All of the Books I Read in December

Hi, there. 

Last you heard of me, I decided to update you about all of my reading habits in the last five months of 2025.  The SparkNotes version: I read two books in September, two in October, and, unfortunately, zero in November... leaving us on the brink of December 2025, eleven books away from the end of my Goodreads goal for the year. Based on that critical context, I can understand if you might not have had a ton of faith about my reading much else before 2026. 

Shows what you know! 

In fact, I became a woman transfixed, blind sprinting towards the finish line, in order to make one last valiant attempt at meeting my reading goals for 2025. You saw it in the image at the top of this page: I read those eleven books in that month! Ha ha! 

To be honest, I don't know if my local library should ban me or not: in the month of December alone, desperately casting as wide a net as possible for easy reads I could feasibly complete in less than the two weeks left available in 2025, I checked out a total of 29 (!!) various ebooks, audiobooks, and even one physical copy. I still ended up reading three books that were already on my shelves, of course, as these things tend to go, but all of those library holds really came through for me... well, eight of them, specifically. 

And before you even need to say anything, yes. The ugly part of my brain is already hard at work doing crisis control so that they don't lose the parliamentary seat sitting somewhere at the front of my cerebrum: One of these was Middle Grade, two of these were Romance, one was a Mystery, two were Food Writing, one was a Novella - not to mention that most of them were audiobooks, and two of them were less than three hours long! 

It's a little hard to hear his voice, though, over all the confetti going off, and the loudmouth on roller skates speeding around the floor yelling, LOOK WHO'S BACK, BABY! 

Best American Food Writing 2021, ed. Gabrielle Hamilton

four stars 

It's exactly what it says on the box: a collection of some of the best American short-form food writing published in 2021, curated by accomplished chef and author Gabrielle Hamilton. 

I love these collections, and this one certainly stands out for its notable commentary and perspective on what life was like during the Covidtimes. It could be utilized as its own sort of time capsule, a niche and comprehensive reminder of what was going on in the world (and what was important to us) when everything shut down. 

Some favorites include: 

• An exploration on how Sikhs were uniquely equipped to provide public aid to their communities when food access became questionable
• Yet another takedown of the long-chewed "why are there so many life stories on food blogs" complaint
• An impassioned perspective on how a rabbit hole on dairy farming led one woman to strike out all milk from her life, while breastfeeding her child during lockdown 
• A joyous documentation of how a man dying from AIDS in the '80s celebrated and promoted recipes to help those suffering during the crisis
• An appreciation for one woman's diligent and dedicated construction of the internet resource, The Food Timeline 
• A brief perspective on what it feels like to be quarantining with a Michelin-star-chef, when neither of you can leave your apartment 

Dear America: Christmas After All, Kathryn Lasky

a very nostalgic five stars! 

A fictional account of a young woman's difficult December during the Great Depression, from one of the best Middle Grade series ever written. 

There's only so much I can say that's new, novel, or interesting about a book that was published for the benefit of preteens over two decades ago, and that I reread on an annual basis. 

Maybe that this year's read felt even more poignant than ever before. I'm not being melodramatic about the subject matter: I am incredibly, bone-deep grateful that there are few ways my life mirrors that of a preteen girl in the 1930s. But at a time in American history that often feels worth of its own Dear America installment, it prompted me to stop and think about how our everyday documentation can translate extraordinary points in time through ordinary recollections. 

It will never be 2025 again, and it's both a blessing and a shame... a mixture of emotions that makes me want to prioritize my journaling habit again. 

Thrown to the Wolves (Big Bad Wolf #3), Charlie Adhara

four stars 

In the third installment of Adhara's Big Bad Wolf series, investigators Park and Cooper journey to Park's hometown for his grandfather's memorial... only to learn the old man died under mysterious circumstances. Not to mention that similar attacks have been happening to other members of the family... 

It took me FOUR months to finish this book, not because I didn't care about it, but because I cared far, far too much: genuinely, I bailed at the 51% mark, during a scene where Cooper walks into a room where Park is talking to his ex-boyfriend, and it became so immediately distressing to me that I had to walk away for, again, FOUR MONTHS, until I had adequately forgot my cause for alarm, and tripped directly back into the action. 

