2025 Reading Year in Review

I started doing a specific "Reading Year in Review" post in 2020. I figured that since I was doing an overall year in review post (which includes some book information anyway), and a blogging year in review post -- and since keeping track of my books is a big thing I normally do on my blog -- my reading life deserved its own year-end wrap-up post too.  :)  

(Note:  I have not linked to all the books mentioned here, but they are all reviewed on this blog.) 

How did I do?  

I increased my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from 36 books in 2021 to 45 books in 2022, kept (and met) that goal for 2023, and retained it for 2024 & 2025 -- although, unfortunately, I was not successful in reaching my goal in either year.  

• My Goodreads 2025 Year in Review report tells me I read 38 books with 12,413 pages (versus 37 books with 15,320 pages in 2024, 48 books with 16.980 pages in 2023 and 50 books with 17,047 pages in 2022). That's one more book than I read in 2024, but still 7 books below my goal of 45, or 84%.  (My best result ever: 59 books in 2021.) All the books I read this year were reviewed on this blog and tagged "2025 books." 
• The shortest book I read was "Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson (130 pages);  the longest was "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel (772 pages).  
• Average book length was 326 pages (down from 414 pages in 2024, and 353 pages in 2023). 
• (Note that one of the books I read in 2024 was "War and Peace"...!)
• The most popular book I read ( = most shelved by Goodreads readers) was "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang  (2.3 million readers);  the least popular was this one, a memoir written by my dear late friend R. (42 readers).   
• The highest-rated book I read was "I'm Sorry for My Loss" by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long (4.38 stars). 
• My average Goodreads rating in 2025 was 3.8 stars (lower than the 4.2 from the previous three years).  
• In 2021, I also started tracking books on The StoryGraph, which provides slightly different stats (and even more, with a paid subscription -- although I don't have one of those!). 
• StoryGraph reports that I read 38 books with 12,688 pages (slightly more than Goodreads recorded). 
• Average book length according to SroryGraph was 334 pages (slightly more than Goordreads reported). 
• Average time to finish a book: about 20 days. (This would be in good part because of the readalongs/slow reads I take part in...!) 
• Fastest read/least time spent:  "Peter West" by D.E. Stevenson (3 days).
• Most time spent:  "Anne of Windy Poplars" by L.M. Montgomery (143 days = not quite 5 months, part of a chapter-by-chapter readalong and discussion with my Montgomery Readathon Facebook group). 
• This year, StoryGraph provided a "mood map" of my reading during the year:  you can see a steady upward trend in the moods of my books over the year. 
•  The top/most dominant mood of my books was once again overwhelmingly "emotional" (value: 15 vs 16 last year), followed by "funny" (12), "reflective" (11), mysterious (8) and dark (7). 
• Like Goodreads, StoryGraph logged the longest book I read as "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel (768 pages), but the shortest according to StoryGraph was "Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands" by Mary Seacole (200 pages).   
• The vast majority of my books were medium-paced (69%). 19% were slow and 11% fast. 
• 53% of my 2024 books were 300-499 pages;  45% were less than 300 pages and just 3% were over 500 pages. 
• Most pages read/finished:  1,852 in October. 
• 84% of my 2024 books were fiction;  just 16% non-fiction. This is a big change from recent years! (I credit the many book clubs I take part in, which mostly focus on fiction.)
• My most-read genre in 2025 was historical (value: 13), followed by literary (9), contemporary (7), mystery (5) and thriller (5)(similar to 2024).     
• StoryGraph also tracks the format of your books, but selects print as the default. The majority of my reads this year -- 76% -- were recorded as digital, vs 24% print.  (Note that some books do not have a "digital" option, in which case I choose print.) 
• Most-read authors in 2025:  D.E. Stevenson (7 books) and Richard Osman (3).  
• Average rating 3.81 stars (vs 3.8 on Goodreads, and 4.06 last year).  
• 5-star reads in 2025:  "I'm Sorry for My Loss" by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long and "The Impossible Fortune" by Richard Osman. 
• My highest average ratings came in June (4.25); the lowest was in August (3.38).
• Most shelved book:  "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang (445.598 users). Least shelved/popular: this one, a memoir written by my dear late friend R. (1 user, i.e., me!  lol).  
• Highest rated:  "I'm Sorry for My Loss" by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long (4.43 stars;  my rating was 5 stars). 
• I explored the work of 22 new authors, read 10 books that were part of a series, and revisited/re-read 5 books. 
• I read 6 books in October, my most prolific month, and just 1 in July. 
• I continued to take part in several online book clubs/groups/readalongs, which provided me with lots of reading/discussion pleasure, and helped boost my 2025 reading totals: they were responsible for 25 of the 38 books I read in 2025 -- more than half!   
• Sadly, the L.M. Montgomery Readathon on Facebook, which began with "Rilla of Ingleside" in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, concluded earlier this year with one final book, "Anne of Windy Poplars" (review here). (The group still exists on Facebook, and members still post Montgomery-related content there, but we are no longer doing readalongs together.)  
• I continued to co-host the Childless Collective Nomo Book Club, where we read & discussed a book a month together ( = 12 books).  
• My D.E. Stevenson fan group read & discussed 3 DES books together in 2025, chapter by chapter (currently on #4). (I read each book first myself, and then counted our group read as a re-read.)
• I initially thought I would repeat one or both of Footnotes & Tangents' 2024 slow reads ("War & Peace" by Leo Tolstoy and Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy) -- but I soon realized there were lots of other books calling my name, and abandoned that idea. Perhaps someday... I do highly recommend the experience, especially if these are books you've always wanted to read!  
• I did take part in the 4 other slow reads offered by F&T in 2025, including "The Siege at Krishnapur" by J.G. Farrell, "A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Adebe and "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald.  

