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@msmoodyreader

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2025 Favorites
Happy New Year reader friends.

I read a lot of books this year, but loved only a few of them. It seems fitting, though, I guess, because the entire year was kind of a train wreck. I’m hoping 2026 will be better. My favorites of 2025 in no particular order are:
1. Lion (2025) Sonya Walger - gorgeously written autofiction about a daughter and her larger than life father.
2. Fake Like Me (2019) Barbara Bourland - literary mystery satirizing the New York art scene
3. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (2025) Omar El Akkad - beautiful and empathetic memoir about the failure of the American Dream
4. One Woman Show (2023) Christine Coulson - wildly creative little novel told through museum wall labels in which a young woman transforms from precious object to true original
5. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019) David Truer - A survey of American history centering indigenous experience
6. We Will be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People (2024) Mitch Anderson and Nemonte Nenquimo - a memoir about growing up Waorani in the Ecuadorian Amazon and of Nenquimo’s later activism to save the Amazon rainforest.
7. The Lost Queen (2018) Signe Pike - historical fantasy set in 6th century Scotland described as “Outlander meets Camelot”
8. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore (2024) Even Friss - well-researched and charming
9. North Woods (2023) Daniel Mason - I don’t know why I waited so long to read this because I knew I’d love it.
10. The Mighty Red (2024) Louise Erdrich - about sugar beet farmers in North Dakota’s Red River Valley, rivaling The Sentence as my favorite Erdrich. *Bonus* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) Betty Smith - a favorite classic I’ve reread almost every year for probably 25 years. It seems to get sadder every year, though. What were your 2025 highlights, bookish or otherwise?

I hope 2026 brings you good health, happiness, and great books. by @msmoodyreader

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9 months ago

I’ve taken a bit of an Instagram break. Earlier this month we had to say goodbye to Layla. Seventeen years is a long life for a cat, but to us she was just a baby. Our lives revolved around her, and our house feels very quiet and lonely now. We are private people, and I try not to over-share on the internet (I love it when you do, though!), but if you know me even a little, you know how much I loved her.

She loved chicken and Churus. Sharing ice cream (strawberry was her favorite) and Jeremy’s cereal milk. Sun patches and cardboard boxes. “Helping” to wrap (and unwrap) presents. Ribbons were her favorite. We celebrate her a little bit every time we eat Parmesan cheese. She loved sleeping on crispy newspaper, and we subscribed to our local paper mostly for her. She was super nosey and loved participating in bookstagram photos and spying on our neighbors. She never played with a toy we bought for her, preferring objects pilfered from around the house, and any bed we bought specifically for her comfort was lava. She gave great boops, and she would only make biscuits on my belly. She was an early riser and hasn’t let us sleep in once in her life with us, but she could sleep on my lap for hours if I could hold still enough. Reading isn’t the same without her warm seven pounds curled up like an armadillo on my legs.

I have never believed in soul mates, but if soul mates exist, Layla was mine. We will miss her forever, and taking care of her has been a joy and privilege. We are broken-hearted, and our hearts are full. by @msmoodyreader

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a year ago

The Vibes I Bring to the Function

IF I were to attend the function. And let’s face it…I probably won’t. But I do still want to be invited.

This seems like the perfect sort of post to add trending audio, but I can’t very well do that after complaining about it. So, everyone, please just imagine the legendary Fiona Apple singing “Tiny Hands.” by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

2025 Almost Favorites

What a weird year 2025 was. I don’t want to wish my life away, but, I am ready for 2026. I spent a lot of time away from social media this year, but I don’t seem to be able to quit bookstagram entirely, and I’m not sure yet what this will mean for 2026. I would love to feel some enthusiasm for this space again, but I’d also love to throw my phone into Lake Huron.

As usual, I read a lot of books this year, and though I had fewer favorites this year than usual, I did read a lot of books that I loved. These books didn’t quite make my top ten, but are still worth shouting about. In no particular order:
1. Oh William! (2021) Elizabeth Strout - I love Strout’s writing style and her ability to make me care about her characters.
2. Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life(2023) Anna Funder - proof we all need a wife to achieve success and realize our inner genius.
3. The Bone Season (2013) Samantha Shannon - 2025 was the year of escaping into giant fantasy series.
4. Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (2024) Anne Applebaum - I alternated between escapism and cold hard reality. Essential reading if you’re curious about how we got here.
5. Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lives, and the Truths We Use to Win (2024) Jessica Valenti - follow Jessica on social media. Follow her substack. Her work is invaluable.
6. Snowflake (2021) Louise Nealon - listened on audio and loved enough to buy a print copy. Coming-of-age in rural Ireland amidst high family drama. Criminally underrated.
7. Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People (2025) Imani Perry - beautiful concept beautifully executed
8. Beartooth (2025) Callan Wink - a gritty thriller with brutal but beautiful nature writing
9. The Far Field (2019) Madhuri Vijay - beautiful exploration of Indian political history, privilege, and class inequity.
10. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 (2019) Beth Brower - Delightful. Charming. Only about 100 pages.

