I'm just getting around to pulling together my 2025 wrap-ups; it's been a busy start to the new year. Today, I will recap the books I read in the second half of the year. I started the year with a great set of books and the second half of the year was good, but not quite as strong. I finished only four books (!!) since my first-half post and I blame the New York Times games! Over the course of the last year, I went from playing Wordle and maybe Connections to having a routine of games that I play every day. When I crawl into bed at the end of the day, I often am finishing up games instead of picking up a book, a habit I am going to try to amend this year so that I can get in more reading.
Here they are, in the order I read them:
The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden - what a nice, light summer read. I am sure this one stretched into the fall for me, but I really enjoyed the story of Lolly who felt a bit adrift after years of supporting the family restaurant following her mother's death. She spends a lot of time wondering "what if" and her aunt helps her see how things could have been different with a few magical lemon drops. She's allowed to change one thing in her life once she eats the lemon drop and then wakes up the next day as if that was her life. I am a constant "what if'er" and I really enjoyed seeing the changes to her life each time she changed a decision or event. There are pros and cons in each one as you'd expect, and it's a delightful story as you follow her trying to decide whether she'd really want to live in one of the alternate realities. This would be a great beach/vacation read.
The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin - historical fiction imagining what life was like behind the newspaper stories for Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of Charles Lindberg. It follows real life events but takes into the relationship and home to understand what it might have felt like for the famous couple. While really interesting, this was not a riveting read and I slogged through this one for probably two months. As I got to the last third of the book, I forced myself to sit down one weekend over a couple reading sessions to finish it! Interesting concept, but I am not sure that I would really recommend this one.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - I picked this up at a book sale because the title sounded familiar to me and the synopsis looked interesting. Eleanor is an awkward and very private young woman who doesn't have many social skills. She befriends someone at work and they wind up coming upon a man having a medical incident and help him. This begins her first two adult friendships. Over the course of the book, you learn about Eleanor's background and watch her struggle to navigate the world, which is very black or white for her. The book was good, and then in the middle there is an event that brought it up a notch. I was curious to see how it would all turn out. There was a surprise at the end that I didn't see coming, and overall this was a good and quick read.
With these four books, my total for 2025 was 10 books, lower than the last several years. I've set my sights to read more this year and I am trying to finish up my games before I head up to bed so that I can read once I get in bed. I often fall asleep pretty quickly, but hopefully this strategy will help me get through more books this year. I also had a plan in 2025 to look into audio books, but didn't do that. I think I will need to download the Libby app and get started at some point this year. Let me know if you have any recommendations for a good book to start with audio.
Happy reading!
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