2025 reads in review
by Alana
See the Books collection for all book review posts
It’s the most wonderful time of the year - the time when Storygraph goes down because so many of us, fuelled by productivity culture and social media humble-bragging, are downloading our “Reading Wrapped” stats.
This year, in addition to setting an entirely arbitrary reading goal of finishing 80 books in 2025, I changed my review format and decided to learn watercolour. I painted a small image to accompany each review and chose a quote that resonated - because it encapsulated the book’s feel succinctly or because I loved the turn of phrase or sentiment - to copy out. I condensed trilogies and quartets into a single painting. By the end of the year, I had 81 paintings to tell the story of my year-in-reading.
This project seemed like a great idea in January, February, and even March. But by the summer, when I was tackling painting-review forty-something, I was increasingly frustrated at the gap between what I envisioned and what my skill level (I was new to watercolour this year) allowed me to create. I had to change my mindset.
Not every painting had to be perfect, profound, or even good. The inherent translucency and unforgiving nature of watercolour forced a degree of accepting mistakes and moving on. I learned to revel in the whole process – from reading a book differently because I was thinking “what will I paint,” to jotting down quotes and experimenting with calligraphy pens I’d bought but hadn’t yet used – and I became more forgiving of Harvey and all his attempts to “help.”
A wet palette or freshly painted page are Harvey’s favourite places for his paws
In 2024, I added a geographic element to my reading and reviewing. In 2025, I created visuals. As I head into big career changes in 2026, I haven’t even set a target number of books.
I’m wondering, instead, what it would feel like to take the pressure off. To remove the urgency to paint, read, and relax in a specific, measurable way that I can blog about in raw numbers. I’m not sure I’m capable of that yet.
We’ll see what the year brings. Until then, here are the last of my 2025 reviews.
November and December reviews
Spaceman in Bohemia - Jaroslav Kalfař
Format: novel
One sentence summary:
A troubled Czech cosmonaut who lived through revolution and the fall of the Soviet Union atones for his father’s crimes, chases scientific understanding and glory, and learns the limits of love on a journey to space and back.
When and where:
SPACE and the Czech Republic
Read if you:
Feel torn between the value of important work and the people you love
Think your legacy matters
Wonder what humanity would do if there really is intelligent life out there
Don’t mind random bursts of sexual metaphor in your prose, regardless of who the narrator is
Books this reminded me of:
This is How We Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone also uses technology, space, and otherness as a medium for exploring deep philosophical themes
Three Body Problem by Cixin Lui explores a nation (China) before and after revolution alongside the discovery of extraterrestrial life, just like Kalfař does in this novel
Made me feel:
cold, alone, and introspective
Quotes:
Wasn't this the way to live in modern times - to consume and forget the rest?
“How unlikely,” Hanüs said. “Yet here we are.”
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
Format: novel
One sentence summary:
An elderly stoic woman, a curious giant octopus, and a wayward thirty year old boy search for fulfillment and find it in unlikely places.
When and where:
Contemporary setting in a small Washington state town on the Pacific Northwest coast
Read if you:
Love the sea and all its critters and want to learn an octopus fact or two
Crave the comfort of a hug - this is a book about grief and letting go of self-narratives that resolves with satisfying warm “aww”
Don’t mind a coincidence or two that enable the “aww” outcome
Books this reminded me of:
A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman also stars a recalcitrant, older narrator resigned to their fate; both books delight in spooking that narrator out of their steadfast ways
The North Wood by Daniel Mason features an atypical narrator as well (Mason’s is a tree, Van Pelt’s is an octopus) - the books differ in style and scope but both examine the complexity of familial love
Made me feel:
Warm and fuzzy (except for the parts with the octopus hugs - those gave me goosebumps)
Quote:
Secrets are everywhere. Some humans are crammed full of them. How do they not explode? It seems to be a hallmark of the human species: abysmal communication skills. Not that any other species are much better, mind you, but even a herring can tell which way the school it belongs to is turning and follow accordingly. Why can humans not use their millions of words to simply tell one another what they desire
Lab Girl - Hope Jahren
Format: memoir
One sentence summary:
Lauded researcher Hope Jahren dispenses wisdom from her decades-long career in the environmental sciences, candidly discussing the precarity of academic funding, mental health and misogyny in science, and the passion for a greener world that guides her life and work.
When and where:
Published 2025, charting Jahren’s career from Georgia to Maryland to Norway and Hawaii, with many entertaining stops along the way.
Read if you:
Have a favourite tree you can picture and describe
Know what it is to love a friend like family
Still believe in science, inquiry, and a planet worth saving
Books this reminded me of:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer also blends nature writing and poetry with similar simple but moving prose
Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh also uses memoir as a format for processing trauma, suicidal ideation, and grief.