Goals for 2026: 

• As noted above, I ended the year with 38 books read. I did not reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal of 45 books (nor did I come anywhere near equalling my 2021/best-recorded total of 59 books, when my goal was 36).  I initially thought I'd keep my goal of 45 books in 2026 -- but, given the recent events in my life, reading has taken a back seat for the time being (sadly, I have yet to start a book in January).  So I've decided to downsize my 2026 goal slightly to 40 books (and hope to do better than that...!). It's still a "stretch" goal, based on the past few years, and still works out to 3-4 books per month on average). 
• While I'm grateful for my book groups and the boost they give to my reading totals, and while I intend to keep up with them in 2026, I'm hoping to be able to read more of my own choices this coming year too.  :)   

2025 Highlights:  

• It's always very hard for me to pick a single book as "the best" that I read in any given year. I read some really good books this year, a few really great ones  and very few "meh" choices (3.8 stars on average.)  A few of my favourites, listed in the order I read them (I haven't linked to them here, but they're all reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph and this blog): 

• "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang. I still find myself thinking about this one! 
• "The Mermaid of Black Conch" by Monique Roffey.  A lovely surprise. :)  
• "The Wedding People" by Alison Espach. A depressing-sounding premise that evolved into something absolutely delightful, especially as a childless-not-by-choice reader!  
• "I'm Sorry for My Loss" by Rebecca Little & Colleen Long. Both infuriating and validating.  
• "Rules for Visiting" by Jessica Francis Kane. This one grew on me as I read it! 
• "Kills Well With Others" by Deanna Raybourn, So much fun!!  :)  
• "Mania" by Stuart "Woody" Wood. I enjoyed reliving my days as a teenaged Bay City Rollers fan through the words of my favourite band member. 
• "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley.  Love, love, loved this one. If I had to pick just one favourite book from 2025, this might be it.  
• "We Solve Murders" and "The Impossible Fortune," both by Richard Osman. Osman does it again -- both of these were pure delight.  

Did you meet your reading goals for 2025 (if you set any)? What great books did you read this past year? 

"The Impossible Fortune" by Richard Osman

Having cleared my book club obligations for the next while, I eagerly dove into "The Impossible Fortune" by Richard Osman -- book #5 in his Thursday Murder Club series -- which has been at the top of my TBR pile since its release this fall.

The book begins with Joyce's daughter Joanna's wedding, where Elizabeth is approached by a guest for help -- a friend of the groom -- who then mysteriously disappears. At stake is a fortune in bitcoin, buried in a remote cold storage facility. 

All I can say is Osman has done it again. Like his other books (TMC & otherwise, all read and reviewed on this blog), this was quite simply a whole lot of fun, with plots twists and red herrings galore, (And lots of laughs.)  Along with the quartet of senior sleuths who make up the Thursday Murder Club, several supporting characters from the previous books make appearances. 

5 enthusiastic stars on both Goodreads & StoryGraph.  

This was Book #38 read to date in 2025 (and Book #3 finished in December), bringing me to 84% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am 6 books behind  schedule to meet my goal -- and not likely to do so at this point (note the date of this review...!)  :)  However, this book brings my 2025 reading total to one more than last year, which does give me some satisfaction.  :)  

You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."  And I'll be publishing a 2025 Reading Year in Review in the near future too.  :)  

"How to Kill Your Family" by Bella Mackie

Reading a book with the provocative title "How to Kill Your Family" (by Bella Mackie), while spending two weeks mostly housebound with two demanding elderly parents who adore watching annoying game shows (!) (plus my sister and her partner, on & off), in frigid Manitoba, might not have been the best choice (lololol...). But it's the January pick for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club, and I decided to get a head start! 

Our narrator, Grace Bernard, breezily admits to killing six members of her extended family -- and getting away with it. But she's still in prison -- for a murder she did NOT commit.  The book bounces back in forth in time, from the present (Grace in prison, awaiting an appeal), and the past (why Grace decided to murder her relatives, and how she carried out each crime). 

I'll admit, Grace's family seemed pretty despicable, for the most part, and I can understand her motivation.  But that's still no excuse for murder.  And the details were sometimes a bit gruesome. I was thinking 3 stars, maybe 3.5, as a rating.  

BUT!  There's a major, clever plot twist in the last few chapters that redeemed the book for me somewhat, and boosted my rating. 

4 stars on both Goodreads and StoryGraph.

This was Book #37 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in December), bringing me to ?% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am 6 books behind  schedule to meet my goal (and not likely to do that at this point...!), but this matches my 2025 total of books read, which makes me happy. :)   

You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

"The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald

Footnotes & Tangents' final "slow readalong" of the year is "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald.  We started Nov. 3rd and will end our discussion the week of Dec. 15th (I read on ahead!).  

Published in 1995 to much critical acclaim, "The Blue Flower" is set in late 18th century Germany, and is based on the true story of Fritz von Hardenberg -- later renowned as the Romantic poet Novalis -- a recent university graduate, who falls instantly, madly in love at first sight with 12-year-old Sophie von Kuhn and becomes engaged to her, much to the consternation of his family and friends.  

(Many modern readers share their feelings. 12 years old??  Really??)  

But then the story takes an unexpected turn...

The writing is great, if a little dry and restrained -- there's a lot of subtle humour, especially in the first half of the novel -- and some of the characters are wonderful, especially the women. Many of us (myself included) loved "the Mandelsloh" (Sophie's older married sister, Friederike von Mandelsloh), as well as Karoline Just, the daughter of a family friend who pines with unrequited love for Fritz. 

