My Five Star Reads of 2025, So Far...
I didn’t get as far on my reading goal as I wanted to last year. I set my goal at 24 books, doubling from the year before. I finished at 22 and that was only with the help of some very quick thrillers my husband and I listened to on our long road trips around the holidays. Even so, entering 2025 I set my original goal at 30, optimistic I could make it or at least come close. That turned out to be quite an understatement, as I close in on 50 books with just over four months still to go.
There are a couple of things you need to know about me as a reader. The first is that my main mode of literary consumption is via audiobook. (Save me any editorial comments about how that doesn’t count, blah, blah, blah...) Sometimes I actually find listening to books requires far more of my attention to keep names and characters straight since I don’t have the benefit of seeing them printed. It’s also just a great delivery system. I LOVE getting recommendations from friends and immediately putting the hold request in. I end up getting the audiobook weeks or even months later and going in blind because I have completely forgotten who recommended it or what it is about. It’s like a little present every time and only once did I truly not care for a book that was recommended to me.
The other thing about me is that I always have a physical book going at the same time and yes, it takes me much, much longer to finish those. Audiobooks are easy to put on while I clean or fold laundry or drive my kids to their practices. Physical books are reserved for waiting rooms, sitting at said practices, or when this Mama needs a quiet moment away to bring her blood pressure down. Both have their respective places in my life, but in general it’s much easier to pop in my earbuds and go.
Finally, I use Goodreads to catalog my reading and I am very specific about my ratings. I have yet to give out a one star review. It feels mean and I would have to hate a book or find something about it downright harmful to rate it one star. I think I have left only a single two star review and it was because there were so many plot holes in the story it was like a slice of swiss cheese. Three stars for me is for books that are entertaining, engaging but just “meh.” The kind of book that you can’t really recall much about later. To garner four stars, a book has to make me feel something – it has to be more than just entertaining. And five stars? It has to be the kind of book that gives you a hangover. You miss the characters, you can’t get over the narrative, and you are left wishing you could read it again for the first time.
So with all of that said and over half of 2025 finished, I thought it was a good time to check in on my reading goals and share some of my five star reads so far. They are all very different but beautiful and thought-provoking in their own ways.
James by Percival Everett – Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of Jim.
I mean, it won the Pulitzer, and with good reason. To take on a reimagining of Twain is impressive enough. But Everett does so without negating or directly criticizing the source material, which would be easy to do. He gives agency and a voice to Jim and doesn’t shy away from some of the elements that make Huckleberry Finn an uncomfortable text for readers in 2025. I hope that this becomes a permanent companion read to Twain in curriculums everywhere.
The Briar Club by Kate Quinn – Multiple viewpoint historical fiction set in a D.C. boarding house during the Red Scare.
My favorite book of the year and I don’t think it will be unseated. I recommend it constantly. Quinn masterfully intertwines the lives of the residents of Briarwood House, and makes you fall in love with each in turn. I loved that she didn’t return to points of view, but rather you get glimpses of updates on each story through the next woman’s voice. Also, I would like a movie adaptation, please and thank you.
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young – Time travel, mystery, family dynamics, and light romance.
This is a book I might need to revisit and read the physical copy. There were so many twists and turns where I wished I could flip back to a previous section to make a connection. Young’s world-building is amazing and I felt immersed right along with June. It was fascinating to see how the characters navigated the practicalities of time travel, especially since that is a central theme of my own middle grade novel.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick – Every adult on the planet receives a box with a string inside that accurately predicts the length of their life.
I have seen a lot of divide about this book in online circles, but I loved it. It was the kind of book I want everyone I know to read so we can talk about it. “Would you look at your string?” It’s a fascinating question. (I would, because kids and all that. Before kids? Not sure.) For me, it drew a further connection to genetic testing and the ramifications, both emotionally and from a societal standpoint. How would you live if you knew you had a short string? A long string? Do me a favor, just read it so we can all discuss.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman – Hockey players in a hockey town and the aftermath of a violent crime.
I actually didn’t know this was a hockey book when I got it. I just knew I loved A Man Called Ove, also from this author. I think the brilliance of this book is the accuracy with which Backman describes hockey culture. It may be a “if you know, you know” moment but as a hockey mom, I know. It is romantic, it is all-encompassing, and if you love the ice there is no other place for you. Backman builds this world in front of you and welcomes you in, and then tears it apart.
Just writing this makes me want to read these books over again and I am so happy to also tell you that Beartown is a series of three books so I can’t wait to return to that world and I promise to report back. In the meantime, be sure to leave a comment (just learned how to enable that!) with your five star reads. I need to add more to my holds.
