2025 Book Challenge

Favorite Books of 2025

Another baker's dozen:

 The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl (nonfiction about birdwatching)

 The Rhine, Ben Coates (nonfiction travelogue about following the course of the Rhine River)

 The Curse of Penryth Hall, Jess Armstrong (fiction: 1920s-set mystery with a female protagonist meeting a most unusual doctor)

 The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, David McCullough (nonfiction about the Americans who traveled to Paris in the early 1800s)

 It's OK That You're Not OK, Megan Devine (nonfiction book about grieving which I bought after my husband's death)

 The Book of Murder, Matt Murphy (nonfiction about a district attorney in California)

 The New Girl, Cassandra Calin (yeah, children's fiction and a graphic novel: Romanian girl moves to Quebec due to her mother's job and learns to adjust)
 
  Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory, Caitlin Doughty (nonfiction about working in a crematorium)
 
  The Cloisters, Katy Hays (dark academia fiction about a small-town girl accepting a job at The Cloisters in New York City for the summer)
 
  The Yankee Road: Volume 3, Apotheosis, James D. McNiven (nonfiction in which McNiven finally finishes his odyssey of U.S. 20)
 
  Written in Bone, Sue Black (nonfiction by a forensic specialist about the human skeleton with notes from her cases)
 
  Love is a War Song, Danica Nava (fiction about a Native American singer who angers her fans who is sent out to her grandmother's ranch to lie low, but instead learns about her heritage)

  The Earth Shall Weep, James Wilson (nonfiction--Wilson's sweeping narrative about the Native Americans in North America)

Honorable Mention:
  Good Spirits, B.K. Borison (fiction: if The Ghost and Mrs. Muir television series ended happily)

 
Most Disappointing: A tie between James (started off promisingly with James teaching the kids how to talk and act in front of white people, then went off the track with him working at the minstrel show) and Lessons in Chemistry (the real-life struggles of professional women in the 1950s and early 60s clothed in absurdity including a dog named Six-Thirty who thinks like a human, ironically the most interesting character in the book besides Calvin).

Books Completed in December 2025

 A Spell for Midwinter's Heart, Morgan Lockhart

 A Wiltshire Christmas, compiled by John Chandler

 Murder at Holly House, Denzil Meyrick

  Re-read: Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Kathryn Lasky

 Santa Claus Worldwide, Tom A. Jerman

 Re-read: Sleigh Bells for Windy Foot, Frances Frost

 Good Spirits, B.K. Borison

 The Dead of Winter, Sarah Clegg

 Re-read: The Tuckers: The Cottage Holiday, Jo Mendel

 The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, Ally Carter

Books Completed in November 2025

 The Case of the Burgled Bundle, Michael Hutchinson
The third in the "Mighty Muskrats" mystery series. The Windy Lake Crees are hosting the National Assembly of Cree Peoples. Each of the groups will use their "treaty bundle," a collection of memorabilia sacred to each group, to tell the story of their past. But when one of the treaty bundles disappears, the Muskrats pour their hearts into the investigation, knowing that a theft will not only deprive the Crees of an important part of their heritage, but will bring dishonor on the Windy Lake group.

But who would take it? Was it tough Pearl and her gang of undisciplined teens? Or someone else who wished to sow discontent among the different groups?

It was fascinating learning about the treaty bundles and the memories and customs that went along with them. The information is still passed down orally to apprentices who inherit the role of keeper of the treaty.

  The Wild Places, Robert MacFarlane
"Are there any genuinely wild places left in England, Scotland, and Wales?"

Yes, and MacFarlane walks each of them, from Ynys Enlli, an island in Wales, to Ben Hope in Scotland, to the Essex coast, and everything in between, forest, mountain, moor, seashore, describing in beautiful language the breathtaking landscapes still left. This is nature's poetry in prose, dreamy, realistic, tough, gentle.

It is also a tribute to his friend Roger Deakin, who helped him plan his wild journeys.