How was your reading year?
Have you read and loved any of these? by @msmoodyreader

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9 months ago

Francie and Trout trying to decide what we’re reading next 💜 by @msmoodyreader

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a year ago

March Reading Wrap Up⁣ and Highlights
⁣
March was an excellent month for reading.

It’s finally starting to feel like spring in Michigan, which means cold, windy, and rainy, but the snow is gone (for now).

I read 19 books and loved most of them.

Nonbookish highlights included cold beach walks, cat snuggles, and knitting (almost done with sock 2). My sister gave me the cutest vase shaped like a book.
⁣The good and the bad:⁣

* I cleared 7 books that I’ve had for a year or more from my unread shelves
* 12 DNFs 🫢
* I checked off one more from my 25 in 2025 stack

Some reading highlights from March:⁣

Faves:
* The Mighty Red (2024) Louise Erdrich - this felt like home, and the characters felt like people I know.
* Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World (2024) Anne Applebaum - scary, but shows lots of connections and offers a way out.
* Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism (2025) Sarah Wynn-Williams - no real surprises here, and I really only read this because Zuck really doesn’t want us to, but it was interesting.

Also Loved:⁣
* Gliff (2024) Ali Smith
* Oh William! (2021) Elizabeth Strout
* The Bone Season (2013) Samantha Shannon - thanks Laurie @bookaddictpnw
* The Mime Order (2015) Samantha Shannon
* Nesting (2025) Roisin O’Donnell 🎧
* Half Sick of Shadows (2021) Laura Sebastian
* Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life (2023) Anna Funder
* The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls (2019) Anissa Gray
* Ruin Their Crops on the Ground (2024) Andrea Freeman 🎧
* The Most (2024) Jessica Anthony
* The Snow Child (2012) Eowyn Ivey

And I don’t have enough room in the caption to share all of the titles, so if there’s one you’re interested in knowing more about, let me know.

Tell me a highlight from your March — bookish or otherwise.
⁣ by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

The Starless Sea (2019) Erin Morgenstern

Posting a book review makes me feel a little bit like what I imagine one of the orchestra members on board the Titanic felt like as they played for people boarding the too few lifeboats as the ship sank.

My reading is swinging back and forth between learning as much as possible about authoritarianism and then becoming anxious and overwhelmed and escaping into fantasy novels with little basis in reality. I wish I could say it’s working for me, but it’s not really.

I’m sure one of you will have a more positive perspective on this.

This book has been on my shelf since 2019, and I haven’t really had much interest in it until now, and I’m happy I saved it. The writing was really beautiful, and along with the setting, Morgenstern created a really strikingly atmospheric novel, both moody and mysterious. I feel like there were a few plot holes or elements left unexplained and unexplored, but the vibes were so good that I didn’t even care. There were multiple interwoven plots, including a metafictive book within a book. The interwoven plots create a puzzle for the reader to assemble, choose your own adventure style, resulting in endless possibility. I loved it.

What are you loving lately? by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

Nonfiction Audiobook Recommendations

We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People (2024) Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson and Narrated by Christine Anne-Roche

Nenquimo was born into the Waorani tribe of Equador’s Amazon rainforest — one of the last tribes to be contacted by Christian missionaries in the 1950s. Nenquimo became an activist, eventually leading to a victory protecting millions of acres of rainforest. Beautifully written and narrated, and unlike any other memoir I’ve read.

Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality (2022) Tanya Katerí Hernández

The subtitle describes exactly what the book is about, and the author argues, through interviews, discrimination case files, and interpretation of civil rights law, that understanding anti-black bias within the Latino community is essential to dismantling systemic racism. The work is short, and it reads like a bit like a dissertation, but it’s still a worthwhile read.

Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to Schools Lunch (2024) Andrea Freeman

Freeman argues that public policy around food in the US has been used to create and maintain racial and cultural inequality. I didn’t buy all of Freeman’s arguments, but it is a compelling book, particularly in light of our current politics surrounding food and the MAHA movement.

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations Long Fight for Justice on Native Land (2024) Rebecca Nagle

Tells the story of the forced removal of Native Americans alongside the story of a murder more than a century later, which led to a Supreme Court ruling resulting in the largest restoration of tribal land in U.S. history. Fascinating history that reads like true crime but without the ick.