But overall, it wasn't a book that really grabbed me. I doubt I would have picked it up on my own -- and I'm grateful (as always) for Simon's expert guidance in his weekly summary posts, and the insightful comments of my fellow readers, who picked up on themes and nuances that went totally over my head. 

3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 on Goodreads.  

This was Book #36 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in December), bringing me to 80% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 6 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

You can learn more about the F&T slow readalongs planned for 2026 in this post.  I'm not sure I'll be taking part in all of them, but I will definitely be doing some! and I highly recommend the experience! (If you've ever wanted to read "War and Peace," there is no better way to do it!)  

(The first book of 2026 will be "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie. I've never read any Rushdie, and I'm debating whether to join in. Anyone read it and have an opinion, one way or another??)  

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

November was grey & chilly, and went by in a blur. The first half of the month was a build-up to Little Great-Nephew #1's birthday party. After that, I was ready to launch full speed ahead into holiday season preparations -- and then I came down with the nastiest cold I've had in a while (since last December, anyway...! -- see this post!). Bah humbug. :(  I like to think I no longer hate November, as I once did when I was still working -- but it's clearly still not my favourite month!  

This month, we: 

• Got our annual flu & covid shots (at the same time)(Nov. 1st). 
• Went with dh to the supermarket for groceries and takeout soup or pizza slices for lunch (Nov. 3rd, 10th & 17th). 
• Mourned the sudden loss of my 65-year-old cousin. (Nov. 3rd) 
• Headed to the local mall for walking & shopping (Nov. 4th & 11th). 
• Stopped at the drugstore en route home to pick up a prescription, and at the supermarket for takeout soup for lunch (Nov. 4th). 
• Stopped at the bank ABM for cash, and at the supermarket for takeout pizza slices for lunch, en route home (Nov. 11th). 
• Drove with dh into midtown Toronto to check in (again!) with my optometrist, Nov. 5th.   
• Stopped en route home for takeout soup for lunch from the supermarket. 
• Drove out to the mall in our old community for haircuts, lunch & shopping (Nov. 7th). Stopped at the cemetery on our way there (swapped out the Halloween decorations on Katie's niche for Christmas ones), and at M&M Foods for a few things on the way home.  
• Stayed cozy inside during the season's first snowfall, all day Sunday, Nov. 9th (!). 
• Went to a local imaging clinic on Nov. 10th for bone mineral density scans. Both I AND dh had them done!  I'd had one done previously, about 10 years ago;  this was dh's first. 
• Drove 30-45 minutes north to meet up for coffee with a childless friend I first met online, who was driving about the same distance south!  We picked the coffee shop within a local bookstore, so that dh (my chauffeur, lol)  could browse there while we chatted.  : )  
• Stopped at the drugstore en route home to pick up a prescription. 
• Attended Little Great-Nephew #1's 6th (!!!) birthday party (Nov. 15th), at a retro video arcade about an hour north of where we live (in a small town not too far from where Older Nephew & family live). Picked up BIL & SIL and drove up together; headed back to Older Nephew's house afterward to open presents. Chaotic but fun. 
• Stopped at the supermarket en route home for takeout.   
• Went to the nearby lab for bloodwork (ordered by our family doctor), after fasting for 12 hours -- then drove straight to our favourite breakfast spot for omelettes & home fries!  ;)  (Nov. 18th) 
• Got sick for the rest of the week (and then some...!). :( 
• Put up the Christmas tree!  :) (Nov. 29th) 

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Also right now:  

Reading: I finished 2 books in November (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2025 books"). 

• Crooked Adam by D.E. Stevenson -- an initial readthrough before a group read/discussion with my DES fan group. (3 stars;  my review.) 
• "I Am Half Sick of Shadows" by Alan Bradley, the December choice for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club. (4 stars; my review.) 

This brings me to 35 books read in 2025 to date, 78% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :) 

Current reads: 

• Crooked Adam by D.E. Stevenson, together with my DES fan group (after initially reading through it myself). I'll count it as a re-read when we finish, on or before Feb. 3 (2026). 37% completed. 
• "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald -- a slow readalong with Footnotes and Tangents, which started Nov. 3rd and runs for 7 weeks, through the week of Dec. 15th. I am currently behind schedule, with 33% read. :p  
• "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's, where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
• "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 

Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  

• For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club:  
• "How To Kill Your Family" by Bella Mackie (January)
• "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott (February) 
• "The Safekeep" by Yael Van der Wouden (March) 
• "You Are Here" by David Nicholl (April) 
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  
• The Four Graces, likely beginning in mid-February 2026 (original 2015 review here). 

• Footnotes and Tangents slow readalongs for 2026 include:
• "Midnight’s Children" by Salman Rushdie (January–March) 
• "Regeneration" by Pat Barker (April–May)
• "The Inheritors" by William Golding (June)
• "Treacle Walker" by Alan Garner (July)
• "The Children’s Book" by A.S. Byatt (September–December)

(Not sure I will be doing all of these?  "War & Peace" and Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy will also be available again to paying subscribers who are interested! I did both in 2024, and highly recommend the experience!) 