  Love is a War Song, Danica Nava
This was everything I wanted If I Stopped Haunting You to be.

Avery Fox loved music. She just wanted to write and perform good songs. But her relentless stage mother has driven her into a career where she's the darling of everyone's social media, until an ill-designed music video in which she dresses in a way to insult her Native heritage puts her on everyone's cancel list. Her mother sends her to Oklahoma to lay low with her grandmother, who Avery's never met because her mother is estranged from her. Designer shoes and all, she comes face-to-face with Lucas Iron Eyes, who's never heard of her, and immediately thinks of her as a privileged princess.

As Avery learns more about her heritage, as well as ranch work, she learns to value Lucas and what he wants for his future, and that includes saving her grandmother Lottie's ranch. You'll cheer when she finally decides to make her own future instead of being indebted to her mother.

  The Earth Shall Weep, James Wilson
This is a history of Native America from the "discovery" of America by Christopher Columbus and other European explorers from the point of view of the tribes who were displaced, marginalized, massacred, starved into submission, and killed by European illnesses, plagued by distrust, hatred, broken treaties and broken promises. The Europeans' understanding of the world conflicted with the beliefs of the native population, well-illustrated by retellings of their individual creation stories and later by published writings.

Painful to read, but enlightening. My only wish is that there was an updated version bringing in the resurgence of Native culture via the internet.

  The Case of the Rigged Race, Michael Hutchinson
And the fourth in the "Mighty Muskrats" series, taking on some big adult topics.

The Windy Lake First Nation reservation is hosting the annual Trappers Festival which includes junior and senior dogsled races. Atim is racing a team for his cousin Jody, who was in an accident and can't participate, but when one of the dogs gets ill, he's out of the race, but more worried about Muskwa, the dog. It looks like someone has tried to drug her.

The immediate suspects are an animal rights group who think the dogs are being mistreated, but they discover people heavily bet on the dog races and wonder if someone was trying to meddle with the winners. The kids must figure out the why, and then the who, if the Festival is to continue successfully.

The story discusses subjects like animal rights and vegetarianism/meat eating, gambling, and alcohol addiction.

  The Way of Gratitude: Readings for a Joyful Life, edited by Michael Leach, James T. Keane, Doris Goodnough
I bought this for Thanksgiving reading. There are 46 essays/poems about gratitude, which I read two a day in order to consider thankfulness at this special season.

  Scary Book of Christmas Lore: Forget About Jingle Bells & Jolly Old Saint Nick, Tim Rayborn

Books Completed in October 2025

 In These Hallowed Halls, edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
A dozen stories of dark academia, from the thievery of research papers and the seduction of graduate students, to the one really chilling, uncomfortable-ending tale called "The Department of Ontography," in which a student's curiosity about the mysterious department leads to a horrifying future. (The story of the new teacher at the isolated girls' school was pretty creepy, too!) This was a perfect book to read before Hallowe'en!

  Written in Bone, Sue Black
Who knew a book about the human skeletal system could be so absorbing?

Black, a forensic anthropologist, has another hit after All That Remains, in which she surveys the human skeleton top to bottom, and how evidence from each of the parts of the skeleton has solved crimes ranging from the heartbreaking death of an abused pre-schooler to the murders of adults. Along the way, you learn fascinating facts about our bones and skeletal structure, all told in Black's lively narrative style. Great for crime buffs and science nerds.

  Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things, Breanne Randall
Thalia, Eurydice, and Calliope Petridi are three sisters, all witches, who live in the charming town of Gold Springs, California. They own a combination bookstore/bakeshop (this sounds familiar...), but are struggling emotionally since their mother disappeared, leaving them in charge of the Dark Oak, a tree in which evil magic has been trapped. The Petridis are members of a group of magic users called Lightcrafters, who use the loss of happy memories to fuel their power; their rivals are the Shadowcrafters, who draw their power from the earth. And the latter—especially their leader Lucien Deniz--wish to draw power from the Dark Oak.

