, this book might be a good start.
American Sonnets For My Past and Future Assassins by Terrence Hayes
I’ll have to admit I had no idea what an “American Sonnet” was before reading this whole collection of them! I especially loved the ones on pages 45,46, 48, 54, 56,62, 63, and 74, but the whole book was some mad, poetic truth-telling.
Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
This poetry collection was not my favorite. I loved his memoir. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. I’m sure I was the problem.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
I prefer Song of Solomon, but this book might be technically better. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and so damn human.
We Loved It All by Lydia Millet
I read a description of this book as an anti-memoir, but that doesn’t quite cut it. It’s a memoir of both the writer and the planet she lives on that delves into critique of how we find ourselves in climate crisis. Lyrical and sobering.
Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche
This may be the first “made easy” book that fully delivered on it’s promise. I finished this book feeling inspired and supported in a new effort to make meditation happen more.
The Toni Morrison Book Club
A group of academics who are friends and admirers of Toni Morrison collaboratively wrote this book sharing the relevance of each of her novels to their own lives. Perfect for my year of Morrison!
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Funny, smart novel that explores the complexities of race, class, and gender politics in the collegiate world. This was a reread for me; Zadie is so-good, so-smart.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
A little book about a tea monk who comes to be friends with a robot in a strange world. Very charming and fable-like; loved, loved!
Words With Wings and Magic Things by Matthew Burgess and Doug Salati
A rhymy, alliterative illustrated book of poems for children. I bought this for my niece, read it before I gave it to her, and left her little post-it note comments throughout.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
I remember so clearly Mr. Harless reading this book aloud to us in 5th (or was it 4th?) grade. I read it again because a character in one of my short stories was making a diorama based on it. I’ve since changed the book the character reads in the short story, but I don’t regret revisiting this childhood memory.
Jazz by Toni Morrison
An unnamed narrator seems to know all as she recounts this story of a love triangle from 1920s Harlem. Like Jazz, the story isn’t linear. The direct address to the reader in this novel was so well done.
1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive Year-Round by Jami Attenberg
One of the most inspirational books of this sort for writers I’ve come across. Easy to read, and so inspiring!
How To Write A Novel: An Anthology of 20 Craft Essays About Writing, None of Which Ever Mention Writing by Aaron Burch
It’s true, none of the essays in this book ever mention writing. I loved this collection and thinking about how each essay was about writing, even though they weren’t about writing.
Beautyland by Marie Helene-Bertino
If you’ve ever felt like an alien in the world, this might be the book for you. We meet the main character as a young child who believes she is an alien getting faxes from her home planet on a salvaged fax machine her mom put in her room. The theme of feeling alien is handled so, so well. I read it in a day, and there were tears.
Making Sense of Olympia by David Scherer Water
You’ll have to pick this one up at our local bookshop; it isn’t available on Bookshop, and I’m not linking to Bezos. I’ve either lived in Olympia or wanted to live in Olympia all but the eight years of my life that I lived in the Bay Area. I adore this place, and its quirkiness is so well rendered in this smart, funny book. He also has a Substack.
One Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
Beautifully written and vulnerable. It’s a personal reckoning and a call to action. Prepare to get uncomfortable.
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
A novel about Rosalie Iron Wing, a woman falling apart. In the telling of her story, the novel explores the challenge of preserving indigenous identity, especially in the face of industrialization and prejudice.
Consolations by David Whyte
A book of meditations on words that expanded and reframed many common words for me. Philosophical, inspirational, and poetic.
The Words of Every Song by Liz Moore
Fourteen captivating New York stories that explore the music industry. This one had been on my shelf since a friend sent it to me back in 2011 and I read it because everyone was reading Liz Moore this year and I knew I would read The God of the Woods. It was cool to see the arc of a writer, who at the time of this first book was musician first, writer second.
I Don’t Need to Make a Pretty Thing by Michelle S. Reed
A poetry collection published by Black Lawrence Press that includes a series of numbered Catcall poems that are dynamite!
Water and Salt by Lena Khalaf Tufaha
A collection of poems by Red Hen Press by a PNW poet of Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian heritage who writes beautiful poems that explore those identities. Beautiful title and cover!