A few recently purchased titles (all in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points):  

• "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin 
• "A Truce That is Not a Peace" by Miriam Toews 
• "The Impossible Thing" by Belinda Bauer 
• "Girl on Girl" by Sophie Gilbert 
• "At a Loss for Words" by Carol Off 
• "For the Love of a Son" by Scott Oake 
• "Erasing History" by Jason Stanley 
• "What We Can Know" by Ian McEwan
• "Endling" by Maria Reva
• "Flesh" by David Szalay
• "Softly, As I Leave You" by Priscilla Presley 

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Watching: 

• The World Series!! Game 7 on Saturday night, Nov. 1st -- our Toronto Blue Jays vs the Los Angeles Dodgers, here at home in Toronto. Alas, the Jays came within two outs of winning the game and the series, but lost to the Dodgers, 5-4, in 11 innings. Some called it the best/most exciting game/World Series of baseball ever played.  
• Figure skating: I watched parts (if not all) of most of the Grand Prix events this month on TV and/or livestream, including Skate Canada in Saskatoon (ended Nov. 1st); NHK in Osaka, Japan (Nov. 7-9);  Skate America in Lake Placid, New York (Nov. 14-16); and the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland (Nov. 21-23). 
• The final is coming up in Nagoya, Japan (Dec. 5-8). 
• (Parts of) Grey Cup 2025 on Sunday, Nov. 16th in my "home city" of Winnipeg (and the CFL Western division final in Regina on Nov. 8th). Grey Cup is like the Super Bowl of the Canadian Football League -- but much older, and (dare I say) better.  ;)    
• This year's edition featured the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who defeated the Montreal Alouettes.
• Despite feeling sick the entire week, I managed to stay awake long enough every night to watch Ken Burns's six-part opus about "The American Revolution" on PBS. (I promptly headed off to bed as soon as it was over!) He's certainly a master of storytelling. 
• It's sad to think we'll likely see less of his work in the future because of the American government's defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 
• I also stayed awake to watch "The Great Escaper" on PBS last Sunday night, starring Michael Caine as a 90-year-old WWII veteran who slips away from his retirement home and makes his way to France for the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2014, encouraged by his wife (Glenda Jackson, in her final film role before she died).  It's based on a true story that I remember reading about at the time and thinking, "This would make a great movie!" and they did a wonderful job. :)  

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: Stats as of Nov. 30th: 
• Heardle 60s: 73.7% (829/1113, 327 on first guess), up 0.1% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
• Heardle 70s: 76.3% (651/853, 368 on first guess), same as last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 41.2% (295/716, 107 on first guess), up 0.5% from from last month. Max. streak: 5.
• Heardle 90s: 33.0% (269/814, 72 on first guess), up 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
• NYT Connections: 
• By Oct. 31st, I'd completed 459 games and won 88% of them, including 241 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 12 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak: 16. 
• As of Nov. 30th, I'd played 489 games and won 88% of them, including 257 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 13 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak: 2. 

Listening:  Turned on Stingray's holiday music channel while we were decorating our tree this weekend.  :)  I love Christmas music (just not too early...!).  

Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  

• Unfortunately! -- after valiantly trying to eat better, lose weight and maintain the lower cholesterol levels we achieved last January (2025) (after less-than-stellar bloodwork results in fall 2024 earned us both serious chats with our family doctor), we both registered higher-than-acceptable cholesterol numbers again on our most recent bloodwork. :(  I have a phone appointment on Dec. 3rd  to discuss the results with him, and I am bracing myself for yet another prescription in my future. Sigh...  :(  
• I ended the month exactly the same weight as when it (eyeroll, boo, hiss...). Overall, I'm down 11+ pounds since this time last year (dh has lost about 22), and a little over 23 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight a few years ago. (It ain't hay... but I guess it wasn't enough to keep my cholesterol levels at bay... :(  ) 
• We also indulged in some of our usual takeout meals for lunch once or twice a week (pizza slices, soup), plus Saturday night dinners, including teriyaki rice bowls from the supermarket, and Swiss Chalet's annual Festive Special (1/4 rotisserie chicken with choice of sides, stuffing, cranberry sauce, bun-- and five Lindor chocolate truffles! lol).

Wearing: My collection of holiday-themed waffle-weave shirts from Old Navy, brought to the forefront of the closet again.  :)  

Buying (besides books, lol):  Christmas presents!  Also presents for both Little Great-Nephews' birthdays (LGN#1's was in mid-November, LGN#2's is coming up just before Christmas). This was mostly during the first half of the month, as I've been sick since then...! 

Noticing: How early it gets dark now (definitely before 5 PM).  :( 

Appreciating:  The extra light the Christmas tree gives off! 

Wanting/Hoping:  To be rid of this cold, sooner vs later...! 

Trying: To get to bed earlier while I haven't been feeling well. 

Wondering: Whether the cold was actually covid?? I tested negative, but the fact that we ALL got sick all at once, and the way it's been hanging on, makes me wonder... 

Prioritizing: Getting my Christmas cards & (most of) my Christmas shopping done before we head west for Christmas, later in December. 

Anticipating: Another prescription in my near future (re: my elevated cholesterol levels).  :(  

Enjoying:  The lull in the news, notifications, numbers of emails in my inbox, etc., over the past few days, as the U.S recovers from its turkey coma!  lol  

Loving:  While I do NOT love November, I have much warmer feelings towards December!  lol  Love the Christmas lights, music, and festive spirit I am already seeing! 

                           

Feeling: Not 100%, physically, but hoping for a better December!  Looking forward to Little Great-Nephew #2's first birthday and then to heading west to spend Christmas with my family! ❤ 

"I Am Half-Sick of Shadows" by Alan Bradley

It's always fun to read a Christmas/holiday-themed book during the holiday season... something not too taxing at a busy and sometimes stressful time of year -- and when my co-host at the Childless Collective NoMo Book Club. and I were planning books for the rest of 2025, I thought of "I Am Half-Sick of Shadows" by Alan Bradley, the fourth book in the delightful Flavia de Luce mystery series, for December. We'd read Flavia #1, "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" two years ago  (my review here) and it was very well received. Happily, my co-host agreed it would be a good choice to wind up the year! 