Then Calliope realizes, from a grimoire which communicates with her, that she must release the power from the Dark Oak to keep disaster from happening. Her ally? Deniz, who is abruptly and inexplicably emotionally tied to her.

This has a lot of positives to it, especially the sisters' support of each other, but the plot about the hidden secret of the Dark Oak and the feud between the Lightcrafters and Shadowcrafters seems drawn out. The text has some beautiful imagery, and Calliope's solution at the end is heartbreaking, yet optimistic.

  The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion of the Works of Agatha Christie, Charles Osborne
A history of Agatha Christie's works (not just her mysteries, but her Mary Westmacott books and other writings) against the story of her life, a combined biography and detailed bibliography (down to how many times she reused plot points in different stories!). Presents a nice overview of her life and work.

  If I Stopped Haunting You, Colby Wilkens
This book sounded so promising. Two young writers, Penelope Skinner and Neil Storm, accompany two other writer friends to a haunted Scottish castle. There, they encounter what they believe is an actual ghost. It was billed as a romance/haunted house mystery. I was additionally charmed when I discovered the two protagonists were Native American.

Alas, the execution was...disappointing. Turns out Penelope and Neil are feuding because Penelope wrote an honest book about Native people that no one bought, and Neil sold out his Native lead to his publisher's suggestions, but the book has made him a sensation. After an angry encounter with Neil at a conference, Penelope imagines herself persona non grata in the publishing field. Naturally, once they're together at the haunted castle, they start being attracted to each other—pages and pages of sexual yearning. And that's the way the book goes, Neil and Penelope resisting attraction while investigating the ghostly happenings, with their two friends being continually annoying.

And the kicker at the end is that the ghost story turns out to be a totally ho-hum historical romance cliché. This one goes into the trade-in bin.

  Built on Chocolate: The Story of the Hershey Chocolate Company, James D. McMahon Jr.
Oversize hardback full of color historical photographs chronicling the history of Milton Hershey and the chocolate empire he founded. Hershey was a fascinating man who emulated Cadbury and Rowntree, the two British chocolate magnates, in building affordable, clean housing for his workers, and trying different types of products over the history of the company.

I remember taking the trolley tour of Hershey back in 2009. This book covers all the territory of the tour—and more.

  Mate, Ali Hazelwood
The sequel and companion book to Hazelwood's fantasy romance Bride, about the future of Misery Lark Moreland's childhood companion, Serena Paris, who, the world has learned, is a werewolf/human hybrid. Unfortunately, this means the humans want to exploit her, and the werewolves want to destroy her. Luckily, she's under the protection of Misery's mate/husband's brother Koen—unfortunately, he seems to hate her guts, even though, to protect her, he's claimed her as his mate, which means whoever threatens her risks the wrath of the werewolves.

There are many more twists to the story, including a cult and a promise to the pack. If you're in the mood for a suspenseful romantasy, this will fill the bill.

  Jolene, Mercedes Lackey
Anna May Jones, growing up in a smoky mining town, has always been sickly. Her parents, coal miner Lew Jones and his wife, abruptly send Anna May to live with her mother's sister, a "witchy woman" in a secluded area two-days wagon journey from her home. Her health immediately improves, because Anna May is an Earth Master and the pollution of her hometown made her ill. Anna May spends a happy summer learning to make herbal concoctions, and becoming attracted to a talented young stonecutter, Josh. She also discovers that she, like Aunt Jinny, can see and maneuver "the Glory," elemental Earth power.

This is mostly the story of Anna May's emergence as an elemental Magician and her slow control of "the Glory," her growing attraction to Josh, the discovery of a hidden Cherokee settlement, and the appearance of another "witchy woman," the beautiful—and super-powerful—Jolene. Very late, the book introduces a villain who lusts after Anna May's power, and the climax finds Anna May confronting Jolene for the soul of Josh. Kept my attention, but like the Annie Oakley book, much is world-building before the quick climax.