Coming to Our Senses by Jon Kabat Zinn
Fittingly, I savored this one, reading bits at the start of each yoga class for months and months. This was the perfect way to read this book. So many underlined passages! A mindfulness tome.
Writing the Mind Alive by Linda Metcalf and Tobin Simon
I picked this up in the gift shop at a yoga retreat at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts last summer. I love the idea of it, even made a plan to add some proprioceptive writing sessions into my life. Maybe when I retire. In any case, it’s another way to aim for flow.
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut
Wins most depressing prize! Mixes fiction and nonfiction, blends in some math and physics, gets real dark and trippy. Captivating, but don’t read it before bed.
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
As far as ancient myth revisiting, this was quite good. Not Madeline Miller good, but still very good.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
I read this twice! Once on my own and once for book group. It is absolutely magical and meaningful London and Ancient Mesopotamia. Connects so many characters across time and space.
Spent by Alison Bechdel
Funny, poignant, and relatable. Bechdel’s both funny and lyrical. This book did some of the work of self-examination that is critical in these divisive, self-righteous-leaning times.
daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba
What a strange and lovely book! Lyrical, magical, and detailed, evocative illustrations. Follows Brazilian writer Brás de Olivia Domingos through potential timelines that explore ideas of destiny.
Trust Me by Scott Nadelson
This story is primarily about a single dad and his middle school-aged daugher spending time together in their cabin in the Oregon woods and the conflicts that occur from that. It also touches on the consequences of climate change. The interactions between characters in this book were so, so authentic and heart-warming.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Immersive mystery at a “self-reliance” camp in the Berkshires. This was a page-turner, but I found the end a little less than satisying. Mostly everyone else I know who read it disagrees.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
The minimalist of all minimalist dystopians. Does what The Road does way before The Road. Mind-blowingly good and discussion-inspiring. Will make you ponder those big existential questions.
Paradise by Toni Morrison
First line, “They shoot the white girl first” sets up the mystery about what, how, and why the murders you know will happen at the end are going to take place. Vivid and allegorical. I need to read this one again to really get it.
Windswept by Annabel Abs
I read most of this while backpacking last summer with a couple of friends I’ve been backpacking with for many years. The circumstances for sure sweetened the blend of research and memoir presented in this celebration of not just women who walked, but who walked epically.
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Mesmerizing story in the voice of the young daughter of an Ojibwa family and community devastated by smallpox. Before illness, you just become so enchanted by the young narrator. Erdrich is on my if she wrote it, I will read it list.
Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson
Informative and persuasive. Heather Cox Richardson is so journalistic and concise.
Love by Toni Morrison
Oh, my what a book! A bit of a small town beach town psychological mystery that explores race, class, and the impact of trauma.
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
This book has many stories threads and requires some effort and patience to see how they all come together, but is so, so worth it. The opening image/story is breathtaking. The characters are so real and complex. This book doesn’t shy away from hard questions about community, race, violence, and justice.
Marie Howe New and Selected Poems by Marie Howe
Vulnerable poems that explore grief in the personal and extrapersonal. As always with poems, some resonated deeper than others, but I found something to admire in every poem.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
This has been on my list forever. The unreliable/darker Nick Carraway observer of the rest added intrigue and complexity. The first half was gripping; I couldn’t put it down, then it sagged a bit in the middle and picked back up for the strange conclusion. It’s a dark look at a group of elite, privileged college students and the murder that they get up to. Not a spoiler, you know this right from the start.
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
In many ways, the most absorbing, voice-perfect book so far from Toni Morrison. As mentioned, I am part of a book group that picks one author and completes their works in chronological order. Switches perspectives between characters, sometimes subtly, so you have to be on your toes.
