The wheels fell off my bus sometime around September and I'm not even totally sure why! The last few weeks of this year have been an utter whirlwind (to put it nicely) and it's kind of a miracle I managed to get any reading done at all. 'Tis also why I'm shoehorning the last three months of books into this 1 lengthy post!
The book I wish I read 10 years ago
Not that my 17 year old self would've been able to truly appreciate Cheryl Strayed's sage advice...Cheryl Strayed's Wild is one of my favorite memoirs EVER and I was surprised that I'd never come across TBT before this year.
Grief is a tumultuous journey. Multiple times this year I thought I was finally done schlepping the familiar weight of its mantle only to feel it settle back on my shoulders. In September, I found myself lugging it around again. I resumed my perpetual search for a balm. (Translation: I googled "books for heartbreak reddit.") Thank you, Reddit user inga_the_leopard for this baller recommendation.
This book is a collection of (some of) Cheryl Strayed's advice columns that she answered under the name "Dear Sugar." One letter, in particular, felt like Cheryl reached through the pages, grabbed me by the collar, and shook me to pay attention. In that picture, you can see a glimpse of blue writing on my hand—it's part of her advice in that letter! I have recommended this book to at least two people on their own journeys with grief since then and I seriously think everyone should read it.
Island claustrophobia x1000
I've never done an escape room (unless you count getting stuck in 2 locked bathrooms as a child, #trauma), but this novel IS one. A fiercely claustrophobic read that takes place on a practically deserted island near Antarctica, this thriller starts off incredibly strong and fades slowly over the course of the story. I was surprised (in a...disappointed way, I think) by the ending—the whole resolution happened so quickly!
Meet the Salt family: the sole (human) residents of this island, the final stewards of a world seed bank buried deep in the rock of the island that is threatened by rising sea levels. All communication methods have been mysteriously destroyed and a heavy aura of suspicion hangs over the entire island. In the middle of a violent storm, a woman washes up on the rocks, barely alive. Who is this woman? Why is she here? How did she GET here? Why do Dominic and his children seem like they're hiding something? What happened to the entire team of researchers that used to maintain the seed bank? Why is Raff, the oldest, so angry? Why does Fen, the only daughter, prefer to sleep on the beach with the seals? Why does Orly, the youngest, talk to the wind and dark corners as if talking to a person? How is this family possibly going to transition to life as part of a society after so much isolation? Why does this island stink of death?
I did really appreciate that this was such a patient novel—Charlotte was extremely restrained with the story and it served the plot well. I loved that each character had their own motivations that are slowly revealed to us as the story goes on, but the ending still stays with me...I'm just not sure it works! (But maybe that's just because I wanted a happy ending...)
Content warning: assault
Magical realism gang assemble
This book made me feel the same way I did the first time I read Percy Jackson. That could be the whole review, TBH, because doesn't that say it all?
Leigh, who is a Yale grad herself—which adds a deliciously vindictive energy to the whole thing, turns the famed Ivy's group of secret societies into an entire magical (under)world, replete with secret rituals and ancient artifacts. The system of magic is complex AF and Leigh navigates it with such skill that I never felt lost. There's also a much larger commentary at play over the tangible influence these secret societies (and Ivies in general) have in the Real World, which never feels scolding even as it refuses to absolve each individual actor from blame.
Ninth House follows Alex (an Outsider™) who seems to be the ultimate renegade choice to serve as the next Yale magical hall monitor (I'm bastardizing a bit here, but that's the gist). And yet, she is! Leigh drops us into the middle of the action and somehow things just continue to ramp the f*ck up. There's murder, conjuring, ghosts, reanimated corpses, glamours, disgusting frat bros, the library from Beauty & the Beast, creepy mansions, tarot cards....AND THAT ENDING! Okay, I did accurately peg the true villain at the heart of the plot around page 200 (of ~400). That didn't ruin my enjoyment, though! And it's been a really long time since I read a book that ended on such a stark cliffhanger that I felt such an immediate itch to read the sequel.
A practical guide to walking through the world with reverence & purpose
My love for Barbara Brown Taylor is hardly a secret. This is the second book of hers I've read in 2025 and I've listened to countless interviews and podcast episodes featuring her. Barbara is a true scholar of religion, belief, and hope. An ordained Episcopal minister, Barbara left the church to pursue teaching and quickly discovered the value of immersing herself and her students in religious traditions from other faiths and cultures. One of the results from her lifetime of exploration is this book: a field manual for mindfulness.
You do not have to maintain any kind of ecumenical practice to gain value from Barbara's words. I'm still thinking about her chapter about blessings—who is "allowed" to give them, why they matter to us so much, and her description of a through house blessing that makes me feel at peace just thinking about it. Her voice is also SO calming that this entire audiobook felt like a 16 hour guided meditation.
Emily's paternal grandmother is a hoarder, her dad is a compulsive shopper, and she has come of age in a time of utter American excess. Her probing investigation of her own relationship with bulk is also an investigation of what it means to be American in this day and age. It all makes for an uncomfortable read...I felt itchy and experienced several provoked moments of scorn, which is probably what Emily was going for!
As she shared in an encompassing interview with Anne Helen Petersen: "Bulk shares DNA with consumer culture and mass culture, but it is sweatier, denser, fleshier than those things. Bulk culture is Costco, but it is also fat camp, hoarding, haul videos on Youtube, sweepstakes, an Amazon review that accidentally reveals a deep well of anguish. Bulk culture isn’t wealth, or riches—it’s stuff...Our love and pain and dysfunction speaks the language of stuff...To me, bulk is too personal to be written like a scourge, too fraught to be written like a haven. It’s just an American ethos that sits very close to the bone. I wanted to write about stuff the way you would write about your family: tenderly, critically, curiously. Like something you’re a part of, even if you don’t always want to be." Bearing witness to technology's increasing invasion of everyday life
I don't claim this as a point for or against this read, but one of my annotations was "did I actually write this book?"