Being that I already knew that they'd be fine - being that there are still two more books to go in this story until the end, being that its a Romance series, for goodness' sake - this is definitely one of the most pathetic things I managed to survive in 2025. 

Because they're Cooper Dayton and Oliver Park, for crying out loud! They're up against werewolf gangs, government interference, shadowy organizations, gun-happy hunters, reclusive family members, and more. You really think they're going to come undone over a surprise appearance by an old ex-whatever? (Eli ends up becoming a favorite of mine by books' end, so there ya go.) 

Not my favorite out of the three in the series thus far - that honor still belongs to the original, which was one of the most happy surprises of my reading life in the last decade - but a clear, positive progression of world-expansion, sociocultural detail work, and, of course, Oliver and Cooper's relationship. Remarkably health and communicative, despite the fact that my boys are each toting several large suitcases' worth of emotional baggage. 

Yeah, obviously I'm continuing on with this series. Let's see how long it takes me to finish the next installment in 2026. 

Tanqueray, Stephanie Johnson and Brandon Stanton

three stars 

A brief, joyous memoir of the life of Stephanie Johnson - also known as Tanqueray, the viral photo focus obsession - detailing her life in New York. 

I was a dedicated fan of Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York project, back when I was someone who would check Facebook multiple times a day (I am a product of my generation, after all). I appreciated his straightforward photography style; the fact that he let people speak for themselves... and of course, I loved the days where you'd see that the photo was one in a series, which meant that something really exciting was on the way, so you could check in multiple times between classes, meals, and club meetings to see what would happen next. 

It's why I have to assume that the print copies of this book are stuffed end-to-end with pictures... because the audiobook version is less than three hours long. 

It suited my purposes, and honestly, Stephanie's life stories are vibrant and colorful enough to fil in the blanks, and be compelling regardless of contextualization. But I think in the future, I'll check out a physical copy, just to have had the chance to really enjoy the full extent of it. 

RIP, Stephanie Johnson (She passed away in October of this past year, due to complications from a stroke). One of my favorite quotes from the book: "When I get to Heaven, I hope God shoes me a movie of my life. But just the funny parts, not the in-between parts, 'cause then we'd both start crying. Underneath all the laughs and the gags, it was always about one thing: survival." I'm glad your voice lives on in Brandon's collections, and in this audiobook. 

The Wake-Up Call, Beth O'Leary

three stars 

Working at a boutique country inn close to going under, two rival coworkers compete to see who can return missing wedding rings from the Lost and Found, in the hopes of saving their jobs. 

There's something about the holidays that just call for Romance: it's why our family ends up watching an average of at least ten Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movies each year. 'Tis the season for many things, and that include a good love story. So, I went on a hunt for a Romance set during the Yuletide, and found this one. 

I loved the setting: it's hard not to fall in love with the idea of a boutique bed and breakfast hotel in the English countryside, stocked with a diverse and eclectic cast of characters. Descriptions of the grounds, the decor, the food, were all stunning, and it was a great mini-universe to inhabit for a while. 

I also enjoyed the greater majority of its characters, most of whom were fascinating and specific, with fully-realized backstories and stakes in the main couples' quest - I fully expect there to be a continuation of some of the characters further down the line, and I think I'd really like to read them. 

I do wish a couple of things had been tweaked a little - I wish the main mystery had been teased a little bit more consistently over the whole course of the story, I wish that our main characters were a little less bone-headed (and that our heroine wasn't SUCH a colossal brat, because it made it almost impossible to recognize what our hero saw in her), and I wish things didn't wrap up so tidily at the end (though I did love Mandy's ending, and hope her role expands in the future). 

And to be so clear, this book SHOULD have been called "The Ring Thing," and the only reason I can imagine it wasn't was probably due to some kind of copyright law or something. 

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot #10), Agatha Christie

four stars 

One of the greatest mystery novels ever written, following iconic inspector Hercule Poirot as he tries to get to the bottom of a mysterious murder on a snowbound train. 

One of only a few rereads I got to indulge in this past year - a problem I have plans to remedy in 2026 - I thoroughly enjoyed adventuring back into the snowy mystery of the Orient Express. It's been a few years since I read it last (QUITE a few, plus an excellently-done Kenneth Branagh movie in between), and I was decently surprised to find that I really relished the experience. 

