2025 Books in Review

 My reading for this year was much lower than in the past due to travelling and caregiving. Under 30 books, not like me!  To be honest, most days I didn't have the energy to read, as much as I enjoy it. The year was an eclectic mix of literary fiction, books on relationships, some classics and some oddball recent publications. Here are my top 5; click on the links to read my review of each and let me know in the comments what you think:

1. Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty - my top pic is the story of a woman who predicts the deaths of people on the plane with her and its consequences. Beautifully written.
2. How to Know A Person - David Brooks - This was a thoughtful, detailed, compassionate discussion of how we get to know and understand others.
3. Search History - Amy Taylor - A different perspective on relationships in the age of social media from a fresh young voice.
4. Horse - Geraldine Brooks - Historical fiction about a real horse from the civil war era and its trainer and both of their owners.
5. Upgrade - Blake Crouch - A dystopian look at what our lives would be like if our DNA were altered to make us "better".

The complete list of the books I read this year are listed on the Blog Archive.

Naked Statistics - Charles Wheelan

 Sub-title: Stripping the Dread from the Data

With the vast amount of bu**sh**t tossed around on social media, television and advertisements it is difficult to step back and critically analyze the information out in the world.  Back in the day I took courses in statistics at least 3 times and applied some of my learnings during my working years.  This book helped me re-visit the core tools, how they are supposed to be used and how to interpret their results.  I found it a great refresher and a calming, reasoned voice in the age of flashy, attention-getting headlines with numbers. 

Quotes I noted: 

"Probability can be used to catch [test] cheaters.  ...flag exams in which there are a number of identical wrong answers ...as this is highly unlikely unless they are cheating."

"The one social factor researchers agree is linked to longer lives in every country where it has been studied is education." 

published: 2013  Read: November 2025  Genre: Non-fiction

Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward

 This book was highly recommended to me by my sister, who had seen the author discuss her writing. 

It's the story of a about a week in the life of a very poor family living on the Gulf of Mexico awaiting the Katrina hurricane. It's told by the only daughter, Esch, a pregnant 15 year old.  Her two older brothers, Randall and Skeetah, seek to escape, one pursuing basketball and the other raising puppies with his fighting pit bull, China.  Their mother died giving birth to their youngest brother, Junior and the older children raise him during the neglect of their angry, detached, hard-drinking father.  

What makes this story so powerful is that it is told entirely by Esch in a matter-of-fact voice that reveals their miserable living conditions and twisted family dynamics of extreme poverty.  It's not a book you enjoy but one you cringe from as the reality of the lives of those living this way.  Strongly recommended.

Published: 2011  Read; November 2025  Genre: Fiction

The Berry Pickers - Amanda Peters

 A 4 year-old girl disappears on the edge of blueberry fields where her parents are First Nation pickers from Canada.  The book tells the story of a grown woman who questions her origins and the brother of the missing girl whose life is destroyed with guilt.

A very sad read.  Some beautifully worded phrases and overall a story of forgiveness, family and life struggles.

Published: 2023  Read: November 2025 Genre: Fiction 

The Color of Water - James McBride

 Sub-title: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother

I'd read the recent book by McBride, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride and that led me to this most well-known of his stories.  He tells of his Orthodox Jewish mother's experience of the lost of her two husbands, raising 12 children and seeing those children all get through college and successful careers.  He goes back and forth between his own story of growing up and his mother's recollections of her own life, a story he did not discover until he pursued her history. 

The book became a classic and award winner.  A wonderful read, a touching tribute from a son to his mother.

Published:  .... Read: October 2025  Genre: Memoir

How to Know A Person - David Brooks

Sub-title: the art of seeing others deeply and being deeply seen

I learned so much from this book I think I'll buy my own copy to re-read and reinforce its lessons.  In 3 parts, titled "I See You", "I See Your Struggles" and "I See Your Strengths", Brooks takes us through learning to listen, connect, and empathize with others.   The author uses his own personal growth experience and admits the further ongoing work needed to practice what he learns.  A lot to ponder and apply.

