100+ Books in 2025 discussion

Last year I knitted more, read less. Let's see how I do this year!
1. Zen And The Art Of Knitting: Exploring the Links Between Knitting, Spirituality, and Creativity
I liked but didn't love this one. There were too many dichotomies which go against my experience - knitter v. feminist, for example, or hipster v. soccer mom.

2. My Favorite Intermissions: Lives of the Musical Greats and Other Facts You Never Knew You Were Missing
I love Victor Borge, and enjoyed the book. But I couldn't tell truth from fiction.

3. Lady of Quality
It was a relief, after all the Barbara Cartland and the Flame and the Flower, to read a 70s romance novel in which the heroine actually had a personality and a brain, didn't stammer whenever speaking to a man, and wasn't raped (or rescued) at all during the book.

4. The Grand Sophy
I kept going with the vintage romance theme, and again enjoyed it. The romance was a pretty small part of the plot, and a bit squicky, but the heroine was very fun.

5. The Shadow of the Wind
Sara strongly recommended this book - so strongly that she bought it for me - and as usual, she wasn't wrong. Once I was into it, I couldn't put it down. I was completely wrapped up in 1950s Barcelona, and a love story that echoed through time.

6. The Undead Pool
Fun series, set in my city, drawing to an end.

7. 11/22/63
Interesting concept, but I didn't find the book compelling - I kept checking how many pages I had left. Never a good sign!

8. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Excellent book. It gave a chilling portrait of 1930's Germany and the ways foreign governments decided to look the other way while Hitler took complete power. It read rather like a fictional thriller - building up to a final battle between good and evil - but with the added layer that you knew it really happened.

9. If I Stay
I thought I would read something light, to escape from the book world of Nazi Germany. This was the wrong choice for that - not so light! It was a lovely book though, very moving.

10. Where She Went
And then, of course, I needed to read the sequel... Also enjoyable :)

11. The Story of B: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
It's been a long time, but I had read and enjoyed other books by Daniel Quinn. (This one was actually bought at that time and has been languishing on my bookshelf for a decade.) This one also has really interesting ideas.

12. On the Divinity of Second Chances
I read this for book club - it was a nice and light read.

13. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Sweet and light, in spite of the illness of one of the main characters. The things I thought I was going to hate about it (the main character, written as a collection of letters from her to various people) ended up working.

14. Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father
Really liked it. Growing up at the same time I did, the narrator experienced so many of the same trials we all did, but had an entirely other set of trials and tribulations as well. I enjoyed her story of San Francisco before the AIDS epidemic, and was heartbroken by the story once it started. Ultimately, though, it was a sweet and moving story of a father and daughter.

15. To Be Sung Underwater
It's nice to read a book where the author is kind to the characters.

16. The Making of a Duchess
I didn't want to think... so I guess I was satisfied. And it was not as bad as others of her books... (Practicing the art of damning with faint praise.)

17. The Tastemakers: Why We're Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue
I do love a good book about food, and this was a good one! Really entertaining, filled with insights about why we eat the way we do, with chapters on cupcakes, bacon, Chia seeds... Did you know no one would eat sea bass back when it was called the toothfish? I also came out of it with lists of food pilgrimages I'd love to take.

18. Angelopolis
The second book in the series was The Empire Strikes Back - a bridge to a third act which doesn't yet exist. Still, it was enjoyable and well thought out.

19. Love Letters to the Dead
My mom didn't like the books that were coming out when I was a kid. In the "new realism", people died, parents split up, kids dealt with real issues. It amuses me to think what she would have thought about this decade's YA books. This book was really lovely and moving, though, and satisfying.

20. Don't Tempt Me
Fun.

21. Longbourn
I was absolutely charmed by this book. But I thought it was fascinating how it pointed out the classism in Pride and Prejudice, and how it used the book to create the framework for a new one!

22. Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
I love vacation! I finally get to dig into some good books, and finish some that I've been reading :)
This was much nicer than I expected. The book talked about the poor little rich girl, and I thought I was going to read bout a terribly sad life; however, I ended up happy for her, for a life lived according to her rules and desires, although it was unclear who took advantage of her. And I was amazed by a life that spanned the Titanic and the World Trade Center...

23. Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never-Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems
I really liked Rakoff's writing style. The book was clever, but some of the essays seemed a little too first-world and he didn't seem really connected to his subjects. The ones where he related more were best.

24. A Meaningful Life
Strange little book. It was dark and often funny, and being from 1971, felt foreign (in terms of money, attitudes towards women and minorities, etc.) And the ending was absolutely not what I expected.

25. The Other
This one may stay with me for awhile. I really liked his prose, and I found the story both peaceful and disturbing.