  What the Owl Knows, Jennifer Ackerman
Another brilliant book about birds from Ackerman. She writes in an engaging style about how humans view owls, and about the owl lifestyle itself, from courtship and parenthood to migration (yes, owls do migrate!). They are fascinating birds, not as "stupid" as has been indicated in many avian texts, yet not as "magical" as the Harry Potter books have made them out to be. The chapters about owls' extraordinary hearing are fascinating: how they can pinpoint prey from the tiniest move of a muscle of a small animal.

Books Completed in September 2025

 Bright Poems for Dark Days, Julie Sutherland
Just what it says: a collection of verse to cheer you through hard times. Poets range from Whittier to Gibran and Shakespeare to Browning.

  400 Things Cops Know, Adam Plantinga
I find the darnedest things at Books-a-Million. This one was amusing and sad and thoughtful all at once, a collection of anecdotes from police officers and detectives across the country, talking of everything from violent crime to amusing incidents involving kooky complaints. There are some very sobering stories about domestic violence and violence against children, sad stories of relationships gone bad, of the suffering caused by criminal violence, and among prostitutes and their pimps.

Some good reading in short, digestible bits. 

  Peking Duck and Cover, Vivien Chien
Tenth in the "Noodle Shop" mysteries, and Lana Lee has become part of the team preparing for a big Chinese New Year celebration at the Asia Village shopping center, where her parents run their noodle shop. Part of the celebration includes the performance of a dance troupe featuring the traditional Chinese dragon doing a Lion Dance. Unfortunately, the performers behind the Chinese dragon are in contention with each other, and then one of them is killed.

Of course, everyone assumes Lana will investigate the crime, since she's been so successful in the past! Even her boyfriend, Adam, a police detective, doesn't seem to mind this time around.

I guess I'm getting a little jaded with the "Lana (and Megan) solve a mystery" plots and didn't read this one with as much joy as in the past.

  The Yankee Road: Volume 3, Apotheosis, James D. McNiven
I thought McNiven would never finish this history of US-20. The first book came out ten years ago.

Once again—sigh—McNiven has left the footnotes online.

The rest of the book is delightful, following US-20 from Chicago and the year of the exposition and "The White City" to the end of the "trail" in Oregon, touching on the rise of mail-order and the decline of the once-great newspaper empire, the creation of "the plow that broke the Plains" (and then nearly destroyed them), Western painters and prairie hardships, the great cowboy adventures, the epic journey of the camera, and more.

  Echo Mountain, Lauren Wolk
After the Great Depression destroys both her mother's and father's means of making a living, pre-teen Ellie, her older sister Esther, and her little brother Samuel, and their parents must live in a roughly-built house on Echo Mountain, trading with five other families to be able to eat and survive. Her father hunts and cuts trees for lumber until the day one of the trees falls and severely injures him. Now Ellie must help her family survive, but she's also determined that she will help cure her father, who lies deep in a coma.

Unfortunately, in doing what it takes to survive, Ellie makes herself unpopular with both her sister and mother.

This is a rather grim look at the Depression days and what people had to do to survive. Strong stomachs are necessary for reading this, as many of the medical emergencies Ellie and her family face are graphically described.

  Re-read: Another Path, Gladys Taber
This was a small one-off volume that Taber wrote after the death of her lifelong friend—they met in college—and co-owner of the Connecticut farmhouse known as Stillmeadow, Eleanor Mayer, known as "Jill" in Gladys' magazine columns and subsequent books. It appeared that Mayer passed away after a sudden illness, but there are not many details and it sounds more like cancer). Both Gladys' daughter and Eleanor's two children are grown, so she must adjust to life alone in the house. She talks about her grief and then her efforts to recover.

You can find many more books today about coping with grief, especially memoirs; however, when Gladys wrote this book, it was a rather unique idea. I wanted to re-read it after the death of my husband.