Quotes:

p. 7 "Wise people don't just possess information, they possess a compassionate understanding of other people"

p. 51 [the art of accompaniment] "...how important it is to honor another person's ability to make choices"

p.  "...being curious about your friend's experience is more important than being right".

p. 91 [asking questions] "...why is that a problem for you?"

p. 100  [Book recommendation: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma 2014 by Bessel van der Kolk] ..."knowing that we are seen and heard...can keep us calm and safe".

p. 156 [RULER principle] "Recognize, Understand, Label, Express and Regulate emotions."

p. 167 [questions to help people see more deeply into their own childhood] " Ask people to fill in the blank 'the one thing we must never do in my family is _______' and 'the one thing you must do above all else in my family is _______'".

p. 179 [five core personality traits (instead of Myers-Briggs)] "...extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness.

p. 263 "Wisdom is a social skill practiced within a relationship or a system of relationships."

p.264 "A community of truth is when people are genuinely interested in seeing and exploring together. They do not immediately judge. ...they pause to consider what the meaning of the statement is to the person who just uttered it."

Books recommended about how to have a hard conversation:

p. 112 - High Conflict - Amanda Ripley, I Never Thought of it that Way - Monica Guzman, Crucial Conversations - Kerry Paterson, et. al.

Published: 2023  Read: October 2025 Genre: Sociology

A Few of the Girls - Maeve Binchy

 

This was a group of short stories about people and their relationships in families, marriages, work and friendships.  I like Maeve's writing style and the way she has her characters learn and grow from their interactions.  Overall, a gentle read revealing how we humans, if we let things be, can be happier and appreciate those around us more.

Published: 2015  Read: October 2025  Genre: Fiction, Short Story

The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin

 

I had a friend mention that she was reading all the Newbery Award winners.  The Newbery Medal is awarded by the American Library Association (ALA) for the "most distinguished" American children's book published in the preceding year.  Since it started in 1921, that's over 100 books to read!  She's up to this one, that won the award in 1979.  It sounded interesting - a children's book that has a clever mystery tale.

It was a light read with a clever list of clues to solve the mystery.  I enjoyed the cast of characters and their interaction as they competed in teams to solve the mystery that would lead to one team winning the estate worth millions of Mr. Westing.  

Published: 1978  Read: October 2025  Genre: YA Mystery

Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley

 A dog owner notices an octopus on his dog's head is taking over the poor animal and fights to get rid of it.  Strange summary, but acurate.  Steve recounts his life with his dog, Lily, a short-hairied dauchsand, who has become ill.  It's a charming story of the love between a person and their pet through a break up, a job change, friends, family and life.  An entertaining read.

Published: 2016  Read: September 2025  Genre: Memoir

On the Boundary - Paul Tillich

 Sub-title: An auto-biographical sketch

Sometimes, I pick up a book because its old, like this one, and the title catches my eye.  Paul Tillich was a German-born philosopher, theologist and professor.  He espoused a "theology of correlation" that  correlates the big questions of human life (is life meaningless? why are we here? )with the answers offered by Christian revelation, making theology a discussion between human need and divine meaning.

In this book he summarizes how his approach to life and his beliefs as his being on the boundary between different topics of life -- Church and Society, Religion and Culture etc. He describes himself as someone seeing both sides and attempting to maintain at least an understanding of the viewpoints of both.

It was a dense discussion, often over my head, but refreshing to read something written about how their philosophical thinking evolved over their life; he was about 50 at the time it was written and died in 1965.

Published: 1936  (English version 1966) Read: September 2025  Genre: Philosophy 

The Rites of Autumn - Dan O'Brien

To borrow from a book review, "this is a story of the author's experiences training a young peregrine falcon named Dolly to hunt for her migration journey. The book chronicles their 2,000-mile trip from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico and details O'Brien's love for nature and falconry."  

I picked this book up at a new-to-me used bookstore in Phoenix that will require more exploration in the future.  This book was displayed in the foyer with other nature and outdoor oriented titles.

I enjoyed seeing through a outdoorsman's eyes the landscape and animals of the West.  I can't imagine hunting and falconry with dogs the way he does  The bond with his dogs and the peregrine falcon is magical. A gentle reminder of being a good steward of the land.