It's Christmastime in early 1950s/post-war Britain, but the festivities this year are somewhat muted: financial precarity has forced Flavia's reluctant father to lease the family's crumbling mansion, Buckshaw, to a film company for a movie shoot -- much to the delight of Flavia and her two sisters.  

The two stars of the movie agree to stage a benefit performance for the local church. Most of the villagers attend -- and, conveniently, get snowed in by a blizzard. While they are trapped in the big house together, there is (of course!) a murder (midway through the book), and Flavia -- a precocious 11-year-old amateur detective and chemist, with a penchant for poison -- goes to work trying to untangle the mystery and identify the killer. Meanwhile, she is determined to solve an even bigger mystery: whether Father Christmas (Santa Claus) is real.

While I would highly recommend reading the entire series -- and while I think you'd probably benefit from reading at least the first book first to acquaint yourself with Flavia, her family and her world -- you could probably read this one as a standalone and still enjoy it. :)  

Weirdly, although I KNOW I've read this book before (and briefly reviewed it on this blog back in January 2012 (!), here), I have no previous record of reading it, on Goodreads. The book came out in 2011, and I did not join Goodreads until 2016, but I did add some books that I'd reviewed on my blog retroactively. Oh well...!  

4 stars on both Goodreads & StoryGraph.  

ALI notes:  I'd forgotten that there's a very pregnant minor character who makes an appearance.  

Also, Flavia recalls impulsively quizzing a childless woman about her lack of children -- and (to her credit) feeling enormously guilty about it afterwards. 

Previous Flavia-related posts here. 

This was Book #35 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in November), bringing me to 78% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

"Crooked Adam" by D.E. Stevenson

My D.E. Stevenson fan group recently started its group readalong/discussion of a novel we've never covered in the 27 (!)-year history of the group: "Crooked Adam."  I started reading the book just before our discussion began on Nov. 3rd, and read all the way through on my own, as is my usual practice. (I re-read each chapter as it comes up for discussion in the group, and I'll count the book as a re-read when we finish in February.) 

Goodreads lists "Crooked Adam"'s publication date as January 1940, while other sources say 1942.  At any rate, it's one of several DES novels that are set in World War II Britain -- during the early days of the war -- and written while the war was still going on and the outcome very much uncertain. 

"Crooked Adam" is Adam Southey, nicknamed as such by his schoolmates (and later, his students) because he is lame and walks with a limp. For that reason, he's not eligible to enlist, and is stuck teaching school at his alma mater -- and he's not happy about it. 

But Adam soon learns there's more than one way to serve your country: the school's headmaster, Sam Cooke (! -- not the singer, obviously, lol), a brilliant scientist, has developed a secret weapon that will help the war effort.  He's planning to take his work to a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands during the school's break, and build a working model of the weapon, and he invites Adam to come help him. 

But enemy agents are after the plans... and Adam and Dr. Cooke are in danger.  

A spy thriller/adventure novel is a bit of a departure for Stevenson from her usual family dramas and light romances -- although there are some romantic subplots here, and I was reminded in some ways of her 1936 novel "The Empty World" (reviewed here and here). (Also, she was a second cousin of Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote "Treasure Island," among other classic novels, so perhaps it's not as much of a departure as one might think..!) As someone from my group observed, "The Empty World is Science Fiction with Thriller elements.  And Crooked Adam is a Thriller with Science Fiction elements."  

Unfortunately, there are a number of plot holes and weaknesses that marred the story for me. To name a few: 

• Characters are introduced (Dr. Cooke, Ford, Mr Brownlee and his pretty daughter Evelyn, etc.) and then fade into the background or disappear completely, while others come to the forefront (Ebby, Brenda). 
• Stevenson was obviously not a scientist, and a lot of the details about Dr. Cook's brilliant invention and how it works are glossed over ("you wouldn't understand...").  A certain amount of suspended disbelief is necessary. 
• There's a bizarre little tangent of a subplot involving a circus (!) that goes on for several chapters. 
• Adam is initially smitten with Evelyn, but quickly forgets her when he learns there's someone else in the picture -- especially when he meets the sad and mysterious Brenda (although I quite liked Brenda once we learned more of her story). 
• And I was irked by Adam's penchant for impulsive and risky behaviour: each time he finds himself in a pickle, he realizes he's been an idiot -- but once he survives that episode, he goes out and does something else that's equally or more risky and idiotic!

Still, we wouldn't have much of a story if he didn't -- and overall, this was a mildly entertaining romp through the Scottish Highlands.

A few people on Goodreads commented that this book reminded them of John Buchan's "The Thirty-Nine Steps." I haven't read the book but I have seen the 1935 movie several times, and I think it's a pretty apt comparison. "Crooked Adam" has a cinematic quality -- I could picture the scenes unfolding in my head, like a black-and-white 1940s movie, as I read.    

3 stars on both Goodreads and StoryGraph. 

This was Book #34 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in November), bringing me to 76% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books." 

Right now

Right now...* 

*(A (mostly) monthly series/meme.  Explanation of how this started & my inspirations in my first "Right now" post, here. Also my first (similar) "The Current" post, here.)

October was busy month!  The weather turned colder, the leaves on the trees (finally) turned colour, we (eventually) turned on the heat, and I reluctantly donned long pants, long sleeves and socks. :)  We spent some quality time with family on a couple of occasions, too.  

