Oh oops I haven't done one of these since April. I really thought I'd done May for some reason, but nope! To be honest I feel like I was really busy with both work and school - and then just work, but for 10-13hrs a day - from April through the beginning of August. I still read! I just didn't have time to post about it on tumblr. Here's some books that, looking back, were big hits for me in May and June:
Scientific Progress Goes Boink (Bill Watterson): Hard to go wrong with Calvin and Hobbes! This started off a big Calvin and Hobbes reread, working through my collections. Great comfort reads.
Partners in Crime (Agatha Christie): Another reread, this time going specifically to the Tommy and Tuppence short stories! Short stories are always good when I'm busy. Thinking back, I think this was inspired by @therefugeofbooks reading some Tommy and Tuppence and tagging me, so thank you! I enjoy the young duo who joke around with each other and seem like they might be in trouble...and then reveal that they knew what the villains were up to the whole time.
Dragonhaven (Robin McKinley): Yet another reread. I still think this book is really really good. McKinley is always good at first-person perspective - with this book in particular, it's very believable as being written by the narrator, looking back on the events of his (younger) youth, including how little dialogue there is, and all the little asides with the benefit of experience. I always like this book but don't always have the brain space to devote to it, but sometimes I am able to just immerse myself in the world of a grieving teenage kid who finds and raises an infant dragon when it imprints on him, in a world where dragons are sort of just another protected species in a giant national park (and sort of not "just" anything).
Cookin' the Books (Amy Patricia Meade): This is definitely not the only cozy mystery with this exact title, lol. This was a first-time read! I am always picking up (and often putting down) new cozy mystery series, but this one I read all six books of because I enjoyed the main character and the relationships and found the mysteries generally well done. I'm not saying these were earth-shattering, but there's lots of mystery series where I don't like the main character or the setting or how quickly I can guess who dunnit (although I don't mind guessing as long as it isn't too obvious), and this one didn't have those issues! Also interesting how the (eventual, final) love interest is the small town sheriff, but since these were all written after 2020, it's made clear that he took a knee during a BLM protest and, like, marched in a pride parade (iirc) so he's one of the good ones. Obviously there's deeper conversations to be had here, but I figured hey, it's something.
2025 was a good reading year for me! I feel like I've hit my stride somewhat with reading while using tumblr - I'm less concerned than I was in past years about trying to read all the things that are going around on tumblr, while still getting some ideas when mutuals post about stuff that sounds relevant to my interests. I have always been reading what I want to read, but I got on an even better streak with that in 2025. And I think I've figured out a format for posting about my reads that works well for me and that I'll be sticking with for a while!
Related to my own posting habits, and as I mentioned in the post that is the counterpart to this one (Not Good Books of 2025), I don't actually have a rating system for my reads; even when my experience varies widely between two books, it doesn't necessarily mean I think one is better. (Although, sometimes...). So for 2025, I highlighted my #books of the month based mainly on what took up most of my thoughts and attention that month. These are often the books that I enjoyed and might recommend, but it could also be things that made me think a lot, or that I liked but wouldn't recommend without major caveats. In the same way: these might not be the best books of 2025, but to me, they are The Books of 2025:
(OK I ended up with 15 books and series here, so I cut for length.)
Deep Secret (Diana Wynne Jones): Was just thinking of this book shortly before starting this post, so it must have stuck with me! What I was thinking about is the way DWJ writes such real characters; their quirks and flaws are life-sized, but so are all the good things about them, so you like them anyway.
The Mystery of the Cape Cod Players (Phoebe Atwood): I found this in a used bookstore on a little vacation in January and liked it enough that I went to ILL to find more mysteries featuring the same detective. For this book, I thought the mystery plot was well-done; for the series as a whole, I enjoy the vivid and specific setting.
Clare Fergusson and Russ van Alstyne mystery series (Julia Spencer-Fleming): I fell head first into this series for a large chunk of the beginning of 2025 and read books 1-6. Clare is an Episcopal priest and Russ the chief of police in a small town in upstate New York. This is not a cozy series; it's angsty off the bat because they have an immediate connection, which is definitely partly romantic, but he's already married. In fact it's almost self-indulgently angsty (why I eventually burned out on the series), but I also found them very well-written.
Kelling and Bittersohn mystery series (Charlotte MacLeod): I read these as a sort of palate cleanser in between books in the above series! Not cozy exactly, but fun and less angsty. I enjoyed the recurring cast of kooky characters.
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë): Y'all I admit this was my first time reading this. I knew about the wife in the attic and all going in, but it was still very good. Jane and Rochester are obviously perfect for each other. Weirdo-for-weirdo.
Calvin and Hobbes comics (Bill Watterson): I reread all my Calvin and Hobbes collections starting in late May throughout the summer (generally a very busy time of year for me). It was very nice. I like Calvin and Hobbes.
Dragonhaven (Robin McKinley): This is a really well-done first person "written as a memoir" kind of novel and also a really good story. I've read it multiple times and still was surprised to get a little teary at the end.
Murder in the Trembling Lands (Barbara Hambly): This was the latest release in the Benjamin January series, which I preordered and which arrived in July. A fav series and therefore a guaranteed good read.
A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness): I got a free copy at the library. I'd read this short book before and knew it made me cry, so I took the chance to get my own copy so that I can occasionally study the craft of how it makes me cry. Anyway, I reread it and it made me cry again.
The Memoirs of Lady Trent series (Marie Brennan): I really enjoyed these, and aside from the fun of the plot, they made me think a lot about fantasy worldbuilding.
Maidens' Trip (Emma Smith): A reread. Always interesting to read this fictionalized nonfiction account of young women working the canals of England during WWII and considering all I have in common with them - and all I don't.
Inspector Macdonald mystery series (E. C. R. Lorac): I have been really enjoying these Golden Age era mysteries, with a detective who never has a background romance (à la Alleyn or Wimsey) but who, in later books, does start to make friends and have a background desire to retire to a farm. (I am still working through this one.)
Crown Colony mystery series (Ovidia Yu): Set in Singapore before, during, and after WWII - a really interesting look at a time period I've read about a lot, in a place that I definitely haven't.
Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer): Probably just check this tag to see all the quotes I've posted.
The Goblin Emperor & The Cemeteries of Amalo (Katherine Addison): After rereading TGE, I bought a copy for a friend for Christmas. And as I just posted in my December wrap-up: imagine me reading the Cemeteries of Amalo books kicking my feet and giggling. I liked them a lot.
I've posted about most of these elsewhere as well, so if you want to know more, follow the tags through my blog, or feel free to interact directly! I'm on here so I can talk about books!