Quote:

[from Robert Graves, The White Goddess, 1948] "The political and social confusion of the past three thousand years has been entirely due to man's revolt against woman as a priestess of the natural magic, and his defeat of wisdom by the use of intellect."

Published: 1988  Read: August 2025   Genre: Memoir

Search History - Amy Taylor

 I picked this book up at my nearby used bookstore I frequent, trading in old reads for their clearance items.  It's the story of a young woman who moves to Melbourne to escape a breakup and how she finds a new boyfriend.  The twist is that she tells about the relationship as its negotiated through social media. Their Facebook, texts, Instagram communications and her reactions and feelings are seen through the lens of non-face-to-face interactions.  It's a spooky peek into the real life of today's young adults navigating relationships.  I initially read it as a mystery, as she finds out the new boyfriend's previous girlfriend died in a car accident.  I was thinking he might have been involved in it but the more sinister truth is how she navigates their romance in the reality of today's technology.  Good read.

Quote:

"the sudden severing of a connection had always created a liminal space; a sort of waiting room charged with the slowly fading hope of reconciliation.  ...Silence is rejection in slow motion.  It's an injury sustained from a blow that was never dealt.  There is in theory, nothing to recover from."

Published: 2023  Read: August 2025  Genre: Fiction

The Lost Fifty Seven - Ron Williams

Sub-title: A genealogical journey of discovery, deception, secrets and scandal

One of my sister's got me this book as a gift for the work we've been doing to take cared of my Dad who had a stroke in late May.  The author, Ron, wanted to know more about his mysterious paternal grandfather, particularly his grandfather's first 57 years of life.  It was a great read because he traced how he learned to become an amateur genealogist, sharing his experience with using online resources and putting together clues to discover the truth of his grandfather's life.  I enjoyed sharing his discoveries and following his journey through resources.   

Published: 2024  Read: July 2025  Genre: biography

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank - Thad Carhart

 Sub-title: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier

I picked up this book while on vacation this summer in a bookshop in International Falls, Minnesota.  The place was a restaurant and bar that collects used books from travelers and the less than 6,000 residents. 

This is a true story of an American in Paris discovering how to become part of Paris culture through his love of playing and owning a piano.  While living in Paris as a writer, he explores the streets and shops in his neighborhood on the Left Bank and discovers a piano repair and sale shop, tucked in a musty corner. He gradually gets to meet the owner, through a connection who makes the introduction that admits him to the shop.  The shop owner, Luc, becomes a friend and advisor, and reawakens his childhood love of playing the piano. 

The story reveals how friendships are made and grow while revealing the world of piano making, repairing and owning.  A delightful read.

Quotes: 

"Life is a river and we all have to find a boat that floats."

"...the suite, as the French put it, the follow-through to circumstances and events that lends life it's air at once poignant and meaningful."

Published: 2000 Read: July 2025  Genre: Memoir

Flotsam - Patricia Boomsma

 

This was a local author's take on the tragedy of missing indigenous women.  The main character is the district attorney assigned to help a Mom of a missing girl find her daughter.  I liked the character and the way she researched the case and interacted with the different jurisdictions involved.  The author had a legal background and met with my book club to discuss creating the story.  It was a good discussion.

Published: 2021  Read: June 2025  Genre: Mystery

One Thousand White Women - Jim Fergus

 Sub-title: The Journals of May Dodd

This was a good read. The author imagined women being recruited to be the wives of native Americans in the time of President Grant.  An arrangement was proposed by a Chief of the Native Americans to integrate the two cultures by giving the tribes one thousand white women.  May Dodd agrees to go with the first group of women to get released from the asylum where her nefarious husband had disposed of her. 

May's diary tells the story of her experience journeying out West to be claimed by her tribal spouse.  It was a history lesson illuminated by an imagined tale.

