2025 book club review

in 2025 i read 85 books

fiction 70

non fiction 9

memoirs 6 

 

51 of them were digital. 

 

i kept a physical journal for the year and rated each book out of 5. 

5 stars - 5

4 stars - 17

3 stars - 28

2 stars - 22

1 star - 9

DNF - 4

 

the books that made me cry in 2025 - 

a heart that works

the starfish sisters

the guncle

atmosphere

shark heart

the once and future witches

good spirits

 

2024 - 87 books 

2023 - 57 books

2022 - 42 books

2021 - 55 books

2020 - 41 books 

2019 - 51 books 

48 books in 2018

41 books in 2017

26 books in 2016

this is my new book journal - the one at the top of the post holds my 2024 and 2025 books with just a couple of pages to spare.  i'm mixing it up a bit in 2026 and changing my journaling format to include a monthly summary of how many books and how many pages i read each month.  i'm excited to see the results.
 

 

 

book club 85 - the christmas swap by talia samuels

 2025-85

 

book club 84 - ink blood sister scribe by emma torzs

 2025-84

 

book club 83 - the art of frual hedonism

 2025-83

 

book club 82 - good spirits by bk borison

 2025-82

 

book club 81 - dead until dark by charlaine harris

 2025-81

 

cookbook cleanup 74 & 75

 

This one is a bit of a shocker for me, but I have parted ways with my Nigella Christmas book.  At one time I thought I would keep this book forever, but this past Christmas I sat down with it to plan some dishes to make for the holidays and came up empty.  There was not one single thing I was interested to make, and if I'm being honest, this was not the first holiday season that happened.  So she's off to find a new home, and she took 5 Ingredient Fix with her.  

 Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated - 55 

snapshot - wintery scene

 

what i ate - tea and toasted english muffin with brie, yogurt on the side

 

this is a pared down version of the super delicious toasted bagel with brie, honey and walnuts.  that one is amazing, but this was pretty delicious too.

reading watching listening loving eating

 reading - The Break by Katherine Vermette for my new (with other people!) book club.  This is a re-read for me, but I don't mind, it is a very good book.

 watching - after years of waiting, we can finally watch Dark Winds on Crave.

 

listening - still listening to nature music at work and at bed time.

 

loving -  face masks.  dry january is being held in my skin this year.

 

eating - nothing interesting.  boring.  it's all boring.  i am tired of cooking for children who don't like anything i make.  its no fun. 

book club 80 - the buffalo hunter hunter by stephen graham jones

 2025-80

 

book club 79 - the hidden life of trees by peter wohleben

2025-79

 

saturday mood

 

book club 78 - crazy spooky love by josie silver

 2025-78

 

book club 77 - they called me number one by bev sellers

 2025-77

 

book club 76 butcher and blackbird by brynne weaver

 2025-76

 

hello it's 2026

 Happy New Year!  2026 feels like a weird big number for the year.  It's not off to a particularly great start, globally or personally, but maybe we can turn it around.  This will be the 22nd!!!!!!! year of this blog.  CRAZY.  

One thing that was not crazy was our winter break.  It was very very low key.  We really did not do much.  There was a lot of sitting, napping, reading, sleeping in, tv, music, and probably more naps and sleeping in.

 The kids had their late in the year birthdays 

 We ordered take out a couple (or more) of times

 LOTS of groceries

 I decided to make shortbread cookies and then had to stop and go to the store because I didn't have enough flour or cornstarch.  Another day I had to do the same for eggs after The Boy ate them all the night before for his third dinner.

 We visited this excellent store 

 This made me laugh.

 We didn't get very creative with food this year but these brie and cranberry jelly tarts were such a big hit we made them again a few days later.

Last week SUCKED getting back to work and school.  Everyone was crabby and tired and the January blues have kicked in.  Only 68 days until Spring!

 

 

merry merry - and this is my 2,500th post

 

grocery shop - costco december 8

 

breakfast wraps, pretzel crisps, tortilla chips, 2 3 packs of bread, milk, pot roast, mango juice, pretzels, ginger ale, cheerios, napkins, apple pie, 2 pairs of shoes, pico, pineapple, grapes, pierogis, butter

$390 

book club 75 - the once and future witches by alix e harrow

 2025-75