This book brilliantly accounts for the qualitative losses brought about by the increasing colonization of daily life by technology. (I don't use the word "colonization" lightly here because I join thinkers including Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang in critiquing the "invasion" of the term as an act that "recenters whiteness" and "entertains a settler future." See: Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 1-40.) Highly recommend this book for anyone waging a battle against technology in their lives, or especially as a reference point when arguing with people who want to know more about why you're anti-tech overreach.
As much as I loved this book and I'm glad to have it on my shelf...I still find myself stymied by the lack of NEW information I'm gleaning :/ I experienced this feeling a few times this year with Vauhini Vara's Searches, Amanda Hess' Second Life, and Eula Biss' Having and Being Had...maybe I'm expecting too much?
A brutal struggle between the romantics and the realists
This is an ugly play, TBH. Blanche—a neurotic southern belle with a drinking problem—arrives at her sister Stella's place, which Stella shares with Stanley—a brooding, calculated, angry man. Blanche slowly loses her grip on reality over the course of the play, prodded in no small part by Stanley.
The problem of reading plays that you have never experienced on the stage is the extra work it takes to envision the staging and your utter inability to tell if your projections are accurate to the playwright's intentions. I rely on the discussions I have about plays that I read with my friends (several of whom are certified theater nerds and have see the play on stage) and by reading the reviews and light scholarship about the work online. (TBH Reddit is not a terrible forum for that task!)
A gag gift that's actually quite good
Tinx (real name: Christina Najjar) is an influencer and DJ who dispenses a lot of dating advice for gals in their 20s. This book was a gift after I graduated with my Master's in 2024, accompanied by a note that read: "to figure out what's next!" I was not single then—the gift was actually from my partner! It was meant as a cheeky nod to the fact that I used to work with Tinx's brother in New York, which is how I learned about her.
I slid the book onto my shelf after graduation and honestly forgot all about it! Then, a few weeks ago, I was looking for something lighthearted to read in the bath and my eyes landed on the bright pink spine. Why not?
TLDR: I read the entire book that night, beginning in the bath and ending wrapped in a towel on my bed. Tinx's advice is salient and she writes well! (I shouldn't be surprised considering the high literary aptitude of her brother.) It's not easy to strike a conversational tone across an entire book without it falling flat, but Tinx manages it. This was an easy, quick read and contained cute nuggets of advice. (I've officially started keeping my own crush list!) I love a book that makes me feel like I'm part of a sisterhood without being cloying, yknow?
The coziest read of the year
Full disclosure: I chose this book for one of my book clubs and I completely worried that I had f*cked up within the first 25 pages because this book has a rather unsteady beginning....luckily, I was WRONG! It was a great read.
I want to live in this book. Like literally crawl inside the atmosphere Hwang Bo-Reum (and translator Shanna Tan) created and fully set up shop forever. The epitome of an encompassing read (I could seriously SMELL the coffee Minjun makes as I read it...), this book is also highly existential in the tradition of a great deal of contemporary East Asian authors, as I've discovered lately. We join the characters grappling with all the big questions we each have to ask ourselves about what it means to live a good life, how to manage expectations, and how to be true to yourself.
Would you go back in time to kill baby H*tler? as a book concept
My love affair with vintage Stephen King continues with The Dead Zone (picked up at Sherman's Books in Maine!). Johnny Smith suffers a small skating accident as a child, knocking his head against the ice—not hard enough to cause the rural Mainers around him to take him to the hospital but just hard enough for him to develop a latent psychic ability.
His sleeping clairsentience awakens after a brutal taxi accident that leaves him near death in a lengthy coma. When he awakens (already a miracle), Johnny discovers that he has vivid flashes of events he couldn't possibly otherwise know when he touches the people around him. He predicts fires, presidential elections, and, eventually, the end of the world as we know it when he shakes the hand of one particularly nefarious politician. What is Johnny to do?!
King is at his best here—the exposition is detailed but not overly lengthy, the pacing keeps your attention, and the violence is brutal and quick.
Heady spiritual theory from a tainted source
This book is a series of transcribed lectures delivered by disgraced guru Chögyam Trungpa about the tendency for the ego to "convert anything to its own use...even spirituality." A dense tract of thoughts and practices, there are recorded Q&As at the end of each chapter that help illuminate some of the more complex concepts.
Unfortunately, I discovered after having read this book that Trungpa was an abusive predator who created an entire spiritual community that protected him from the law as he preyed on minors, assaulted women, and committed other acts of violence. The Canadian news source
The Walrus published a comprehensive report of Trungpa's life, rise to power, his multiple abuses of said power, and the continued impact on the lives of people who have interacted with the Shambhala organization.
The introduction to the book was written by Trungpa's son, who became the heir apparent to his Shambhala legacy and has also been accused of sexual assault. I'm honestly not sure how this information impacts my understanding of this text nor its continued place on my shelf. I initially found this text useful for adding depth to my own practice, but I am not a blanket believer that you can divorce the art from the artist nor the teachings from the predator. I will continue to think about this as I continue along the journey of my practice.
I purchased this book secondhand and, if you are interested in reading it, I highly recommend finding your own secondhand copy or accessing it at the link above via Internet Archive to avoid monetarily supporting the Shambhala organization.
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