Published: 1998  Read: May 2025  Genre: Historical fiction

The Group - Mary McCarthy

 

A great read for travelling this summer.  I found it at Half-Priced books in the discount section.  It's a fantastic send up of the intellectual class of women (Vassar graduates '33) who went on to fall into domesticity, marriage, divorce, and children.  The women are frank and outspoken about sex, relationships, marriage and careers.  I enjoyed the voices of 1930s-1940s women (my grandmother's adult years) struggling with the same challenges and disappointments of women today.  So little has changed, it seems.  There's a sense of acceptance of their lot in their lives and the wit and satirical stabs taken by McCarthy makes them all the more sad in their intellectual spoutings versus their traditional lives.  

Seven women who formed a group of friends at Vassar College are introduced in the story attending the wedding of Kay, their most outspoken member. She's doing a non-traditional wedding, marrying a theatre director wannabe.  He's obviously a loser from the start yet Kay champions him throughout the story.  I enjoyed how the lives of each member are introduced as chatty, vignettes of a time in their lives where they are changed and shaped by their experiences.  A good find and recommended read. 

Published: 1963  Read: May 2025 Genre: Fiction/Auto-biographical

Quote:

"My generation is a little different from Mother's.   I feel--all of us feel--that love and sex can be two separate things.  They don't have to be, but they can be.  You mustn't force sex to do the work of love or love to do the work of sex-- that's quite a thought, isn't it?"

"You have to live without love, learn not to need it, in order to live with it."

Horse - Geraldine Brooks

I've read other books by this author; March, about the Little Women's father, People of the Book, and Year of Wonders.  She weaves historical facts into a fictional account of the times and people in her stories. 

In this book she tells the life story of the most renowned horse from the late 1800's. Throughout his life he's accompanied by his trainer, Jarrett, a slave who we're introduced to at the birth of the horse and who is with it throughout the trials and triumphs of the horse's life.  The book is really about the cruel life of slaves in years before the Civil War contrasted to the daily life of a Nigerian student struggling in modern day U.S.

I enjoyed the book as I have the other stories by Brooks.  And of course, there was a DNA twist.  The modern day scientist examining the skeleton of the horse uses advanced DNA techniques in her work.

Characters:

Henry - Jarrett's freed slave father

Jarrett- the trainer of Lexington

Lexington - the horse

Theo - the Nigerian thesis student

Jess - anthropologist and Theo's girlfriend

Published: 2022  Read: April 2025  Genre: Historical Fiction

In My Time of Dying - Sebastian Junger

 Tucson has each spring the "Festival of the Book" -- the 3rd largest book fair in the U.S.  It's held on the University of Arizona campus over a weekend.  Each day there are authors speaking every hour in multiple venues on campus on every topic imaginable.  The mall is lined with booksellers, eateries, activities and exhibits all focusing on education and reading.  My kind of heaven!

This year I listened to Sebastian Junger speak about his near-death experience he shares in this book.  I know, my first thought is it's some mumbo-jumbo about the afterlife.  On the contrary, it's both an objective analysis of near death experiences from multiple scientific disciplines and a subjective first-person account.  I bought the book and thoroughly enjoyed his perspective and thoughtful insights. He did not "see the light" but instead shines a light on our attitudes toward death.

Quote:

"We assume that life is the most real thing we will ever experience. but it might turn out to be the least real, the least meaningful.  The idea that you will appreciate life more after almost dying is a cheap bit of wisdom easily asserted by people who have never been near death.  ...we are really talking about an appreciation of death rather than life."

Published: 2025  Read: March 2025  Genre: Memoir

Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout

 This was a fun re-visit to previous characters by this author.  Olive Kitteredge reappears in Maine, a curmudgeon in her old age, observing, advising and consoling her neighbors.  It's not so much a story as a chance to walk about a group of people in their town going about their daily lives.  

Quote:

 "He had told this story to [his wife] when they first me, he had also told his first wife, Pam Carlson, and they were both kind about it but it was one of Bob's adult understandings:  People did not care, except for maybe one minute.  It was not their fault, most just could not really care past their own experiences."

Published: 2024  Read: March 2025  Genre: Fiction

Upgrade - Blake Crouch

 

In the future, a scientist has found how to alter our DNA to enhance our capabilities - physical, mental and emotional.  The belief is that humans will behave better if they are better.  

