on reading: the crème de la crème
/Reading is such a delicious and rewarding practice. This year, I read a great selection of fiction and I also dipped back into non-fiction and memoir. High brow, low brow, I read all the brows. The Currently Reading formula that works for me: one non-fiction + one novel = balanced reading. I love to have a non-fiction read during the day (often accompanied with sticky tabs and a highlighter) and a novel at night to wind down.
How This Works:
I’ve listed the crème de la crème with links to local booksellers for your convenience along with my little blurb. I don’t give you a synopsis, I give you my thoughts. I don’t rate things out of five stars, I either recommend them or I don’t. I am also a HUGE champion for DNF (Did Not Finish) — life is too short and there are too many books to read. In fact, we should apply DNF to more categories in life. Bad date? Get up and leave. Shitty friend? Sayonara. Got dressed but on the way out the door you aren’t feeling it? Change, baby. So this is the first year I am including an unapologetic DNF category of popular, highly rated books. No shade, no shame.
Top Memoir:
God, I love a good memoir. My bookclub, The Main Course, often gravitates towards female authors and memoirs and they always lead to rich discussion. It is like peeking into someones diary, often equal parts cautionary tale as it is inspiration.
This memoir of an epic love story is a time machine to the NYC punk rock scene of the ‘70s as told by one of the most honest, badass, otherworldly beings, Patti Smith.
Heartbreaking, raw, almost melodically shocking. Just Kids features many big names (Andy Warhol, Dylan Thomas, Janis Joplin etc) and their time at the infamous Hotel Chelsea. Patti Smith is an icon and I am so grateful she bestowed this intimate look at her life upon us, she is indeed a Tortured Poet. My copy is well loved — dog eared and sticky tabbed, there is so much to unpack here.
Deeply sad and uncharacteristically personal, Didion takes us on the devastating journey of her daughter’s premature death and the unimaginable grief that follows. Are you sensing a theme here? I promise the recommendations get happier, but why is there so much beauty in sadness? Is it because it feels slower so we have more time to notice it’s nuances?
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
This memoir gave me a new-found appreciation for the Canadian beauty, Pamela Anderson. Like many blonde bombshell movie stars, Pamela is much smarter than she allows herself to be perceived — a modern day Marilyn. This is an honest, refreshing, and romantic memoir filled with both salacious stories and humble poetry. We had a fun book club with this one and I paired it with recipes from her gorgeous vegan cookbook, I Love You: Recipes from the Heart.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
More recipes! Ina’s memoir is written like a grandma’s emails in that the writing style is endearingly rudimentary but I loved it all the same. That’s the beauty of memoir: we want to hear your story in your own words. Ina’s journey and business acumen is inspiring — she worked her ass off and was ahead of her time both in and out of the kitchen. I got my hands on a signed copy of her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa, and it is fun to match the recipes with the story of her life. Chef’s kiss!
Top Fiction:
Wedding People by Alison Espach
I remember reading this in the spring and thinking THANK GOD, A GOOD NOVEL. It is funny. It is dark. It is clever. It is entertaining. It is heartfelt. It is everything. There is a reason you have seen this cover everywhere but it is not just an airport paperback, it is delightfully unique.
I love Backman and this highly anticipated new novel was no exception. It is pure poetry. It is meandering and thoughtful, deep and meaningful. It’s not a quick, cute read. It is deeply reflective; a slow, windy love letter to the people that make us, our friends. Anxious People (my top read of 2024) still rates higher IMO but this is the kind of book where you pause to appreciate the writing because it is that beautiful (and it is a translation!).
Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewel
Listen, this isn’t high brow but it will get you out of any reading slump. I love Lisa Jewel and her 2025 novel is twisty and satisfying in all the best ways. If you need a thriller to kick off the new year, this is for you. Is it being turned into a show? I need it to be turned into a show.
Cross My Heart by Megan Collins
This is my top thriller for 2025, and I feel like nobody is talking about how clever it is. I loved the premise and was genuinely shocked by the twists (plural!). Another one I would love to see adapted to screen.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
I like to read with the seasons, so I read this cozy, witchy story in the fall and it was the perfect autumnal escape. I also read Mandanna’s 2025 novel, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inkeeping and it was equally cute and cozy. They are standalones, which I love because I have a recent aversion to fantasy series (too much commitment!). These books feel like hot apple cider — comforting with a little bit of, ahem, spice. Sometimes you don’t need to read to save the world. Sometimes you just need to read to enjoy yourself.
