Well, it’s been another year.
It’s the first year that neither of us have worked, and that’s improved the quality of our lives.
In 2025, I read 83 books, an all-time high since I’ve been keeping track. Brad read 51. See the lists below.
Brad walked an amazing 1046 miles, more actually since he didn’t track every walk. I don’t keep track of my miles.
Weatherwise, we had 12.6 inches of rain. This is still a little below average, but better than the previous couple years. Our land has changed a lot because of the prolonged drought. The high temperature for the year was 105; the low 14.
Karen’s Reading List for 2025
(favorite books marked with ***; for the first time this year, I abandoned several books midstream that I didn’t find to my liking and also got through a couple audiobooks)
1. A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
2. The Way of the Hermit by Ken Smith
3. Destination Wellness by Annie Daly
4. Orfeo by Richard Powers
5. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
6. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E Taylor
7. The Man Who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher
8. Remote: Finding Home in the Bitterroots by DJ Lee
9. Zen Mind, Beginner Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
10. One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith
11. The Color of Everything by Cory Richards
12. The Man Who Cycled the World by Mark Beaumont
13. The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai
14. A Race to the Bottom of Crazy by Richard Grant
15. Laughing Without an Accent by Firoozeh Dumas
16. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
17. The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters by Lorraine López
18. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
19. The Journey Home by Edward Abbey
20. The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May
21. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl
22. Still Life by Sarah Winman
23. Gathering Blossoms under Fire by Alice Walker
24. ** Home Made by Liz Hauck
25. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
26. The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis
27. Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu
28. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
29. ** The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing
30. ** New Moon (Luna #1) by Ian McDonald
31. Yellow Bird by Sierra Crane Murdoch
32. ** On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
33. Wolf Moon (Luna #2) by Ian McDonald
34. My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir
35. The Antidote by Karen Russell
36. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
37. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
38. ** Landlines by Raynor Winn
39. ** On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle
40. Orbital by Samantha Harvey
41. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
42. The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
43. American Rust by Philipp Meyer
44. A Gardener at the End of the World by Margot Anne Kelley
45. Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant
46. ** Seed to Dust by Marc Hamer
47. A Sliver of Light by Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd
48. Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
49. Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively
50. The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
51. ** West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge
52. The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
53. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
54. Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
55. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
56. *** The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
57. Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
58. Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner
59. A Field guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit
60. Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge
61. The Round House by Louise Erdrich
62. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
63. The Measure by Nikki Erlick
64. The Exchange by John Grisham
65. Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow
66. The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich
67. The Kinfolk Garden by John Burns
68. The Mercy of Gods by James SA Corey
69. Saving the World by Julia Alvarez
70. The Children of Men by PD James
71. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
72. The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
73. M Train by Patti Smith
74. The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
75. Crazy River by Richard Grant
76. Recursion by Blake Crouch
77. The Outsider by Stephen King
78. I Have Some Questions by Rebecca Makkai
79. If It Bleeds by Stephen King
80. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
81. Finders Keepers by Stephen King
82. End of Watch by Stephen King
83. Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
Brad’s Reading List for 2025
1 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
2 We are Legion Bob
3 The Last Apothecary
4 We are many Bob
5 How the Penguins Saved Veronica
6 A Memory called Empire
7 Solo Leveling vol 1
8 Solo Leveling vol 2
9 Solo Leveling vol 3
10 Solo Leveling vol 4
11 Solo Leveling vol 5
12 Solo Leveling vol 6
13 Solo Leveling vol 7
14 Solo Leveling vol 8
15 The Book of Elsewhere
16 Everyone in My family has killed someone
17 The Ministry of Time
18 Children of Time
19 A Desolation Called Peace
20 On the Calculation of Volume I
21 On the Calculation of Volume II
22 The Keeper of Lost Causes
23 The Absent One
24 Finders Keepers
25 A Conspiracy of Faith
26 The Blessing Way
27 Dancehall of the Dead
28 Rogue Male
29 Down Cemetery Road
30 Purity of Vengeance
31 The Spear Cuts Through Water
32 The Last Voice You Hear
33 A Pale Light in the Black
34 A Brightness Long Ago
35 Listening Woman
36 The Fellowship of the Ring
37 The Two Towers
38 The Return of the King
39 End of Watch
40 The Witchstone
41 Hold Fast Through the Fire
42 Recursion
43 The Ghosts of Trappists
44 Why We Die?
45 Empire of the Damned
46 The Outsider
47 Stone and Sky
48 The Ghostway
49 Skinwalkers
50 American Psycho
51 Hidden Depths