This dystopian novel was fascinating to me because it realistically wove DNA facts into a story, an addition I've seen coming out in more and more current fiction writing.  The story explores the consequences of genetic engineering. That's the practice of altering DNA to eliminate undesirable outcomes.  Like all human efforts to control their fate there are unintended consequences. The hero, Logan Ramsey, having been "upgraded", races to prevent the release of the changes throughout the population.  It's a fast-paced read with a modern twist.

Quotes:

"It is a  supremely cruel thing to have your mind conjure a desire which it is functionally unable to realize.  No one teaches you how to handle the death of a dream."

"Never before had I seen Homo sapiens so clearly--a species, at its most fundamental level, of storytellers.  Creatures who overlay story on everything, but especially their own lives, and in so doing, can imbue a cold random, sometimes brutal existence, with fabricated meaning."

" We were a bunch of primates who had gotten together and, against all odds, built a wondrous civilization.  But paradoxically--tragically--our creation's complexity had now far outstripped our brains' ability to manage it."

"We don't have an intelligence problem.  We have a compassion problem.  That, more than any other single factor, is what's  driving us toward extinction."

Published: 2022 Read: March 2025  Genre: Fiction

An Earthquake is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth - Anna Moschovakic

 

This was a weird read, a stream of conscience.  A narrator obsessed with his former roommate rattles on about getting out and about during ongoing earthquakes that leaves him/her unable to navigate the streets. It's a tale of mental decline after loss. Not worth the read.

Published: 2024  Read: February 2025 Genre: Modern Fiction

Of Time and Turtles - Sy Montgomery

 Sub-title: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell

This was a lovely two-themed story.  The primary tale is about rescuing and caring for turtles - turtles of all kinds and all sizes, rescued from roadways and eroding beaches and neglectful owners.  Parallel to this is a reflective account of adopting a slower, more deliberate pace—what the author refers to as living "on turtle time"—during the challenging years of the pandemic.  It's a gentle, contemplative read that made me recall those two years of the pandemic that I'd blocked from my mind like many of us seem to have done. 

From Wikipedia: In the United States, there have been 103,436,829[3] confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,215,005[3] confirmed deaths, the most of any country, and the 17th highest per capita worldwide

The book blends science, memoir, and philosophy and includes artwork and photographs that bring the turtles to life. This compassionate portrait of injured turtles and their dedicated rescuers invites readers to slow down and immerse themselves in "turtle time," providing a fresh perspective on time and healing.

Quotes:

"...the paradox of the 2020 pandemic, a year so momentous also seems, in a way, as if nothing happened at all.  Facing the uncertainties of a mysterious killer virus, political chaos, environmental catastrophe and racial unrest creates a state of chronic stress so severe, it interferes with the brain's ability to form memories- a brain fog."

"To be able to help a cherished elder incites a different kind of satisfaction. ... to aid an old one, in it's fulfillment, is a benediction."

"Humans.. are notoriously bad at correctly perceiving the passage of time. Most people can accurately  keep track of time for only 5 seconds. Signals from the feet take longer to reach the brain than signals from the lips.  We are all, therefore, living slightly in the past."

Published: 2023  Read: February 2025  Genre: Science 

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

A young deaf black boy in Pottstown Pennsylvania in the 1920's and 30's is hidden from the authorities who want to put him in an institution as feeble-minded.  The downtrodden community of Chicken Hill, made up of African Americans, Jews and immigrants, band together to keep him safe.   

I've done research in Pennsylvania for genealogy in the area north of Pottstown, not knowing the setting of this book and was intrigued when I recognized the references to places in Pennsylvania.  I checked it out because it had received the Kirkus prize, a book award in 2023. It's based on the true makeup of the town at that time though the characters are fiction.

The author shows how disconnected and yet supportive a community can be, despite their differences. He reveals the misunderstandings and biases based on race and culture with gentle humor and heartbreaking consequences.

 I got bogged down in parts with the detailed descriptions used to illustrate the different perspectives of the townspeople and their living situations.  I sometimes lost track of the myriad of characters, where they had come from, and how they related to one another.  After finishing it and stepping back, the broad arch of the story was clearer.  A good story that should be read slowly.

