I’m in the top 1% of all Connections players on the NYTimes games app.
My most-played game this year was Spelling Bee.
Spotify thinks I’m 33 years old based on my playlists, which mostly consist of yoga music.
Goodreads announced its Best Books of 2025, and the only winner I read was John Green’s Everything Is Tuberculosis.
I read a total of 40 books this year—not counting poetry, which Goodreads doesn’t count, which is why Goodreads is kinda shitty. I use Goodreads because it keeps track of what I read, what I want to read, and what my friends who use the app read.
It also transcribes all the underlinings I make in books I read on my Kindle —where I do 90% of my reading. So when it’s book group day, all I have to do is print out my underlinings to remember what I found meaningful.
The Yoga Lounge Book Group
Ten of the forty books I read were book group picks. This is how we choose our books: Everyone suggests a fiction or non-fiction title depending on the month, and the group votes. There is only one rule: you’re not allowed to feel hurt if the group doesn’t pick your book. Here’s what we read this year:
2025
January: Crossings by Ben Goldfarb
February: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
March: Cultish by Amanda Montell
April: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
May: Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Want
June: Took off
July: Took off
August: A Marriage At Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
September: The Emporer of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
October: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
November: Circle of Days by Ken Follett
December: Indignity by Lea Ypi
We’re reading Indignity at the moment, so I don’t know about that one yet, but, for me, out of the fiction selections we read this year, The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong was my favorite.
On the non- fiction side, Everything Is Tuberculosis.
Outside of my Book Group, I read 40 more titles, and out of those, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James was by far my personal favorite,
withThe Master by Colm Toibin,
coming in at a close second, mainly because it led me to rediscover Henry James.
The non-fiction book that had the most enduring impact on my real life was Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken.
I credit that book with my current obsession with sourdough breadmaking and for my new obnoxious habit of pointing out the UPFs (Ultra-Processed Foods) every time we go out to eat.
I so love to read! And I love talking about books with people who have just read them. That is why my book group is one of the ongoing joys of my life. We are even considering making 2026 the Year of the Classics. A lot of us mourn the fact that we read the best literature back when we were too young to appreciate it. I read Great Expectations in 9th grade for goddsakes!
It might be exciting to read some (or a lot!) of classic lit this year. I’m compiling my list and encouraging my friends to do the same. I’m sure we will find many commonalities.
I’m giddy at the prospect!
So tell me, do you read? And if so, what was the best book you read this past year?
And, is there any classic you would love to either re-read because you were too young the first time, or you feel everyone has probably read but you? For me, that’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (among others).
It’s hard to believe a week from today is Christmas, and two weeks from today is New Year’s! I feel like I have a lot to ponder in the next two weeks. I am excited that we’re going into the year of the Horse, and leaving the year of the Snake behind. I, for one, am ready to rear up on my hind legs and take off!
Inspiration Location 