Monday Reading Report and 2025 Wrap-Up

I haven’t published much on the blog this year. Almost nothing, actually. I’ve had some personal challenges this year that took up time and energy I might otherwise have devoted to reviewing and book discussions. But even though I haven’t posted much, I’ve still been reading and taking note of what others are reading. So instead of talking about what I'm reading here at year's end, I thought I’d do a little wrap-up report on what I read during the year, and look at a few stats. 

I've listed the books alphabetically, with their ratings. The star ratings are those I use for rating books at LibraryThing. Here’s the system I use over there:

✭✭✭✭✭ = All-time favorites and new discoveries that I loved - not many get this rating
✭✭✭✭ = Really liked it - an author I might consider reading again
✭✭✭ = An enjoyable read, but nothing extraordinary; most books will fall into this category
✭✭ = It was OK, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to others
✭ = Mediocre; disappointing; had trouble finishing
DNF (Did Not Finish) = Books I started reading and then put aside. This doesn't necessarily mean I didn't like a book, just that I wasn't able to finish it or didn't feel like continuing with it. Might or might not finish it later.

Excluding Dr Seuss and a couple of other children's books that were re-reads of childhood favorites, I didn't discover any 5-star reads this year. However, there were a few that came very close. For top three I'd choose Huxley's Crome Yellow, Zorrie by Laird Hunt, and Ready for My Close-Up by David M. Lubin. Surprisingly, none of those were mysteries or thrillers. 

Adult Titles Read in 2025: 

1. Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon the English Language, by Richard Lederer; illus. by Bill Thompson (1987) ✭✭✭✭
2. The Book of Illusions, by Paul Auster (2002) ✭✭✭✭
3. The Case of the Sulky Girl (Perry Mason #2), by Erle Stanley Gardner (1933) ✭✭✭✭
4. Crome Yellow, by Aldous Huxley (1921) ✭✭✭✭½
5. Easeful Death (DCI Bill Slider #25), by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (2025)  ✭✭✭✭
6. The Ellsworth Case (Markham Sisters #5), by Diana Xarissa (2016) ✭✭✭✭
7. The Fenton Case (Markham Sisters #6), by Diana Xarissa (2016) ✭✭✭✭
8. The Godwulf Manuscript (Spenser #1), by Robert B. Parker (1973) ✭✭✭✭
9. Hammett Unwritten, by Owen Fitzstephen (Gordon McAlpine) (2013)  ✭✭✭✭
10. I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce #4), by Alan Bradley (2011) ✭✭✭✭
11. The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez & Willow Reeves #1), by Ann Cleeves (2025)  ✭✭✭
12. Murder by Cheesecake (Golden Girls #1), by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (2025) ✭✭✭½
13. A Murder of Quality (George Smiley #2), by John le Carré (1962) ✭✭✭✭
14. Murder on the Marlow Belle (Marlow Murder Club #4), by Robert Thorogood (2025) ✭✭✭½
15. The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland", by Jenny Woolf (2010) ✭✭✭½
16. Origin (Robert Langdon #5), by Dan Brown (2017) ✭✭✭
17. The Penguin Pool Murder (Hildegarde Withers Mysteries #1), by Stuart Palmer (1931) ✭✭✭½
18. The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher (2016) ✭✭✭½
19. Prisoner's Base (Nero Wolfe #21), by Rex Stout (1952) ✭✭✭✭
20. Ready for My Closeup: The Making of Sunset Boulevard and the Dark Side of the Hollywood Dream, by David M. Lubin (2025)  ✭✭✭✭½
21. Shot Through the Book (Lighthouse Library Mystery #12), by Eva Gates (2025)  ✭✭✭
22. Speedy Death (Mrs. Bradley Mysteries #1), by Gladys Mitchell (1929) ✭✭✭
23. Strange Houses: A Novel, by Uketsu; trans. from Japanese by Jim Rion (2021) ✭✭½
24. Strange Pictures: A Novel, by Uketsu; trans. by Jim Rion (2022;2025) ✭✭✭
25. The Stranger in the Library (Lighthouse Library Mystery #11), by Eva Gates (2024) ✭✭✭½
26. Writers and Their Notebooks, by Diana M. Raab (2010) ✭✭✭
27. Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy (Wycliffe #01), by W.J. Burley (1968) ✭✭✭
28. Zorrie, by Laird Hunt (2021) ✭✭✭✭½

Children's Middle Grade and Young Adult Titles:

1. The Experiment, by Rebecca Stead (2025)  ✭✭✭✭
2. Little Jeanne of France, by Madeline Brandeis (1929) (this was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭✭
3. Nighty-Nightmare (Bunnicula #4), by James Howe; illus. by Leslie Morrrill (1987) ✭✭✭✭
4. The Velvet Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1965) ✭✭✭✭

Children’s Books - Picture Books and Easy Reading: 

1. The Christmas ABC, by Florence Johnson; illus. by Eloise Wilkin (1962) ✭✭✭✭
2. Doctor Dan the Bandage Man, by Helen Gaspard; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1950) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭½
3. Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1965) ✭✭✭✭✭
4. The Fuzzy Duckling, by Jane Werner; illus. by Alice and Martin Provensen (1949) ✭✭✭✭
5. If You Give a Pig a Pancake, by Laura Numeroff; illus. by Felicia Bond (1998) ✭✭✭✭
6. I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by Barney Tobey (1965) ✭✭✭✭
7. King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood; illus. by Don Wood (1985; Caldecott Honor Book 1986) ✭½
8. The Library, by Sarah Stewart; illus. by David Small (1995) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭
9. The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1971) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭
10. The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1949) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭✭
11. Nurse Nancy, by Kathryn Jackson; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1952) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭½
12. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1960) ✭✭✭✭
13. The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant; illus. by Stephen Gammell (1985; Caldecott Honor Book 1986) ✭✭✭✭
14. Tawny Scrawny Lion, by Kathryn Jackson; illus. by Gustaf Tenggren (1952) ✭✭✭✭
15. The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen; adapted and illus. by Jerry Pinkney (1999; Caldecott Honor Book 2000) ✭✭✭✭
16. XO, OX: A Love Story, by Adam Rex; illus. by Scott Campbell (2017) ✭✭✭✭

Hard to Categorize:

1. The Further Adventures of Miss Petitfour (Miss Petitfour #2), by Anne Michaels; illus. by Emma Block (2022)  ✭✭✭½

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• Total number of books read = 49 (almost made it to the 50-book goal)
• Number of DNF books (not included in the list) = 7 (I think)
• Number of fiction books = 44 
• Number of nonfiction books = 5 
• Total number of pages read = I have no idea, but I intentionally avoided chunksters this year
• Number of books published in 2025 = 7
• Number of books published before the year 2000 = 27
• Number of non-crime related fiction books  = 12 (ignoring the kiddie lit, which – thankfully – did not have anything to do with crime)
• Print books vs Electronic books = 18 print / 31 ebooks
• Number of audio books = 0 (I don't like them much)
• Number of library books = 0 (shame on me) 
• Best book to read aloud = Fox in Socks, by Dr Seuss 
• Best book to read if you want a good laugh = Anguished English, by Richard Lederer

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. If you want to let the world know what you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.