2025 Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

Okay…so who can explain to me how we are already in JULY of 2025? That seems, and I cannot stress this enough, absurd. But alas, here we are. So, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on my reads so far. Have you read any of these? Share your thoughts below!

Best Book You’ve Read So Far This Year

Raising Hare* by Chloe Dalton

A nominee for this year’s Women’s Prize for Nonfiction, this is SO FAR by only 5 star read of the year. As a workaholic whose life changed drastically with Covid who is also trying to reconnect with herself and with nature…I thought Dalton did a wonderful job depicting a period of transition in her life through both the journey she took with a local hare.

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far This Year

The Pairing* by Casey McQuiston 

Okay, to be fair, this isn’t actually a sequel, but I haven’t read a sequel yet this year. (Will hopefully be reading another Louise Penny this year, but I haven’t yet.) So, instead I decided to pick another book by a fav author. 

A New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

Okay, so full disclosure, work and life have been so hectic, I haven’t really kept up with new releases this year. But a quick Google search showed me that Taylor Jenkins Reid has a new book - Atmosphere* - so, that is an immediate addition to my TBR. 

Your Most Anticipated Book for the Rest of 2025

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny. Next question.

Biggest Disappointment So Far 

Sin Eater* by Megan Campisi, probably. This has been on my shelf for SO LONG, and I just couldn’t get into it. But I liked it enough to finish it, unlike All Fours* by Miranda July, so maybe that was my biggest disappointment. 

Biggest Surprise So Far

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller. Did I imagine that one of my favorite books of the year would be a part memoir of a woman trying to figure out her life and part history of a man who is both a genius and also apparently a horrible human being who may have murdered someone and was a eugenesist? No. But honestly I probably should have, given that my favorite type of nonfiction is part memoir/part something else. 

New Favorite Author

I haven’t found one yet, but I keep looking!

New Favorite Character

Theo Flowerday from The Pairing, for sure. Disaster bi looking for life’s purpose? Yes, hello, I fell a little too seen, thanks so much.

New Favorite Ship

This will come as a shock – Theo and Kit from The Pairing. Are you sensing a theme? I’m sensing a theme…and it’s that Casey McQuiston can do no wrong (even if I wasn’t the hugest fan of One Last Stop). 

A Book that Made You Cry

Okay, so this is where things get depressing. What the Wild Sea Can Be* by Helen Scales was nominated for the Women’s Shortlist for Nonfiction (which is featuring heavily in this list, now that I think about it). And this book didn’t make my sob the way A Little Life did in that it was a devastating work of literature, but it did make me cry in the existential dread kind of way. Because holy shit. The section on the penguins is what really got me. 

Books You Want to Read by the End of the Year

Since my most anticipated book of this year is the new Louise Penny book, I really need to read The Grey Wolf* so that I can be READY. I once took half a day off work for a Louise Penny book, and I kind of want to do it again. I also want to read more of my Persephone and NYRB collections (because those were both goals at the beginning of the year. 

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