26. Switch
Some really good insights here! I was intrigued by the idea that people are actually exhausted by things that take place entirely in their heads - like, say, willpower for dieting. Also, the idea that people are not really convinced to make a change by data, which goes against my entire way of life! I finished the book wanting to make some changes in my approach to dealing with people and with challenges.

27. American Adulterer: A novel
Good enough, and had certain strengths, but I had to talk myself into finishing it.

28. On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta
This is a book about cooking and travel, which made me want to cook many of the foods described and travel to many of the places visited. The book includes a few recipes, and I especially want to try most of the ones from Iran and Turkey - ironically enough, not the noodles, which were the point of the book!

29. Desires of a Perfect Lady
This wasn't even that great a romance, but it was still exactly what I needed after a very rough week at work.

30. I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies
This was an entertaining but very dense tour through the movies from the silent era to today, looking at some political and social ideas and trends. I enjoyed it, but probably would have liked it more if I actually watched movies.

31. A Man Without a Country
I love Vonnegut, but this was just a few random thoughts, many of which could have been replaced by "hey kids, get off my lawn!" I especially related to his thoughts on how technology makes life impersonal (if we let it) and takes away some beautiful little moments.

32. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
I like books about psychology, but they do so well at demonstrating the problem, but not so well at giving the answer! This was an interesting analysis of some of the reasons that people act against their best interests, or that of their job. Thought-provoking.

33. The Social Climber's Handbook: A Novel
I didn't like it, but I finished it.

34. I Am America
Much as I love Stephen Colbert, this was not a book worth of shtick.

35. Driving In Neutral
First, I love that I know an actual author! (Even if I only cyber-know...) But I really enjoy her books, and I think they keep getting better. This was highly enjoyable, with (mostly) mature characters who I would actually hang out with.

36. The Age of Miracles
Interesting premise, well written. The earth's rotation slows drastically.

37. Following Polly
This book was cute, with a strangely likable main character.

38. The Arrangement
Hero saves heroine from her place in society. Heroine saves hero from his demons.

39. The Witch With No Name
A satisfying end to a fun series :)

40. Rejuvenile: Kickball, Cartoons, Cupcakes, and the Reinvention of the American Grown-Up
I have now been defined! My childlike tendencies fit into a larger framework. I would have enjoyed more analysis of how that framework developed, though. There was a lot blamed on my generation being latchkey kids, which I wasn't, and the children of hippies - also not the case.

41. Bad Feminist: Essays
I love Roxane Gay. She may have a fondness for pop culture lightweights, but she draws a strong line about what we need to acknowledge about what these things suggest about the current state of women in our society. She made me cry with an essay about the Hunger Games. And I came out of the book inspired, and ready to take more of a stand.

42. Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d'Art
Christopher Moore never disappoints - always brilliantly funny and profane.

43. I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography
I'm not really sure how this ended up on my list... It was interesting though. I always had a romantic idea of the CBGB scene, definitely less so now.

... The Dud Avocado
Again, I'm not sure how this ended up in my to-read list. I tried, really I did. But it was terrible. The narrator, supposed to be so charming and bubbly, was actually entitled and thoughtless. Ugh.

44. The Woman's Comfort Book
I've had this book for almost 20 years, and it used to be a favorite. But I decided it was time to go through from beginning to end and see if it had anything more to give me, and I'm letting go.

45. The Disappearance of Childhood
This was a fascinating read. My only regret was that it was written in the 80s, so he was only able to write about the impact of the television age, not the computer age. It would have been interesting to see what he made of what happened since!

46. My Lady Scandalous: The Amazing Life and Outrageous Times of Grace Dalrymple Elliott, Royal Courtesan
At first I thought I was really going to enjoy this book. Grace Eliot was indeed a fascinating person from what is known about her. But the author gets carried away with unrelated sidebars on all sorts of subjects, opinions which she states as fact, and several chapters of conjecture at the end of her life, where what is known of Grace is less. I would have enjoyed half as much book twice as much.

47. The Spice Necklace: A Food-Lover's Caribbean Adventure
I've actually never had any desire to go to the Caribbean (something to do with pale skin and hot sun). But now I want to go, and I want to eat my way from island to island. I want to stalk all of the people who taught her so much about island food and life, too!

48. A Moveable Feast
Leaving this book requires a deep breath - it's so hard to leave Paris, and I don't want time to continue and take all of this from us. It's been a while since I read Hemingway, but I don't remember him being so funny... I finished by reading all the additional material, and I'm so glad it wasn't in the actual book.

49. The Good Luck of Right Now
This would be the first of the books from my most recent absurd hauls at the library :) It was sweet and enjoyable.