Christie is SUCH a master of the genre: watching the interrogations unfold over, widely, dialogue alone, meeting a motley cast of characters and slowly teasing apart their connections to each other, witnessing the coalescing of Poirot's final conjectures... it is really majestic to behold. And something only Christie could handle, in such an impressive way. 

Watching the Branagh film did have an unintended color on the experience though... it makes me want to go back and watch the OLD Poirot and Marple stuff, even though they might not be as modern and flashy. I will also say, Dan Matthews reads the audiobook of this one, and not only did I recognize his voice IMMEDIATELY, I was also incredibly impressed by how great of a job he did in covering the many distinct accents and speaking characterizations of such a large cast. 

I not only want to prioritize more rereads in 2026, but I'm wholeheartedly open to more Christie AND Matthews, as well. 

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD

two stars

A gentle introduction to the "wild woman" model, through the perspectives of various global folklore. 

There's something I find incredibly comforting about '90s-era feminist writing... these are the artists, authors, and general taboo-indulgers and status-quo rejecters I grew up idolizing. Back in the early 2000s, I thought that living in a sun-dappled cottage next to a stream, my giant loom strung over in rainbow colors, daily yoga practice done on my front deck to an Enya soundtrack, murky artisan-purchased mug of hand-foraging leaves steaming beside me, sounded like the pinnacle of reaching a closer connection to some kind of "divine goddess" ideal. 

Before I learned that coffee rules and I'm allergic to patchouli, these were the women whose ranks I thought I might join someday. 

Now, there's a very cozy sense of nostalgia for me, in reading about Estes' "wild women": the wolfishness of rejecting social constraints, venturing outwards into nature and inwards towards the soul, expression as natural and primal as a howl - by way of connection to global fairy tales. 

However, it is very brief, fairly surface level, and doesn't cover as much ground as I would have liked. Maybe it feels so throwback-y because it reminds me of what kinds of theory served as an academic introduction, way back the day... popular feminist theory has grown a little bigger and wilder in the meantime. 

Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain

five stars! 

One of the great best-selling restauranteur memoirs in the world, read on audiobook by one of the most compelling food storytellers that ever lived. (In my personal opinion, of course.) 

On one hand, I can't believe it took me this long to actually pick up this master work in one of my favorite genres. Even when I had it queued up, ready to go on my iPhone, I almost balked because I felt like this was something that needed to be approached at a more momentous occasion, or given more care on a first listen. It was only because the audiobook was read by Bourdain himself that I pressed on. 

I can't help but feel we are all blessed by the fact that his voice - both audible and authorial - lives on, not only in this work, but all of his various media contributions. His candor, tremendous and occasionally shockingly-non-PC humor, and his force of personality were so tangible when spoken in his own voice, I'm incredibly glad that I approached the audiobook first. I do actually own a physical copy as well, and even enjoyed reading along with his words.

Shockingly honest, unrepentant and brash, but still imbued with tremendous self-awareness and conscience, it was Bourdain's personality I fell in love with first, but his perspective on the restaurant industry really was the focus. I found that my favorite parts included his sunup-to-sundown documentation of a day in the life as head chef in a restaurant, and his loving, hysterical profiles on the piratical, counterculture figures he has known throughout his career and their various screwball antics. 

The only reasons I think I'd tell anyone NOT to read this book is it they're the type who orders fish specials on Sundays. 

One of the moments that stuck with me most, was this: "When I die, I will decidedly not be regretting missed opportunities for a good time. My regrets will be more along the lines of a sad list of people hurt, people let down, assets wasted, and advantages squandered." What an incredible talent, and a unmitigated loss. 

The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill

four stars 

In a riff on the classic folk tale of the Crane Wife, a young woman struggles to keep her household and her brother in line, after her artist mother takes in a mysterious crane, wounded by farm equipment. 

In need of a short read, I turned to Instagram recommendations - a wild country indeed - to see what other people were doing with their last week of 2025 to beef up their Goodreads goal. A Reel describing this book as the kind of magical realism that "takes up less than an afternoon to read, but takes up much longer in your brain," was enough to send me searching out a library hold, and I was ecstatic to see it was immediately available. True to word, I was done with this novella around two-hours-and-some-change. 

It definitely was magical realism, a genre I haven't had too much experience in since college, and one I was excited to explore again. I love twisting my brain over an extended metaphor, and the main characters in this fraught and tightly-edited family drama were compelling and relatable. 

