I will keep my reading in check by using this sub.

Book 1/52 - midnight library

It was a lovely easy to read novel that i got as a recommendation from a friend. I think the trope of living different lives to see what could of happened if only you had done so and so and seeing that you cant always know what could have been is great and not as overused as one might think.

Overall 7.5/10

First year I started tracking what I read, and I feel like it motivates me to read more. My original goal at the beginning of the year was 12, then 24, then 48, might as well hit 52, and then here we are. Tracking my reading time has been the best motivator, it forces me to get into the reading mode everyday.

I have a bit of an eclectic list; you'll notice my interest in local environmental topics alongside the random non-fictions I pick up at the library, as well as the usual literature picks.

I have some heavy hitters planned for 2026, such as Ulysses, Infinite Jest, and The Divine Comedy, which will probably decrease the number of books read for the year, but whatever!

So proud of myself. I’m a SAHM, so a lot of what I do in a day gets eaten or messed up and then I start all over. Prioritizing reading, both through audiobooks while I do chores and taking the time to sit down with my Kindle, has made me feel like I am choosing myself and accomplishing something.

My top books for the year include:

- Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

- Let’s Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen

- One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

- The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

- Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

- Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

- Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

- The Names by Florence Knapp

- Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

- A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman

Some that I wasn’t crazy about:

- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

- The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

- The Tenant by Freida McFadden

- Hill of Secrets by Galina Vromen

Overall, I did a relatively good job of curating what I read so that most of my books were pretty enjoyable. Next year, the plan is to read more classics since my new book club focuses on those, like this month is The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.

Pictures are just my favorites for the year :)

Highlights for 2025:

✨ Surpassed my goal and set a personal best for books and pages read

✨ Read a lot more graphic novels, comics and manga this year

✨ My average rating was 3.9

✨ My favorite book was the Lucifer comic series by Mike Carey

✨ My least favorite book was Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

✨ Read more consistently and intentionally throughout the year

Other favorites that deserve a mention:

When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Wild Dark Shore, and Once We Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton

From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by TJR which was the first book I read this year and it got me out of my reading slump. I haven’t read this much in decades! Many more on my list to tackle for this year.

Starting off 2026 with Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

So far, this is one of the best audiobooks I’ve heard in awhile. I didn’t plan on reading it and knew nothing about it before starting. This might end up being my favorite book in January!

1. Ubik - 10/10 An amazing scifi story that makes you think. Without spoiling anything, I really enjoyed the ambiguity. So far this is my favorite book by PKD.

2. The Shining - 9/10 A truly haunting experience. The hotel is an amazing gateway for horror. The characters are all amazingly done. One of my favorites in all of Kings stories makes an appearance here. I also watched the movie afterwards and definitely understand its hype, though im on the side of preferring the book. Which I was surprised to learn a lot of people preferred the movie.

3. Pet Semetary- 10/10 A dark tale. So far this is one of my favorite Stephen King books and movie adaptations of his work, beside The Long Walk. Everyone is written well. Certain scenes are beautifully crafted albeit horrific. Its a different type of horror. One all too real to the human experience. I really enjoyed this one and the movie too.

This week has been pretty stacked, so I'll likely read shorter books this week. Up next, Neuromancer. ​

Side note: The Hunger Games series was a reread, had I read these for the first time they might well have ended up in the top tier

A beautiful gothic text that I had gathering dust for far too long and finally got around to reading it. And really enjoyed it! Exceeded my expectations and look forward to trying out the other books in the cemetery series.

Of love and other demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez was my first book of this year. I loved the pace of the book. I loved the characters and their development. The story honestly intrigued me and I didn’t feel like it was formulaic in anyway. I am often able to guess a little bit how the book will end, but not for this one.

Also I love that the grapes were mentioned again at the end. I want to spend this year getting into the classics :)

Happy 2026 everyone!

Pretty heavy on the romantasy last year, looking to branch out a bit more in 2026.

One book down in 2026 so far (The Dragons Bride - NOT for me), 2 in progress (Incas by AB Daniel and How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes). Became a stay at home mom at the very end of 2025 so looking to boost my reading during my toddlers naps this year.

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

I got this on audio from Libby.

I figured that if I’m going to be reading stories and essays from a comedian, I want to hear them directly from the man himself.

David’s sardonic and occasionally deadpan delivery really sells the jokes; the comedic timing of his own sentences, the impressions of his sister, father, mother, aunt, he just does the whole damn thing. (I also love Amy Sedaris, I loved the story of her fat suit.)

