All The Books I Haven't Read

Happy New Year! It’s my first Show Us Your Books post of 2026, which means I am looking back at the books I read in December 2025. I read quite a bit in December, but that was a lot of re-reads. So here are the few 4 and 5 star reads of new to me books from last month. (In no particular order.) You’ll see my reading was heavily influenced by the TOB 2026 Long List.

The Best of the Best, December 2025

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - An excellent audiobook, and a great choice for last read of the year. I loved all of the letters and the book references.

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang - This was a wild ride! I will never scroll through Instagram in the same way again.

We Do Not Part by Kang Han - This book was haunting and just short enough so that the confusion of not knowing exactly what was going on didn’t make me want to quit. It touched on the generational trauma of the Jeju massacre, which is something the world doesn’t know enough about. Grateful for books that share hidden history.

Christine by Stephen King (technically a re-read but since it’s been 40+ years I’m counting it as new) - It felt like King could have been describing social media and the terrible hold it has over some young men when he was talking about Arnie and Christine. Creepy.

Have a great month everyone!

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This post will be linked to Quick Lit on Modern Mrs. Darcy.

2025 was a tough year for a lot of reasons, and I don’t feel like I had a good reading year. It was just too hard to concentrate for big sections of the year. There were a few highlights though.

Re-reading all of Jane Austen’s books in order was a balm. Emma used to be my favorite, but in 2025 Persuasion knocked Emma off her throne.
I read Nancy Drew books and Stephen King books almost every month, and both gave me joy in their own weird ways.
I read books set in every Canadian province but two, and that is a country with some dang good books.
Of the 230 books I read 30 were re-reads. Sometimes when you can’t face anything new it’s great to have old favorites you can turn to. The world is very uncertain. There’s sometimes comfort in knowing the ending.
I should read more poetry in 2026. 2025 was lacking.