Made me feel:
Inspired and grateful - I saw in Jahren’s relationship with fellow researcher Bill all the qualities of my strongest friendships. Like Jahren, I’m so appreciative of the friends in my life who challenge me to pursue my passions and do meaningful work.
Quotes:
Science has taught me that everything is more complicated than we first assume, and that being able to derive happiness from discovery is a recipe for a beautiful life. It has also convinced me that carefully writing everything down is the only real defense we have against forgetting something important that once was and is no more, including the spruce tree that should have outlived me but did not.
Like anyone else who harbours precious secrets, wrought from years of searching, I have longed for someone to tell.
The Last Tree - Luke Adam Hawker
Format: graphic novel
One sentence summary:
In a museum to the world’s last tree, a young girl is transported to a world of adventure where she learns that hope can be made and shared
When and where:
A looming tree-less future that feels both like future and past
Read if you:
Feel overwhelmed and lost
Crave simplicity in your life
Seek whimsy and wonder in the simple things
Books this reminded me of:
Not a book, but the protagonist’s curiosity and bravery evoked Chihiro from the Studio Chibli film Spirited Away
Made me feel:
Lighter - the delicate and evocative fineline illustrations pull you along with the protagonist on her emotional journey
Quote:
She began to climb.
It was a long way up.
It was a long way down.
Sometimes to reach the sky, you have to lose sight of the ground.
The Other Side of the Bridge - Mary Lawson
Format: novel
One sentence summary: Two brothers in a remote Ontario town search for purpose, survive the war years, and build a life while constantly and maybe unintentionally destroying each other.
When and where: a fictional northern Ontario town in the mid 1930s
Read if you:
Want a beautiful, quiet, very human read for a winter’s night
Worry your siblings are going to ruin your life
Have trouble saying what you mean when it matters most
Books this reminded me of:
East of Eden by John Steinbeck also shows the breakdown of brotherly relationships
Made me feel:
At peace - despite the looming dread that pervades this novel, Lawson writes of Ontario shield-country underfoot and canoes in early-morning water with a reverence that I relate to
Quote:
The skin of his face washed. His big frame seemed weighed down. He looked exhausted. Was he ever going to get over it? And if he didn't, how could Ian leave him?
The thought of it swamped him with guilt, and the guilt made him angry.
You shouldn't have to feel guilty about living your own life. You shouldn't have to be responsible for your parents’ happiness. It wasn't fair.
Wellwater - Karen Solie
Format: poetry collection
One sentence summary:
Snapshots in verse of icy winter bridges, the futility of resisting Big Agriculture on prairie farmfields, cynicism melting in the face of children’s curiosity, and more practical moments in this new collection from one of Canada’s most renowned poets.
When and where:
Published in 2025 with poems set across Canada
Read if you:
Have ever stopped to take in a pretty sunrise, interesting bark on a tree, or a leaf in autumn transition
Like a little rage in your poetry
Despair at the complexities of our food systems and the cost they have on our communities, planet, and health
Books this reminded me of:
Gwendolyn MacEwan’s “Dark Pines Under Water” and Al Purdy’s “The Country North of Belleville” came to mind while reading Solie’s collection; MacEwan’s writing gives nature the same potency and dread that Solie does, and Purdy’s depictions of hollowed out rural Ontario townships echoes Solie’s nostalgia for a bygone, simpler time that may have really existed
Made me feel:
Incensed, awestruck, introspective - the immediacy of an emotional response is a superpower of good poetry
Quote:
Excerpt from Red Spring:
… Corporations buy the land
of those who die or move, and so assembles the hidden machinery
of our lives: the feedlots, gas wells, sweatshops, coal mines.
We don’t like to think too much about it –
Bayer in our kitchens, in our bread,
as we are its kitchen, the heart of its home, and if we can afford
a nine-dollar loaf of artisan organic ancient grain sourdough
it lives in us too because of those who cannot. When in
its grey facilities, Bayer (and formerly Monsanto)
engineers its terminator seeds, its suicide seeds
of a zombie technology, a plant more dead than alive,
and when it patents what it promises not to use, do we believe it?
Can we go back? Meet each other in the old knowledge?
I don’t know how to make this beautiful,
…
A Shipwreck in Fiji - Nilima Rao
Format: novel
One sentence summary:
The second Sergeant Akal Singh mystery set in colonial Fiji follows the down-on-his-luck Indian agent of the British government in his investigation of mysterious maybe-Germans, local shopkeep murders, and native Fijian culture
When and where: Fiji, 1915
Read if you:
Want to appreciate the complexities of colonialism in the earth 20th century
Like your mysteries with a side of humour
Appreciate a strong sense of setting; the South Pacific island life and culture are verdantly depicted
Books this reminded me of:
The Fox Wife by Yangszee Choo also exposes weird social hierarchies built by colonialism (Choo’s novel is set in Mancuria, China, and Japan) and features a mystery
Made me feel:
Diverted, a quick mystery with a refreshing setting. I look forward to more in this series.
