everything I read in December
let's go out with a bang AND a whimper
Happy New Year!
I guess.
I’m torn on the concept of new years — I like fresh starts and clean pages and all those metaphors as much as the next person, but I also like continuity. I’m halfway through Don Quixote, for instance. I continue most projects from one year to the next. And above all I had a pretty good reading year.
I’m loath to mess with all that in the name of a clean transition.
Regardless, I don’t have to worry about it now, because as far as this post is concerned it might as well still be 2025.
Except for a present-day new year treat from Book of the Month. We’ll get to that too.
What paid subscribers got
A whole year’s worth of reading, basically, and a whole year’s worth of my gratitude and appreciation.
Plus these posts:
The most disappointing books of the year: Writing a post solely about the bad books I picked up this year seems a bit mean and also purposeless even for me — so I put a slightly different adjective on it and described 17 letdowns.
Every 2026 release you should know about: For the past couple of years, my NetGalley addiction and one-sided love affairs with my favorite authors have led me to read a ton of new releases, even as a person who used to be exclusively interested in books I’d already read. This is a list of 50 I plan on reading.
The best books I read this year: Last year I didn’t have many five stars, but I still wanted to end 2024 on a positive note, so I included the top few reads of every month. I did the same for 2025, but also just to flex how solid my last few months were. Crushing it.
Free to read! Everything I read in 2025, ranked: I track every single book I read always, because I love data — but in years past I’ve left them chronologically ordered and moved on. Not this year. All 250 are placed from best to worst, and I forgot to put a paywall in so it’s free.
Projects
I have a few in the works at the moment, plus…
I read a couple of January Book of the Month selections! I am a really big fan of their curation (and their beautiful editions…hardcover stan for life). They’re turning 100 this year, and no one has them beat for an amazing backlist + a wide array of new ones to choose from every month. Their January choices include Lost Lambs, one of my 2026 most anticipated reads. My usual BoTM experience is discovering a couple exciting new-to-me releases while being able to pick up one that was already on my radar. Even better, you can kick off any New Year’s resolution related reading by getting your first book for $5 with code GOALS!
I am also, as mentioned above, halfway (okay, less) through Don Quixote, my current project long classics installment. Updates to come, I pray.
Review copies
Those two Book of the Month books were a standout, as you will see.
Otherwise, I’ve had a slow end to the year with review copies! I’m on schedule after finishing the three or four I had on December’s agenda, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled I-requested-too-many-ARCs-and-now-I-can’t-read-anything-else programming this month.
The books in question
Now that we have finished with the grand tradition of me saying whatever occurs to me before actually wrapping up my reading…here are the books!
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
Source: Book of the Month
Lost Lambs has been on my radar for months (as mentioned, it’s one of my most anticipated 2026 releases) purely because of the sheer number of good things I keep hearing about it. I heard it’s funny and emotional and an unforgettable family saga, and I love all of those things. It lives up to the hype.
Read more: Book of the Month
The Odds of You by Kate Dramis
Source: Book of the Month
In addition to their usual round-up of reads, Book of the Month offers add-ons you can include in your box — and I personally have never said no to the question “more books?” so I take advantage of this option often. This book is about a writer who has a series of meet-cutes with a charming actor, some of which happen in Scotland. I seek out books about writers and books that feel like I’m traveling, so this was an easy decision.
Read more: Book of the Month
Thirst Trap by Grainne O’Hare
November 25-December 1 | Source: Publisher
Sometimes we all feel like a cigarette in a Barbie shoe. I think. This is a messy imperfect read about being messy and imperfect, but it’s also really fun. Like your 20s, and also not.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
December 1-2 | Source: Library
Part of my ongoing quest to read what appears to be the inexhaustible genre of Japanese literature about cats. This was a particularly charmless and irritating version, but still readable.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Native Son by Richard Wright
November 3-December 3 | Source: Library
This was my project long classics installment for November, technically, but it was such a brutal and immersive and unforgettable read that I couldn’t keep up with my self-given daily assignments. When I did finish it, wow.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯✯
The Lake’s Water Is Never Sweet by Giulia Caminito
December 3-4 | Source: Publisher
Pros: the writing is strong, I always enjoyed my time with it, I’m a fan of a tough cookie coming of age. Cons: I had no idea where and when we were at any given time, everything is vague, I’m confused and when I’m confused I get mad.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Making Space by RF Kuang
December 4-5 | Source: NetGalley
This is a really short story — like, extremely short — about a freaky little kid from the woods. It is a) sci-fi and b) more shallow than you might expect even from a story that short. Which, again, is very.