Have you read any of these or plan to? Let me know what you think. Do you have any recommendations to add? by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

The Frozen River (2023) by Ariel Lawhon: Some Thoughts

I don’t have a lot to add to the conversation about this one, but I did really like it. More than I expected to. Historical fiction with a mystery element, strong writing, strong sense of place set in post-colonial Maine, and roundly drawn characters you can connect with — all based on the diaries of the real life Martha Ballard, an 18th century midwife — what’s not to like, right?

Martha Ballard was a renowned mid-wife, and I’m always drawn to a stories about midwives. I think this resonated so strongly because it was largely a story about women’s work. At a time when we’re hearing so many voices calling for a return to more “traditional” gender roles, it’s important to acknowledge that women have ALWAYS worked outside the home, as well as within. From podcast bros to tradwife influencers, the messaging is everywhere right now. The 1950s era in America, spurred by a booming post-war economy, was just a tiny blip in history, and even then most women — poor and working class women, and especially women of color —worked outside of the home, and often as domestic labor in other people’s homes.

Martha Ballard’s story is a reminder of how essential “women’s work” and working women are to society. by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

Aspen Words: Thoughts, Predictions, and Favorites

It’s almost time for the @aspenwords shortlist announcement. It’s my fifth year reading the entire longlist, and as usual, it didn’t disappoint. I love that Aspen Words focuses on fiction with a social impact, giving the award to “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.”

I’m terrible at making these sorts of predictions, but I’ll give it a shot.

LONGLIST PREDICTIONS:
* James by Percival Everett
* Devil is Fine by John Vercher
* Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
* The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole
* There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Rayes Jr

FAVORITE:
James by Percival Everett

LOVED:
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden

ALSO LOVED:
* Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochital Gonzalez 🎧
* Fire Exit by Morgan Talty 🎧
* Devil is Fine by John Vercher

LIKED A LOT:
* Kingdom of No Tomorrow by Fabienne Josaphat 🎧
* Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
* There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Rayes Jr
* Before the Mango Ripens by Afabwaje Kurian

LIKED:
* A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
* Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker
* The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole
* Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

NOT FOR ME:
This was an almost immediate DNF for me. I really didn’t read enough to evaluate it, but the content was just definitely not for me.

Lilith by Eric Rickstad

If you’ve read any of these, let me know what you think. by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

Becoming (2018) Michelle Obama

Book 2 of 25 in 2025

This is not a review. No one needs another review of this book. I bought this book after its release, but, for some reason, just never picked it up. At that time we were halfway through 45’s first term. I can’t remember my exact state of mind at the time, but I can guess. I can imagine I was still hopeful that we’d see what a mistake we had made, and that we’d fix it. Frustrated. Angry. Worried. But still hopeful.

I picked this up as part of my 25 in 2025 challenge wanting to finally get it off my shelf.
I read it in the days immediately following that man’s second inauguration, which was comforting, though it felt surreal. There was a certain feeling of dramatic irony, knowing more about future events than she did. Michelle Obama left the White House feeling hopeful about the future, despite having welcomed in a new White House occupant. I wonder what sort of book Michelle Obama would write now.

I do not revere or idolize ANY politician, especially after seeing what effect the current cult of personality has had on this country. I don’t tend to admire celebrity. But I do admire Michelle Obama. She’s not really a politician, not really a celebrity. I think she’s been, and continues to be (I hope), an important voice.

I’m posting this review the morning after the State of the Union address. I didn’t watch it, but I’ve seen the highlights (or perhaps lowlights?). As I started writing this, I didn’t really know where it was going. But, as is often the case, the act of writing helped me to know what to say. I’m grateful that books don’t have an expiration date because this one seemed to find me at the right moment. I remain hopeful, despite myself. by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago

March New Releases

Two months into 2025 and I’ve only bought one book. There really a handful of March releases that have piqued my interest. Of these, Karen Russell’s The Antidote is the only one I feel like I HAVE to have.

Do you have ARC or galley copies of any of these? Plan on reading any of these after release?

March 4
* The Body is a Doorway: a Journey Beyond Healing, Hope, and the Human by Sophie Strand
March 11
* The Antidote by Karen Russell
March 18
* Everybody Says It’s Everything by Xhenet Aliu
* Integrated: How American Schools Failed Black Children
March 25
* Tilt by Emma Pattee
* Counting Backwards by Binnie Kirshenbaum

What new releases are you excited about this month? by @msmoodyreader

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2 years ago