And then I looked at my spreadsheet and realized that I took a children’s literature course this summer and had 5 picture books on my list.
- Phenomenal AOC by Anika Aldamuy, illustrated by Denise Loris Lora
- My Art Book of Adventure by Shana Gozansky
- Little Dumplings by Jekka and Chrissy Kuhlman illustrated by Haley Hazell
- My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seales, illustrated by C.G.Esperanza
- Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Christian Robinson
And in an even more shocking turn of events, I read mostly books written for adults! And I found a whole subgenre that I love that I have named - old-people-need-community-and-the-less-they-think-they-do-,-the-more-important-it-is kind of books. The acronym is OPNCATLTTTDTMI (which is pronounced open-cat-lil-tittied-me) or OPEN CAT for short. Now that I think about it, there is usually a dog or a cat involved in these books.
Anyhoo - you know the genre. I discovered Claire Pooley and her absolutely perfect trio -
How to Age Disgracefully
Authenticity Project
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting
Which I read in that order and am just desperate for her to write some more. Her books are about the importance of human connection, are intergenerational and funny as funny can be. HUGE fan! Write faster Claire, I love you.
I have read Jesse Q. Sutano’s YA and absolutely loved it and I was completely enchanted by her Vera Wong mysteries. They helped me get over my aversion to suspense or mystery! I have found it really hard to read anything with killing in it since covid. (What can I say, I am opposed to murder.) But fictional murder is growing on me. (Thanks Poker Face and Elsbeth for helping me follow Bart Simpson’s sage advice.)
I also finally read A Man Called Ove after my antipopulist refusal to read it all these years. “If everyone loves it, it must suck.” No, Barbara, if everyone loves it it is because it is completely freaking lovable!
Even one of my favorite stand-alones of the year - The Wedding People by Alison Espach had a similar theme of the necessity of community. It is interesting that there are so many books about that. A millennial friend asked me about “the olden times” when people went to bowling leagues and church and I realized that maybe I need to read Bowling Alone instead of just pretending I have read it all these years.
Oh my gosh, this is turning into one of those posts where you have to hear the person’s life story before you get to the recipe. So without further ado - here are my top YA and middle grade books of 2025 -
The Blossoming Summer by Anna Rose Johnson - a young English girl in WW2 comes to the US with her family and learns that she has native heritage she was never told about.
Another by Paul Tremblay - scary middle-grade about a boy who has no friends who has one thrust upon him in the weirdest possible way. So eerie!!
Red by Annie Cardi - THE SCARLET LETTER in a modern day southern high school.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins - surely you’ve heard of this one? I read it to myself in Woody Harrelson’s voice. It might be my favorite HUNGER GAMES of them all!
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson - the most popular book on the Mass. Teen Choice Book Award list as well as for BHS summer reading. It’s a great, tight, missing person mystery that has an excellent denouement.
Let Them Stare by Jonathan Van Ness and Julie Murphy - this was my first nominee for the MTCBA nominee list. It’s about gay history in small town Pennsylvania from the perspective of a kid who was desperate to leave the second they graduated high school and then finds themself stuck there with a gorgeous vintage handbag haunted by the ghost of a 1950s drag performer with some, well, baggage.
Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys - Do you know the most deadly maritime tragedy was the sinking of a German cruise liner full of people trying to escape the Soviets at the end of WW2? Neither did I, but Ruta Sepetys brings it to terrible, fascinating life.
Here are my favorite grown up books of 2025 -
Audiobook - (mostly when I’m traveling - didn’t travel much)
Cher: The Memoir - she read it herself and did a great job.
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer - I have made it through the first 5 and intend to keep going. Jackie knows how to live! This should be up with the YA, I guess, but
E-books - (I got a kindle this year - game changer!!)
The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson - great revenge/romance set in the publishing world.
Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman - my first Lippman! It is set on a European cruise and I read it on a European river cruise, but a less murdery one.
Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley - delightful OPEN CAT books on a train.
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn - retired hit-ladies have to run for their lives.
How to Write a Love Story by Catherine Walsh - spoiler, sometimes you fall in love whilst doing it!
Regular old books -
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - yes, I was the last to know how delightful it is. I cried a bunch of times and then watched the Tom Hanks movie and it was adequate, but I’m SO GLAD I read the book first.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach - it starts a little dark, but wow, does it pick up. And it is my book club’s January pick so I am all set to show up and RAVE about it.
The Story Paradox by Jonathan Gottschall - this is nonfiction! I read it for a class. It made me think SO HARD!
Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes - he’s the pina colada guy and he also writes about murder-Hogwarts, delightfully.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher - my dear friend Mo has been recommending books to me for nearly 40 years and I finally read one that I love as much as she did! I mean, the whole plot is in the title and it’s mostly from the point of view of the daughter of the sorceress and I could not put it down!
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune - everyone is robots except our hero, Victor, but some of these robots are really human. It’s a story about being human disguised as a great science fiction adventure story.
Every Tom, Dick, and Harry by Eleanor Lipman - I love Eleanor Lipman so much! This isn’t her best, but it is a great murder/romance/road trip caper that kept me up late reading.
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer - a student recommended this slow-burn fantasy romance that is also funny and I have read all the second and third in the series as well which were nearly as good. Sadly, the fourth doesn’t come out until August and I will likely have forgotten everything about the plot by then.
Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu - I always get a little nervous when YA writers I love put out something for grownups. I should not have worried. JMat is a goddess (I reread BAD GIRLS NEVER SAY DIE this year and it still holds up) and she can write anything and I will read the heck out of it.
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy - sure, it was a reread, but it is always going to be my absolute beloved.
The Authenticity Project and How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley - I talked about how much I love Clare Pooley already, but I will say it again - please write more, faster, Clare.
And finally, my new obsession is NetGalley. I get to read books before they are published. It’s basically ARCs but in ebook format. And I have read some AMAZING ones. Feel free to click the links for full reviews.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth - Hepworth is a writer I was unfamiliar with before and now I have a lovely list of books that I am going to adore if they are half as good as this one!
Dear Monica Lewinsky by Julia Langbein - oh man, did this strike a nerve. It might be my best of the year!
Wreck by Catherine Newman - if you loved SANDWICH - and I did - you are going to want to see what happens to Rocky and her family going forward.
Cherry Baby* by Rainbow Rowell - you know you had me at Rainbow Rowell, but it is a twisty story of marriage, comics and the life of a fat girl and it might be the best thing she’s written. And that’s saying something since I have adored everything I’ve ever read by her. (Except the Simon Snow books because I don’t want to.)
Mrs. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block by Jesse Q. Sutanto - what is the deal with JQS? She writes so many different kind of books but I love them all! This one is about a glamorous, wealthy woman who decides to learn to cook when her husband leaves her for their private chef. It actually made me start cooking!
With her ex in California working on the movie version of his comic and her divorce pending, she meets a charming politician who is the boy she crushed on in college who dated her hot best friend. Cherry never thought she had a chance with him back then (even though they had terrific chemistry) because she was, and is, a fat girl. Not an overweight girl who thinks she needs to lose a few pounds, but someone for whom her weight is a constant presence in her mind. Cherry's fatgirl identity is put to the test through the marketing of Thursday, her husbands comic-now-movie. She refuses to get pulled in, but people around her bring it up all the time. This isn't great as she is pulling away from her ex and trying to move on, but somehow is unable to.
As we see her new romance develop, we also see flashbacks of her beginnings with her ex and the reader can't help but compare the two relationships.
The book deals with themes of relationship, family, body image, fame, money, and self-respect and in true Rainbow Rowell fashion, you barely notice because your love for Cherry and the warmth and humor of the book compel you right through the thinky bits. I could not have loved this book more.
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