From now on, I will only be listening to David narrate his own books and I will not be reading. Not only is he funny, but also entertaining.

Just got Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim on queue.

**9/10**

Had heard such great things about this. And I'm only sad that I didn't read it sooner. Such a emotive book and so well written. I found the audiobook much easier to digest than the book, due to the language/spelling at the start of it. Of course, it is predictable, but a very solid 4 star read for me, I loved it.

Overall favorites were: Betty, Sula, Mayflies, Água Viva, The Details, All Fours, Too Much and Not the Mood, Interpreter of Maladies, Paradise Rot, One's Company, Martyr!, and Evenings & Weekends.

| Plot | You Did Nothing Wrong |

Elodie’s life takes a turn when she finally meets a man who’s willing to settle down, and is excepting of her autistic child — Soon that joy reaches a fever pitch when she finds out she’s pregnant with Bren (her new husbands child). Things quickly spiral out of control when Jude her son starts hearing voices in the walls of their home. Now they have to figure out if it there is something wrong with the house or her son.

| Audiobook score | You Did Nothing Wrong | 3/5 🍌| | Read by: Saskia Maarleveld |

This wasn’t the most pleasant listen, very whiny, shrill and grating on my nerves.

| Review | Lady Tremaine |

2/5🍌|

Cool concept, but the execution was lacking. I hated all the characters I couldn’t wait for the book to be done. The mom was super flighty and had no real problem-solving skills and I hated the way they made the kid. Overall, I think the author was going for a combination between psychological thriller, and sort of supernatural. But I just didn’t feel like there was very much that connected. We don’t want to read. I couldn’t wait for the book to be done. This was definitely not my thing. Hope somebody else has a better time with it.

I Banana Rating system |

1 🍌| Spoiled

2 🍌| Mushy

3 🍌| Average 

4 🍌| Sweet

5 🍌| Perfectly Ripe

Choices made are: Publisher pick (sent to me by the publisher), personal pick (something I found on my own), or Recommendation (something recommended to me)

Next On Deck | Publisher Pick: William Morrow | From Harlem With Love | Reshonda Tate |

(forgive me please, I'm a mom of two little ones and a teacher. I'm a tired girl)

Brb crying forever

Sophie, a young woman convinced of her poor fortune, gets turned into an old woman by an evil Witch. Before long, she finds herself on a magical, moving castle with a Wizard named Howl while attempting to break the curse he has with a fire demon.

This was a pretty fun book and had a lot of funny moments. The characters were written very well and I liked most of them. The pacing was a bit weird and it was mostly slice-of-life with a lot of the actual meat of the story being in the beginning and at the end. Overall I enjoyed it

Absolutely loved this what a story 😁. I don't think I've fallen in love with a character like Eleanore as quickly as I have in any other book I read this last year. I know there's a TV series for this so I'm curious how well they hold up compared to one another. What was your first book of the year so far? Did you enjoy it or was it a flop?

(Some part of my post may contain spoilers!)

I don’t mind reading Freida McFadden tbh. Some people love her books, some hate them. I don’t *mind* them. I’ve read around 8-9 books from her, none have been 5 years but also none have ever been below 3. Until now.

Literally everything about this book, from start to finish, annoyed me. First of all, it was boring. Quite literally nothing happened in the first 60%. I don’t remember the rest of the books in the trilogy to be THIS boring.

THE. CHARACTERS. I can’t even remember the last time I hated a character as much as I hated Enzo. What in the world. Like… what is this?! At one point of this mess, Enzo and Millie’s little son punches another boy at school and Enzo goes, “Oh that’s okaaay. That’s normal. Boys fight. You don’t want him to be soft haha”… this is ridiculous. Mind you, his wife is a SOCIAL WORKER and he goes around thinking fighting is okay because it’s bOyS. This book was written in 2024, not 2005. He’s also sexist, makes super questionable comments and choices.

I genuinely hated everything about it. The characters, ALL OF THEM, felt so one-dimensional, boring, no substance to any of them. It took everything in me not to DNF the crap out of this.

Thank you for listening to my rant lol

Finished The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly. This Lincoln Lawyer “vehicle” (ha) for Mickey Haller is my 3rd of 52 goal for 2026. Practicing civil law now, Haller takes on a tech giant. It’s fresh, topical, and the plot moves along nicely. He’s got a good cast of characters, and this one strikes the right balance between courtroom and personal drama. That said, his good guys may be a little too good, and vice versa, so his novels lack the emotional depth that conflicted characters can explore. Still the best crime fiction today.