Happy Reading Days

My gift to you this holiday

During this crazy busy season, I don’t delude myself into thinking that anyone has time to read a fledgling newsletter—if you have time to read anything during the holidays, it should be a nice juicy novel! But I thought I’d pop in here one more time in 2025 to share all the books I read this year, so that when January rolls around and you’re hibernating from the world (just me?), you’ll have a list to turn to for ideas.

January 2026 plans in full

Getting right down to it, below are the 35* books I read in 2025. I’ve linked to previous Nat’s Nook posts where I’ve discussed those particular reads, but I haven’t linked to any books themselves. Your not-so-subtle nudge to get out there and support your local independent!

1. The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave

2. The Distance Between Us by Maggie O’Farrell

3. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

4. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

5. A Great Marriage by Frances Meyer

6. You Are Here by David Nicholls

7. The God of The Woods by Liz Moore

8. This is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer

9. Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld

10. Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy

11. Back After This by Linda Holmes

12. The Float Test by Lynn Steger Strong

13. Insignificant Others by Sarah Jio

14. Heartwood by Amity Gaige

15. You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

16. Mansion Beach by Meg Mitchell Moore

17. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

18. Sandwich by Catherine Newman

19. The Unwedding by Ally Condie

20. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

21. Dream State by Eric Puchner

22. Far and Away by Amy Poeppel

23. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

24. Salty by Kate Myers

25. Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

26. The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

27. Happy Wife by Kendall Shores and Meredith Lavender

28. Excavations by Kate Myers

29. The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand

30. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

31. Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

32. The Admissions by Meg Mitchell Moore

33. The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers

34. These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

35. Heart the Lover by Lily King (*starting this one tonight, Dec. 18th, so it’s likely I will be well into a 36th or even 37th novel by the time the ball drops)

As big of a reader as I am, this is the first time I’ve actually counted and catalogued the books I’ve finished in a given year, and I’m realizing that taking a moment to reflect on everything I’ve read over 365 days is something I need to do more regularly. Seeing all of these titles in one place makes me feel…not accomplished, exactly, but confident in the fact that I filled my brain, heart, and soul with other people’s words and stories. For that, I am surely better off today than I was on January 1, 2025, and if that’s the case, who needs New Year’s resolutions?

Happy Holidays and thank you so much for being here.

P.S. - if you want to hear more of my thoughts on any of the unlinked (or linked, for that matter) books, please consider the comments section our own little book club. Would love to discuss more!