The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand
Hilderbrand is known for her Nantucket based novels but she has since hung up her flip flops and ventured into the academia setting. She traded summer for fall and rich adults for rich kids. Co-written with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham, this book feels fresh but with the familiar Hilderbrand world building. She is currently writing the sequel from her Beacon Hill apartment and it will answer the central question of this first book: WHAT IS IN THE EMAIL?
Top Non-Fiction:
The Light Between Us by Laura Lynne Jackson
One of my favourite spiritual books is Signs by Laura Lynne Jackson and I read The Light Between Us in preparation for her 2025 book, Guided. All three of these are beautiful first hand accounts of a mediums experience with the Other Side. Jackson is a beautiful writer and a gentle spirit, delicately and gracefully guiding grief-stricken families and encouraging budding light workers. Laura Lynne Jackson was tested and certified as a research medium at the Windbridge Institute for Applied Research in Human Potential, undergoing rigorous, quintuple-blind testing to become a Certified Research Medium.
I Don’t Believe in Astrology by Debra Silverman
I have read my fair share of astrology books and what I loved about this one is it is straight forward and relevant. I would categorize it as a reference book. It is good for the astro-curious, the astro-cynical, and the astro-proficient.
The Secrets of Romani Fortune Telling by Jezmina Von Thiele and Paulina Stevens
My tarot teacher, Lindsay Mack, recommended this and it did not disappoint. The origins of Tarot are often quite murky due to cultural erasure and the fact that most healers in history were women AKA their ideas were stolen or just deemed unworthy of documenting. Written by two friends with unique relationships to Tarot, this book is a must read for anyone in the metaphysical space.
Most Surprising Book of the Year:
The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day
I read this right after the Louvre heist. It tells the story of Michelangelo and how the Mona Lisa wasn't even all that famous until she was STOLEN. I didn't even know she was stolen! Incredibly interesting, I think this may be technically categorized as historical fiction but most of the events are completely true. For example, did you know Picasso stole ancient sculptures from museums so he could paint them? TRUE STORY, I fact checked. It may or may not be written for teens but guess what, that just makes it digestible, sue me.
Top Book of the Year:
This book is a collection of all the best wisdom from the extremely popular podcast, We Can Do Hard Things. It takes sound bites from interviews with an incredible selection of guests like Esther Perel, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Brene Brown, Alex Elle, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Gilbert, Chani Nicholas and more. Instead of categorizing it by interview, where it would read more like a transcript, the book is organized by topic or question such as: Why am I like this? Why can’t I be happy? How do I make and keep real friends? How do I feel better right now? How do I let go?
I would suggest picking this up as a hardcover so you can use it as a reference book, a textbook for life. It is also really fun to practice bibliomancy with: randomly turn to a page and treat it as a divination tool.
If everyone read this book, the world would be a more self-aware and thoughtful place. I had the pleasure of attending the book tour when this launched. It was very cool hearing Abby, Amanda, and Glennon speak and the energy in the room was electric. All proceeds from the tour were donated to grassroots foundations, totalling over $467, 000 supporting immigrant families, adding to their overall global giving of $56 million through their foundation, Together Rising.
Did Not Finish:
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Quit at 15%
This book is so popular and I wanted to love it, I really did. It was not as funny or as clever as I wanted it to be, it just came across as whiny. Ouch.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
Quit at 34%, 131 pages (!)
This gutted me because it came highly recommended and I LOVE the author. Spoiler: they threw the main character into an insane asylum and took her magical escapist book away and that was enough for me. Triggering. Sad. Maybe I will go back to it when I have thicker skin, because up until then it really was beautiful.
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Quit at 12%
No. So sad. A collection of grim stories about trees. My husband loved it and it won Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 2019. IDK.
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Quit at 14%
People loved this book, it was one of the most popular books of the year last year but I just couldn't get into it. I don’t think I can read another abduction book.
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Quit at 10%
I LOVE the concept of an origin story to Hamlet, but in reality it was too sad for me. This book skyrocketed in popularity because the movie adaptation came out this year and we read it for book club. I didn't even pretend to have read it because it was so bleak. I think I just can’t read sad books? But then I read Joan Didion, so what do I know?
Diana, Herself by Martha Beck
Quit at 30%
Martha Beck is one of my favourite self-help authors and this is her trying her hand at an allegory. It was just so preposterous I couldn't continue. One of my favourite yoga teachers said it was life changing but I simply could not get through it. Enter at your own risk.
Phew, there you have it. I read a ton this year and love doing these recaps. What did you read, what did you love? Perhaps even more importantly, what did you not finish?
Wishing you plenty of good reads in 2026,
ty