This month, we: 

• Went with dh to the supermarket for groceries and takeout soup or pizza slices for lunch (Oct. 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th). 
• Celebrated (Canadian) Thanksgiving with dinner at BIL's, together with the nephews, their wives and kids (Oct. 11th).  :) 
• Drove into midtown Toronto to our longtime optometrist's office (Oct. 15th). Both of us were suffering from dry, itchy eyes, and mine had become gritty and blurred and the lids puffy and red. I looked like I'd been crying for weeks.  :p   
• The earliest I could get an appointment with our usual doctor was mid-November (!), but his associate was able to see us on Oct. 15th.   
• We both walked away with prescriptions for drops and ointments (and were very impressed with her). She made comments and asked questions that clearly indicated she'd read my file!
• Stopped at the drugstore en route home to fill the prescriptions. 
• Returned for a follow-up visit on Oct. 22nd (and will be back again on Nov. 5th). Stopped at the drugstore en route home again to fill ANOTHER prescription...!  
• Headed to the mall for walking & shopping (Oct. 7th, 14th & 21st). 
• En route home on Oct. 21st, stopped briefly at Canadian Tire, Chapters (bookstore) and the supermarket for takeout pizza slices. 
• Spent a sunny fall afternoon at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where I have a membership. Toured the exhibits, strolled over to the artists' cemetery on the property (resting place for six of the Group of Seven, as well as the McMichaels themselves), had tea and some yummy lemon loaf in the cafe, and enjoyed the beautiful fall colours. 
• Had lunch and spent the afternoon at Younger Nephew's new house along with his parents (BIL & SIL) and Older Nephew & his family (Oct. 25th). :)  
• Stayed up late several nights (really, REALLY late, one night in particular...!) watching the World Series! (See "Watching," below.)  
• Drove out to our former community for our annual checkups with our family doctor (Oct. 30th).
• Went for brunch before heading home (see "Eating").  
• Marked 18 years writing this blog (!!!) (Oct. 31st).

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Also right now:  

Reading: This was a good reading month!  :)  I finished 6 (!) books in October -- probably my best reading month in a long time! (all reviewed on this blog, as well as Goodreads & StoryGraph, & tagged "2025 books"). 

• "We Solve Murders" by Richard Osman (the November book for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club).  (4.5-5 stars, my review)  
• "The Ministry of Time" by Kaliane Bradley.(4.5-5 stars; my review)
• "The Two Mrs. Abbotts" by D.E. Stevenson. Chapter-by-chapter reading & discussion with my D.E. Stevenson group, which started Aug. 4th and runs through mid-October. (3.5-4 stars; my review here.  Original 2015 review here;  most recent review here).  
• "Deliver Me From Nowhere" by Warren Zanes. (4 stars;  my review.) 
• "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, part of another "slow readalong" with Footnotes and Tangents. Started Sept. 29th, finished Oct. 27th (5 weeks). (3 stars, my review.)  
• "The Safekeep" by Yael van der Wouden.  (4 stars;  my review.) 

This brings me to 33 books read in 2025 to date, 73% of my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 4 books behind pace to meet my goal.  :) 

Current reads: 

• "Childless: A Woman and a Girl in a Man's World" by Fabiana Formica.  This one is beautifully written, but slow going, and I was reading it (or trying to...!) at Mom & Dad's, where there were a lot of distractions. I've put it aside for the moment to focus on other reading priorities, but I've completed 33% to date.
• "L.M. Montgomery and Gender," an essay collection edited by E. Holly Pike & Laura Robinson. Slowly working my way through, in between the other books...! 

Coming up: Most of my book groups have their next reads plotted out for a few months in advance -- and listing them here helps me keep track of what I should be reading next. ;)  

• For my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club:  
• "I Am Half Sick of Shadows" by Alan Bradley (December) 
• "How To Kill Your Family" by Bella Mackie (January)
• "Ex-Wife" by Ursula Parrott (February) 
• "The Safekeep" by Yael Van der Wouden (March) 
• "You Are Here" by David Nicholl (April) 
• For my D.E. Stevenson group:  This list of upcoming books should keep us busy through 2025 or even into early 2026!  (A couple of the books are ones we covered shortly after I first joined the group back in 2014 -- you know you've been around for a while when....!)  
• Crooked Adam. Our group read will begin on Nov. 3rd and end on or before Feb. 3 (2026).  I have never read this one, and we've never tackled it during my 11 years with the group! so I'm looking forward to it!  
• The Four Graces, likely beginning in mid-February 2026 (original 2015 review here). 

• Footnotes and Tangents slow readalongs for the rest of 2025 & 2026 include:
• "The Blue Flower" by Penelope Fitzgerald (starts Nov. 3rd, runs for 7 weeks). 
• "Midnight’s Children" by Salman Rushdie (January–March) 
• "Regeneration" by Pat Barker (April–May)
• "The Inheritors" by William Golding (June)
• "Treacle Walker" by Alan Garner (July)
• "The Children’s Book" by A.S. Byatt (September–December)

(Not sure I will be doing all of these?  "War & Peace" and Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy will also be available again to paying subscribers who are interested!) 

