Faithful readers of my not-so-consistent blog posts might recall that I had to
lower my reading goal last year in order to reach it.
I am pleased to announce that I reached my reading goal this year. In fact, I read 21 books, although a few of them were short stories in order to help me meet the deadline.
But I'd like to point out that I also read Blonde this year, which is 738 pages of LITERARY FICTION.
Quality vs. quantity should really count for something, you know.
Oh, and I read a few rock n' roll memoirs, very Gen X of me.
Becky's 20 (+1) Books of 2025
(I'll read more when I retire . . . LOL!)
JANUARY
1. The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
Notes and Favorites: In the third installment of the Housemaid series, Millie is middle-aged and dealing with middle-aged issues, high blood pressure, raising kids, moving to the suburbs, etc. I had been told this was the least favorite in the series, but I really liked it. Maybe I enjoyed seeing what she was up to in her 40s, and I LOVED her badass family.
2. Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Notes and Favorites: This book connects most to our road trip last summer to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s hometown of DeSmet, South Dakota. And Nellie Olson returns in this iteration . . . Of course, there is the unfortunate chapter about a minstrel show. Ugh . . . American history is THE WORST.
FEBRUARY
3. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Notes and Favorites: She refused to allow the minister to say, “obey” in her marriage vows, and Almanzo agreed right away. That's pretty badass.
MARCH
4. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Notes and Favorites: This book significantly differed from A Visit From the Goon Squad and Candy House. It's part historical fiction, part gangster/crime noir, and it told a more cohesive story than the aforementioned titles. And I enjoyed the ride just as much as her previous works.
APRIL
5. The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Notes and Favorites: The Silent Patient is still my favorite by this author, but this was a fun thriller too with some unusual twists and an Agatha Christie-esque setting.
6. The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Notes and Favorites: I have now finished the official Little House canon since my vacation to Laura Ingalls Wilder's hometown last summer, although it's unclear whether this book was going to be ninth in the series. It was found and published posthumously.
MAY
7. Someone Who Isn't Me by Geoff Rickly
Notes and Favorites: This is a beautiful, trippy book about existentialism, self discovery and the road to overcoming addiction. The fact that it's written by a Gen X musician is a bonus.
JUNE
8. Mud Ride: A Messy Trip Through The Grunge Explosion by Steve Turner (not my brother)
Notes and Favorites: First of all, I always thought it was cool that the Mudhoney guitarist has the same name as my brother. Second, I found out about this book when I heard Steve Turner speak at Treefort, our local music festival. This is a really interesting snapshot of the evolution of grunge from someone who was right in the middle of it during its early days.
9. Rebel Girl: My Life As a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna
Notes and Favorites: “I asked the cisgender white guys to look around and think about how much space they were taking up. I asked them to think about how unwelcome some people usually felt at shows. I asked them to make space. And then I said, ‘Oh, sorry. Is this the same thing Slayer said yesterday?’” (Quotation from Kathleen Hanna, responding to “Girls to the Front” chant while headlining Riot Fest in 2019)
JULY
10. Say Everything: A Memoir by Ione Skye
Notes and Favorites: This book seemed like the obvious follow-up to Rebel Girl since both authors married Adam Horovitz, and the Gen X gossip girl in me wanted to see what they had to say about that. However, this was more than a spill-the-dirt-on-celebrities memoir (although there is a little of that). It is also a heartfelt story about an unconventional upbringing, part coming-of-age, part self-realization.
11. Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
Notes and Favorites: This has been on my list for over two decades. And this summer, I did it. I set weekly goals and got it done! This feminist fictionalized retelling of Marilyn Monroe’s life is pretty brilliant but not for the faint of heart. It might be difficult to find a book that compares to the journey this book has taken me on these last two months.
AUGUST
I finished exactly 0 books this month. I was also performing in a production of The Music Man and, at the same time, starting back to school. I was a little busy . . .
SEPTEMBER
12. Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford
Notes and Favorites: Moving, irreverent, and hilarious: Who knew mental illness could be all of those things simultaneously?
OCTOBER
13. Rouge by Mona Awad
Notes and Favorites: First of all, I love everything by Mona Awad. She's one of my favorite authors, up there alongside Margaret Atwood. I've never cried at the end of one of her books though. This story is part fairy tale, part Greek and Egyptian myth, part take-down of the beauty industry and our obsession with it. But at its core, it's a grief journey, daughter losing her mother, and that wrecked me a little.
14. But He Doesn't Know the Territory by Meredith Willson
Notes and Favorites: A friend of mine lent me this book after I portrayed Marian Paroo in The Music Man last summer. I was so happy he did. I gained a greater understanding of this charming musical and the process of “from page to stage.” I loved the scene when, after Willson had been trying to “get Mama in the show” throughout his entire narrative, Barbara Cook sang Willson's final iteration of “My White Knight” (my favorite aria to sing in the show), and he realized, “I had had Mama in the show all the time” (p. 175).
15. Naked by David Sedaris
Notes and Favorites: As always, I enjoyed this David Sedaris collection, especially the way it focuses on his family and younger years until the final essay, which embodies the title, “Naked” (spoiler alert: it's about nudists).
NOVEMBER
16. "Two Thanksgiving Day Gentleman" by O. Henry
Notes and Favorites: I am now in the rush-to-complete-my book-quota-by-the-end-of-the-year era. I like to read holiday classics at this time of the year, and it was fun to find a Thanksgiving story story written by a quintessential American author.
DECEMBER
17. "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen
Notes and Favorites: This fairy tale inspired Frozen. It even has a reindeer. An early scene where Kay meets the Snow Queen had obvious parallels to C.S. Lewis’s scene between Edmund and the White Witch as well.
18. "Christmas By Injunction" by O. Henry
Notes and Favorites: Yet another selection in my quest to reach my book challenge quota, this is about a prospector who wants to play Santa Claus in a mining town with no children. Of course, the story also comes with the signature O. Henry dry wit and twist at the end.
19. "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" by O. Henry
Notes and Favorites: This story centers on a homeless vagabond who does a kind deed and is rewarded for it. He does receive a Christmas stocking and the story takes place on Christmas, but that's as far as the connection goes.
20. "A Chaparral Christmas Gift" by O. Henry
Notes and Favorites: This was a very short story of jilted love in the Wild Southwest with a tiny twist at the end.
21.
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Notes and Favorites: I loved this second installment in Whitehead's Ray Carney trilogy, revisiting the quirky criminals and the ephemeral Harlem throughout the 60s (Harlem Shuffle) and the 70s (this book). I look forward to the third book, although it doesn't have a release date yet.