Quote:
What happened with Emily happened because the world doesn’t want an Indian man and European lady to be friends. That hasn’t changed in the last year. That hasn’t changed going from Indian to Hong Kong to Fiji.
Onyx Storm - Rebecca Yarros
Format: novel
One sentence summary: Dragons, war, magic, hot sexy, annoying princes, cheeky grandmas, flirting, hurt feelings, and lightning abound in this third installment of Yarros’ immensely popular Empyrean romantasy series.
When and where:
Return to the fantasy land of Navarre (home of the Basgaith War College) + follow Violet and pals to other tiny island states
Read if you:
Need a good fun fantasy romp - the first book is still my favourite of this series, but Onyx Storm had better pacing and more compelling plot than book two (Iron Flame)
Are tired of that average guy your dating
Think everything is better with DRAGONS!!! (it is)
Books this reminded me of:
This high octane good-versus evil, kids-in-college series reminds me of the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown (aka the Roman empire in space, barf) or the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik (magic school + romance series). I wonder why books by Novik and Yarros get called romantasy and Brown’s series is typically shelved in adult sci-fi.
Made me feel:
Invested - these stories are more visceral and the narrator’s more direct than in Ishiguro’s more subtle novel-length writing.
I can’t believe I actually cried at a scene when a character gets back on their dragon. I must’ve been on my period.
Quotes:
“You have been the gift of my life,” I tell Tairn.
Enshittification - Cory Doctorow
Format: nonfiction
One sentence summary: Canadian-British tech and journalism activist Cory Doctorow explains the formulaic way that technology companies (and capitalism) are strategically and deliberately ruining everything.
When and where:
Published 2025 and very timely for the spooky AI age we live in
Read if you:
Think you can ever count on an industry to fairly regulate itself (you can’t)
Don’t want another subscription-based-service, app, or specific login for that site you only use once
Feel like the internet really sucks lately (it does, by design)
Have said any of the following: “it’s not that bad; people are overreacting” “technological innovation always produces change; it will all work out,” “there’s nothing I can do about it,” “these companies are too big to fail” - you’re wrong; read this book!
Books this reminded me of:
At A Loss for Words by Carol Off explores the social and political dimensions of why everything sucks now - it’s a good counterpart to Doctorow’s exploration of the economic and technology
Made me feel:
Radicalized to action - understanding the exact nature of corruption in our systems is a strong first step to doing something about it - and like I never want a Google breakfast again
Quotes:
This is the enshittifier’s credo: “We’re just doing the thing that makes life worse for you so we can make life better for us.
Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
Format: short story collection
One sentence summary: Five stories about musicians at turning points in their life.
When and where:
smattered across the cafes, canals, piazzas, and stages of a Europe that feels old world but is probably contemporary
Read if you:
Have wept listening to a violin well-played
Are a little too into celebrity culture
Struggle with how to balance making art, music, or joy with making a living
Books this reminded me of:
Ishiguro loves art and this reminded me of all the other books I’ve read about artists who border on dysfunctional because of their passion for their work - The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier, Light from Uncommon Stars by Riya Aoki, Songs of Arbonne by Tad Williams
Made me feel:
Invested - these stories are more visceral and the narrator’s more direct than in Ishiguro’s more subtle novel-length writing
Quotes:
But for another few minutes at least, we were
safe, and we kept dancing under the starlit sky.
If disappointments do come, you will carry on still. You will say, just as he does, I am so lucky.
A Desolation Called Peace - Arkady Martine
Format: novel
One sentence summary: The Hugo-winning second book in the Teixcalaan series sees disgraced ambassador Mahit Dzmare back at the heart of empire leading peace talks with old friends, enemies, and aliens in hopes of preventing war.
When and where:
The sprawling sci-fi universe of Teixcallani space
Read if you:
Want Game of Thrones in space with more nuance and closure
Are binging Pluribus on Apple TV - questions of what makes an individual and the role of memory in shaping identity are central to Martine’s series
Can juggle layered plots, rotating PoVs, and so many characters with weird, fun names
Books this reminded me of:
Anything by Ann Leckie - both writers use sci-fi as a means to ask hard questions about the role of colonizers and the nature of individual agency
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi - though wacky and lighter in tone than Martine’s writing, this novel also explores transhuman themes, asking what it means to implant a person’s mind and consciousness into another’s body
Made me feel:
Conflicted - I studied English lit in school and like Martine’s protagonist, I’ve been interrogating my own obsession with the works and norms of a colonizing culture
Quotes:
It is the minds of a people that have to stay free. Bodies die, or suffer, or are imprisoned. Memory lasts.
But the habits of memory create all kinds of false harbours