A few recently purchased titles (all in digital format, mostly discounted ($5-10 or less) or purchased with points): 

• "The Man Who Ran Washington" by Peter Baker & Susan Glasser 
• "Rotten" by John Lydon 
• "Rosalind Franklin" by Brenda Maddox 
• "Gimme a Crisis" by Howard Green 
• "On the Hippie Trail" by Rick Steves 
• "Gone to an Aunt's" by Anne Petrie 
• "Q: A Voyage Around the Queen" by Craig Brown 
• "The Art Spy" by Michelle Young 
• "Murder on the Marlow Belle" by Robert Thorogood 

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Watching: 

• The World Series!! I normally don't pay a lot of attention to baseball, BUT, the home team (not just for this city but the entire country), i.e., the Toronto Blue Jays, made it into the playoffs -- beat the fabled New York Yankees in the first round in early October...then won the American League title vs the Seattle Mariners, and are now in the World Series vs the LA Dodgers. Game 7 of 7 is TONIGHT, here in Toronto. (eeekkkk....)  
• I couldn't help but think of our longtime family doctor, a legendary pitcher who possessed four (!) World Series rings from three different teams, and who died earlier this summer. He must have been smiling somewhere...  
• The Jays, of course, were back-to-back World Series champions in 1992 & 1993, and I remember staying up way too late on work nights watching! 
• This time around, we lasted 15 innings until 2 AM (!) for Game 3 in Los Angeles -- the second-longest World Series game ever played, 18 innings (!) -- before going to bed (!) (before things finally wrapped up around 3 AM!).  And then we got to stay up late again (not QUITE so late, thankfully...!) the next night -- and three more nights this week after that!  
• I went to one of the victory parades for the Jays' previous victories -- I think it was the one in 1993 -- with my boss on our lunch hour, as it was held on a work day and the parade route was not too far from our office. It was so crowded by the time we got to a spot, not too far from the SkyDome (it will never be the Rogers Centre to me), that we couldn't see a thing except the tops of some players' heads in their convertibles as they passed by. Oh well. 
• We stopped at a street vendor en route back to the office to get a hot dog for lunch -- and I think I got food poisoning because I was sick to my stomach later that afternoon. I've been wary of street vendors ever since then...!  
• One of dh's cousins and another cousin's husband had a pair of season tickets in those days & were present for the World Series games played at home, including the winners. Occasionally they'd give regular season tickets to other cousins, and dh & I went a couple of times (although we haven't been to a game in decades). The seats were in the nosebleed section, and we always got totally sunburned (with the retractable roof open), but it was always a fun day out nevertheless. 
• We also got tickets and took my parents when they came to visit one year, early in our marriage -- and dh memorably took Younger Nephew when he was about 11 or 12 and got tickets through his Little League team -- his older brother had a karate tournament that afternoon, so his parents were busy there. He spent Friday night with us, and then he & dh took the commuter train into the city to the game the next afternoon. (His parents & brother picked him up later that evening.)  It was his first Jays game, he was totally enthralled, and dh was tickled to be able to share that moment with him.  
• Figure skating: It's Grand Prix season (heading into the Olympics in Milan in February), and so far, two competitions have been held, in France and in China. Skate Canada is this weekend, in Saskatoon. I don't watch the Grand Prix events religiously, or at least as much of each competition as I used to (and, needless to say, the World Series is taking precedence this weekend...!), but between U.S. & Canadian TV coverage and the CBC's online streaming, I've been able to watch at least some of the events.  
• Upcoming events include NHK in Osaka, Japan (Nov. 7-9),  Skate America in Lake Placid, New York (Nov. 14-16), and the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland (Nov. 21-23). 
• The final will be in Nagoya, Japan (Dec. 5-8). .  
• I watched the first episode of "The Gold" on Masterpiece Mystery (PBS), earlier this month, but forgot it was on the second week. Oh well, it was a little confusing anyway -- so many characters to keep straight, trying to decipher all the different accents...!  Interesting (true!) story, though!
• I watched the first two episodes of "House of Guinness" on Netflix with SIL & dh's cousin's wife while at their cottage in September, but haven't watched any more episodes on my own. (Yet?)   

Playing:  

• Heardle Decades: Stats as of Oct. 31st: 
• Heardle 60s: 73.6% (797/1083, 319 on first guess), down 0.4% from last month. Max. streak: 15.
• Heardle 70s: 76.3% (629/824, 356 on first guess), down 0.5% from last month. Max. streak: 18. 
• Heardle 80s: 40.7% (281/690, 101 on first guess), up 0.6% from from last month. Max. streak: 5.
• Heardle 90s: 32.6% (257/788, 68 on first guess), up 0.5% from last month. Max. streak: 5. 
• NYT Connections: 
•  As of Sept. 30th, I'd played 428 games and won 88% of them, including 220 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 10 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak:  45 (unchanged). Current streak: 30. 
• By Oct. 31st, I'd completed 459 games and won 88% of them, including 241 "perfect puzzles" with zero errors, including 12 where I got the most difficult/purple category first.  Maximum winning streak: 45 (unchanged). Current streak: 16. 

Listening;  Someone down the hall from us has a new baby. How do we know? There was an "It's a Boy!" balloon fastened to their door.  And we occasionally hear him crying or babbling. Fortunately, not too often and we're far enough down the hall that it's not too loud! (I don't think I would have handled this anywhere near as well, 25-ish years ago..!) 

Likewise -- another neighbour has a new puppy!  We know because (a) we occasionally hear him barking and (b) we've run into them entering or exiting the elevator, and were introduced.  :)  Likewise, it's not often enough or loud enough to be annoying. He's an adorable little golden doodle/ball of fluff, and even if he was more annoying than he is, you can't be too mad looking at that cute little face!  