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
It’s a novel about a young girl who longs to be an alligator wrestler as famous as her mom. While this book offers delightful and funny moments and characters who you come to love, there is a hard message sleeping at its center waiting to knock you out. Russell is too gifted to be real.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Charming epistolary novel about a saucy old lady who lives alone and is retired and writes many, many letters and emails. It’s a story about the impact of grief on a life, but also about personality and what it takes to really reveal yourself to people.
reclaiming our students by Hannah Beach and Tamara Neufeld Strijack
The premise of this book is what I went in for. The authors explore ways to be better at relationships with all sorts of students and make the argument that this (more than rigor) is paramount to re-engaging students. I believe this to be true, and I had many takeaways. It didn’t wow me, but I did take what I needed. Only a few education books I’ve ever read have. There is something about the market that ruins these types of books. I’m not sure, but I’d make a guess that their biggest market is being adopted and read by large systems of educators and to do that you have to do some things that ruin books.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Wow. Wow. Wow. Loaned to me by a friend. A graphic novel that is all pictures and no words. I think it could make a great resource for a workshop on the “camera lens” inn story telling and the ways it can shape the reader’s experience.
Minerva by Emily Temple, Teri Temple, and Eric Young
An information children’s book I read as research for the new book I’m writing. Woot!
Poetry Is Not A Luxury
A collection of poems by the season that has a gorgeous cover in hardback. The poems are organized by the seasons and there are many lovely poems. Book size is perfect to fit in your hands and carry around with you.
Girlhood by Melissa Febos
A blend of research and memoir, this book explores some of the ways being in a woman’s body can be hard and so can shape us. I was totally absorbed in this book and did not want to put it down. Reading it made me feel more empowered, less inclined toward shame.
Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times by Tracy K. Smith
I will read anything Smith puts out there. I bought this for the birthday of a friend, then binged it before I passed it on. Explores how poetry is a tool for connection, understanding, and healing, and debunks some of the myths about poetry being inaccessible or unnecessary. You should read it!
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
I’d like to read more genre books, but apparently, I’m not so good at picking them. This was a very vanilla romance. It got a little interesting when the main character died and came back, but in the end, that wasn’t enough. I finished because I’m not a quitter.
Home by Toni Morrison
Probably the shortest of the Morrison’s we’ve read and the most minimalist. Little narrative besides the actions and voices of the characters, especcially the main character, a black man and a verteran suffering from PTSD and headed home. The final metaphor was moving.
Watch Us Rise by Rene Watson and Ellen Hagan
Read for Battle of the Books. This would be a great read for a student wondering how to move from concern about the politics of the world/their school to being an activist. Activism was the primary concern of the main characters.
Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri
No discernable plot and I don’t don’t care. The voice of this Italian woman can’t be ignored. Told in completely stunning and captivating vignettes.
Winter Solstice by Nina Maclaughlin
A long essay full of all kinds of interesting bits and personal reflection related to darkness and Winter Solstice in particular. Read on the Solstice.
The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie
Of course I’ve heard of Rushdie, but I hadn’t read one of his books before we bought tickets to SAL3. This book was so thought-provoking and unique in its storytelling. It was a collection of stories and novellas that explore mortality (hence, the “eleventh hour”). I for sure want to read more of his books.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
If you’re curious about the history and impact of tuberculosis and you want one more piece of evidence about what shits powerful countries can be (like us), this one is for you. Why are there people still dying of this curable disease?
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
A blind date with a book! Not bad. It was fun, but I probably won’t see her again. Much better foray into genre than The Holidaze.
I also work as a writing coach and love helping writers gain confidence, set goals, and develop their work. I was a writer first, but I’ve been teaching for over twenty-five years. Coaching weaves those two skill sets in a way that I love, love, love. I work with writers locally and over Zoom. For more information on coaching, email me at eatyourwords.lizshine@gmail.com or see my website.
You can see my books here and read some of my short works here.
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FOOTNOTES
Battle of the Books is a competition the high school I teach at has, where teams read eight books (mostly YA) and then gather to “battle” other teams by answering surprisingly obscure questions and guessing the correct corresponding book. I am part of a teacher team.
This book group reads all of one author’s work from the first book to the last. We started with Cormac McCarthy and have continued on. They are an amazing group! I am so blessed with book groups.
SAL. Seattle Arts and Lectures. Chris and I pick six lectures a year to attend. We love getting away to Seattle on a weekday evening!