Rating: ✯✯
A New New Me by Helen Oyeyemi
December 4-5 | Source: Library
Back-to-back reads that are back to back in my 2025 reading ranking. They even have a similar color scheme. That’s kinda fun. Except for the fact that they were both demoralizing and this was the kind of Very Literary Book that is so stylized as to be unreadable nonsense!
Rating: ✯✯
Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong
December 5-10 | Source: Library
I am a New Jersey defender (albeit not an Atlantic City one), which was my primary reason for wanting to read this. Turns out it was less about good ol’ NJ and more about race, violence, misogyny, food, history. I’ll take that too!
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lea
December 2-11 | Source: NetGalley
Every once in a while I gather up my courage and make another attempt at finding a new romance favorite — the definition of high risk, high reward for me. This one was pretty brutal. I don’t think I had a moment’s fun.
Rating: ✯✯
Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
December 9-13 | Source: Library
Reading this for an upcoming Substack post was completely terrifying, a) because years ago I swore off reading John Green books forever after being pushed into unfettered rage by one too many annoying teens and b) I didn’t feel like it. But it was actually…fine?
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
December 8-14 | Source: Library
I read this for the same forthcoming post. It did not go as well. Bottom five book of the year in fact.
Rating: ✯
Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
December 11-15 | Source: Library
I am a casual enjoyer of birds, but this made me want to drop everything and make them my whole personality. That’s never going to happen (I already did it with reading) but it’s nice to know I can return to this if I want to pretend.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
The Anthropologists by Aysegül Savas
December 15-16 | Source: Library
I’m more of a reading to escape and/or learn and/or experience new things type of bookworm, so it was a pleasant change of pace to have this make me romanticize my own life, and the phase of it I’m in.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida
December 16-17 | Source: Library
A bunch of weirdos over a bunch of nights doing a bunch of weird stuff in Tokyo, which resulted in me having a bunch of confusion about what the hell was going on. Or why I should care.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno
December 17-18 | Source: NetGalley
I read every Katrina Leno book, but this one I have to assume was made in a lab — a retelling of the best Greek myth with ghosts and beautiful brownstones and a city setting. Finding out it was inspired by another of my favorite books was like…well, of course!
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Cat’s People by Tanya Guerrero
December 12-21 | Source: Library
Expanded my cat-reading across cultures and…I think I’m good with sticking with Japan. This was over-the-top corny even for what I expected out of a ragtag group of neighbors all obsessed with the same stray cat.
Rating: ✯✯✯
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
December 18-23 | Source: Library
A third book I picked up for the aforementioned future post. I had listened to an episode of Celebrity Memoir Book Club about this, but previously had never heard anything about the story. That’s a weird mix of low interest and high knowledge to go in with, but I was pleasantly surprised by the writing at least.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Cake Eater by Carl Radke
December 19-26 | Source: NetGalley
I am not a TV fan (there’s one answer to the question how I read so much), but for whatever reason the exception to that rule is Bravo’s Summer House. I have learned my lesson about trying to expand that interest to other forms of media.
Rating: ✯✯
The Lone Pilgrim by Laurie Colwin
December 16-27 | Source: Library
I adore Laurie Colwin, so I’m not sure why I put off picking up her short stories for so long — maybe out of the fear I have of running out of reading material. Either way, I checked all of the collections out from the library so I can read a story a day, and of course I’m having a blast.
Rating: ✯✯✯✯
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
December 22-29 | Source: Publisher
Facebook is evil and everyone at the top of its leadership team is a weirdo, witnessed by the lone brave angel who wrote this book. Groundbreaking.
Rating: ✯✯✯
Summing things up
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses this reading month, but I did finish up a new favorite (#blessed to end the year on a four-month five star streak) and discover a couple of unputdownable reads. So I’ll take it.
As a reminder, you can save on Book of the Month for gifting or receiving! Code GOALS gets you your first book for $5.
Out of everything I read, I would fully and completely recommend you read 9 of them. That’s just under half, which is honestly really good for me.
The very best book I read was Native Son, and the very worst book was Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.
Now pie charts! But first…
What were the best and worst books you read in December? Have you read any of these? What are you excited to read in 2026?
I grew up by Atlantic City. I need to give Meet Me in Atlantic City another try because like you, it was not what I was expecting.
I loved Guilia’s book. Didn’t find it confusing at all. 🤗