Following:  

Eating/Drinking:  

• As I've mentioned before, we achieved our goal of lowering our cholesterol levels in late January, after less-than-stellar bloodwork (in fall 2024) earned us both serious chats with our family doctor. We've been trying to maintain/improve on those numbers (and lose/keep off some extra pounds) since then, by eating healthier and moving at least a little more.    
• I ended the month 0.6 pounds heavier than when it started (boo, hiss...). But overall, I'm down about 12 pounds since this time last year (dh has lost more than 20), and a little over 24 pounds from my heaviest-ever weight a few years ago. 
• We just saw our family doctor for checkups a few days ago, and will be doing some new bloodwork soon, so we'll see what the cholesterol numbers have to say...! 
• We brought out the crockpot on Oct. 5th for the first time since last spring for easy chicken & dumplings. (The first time I made this, it was pretty salty, so I now use low-fat/low-salt soups & broth, and go easy on the added salt.) 
• We celebrated Thanksgiving at BIL & SIL's with our nephews and their families on Oct. 11th. Like last year, they ordered dinner from the local supermarket:  turkey breast, mashed potatos and a root vegetable medley with gravy and cranberry sauce. There was lasagna (traditional tomato & meat sauce along with a pesto option for me) from another local eatery, SIL made salad and stuffing from a box, and the nephews brought pies for dessert. It wasn't quite my family's usual turkey dinner, but it wasn't bad either, and we continued to eat turkey for the next two days (!) -- SIL sent us home with plenty of leftovers!  (The kids were both having dinner the next day with their respective in-laws and did not take any, so...!)  
• Lunch at Younger Nephew's new home on Oct. 25th included pasta alfredo, pork tenderloin, roasted potatos & root vegetables, salad, and an apple cake and melon for dessert. Yum! 
• We stopped off at our favourite local brunch place, en route home from our annual check-ups with our family doctor on Oct. 30th, for omelettes & home fries (Western for him, ham & cheese for me). 
• We also indulged in some of our usual takeout meals for lunch once or twice a week, plus Saturday night dinners, including rice bowls, soup and pizza slices from the supermarket, and Swiss Chalet (rotisserie chicken with baked potatos).

Wearing:  I finally caved and had to abandon my capris & sandals, mid-month, for longer yoga pants/jeans, socks and shoes. :(   I've still been wearing short-sleeved T-shirts, but I've had to put on a cardigan over them lately...! 

Buying (besides books, lol):  Continued to purchase Canadian products (or from Canadian companies), as much as possible ;) (albeit I will admit I'm not as much of a purist as some people seem to be...!).  

Plane tickets to be with my family at Christmastime. (Ouch -- travel within Canada is NOT CHEAP, especially at holiday time...!)   

Ordered my "Favourite Things" box (formerly known as the Advent Calendar) from my favourite sterling silver jewelry maker.  :)  I'll get it in late November. 

Canadian Tire gift card as a housewarming present for Younger Nephew & family. (It sells a lot more than tires, lol -- it's kind of a combination Home Depot/Walmart/auto supply store.) 

Started stocking up on presents for the great-niblings' upcoming birthdays (both Little Great-Nephews -- one in mid-November and one just before Christmas) and for Christmas. 

Found a cute Christmas-y photo frame and placemats at Homesense.  

And I already bought my Christmas cards!  Saw some I liked at Shoppers Drug Mart and decided to grab them while I could!  (Fingers crossed that Canada Post doesn't go on strike again...!)

Noticing:  ...in the shower, a few days ago, a weird black spot on the edge of my right second toe nail/cuticle. It almost looks like I put a black dot there with a Sharpie. There's gel/shellac polish on the nail, so it's hard to see just how big the spot is, and whether it extends under the polish/nail as well.  

I initially panicked -- the brother of my high school best friend died at age 40 from melanoma that started under one of his toenails and spread before they figured out it was more than just a weird nail fungus. :(  And then I wondered whether it was some weird reaction to the gel polish, or the UV light they use to cure/dry it. (I don't normally get gel polish, but the nail tech talked me into it... it was more money, of course = bigger tip for her.)  

But then I remembered that I stubbed my toe -- more than once! -- on the leg of the bed at the cottage when we were there a few weeks ago. I don't remember if it was that particular toe, but I remember one of my other toenails turning black/purple before fading -- and eventually falling off completely -- after I banged it once, years ago. It was several months before that bruise faded and the new nail began to grow in. The more I look at it, the more I think that's probably what it is.  

Anyway, I've been referred to a dermatologist for rosacea issues (related to the eye issues I've been having lately) :p so I will get the polish removed before my appointment (in mid-December) and ask him to have a look while I'm there. (I showed my family dr when I was there a few days ago, and he said it didn't look like a melanoma to him, more likely a bruise, but to definitely ask the dermatologist.)  

Wondering:  Whether I'm going to need more eye surgery (on my left eye this time). :(   Hoping that won't be the case...! 

Prioritizing: Taking care of my eyes, taking all my meds & drops, etc. 

Anticipating: Getting our flu and covid shots tomorrow morning.  And being tired, after staying up late watching the World Series tonight, the time change tonight, getting up early to drive to the clinic, and the effects of the shots themselves, lol.  (I guess I could have timed things better -- we could have gotten the shots next weekend too -- oh well...!) 

Enjoying: The beautiful fall colours (which finally made an appearance, mid-month!), and the morning light on them. 

Appreciating: Being Canadian (more than ever...!).  

Loving:  Seeing photos of the great-niblings in their Halloween finery before heading out for trick-or-treating.  :)  

 

Trying: Not to dwell on things, especially things that aren't in my control. 

Wanting: A Blue Jays victory tonight (and it wouldn't hurt if it was at a decent hour...!  lol).  

                              

Feeling: A little dazed by how quickly the year has gone by so far/is going...!  Sad that the time change will bring darkness with it even earlier in the evening from now through the winter solstice. A bit stressed, thinking of all the things I need to do before we had west to see my family at Christmastime.  Thankful that I'm retired, and that year-end stuff at work is no longer among those things...!