There is a trope I'm getting more frustrated with lately, that of the Artist Mother, whose "free spirit" doesn't allow for her to do any kind of due diligence by her children. It made sense for the context of the story that was being told, but it made the continued emphasis of her talent and how good of an artist she was incredibly grating. Characters can have flaws, there can be multiple dimensions to matriarch characters, but it's just that this is a trope that is beginning to piss me off. 

A quick, enjoyable afternoon's worth of reading, that leads to at least a week's worth of thought, exactly as promised. 

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, Amanda Montell 

four stars

An engaging and unexpected exploration on the linguistics of cult behavior, and the ways that cult leaders use language to shape the worlds they sell to believers. 

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did. I had purchased the title - somewhat impulsively - on sale at Barnes and Noble earlier in the year, but wasn't itching to read it until my sibling emphasized how much THEY had enjoyed it. Once I saw that the audiobook was only eight hours long, I knew I had to pick it up in the last week of 2025. 

It was surprising. I think the author did a good job building the thesis outwards, in a natural progression that contained a lot more connective tissue than I would have anticipated. Statements that sounded inflammatory at face value were carefully and straightforwardly explained with focus and care, and each additional phase or chapter expanded upon previous content. 

One of my only critiques was of Montell's somewhat uneven application of her own. She was stubbornly dismissive of certain experiences or individuals at times; excessively accommodating and permissive at others. She made careful pains not to assign moral values or judgements on some organizations and people, which I felt leant an authoritative, objective edge to her reasoning - while others were clearly communicated with bias. It was like the meeting of Buzzfeed-headline-style provocation, dancing at odds with desperate unwillingness to get sued, that came off as occasionally inconsistent and overly personal. 

I wish more of the topic had been covered in-depth; Montell does such a good job communicating her arguments that I wanted even more linguistic exploration. I think this is a topic she did a fantastic job establishing as a worthy field of study, and in the end, I just wanted to keep hearing about it. 

The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron

five stars! 

The definitive recommendation for artists suffering from various blocks, this multi-week playbook for getting your creative groove back has been sold for over 30 years. 

I may have finished this title in December 2025, but I had been actively reading this book for over a year. I originally checked it out from the library in 2024, committed to taking notes the entire way, then only managed to get about halfway through before it was due back to fill someone else's library hold. In January of 2025, I found a completely unmarked 25th Anniversary edition at Value Village on sale for about $4, and I took it as a sign from the Universe that I needed to finish reading. 

It took me all year to do so, but after highlighting sections, transcribing them into a separate Word doc, collecting journal prompts, and reading the rest of the book, I feel confident that 2026 is going to be a year of even more creative fulfillment than 2025 was. 

The book itself is a little woo-woo-y, and I don't know how relatable or connective it might feel to people who don't have a healthy relationship with religion, or who might not be patient enough for journaling and regularly scheduled self-reflection, but for someone like me, it was perfect, and exactly what I needed to hear. 

And it was a really great ending point for 2025... setting me up with hope and vision for the creative process in the new year! 

And THAT'S IT FOR REVIEWS IN 2025. 

I'm spent, I'm gone, I'm done. I spent the last month of the year - primarily the last two weeks - blasting through as many books as I could possibly get my hands on before the onset of the new year, and writing journal pages until my hands cramped. I'm exhausted. And yet. 

I've read four books so far in 2026, and am trying to get at least one more wrapped up in the next few days. 

I'm raring to go. I've already maxed out my limit for holds I'm allowed to place on digital content through my local library (again), and have to wait until a couple come through for me in the next few weeks before I get to place any more. I have my 2026 intro Reading Journal spreads all fleshed out and have started writing reviews for the new year, I have three other blog drafts sitting in my In Progress folder waiting to be updated, and I'm ready to party. 

But I want to just take a moment to luxuriate in this feeling, too: I am so damn PROUD of myself. No resting on laurels, per se, but this was a hard-fought victory.

And you're going to hear more about it from me for a little while, until I get those other final blogposts of 2025 fired off, too. Hopefully in the next few days? As great as the end of last year was, I'm really ready to focus on 2026. 

What reading marked the end of your 2025? Let me know, in the comments below!