As we say goodbye to 2025, here’s a quick summary of the books I read last year.

I read 15 books in 2025. All but one of them were nonfiction. I took some classes last year that cut into my leisure reading time, so my tally is lower than previous years. Hats off to my fellow bloggers who racked up some amazing book counts in 2025!

I’m still very much interested in the environment and climate change, but my reading was a little more evenly spread across other categories last year including history, personal development, AI and social movements.

Here are some highlights. The links point to my reviews.

Best Writing: Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane. In this book, Macfarlane journeys to rivers in Ecuador, India and northern Quebec seeking to understand whether rivers are living beings. The question is provocative and Macfarlane’s writing ranges from fabulous to breathtaking.

Most Informative: The Trees Are Speaking by Lynda Mapes is about the old-growth salmon forests of Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island and Maine and about the scientists, Indigenous leaders and even loggers trying save them. What’s a “salmon forest” you ask? Well, that’s what makes this book so informative! Mapes tells their story beautifully.

Best Fiction: Kind of a no-brainer really since I only read one novel last year. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin is wildly imaginative and wonderfully written. It tells the story of a mother searching for her lost daughter on a world that is going through a “fifth season” of earthquakes and volcano eruptions. It’s the first volume of a trilogy but satisfying as a stand-alone novel too.

With that, let’s turn the page on 2025 and look forward to more great books in 2026.

May the New Year bring you and your family health, opportunity and peace!

Thanks for reading.