Published: 2023  Read: January 2025  Genre: Fiction

Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty

 I say this often: this is the best book I've read in a while.  What makes a book a "best" for me?  One factor is that the writing doesn't distract from the story; another that the characters are believable and interesting.  Both of those find me reading without noticing the passage of time late into the night.  I want to know how the story ends, but I don't rush through because their are bits almost every page to savor.

This is a story of an older woman who predicts the death of passengers on a plane.  What do people do if they know when and how they will die?  Moriarty takes us through their reactions while at the same time revealing the lives they were living and how the prediction changes or does not change them.  Interlaced with their stories, is the story of Cherry, the prognosticator, and how she came to be on the plane.  

It's an engrossing story that made me smile and cry and appreciate how the author weaves the stories of many people into a meaningful whole.  Read this book, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Quotes:

"The belief that the probability of future events changes based on past events (assuming those events are independent) is known as the Monte Carlo fallacy or the gambler's fallacy. [26 consecutive landing on black in 1913 in Monte Carlo casino]."

"Math, by the way, is a language, I would argue a beautiful one, and it's the only universal language there is, because it's the same all over the world."

"Those big open landscapes gave me a not unpleasant sensation of vertigo.  I enjoyed the feeling of being small and insignificant.  It's healthy to be reminded of your insignificance."

"I still think that, sometimes, even though I know full well I am exemplifying the just-world fallacy, which is the erroneous belief that the world is fair.  We are socialized to think that.  It makes the world feel more predictable if we believe good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior punished."

Alexander Von Humboldt - Andreas W Daum

 Sub-title: A concise Biography

I had no idea who this man was when I picked this book up at the library but I'm always up for a history lesson.  He was a German polymath - a general genius - and explorer, known for exploring Latin America (1799–1804) and his contributions to geography and natural science. So now I know.  

Quote:

"Between 1701 and 1810 the European powers deported almost six million people from Africa to exploit them as a labor force in America."

published:  2024 (In English)  Read: January 2025  Genre: History, Biography

Keep - Jenny Haysom

This is a quick read about decisions we'll all make - what do we do with all our stuff when we age?  The author gently reminds us we're all getting and getting rid of things our entire lives.  She tells a lighthearted tale of a "downsizer" Eleanor, who works for a realtor who is trying to sell an older woman's home.  Eleanor partners with Jacob, a 20 something young man, an artistic fellow, who helps stage the home.  The three of them help each other part with their things and the people in their lives.  A good debut novel with some food for thought.

Quotes:

[Harriett]  "Plenty of people, young and old, had difficulty parting with their homes and belongings.  But it seems to her that the elderly were particularly afflicted, in-part because they resisted change and couldn't bear losing or replacing that which was familiar and comforting.  It was as if their habits were set during a certain period, in youth and young adulthood, and as they aged it was more difficult to reset them.  Perhaps it was also true that a certain period of time defined the habits of a generation."

[Harriett] "If this last chapter of her life had a theme, it would be erasure, the whiting-out of previous chapters. ..Sometimes while talking, she'd suddenly fall quiet, as if someone had pressed a mute button mid-sentence or painted her tongue with Liquid Paper."

[Harriett] "Strange, as she'd always known unconsciousness to be black, but this was wrong because she was certain that if she closed her eyes for good, the end should be a blank page." 

[Jacob] "He'd gone from preserving things, to using them up, burning through them with gusto and joy, because for the first time in his life, he wasn't hoping for a better future; he was living it." 

Published: 2024  Read: January Genre: Fiction

After Annie - Anna Quindlen

 

I've read many of Anna Quindlen's books over the years and have liked them.  This one was sad as it told the story of a father and his four children over a year after losing their wife and mother suddenly.  We see each of them go through the stages of grief, a different experience because of their ages (Dad 30's, children 13, 10, 8 and 6).  Much of the story is about the impact of her death on the Mom (Annie)'s best friend, Annamarie.  She spins out of control at losing her friend.  

Like all of Quindlen's books, the relationship between people are authentic. But the story wraps up too neatly and offers a "happy ever after" ending.  

Published: 2024  Read: January 2025  Genre: Fiction