December 2025 Books

12/1: The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen (library, 2025) - Last book club pick of 2025. Lots of traumatic events happen to Harriet Hunt and there's a magical garden. So much trauma. 3/5 stars

12/4: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (library audiobook narrated by E.B. White himself, 1952) - You guys, this was a truly delightful listening experience. There is a reason we all read this book in elementary school. The author's narration was perfect. It's so great. 5/5 stars

12/6: The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen (library, 2019) - You know what? I am not the target audience for YA. Boring, safe, and a character who was so unaware of her own privilege that it made me want to scream. Maybe that's fine for teen readers, but I was frustrated. 3/5 stars

12/14: The Secret Garden by France Hodgson Burnett (library, 1911) - Still lovely. It hurts my heart a little to read it and think about how much I connected with Mary Lennox as a child, though. 4/5 stars

12/15: Moby-Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville (own it on Kindle, 1851) - Look, if you're a person who likes to get in-depth on a topic, this book might be for you. I thought Ishmael was  hilarious and didn't mind all the whale stuff. 4/5 stars

12/16: Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (library audiobook narrated by Shayna Small, Aaron Goodson, Michael Crouch, and Lee Osorio, 2025) - Sometimes I don't know if I'm not smart enough for some books. I honestly thought at about halfway through that I should care if some of these people die, but I did not. My biggest critique is that if you want to talk about prison conditions, you need to make me care about how poorly these people are treated, not provide them with better food than I eat. I think the point of this entire book was lost on me. 2/5 stars

12/17: When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén (library, 2025) - So sad. So beautiful. I cried a lot.  5/5 stars

12/20: The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (library, 2004) - Great Sarah Dessen book. The main character is fully developed and I like that she's not perfect. 4/5 stars

12/24: Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Sea #2) by TJ Klune (library audiobook narrated by Daniel Henning, 2024) - Cozy fantasy with low stakes since you know it will all work out. Klune is fairly preachy though. I agree with his message, but I don't need it to be lectured at me. 3/5 stars

12/25: I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane (library ebook, 2023) - Read this for a Pop Sugar Reading Challenge for a "dystopian book with a happy ending" and I'm not sure it really met the mark for me. 3/5 stars

12/26: What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (library, 2025) - Dystopian academic mystery. It should have been perfect for me, but it was not. 3/5 stars

12/30: Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey (library audiobook narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, 2012) - The Earth is a toxic poisonous place, but a few fortunate humans live in underground bunkers and everyone must do their job and only their job or they will be sent outside. You know how in A Game of Thrones, you just get to know someone and then they are killed? I thought a lot about that book as I was reading this one. 3.5/5 stars

Total: 12 books
Average star rating: 3.54/5 stars

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DNF:

The Princess and the P.I. by Nikkie Payne - I hardly gave this one a chance, but I was on page 60 and couldn't imagine reading 400 more pages because I was bored and done with it all. DNF at 13%.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy - This is a well-reviewed, buzzy book, but I did not have the patience to wade through the scene setting and when the father left his three children at home with an unconscious stranger, I just noped out. DNF at page 42 (13.9%). 

Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous, edited by Gillian Anderson - I am too much of a prude for this. DNF at 7%.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai - I hardly gave this one a chance. I was bored and confused by the family backstories. DNF at like page 12. 

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Who's mad at my DNFs? Don't hurt me, please. I saw at least two of those books appear on other people's favorite books of 2025 and I felt bad, but at least I'm honest about it. Maybe someday I'll come back to them.