As a Stillmeadow book, this fills in the blanks between The Stillmeadow Road and Stillmeadow Calendar.|

Books Completed in August 2025

 Fan Service, Rosie Danan
Alex Lawson's never felt at home at her dad's place in Florida, where she's been ridiculed for his conservation efforts. The only place she feels at ease is online, where she creates a detailed website for her favorite television series The Arcane Files. But when she meets the star, Devin Ashwood, in person at a convention, a thoughtless remark he makes afterward turns her off him and his character, a werewolf who's also an FBI agent.

Years later, Devin Ashwood, the series over and looking for a new role, wakes up in a field nearly naked, and discovers from a news report that cameras caught him transforming into a werewolf. Everyone else thinks it's a promo for a revival of the series, but he realizes that somehow he's become a werewolf like the character he played on television and searches for a way to reverse it, finding Alex's detailed website. Not knowing she's the young woman he unwittingly insulted years ago, he travels to Florida to meet her. And to her surprise, she agrees to help him.

This is an engaging fantasy-romance with some hard truths about the traumas of child actors and bullied people who don't fit in.

  The Highwayman: A Longmire Story, Craig Johnson
Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear arrive in Wyoming's Wind River Canyon to help Rosey Wayman, an old friend of Walt's recently transferred to the area. She keeps hearing a mysterious radio message from a Highway Patrolman requesting assistance—except this Patrolman died years ago in a fiery crash. Wayman's supervisors think she's going nuts, so Walt and Henry need to figure out who's playing a prank on her—and, if it's not a prank, what's going on.

Great little novella with what seems like a supernatural twist—but it will keep you guessing until the end.

  Before Dorothy, Hazel Gaynor
Annie Kelly and her sister Emily, daughters of Irish immigrants, move to the bustling city of Chicago in the late 1800s to work at Marshall Field as salesgirls; Annie meets wealthy John and marries well, Emily falls in love with practical Henry Gale, who wants to homestead in Kansas. Annie tries to talk her out of it, but Emily and Henry are married, and he moves to Kansas to start a family farm while Emily waits until Annie's daughter is born to join him. A daughter named Dorothy.

This is the story of "Auntie Em" and her life before and then after Dorothy came to live in Kansas. Gaynor weaves a credible story about the homesteaders on the prairie, their early crop successes, and then the drought that came to ruin all their hopes of success. Becomes a vivid portrait not only of a woman trying to make her niece feel safe and loved, but of the Dust Bowl that scoured the land, ruined lives, and killed.

  For the Love of the Bard, Jessica Martin
Miranda Barnes, writer and literary agent, writer of young adult fic under the name of Hathaway Smith, is still smarting from bad reviews of her last novel, in which she killed off a popular main villain. She goes home to her parents at the little town of Bard's Rest, which revolves around Shakespeare and the town's annual Shakespeare festival, to complete the next novel in the series. Next thing you know, she's not only been roped into directing one of the festival plays by her actress mother, but she keeps encountering Adam Winters, the new town vet and the guy who ditched her on prom night to go with her older sister Portia, a hotshot lawyer. (Her younger sister Cordelia—sense a theme here?—is the town's favorite baker.)

Enjoyed the story and the characters. There's a sequel about Portia out as well. Wonder if Cordelia will get matched next?

  Writing Black Beauty, Celia Brayfield
This is not just the story of Anna Sewell and her family—her mother and aunt were also writers in "the domestic sphere" as was expected of women in their day—but of the growing movement of rights for animals, whose fate in the late 18th/early 19th century was grim: carriage and wagon horses beaten to death in the streets, vivisection, kittens and puppies drowned after birth. Alternating with the story of Sewell and her family is the story of a public becoming aware of the feelings and treatment of animals. Both an interesting story about Sewell's health problems and a little-known history of animal rights.

  Sweet Music, S.R. Morton
This book is the literary equivalent of watching Bob Ross painting shows. Really, nothing happens. Reverie Vyse, a faerie, and her best friend Cerise (also a faerie) run a bookstore and cafe. Decan Jarris applies for the job of barista after their current barista has to leave. He's a whiz at his job and soon business picks up even more. But Decan's deepest wish is to be a successful musician, but he's been beat down by doubts. His love of Reverie helps him accomplish that. Basically, the whole story is about moral support. It's very sweet.

