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:
- Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon the English Language, by Richard Lederer; illus. by Bill Thompson (1987) ✭✭✭✭
- The Book of Illusions, by Paul Auster (2002) ✭✭✭✭
- The Case of the Sulky Girl (Perry Mason #2), by Erle Stanley Gardner (1933) ✭✭✭✭
- Crome Yellow, by Aldous Huxley (1921) ✭✭✭✭½
- Easeful Death (DCI Bill Slider #25), by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (2025) ✭✭✭✭
- The Ellsworth Case (Markham Sisters #5), by Diana Xarissa (2016) ✭✭✭✭
- The Fenton Case (Markham Sisters #6), by Diana Xarissa (2016) ✭✭✭✭
- The Godwulf Manuscript (Spenser #1), by Robert B. Parker (1973) ✭✭✭✭
- Hammett Unwritten, by Owen Fitzstephen (Gordon McAlpine) (2013) ✭✭✭✭
- I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce #4), by Alan Bradley (2011) ✭✭✭✭
- The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez & Willow Reeves #1), by Ann Cleeves (2025) ✭✭✭
- Murder by Cheesecake (Golden Girls #1), by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (2025) ✭✭✭½
- A Murder of Quality (George Smiley #2), by John le Carré (1962) ✭✭✭✭
- Murder on the Marlow Belle (Marlow Murder Club #4), by Robert Thorogood (2025) ✭✭✭½
- The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland", by Jenny Woolf (2010) ✭✭✭½
- Origin (Robert Langdon #5), by Dan Brown (2017) ✭✭✭
- The Penguin Pool Murder (Hildegarde Withers Mysteries #1), by Stuart Palmer (1931) ✭✭✭½
- The Princess Diarist, by Carrie Fisher (2016) ✭✭✭½
- Prisoner's Base (Nero Wolfe #21), by Rex Stout (1952) ✭✭✭✭
- Ready for My Closeup: The Making of Sunset Boulevard and the Dark Side of the Hollywood Dream, by David M. Lubin (2025) ✭✭✭✭½
- Shot Through the Book (Lighthouse Library Mystery #12), by Eva Gates (2025) ✭✭✭
- Speedy Death (Mrs. Bradley Mysteries #1), by Gladys Mitchell (1929) ✭✭✭
- Strange Houses: A Novel, by Uketsu; trans. from Japanese by Jim Rion (2021) ✭✭½
- Strange Pictures: A Novel, by Uketsu; trans. by Jim Rion (2022;2025) ✭✭✭
- The Stranger in the Library (Lighthouse Library Mystery #11), by Eva Gates (2024) ✭✭✭½
- Writers and Their Notebooks, by Diana M. Raab (2010) ✭✭✭
- Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy (Wycliffe #01), by W.J. Burley (1968) ✭✭✭
- Zorrie, by Laird Hunt (2021) ✭✭✭✭½
Children's Middle Grade and Young Adult Titles:
- The Experiment, by Rebecca Stead (2025) ✭✭✭✭
- Little Jeanne of France, by Madeline Brandeis (1929) (this was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭✭
- Nighty-Nightmare (Bunnicula #4), by James Howe; illus. by Leslie Morrrill (1987) ✭✭✭✭
- The Velvet Room, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1965) ✭✭✭✭
Children’s Books - Picture Books and Easy Reading:
- The Christmas ABC, by Florence Johnson; illus. by Eloise Wilkin (1962) ✭✭✭✭
- Doctor Dan the Bandage Man, by Helen Gaspard; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1950) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭½
- Fox in Socks, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1965) ✭✭✭✭✭
- The Fuzzy Duckling, by Jane Werner; illus. by Alice and Martin Provensen (1949) ✭✭✭✭
- If You Give a Pig a Pancake, by Laura Numeroff; illus. by Felicia Bond (1998) ✭✭✭✭
- I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by Barney Tobey (1965) ✭✭✭✭
- King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, by Audrey Wood; illus. by Don Wood (1985; Caldecott Honor Book 1986) ✭½
- The Library, by Sarah Stewart; illus. by David Small (1995) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭
- The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1971) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭
- The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1949) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭✭
- Nurse Nancy, by Kathryn Jackson; illus. by Corinne Malvern (1952) (This was a re-read) ✭✭✭✭½
- One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss; illus. by author (1960) ✭✭✭✭
- The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant; illus. by Stephen Gammell (1985; Caldecott Honor Book 1986) ✭✭✭✭
- Tawny Scrawny Lion, by Kathryn Jackson; illus. by Gustaf Tenggren (1952) ✭✭✭✭
- The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen; adapted and illus. by Jerry Pinkney (1999; Caldecott Honor Book 2000) ✭✭✭✭
- XO, OX: A Love Story, by Adam Rex; illus. by Scott Campbell (2017) ✭✭✭✭
Hard to Categorize:
- 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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