Horrified to see in a published book the misuse of the word "phased." It should have been "fazed." Also, Decan (and sometimes Reverie) "smirk" too many times when a smile is supposed to be gentle or heartfelt. "Smirking" is sarcastic and is often used to hurt the person being smirked at, and is used correctly very rarely in this book.

  Why to Kill a Mockingbird Matters, Tom Santopietro
After a short overview of Nelle Harper Lee's childhood, the book goes into the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird and the praise and notoriety the novel gained. then covers the making of the film before addressing other topics such as "Is To Kill a Mockingbird racist?", Harper Lee's descent into privacy, the publication of Go Set a Watchman and the hue-and-cry over the revelation that Atticus Finch was racist himself, and the continued relevance of the novel and the film in the 21st century. A natural for any fan of To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to read it after meeting Mary Badham in person!

  All the Feels, Danika Stone
College freshman Liv Walden, still smarting from the death of her father (who hooked her on the science-fiction universe of Starveil), is devastated when Matt Spartan, the hero of the Starveil universe, is killed in the latest film. Her best friend Xander, who dresses in steampunk fashion, tries to placate her, and her mother is determined that Liv's fandom obsession won't hurt her grades. Secretly, Liv creates another identity to start a campaign to bring Matt Spartan back, ropes Xander into helping her, and is astonished when the movement not only gains speed, but becomes a nationwide campaign.

I bought this because the second half of the book takes place at DragonCon (although I was giggling like crazy when Liv is looking at a panel schedule in July, since the D'Con schedule usually isn't up until two weeks before the con), and it does a good job capturing the frenetic madness taking place at five host hotels and the Atlanta Merchandise Mart every Labor Day weekend. It does a less good job explaining how Liv actually got her mom's permission to go to DragonCon (since her mom screamed at her because she failed calculus—although why in the frag did Liv take it in the first place? there's no math requirement in college, especially for someone who's studying the visual arts like she is, unless you're going into a math or science field). Or if they ever worked it out about her mom's busybody boyfriend whom her mom inappropriately shared private information with? Seems Mom was suddenly okay with fandom when she found out Liv could get a job in it!!!! And Xander with his "dearest" is simply too precious for words.

  Cranston Through Time, Sandra Moyer and Jent Cullen Ragno
Then and now photos from my old home town, including my high school, the old coal mine at Garden City Shopping Center, and even "the bad boys school" at Sockanossett.

  Frozen Heat, Richard Castle
This is #4 in the "Nikki Heat" series, supposedly written by the "Castle" of ABC television fame. Basically, the Nikki Heat books are Castle stories under a different name and a couple of tweaks. Kate Beckett becomes sexy Nikki Heat, Castle morphs into magazine journalist Jameson Rook (Castle/Rook, get it?), Ryan and Esposito are Raley and Ochoa, Laney Parish turns into Lauren Parry. Rook even has an actress mom; the only character missing is Alexis, and Captain "Montrose" has been replaced by the ineffective Captain Irons.

In this outing, the frozen body of a woman in her 40s is found in a suitcase that is inscribed with Nikki Heat's initials; this is because the suitcase belonged to Nikki's mother, who was murdered on Thanksgiving Eve years earlier and who's the reason Heat became a cop. Soon Heat and Rook are not only on the trail of the anonymous corpse's killer, but also finding out more about Cynthia Heat's death.

This is a complicated mystery that nevertheless contains many inside jokes: I’m convulsed by the names of a pair of detectives on loan to help solve the murder: Detectives Malcolm and Reynolds. Jameson Rook, Castle’s avatar, even has the line: “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something I like about Detectives Malcolm and Reynolds." (On Firefly, Nathan Fillion played Malcolm Reynolds.)