Everything I've read this year!
A mid-year recap of what I loved reading, plus my favourite book of 2025 (so far)
Hello and welcome to Good Book Good Bread!
Somehow it’s just two weeks until summer solstice. I’m enjoying the longer days, cold dips in the Columbia River, and willing my tomato and hot pepper plants to grow. This week I’m taking a pause from the usual newsletter structure to mark the middle of the year and recap everything I’ve read this year! Below, I’ve broken all of my reads up by genre, with a quick summary. Let me know in the comments what your favourite read of 2025 has been so far!
What I loved
Non-fiction
How to Be Well: Navigating our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time by Amy Larocca
An investigative look at the massive wellness industry and how it’s infiltrated every aspect of our lives—frequently as the traditional diet and beauty industry under a new guise.
Check out my full review here.
When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder, and a Clash of Worlds in the Amazon by Alex Cuadros
A beautiful book about the Cinta Larga, an Indigenous tribe deep in the Amazon, near the border with Bolivia, and what happened when settlers began extracting natural resources from their territory in the 1960s.
Check out my full review here.
Into The Raging Sea by Rachel Slade
I seldom read a book twice, but this was just as immersive the second time around. This book chronicles the 2015 sinking of the container ship El Faro, after it sailed into the eye of a category five hurricane in the Bermuda Triangle. As well as extensive interviews with friends and family of the crew, Slade reconstructs the final hours on the ship using audio from the vessel’s black box recorder.
Health and Safety: A Breakdown by Emily Witt
A fascinating memoir of Witt’s immersion in New York’s underground dance music scene. I’m as impressed with Witt’s writing as I am with her, a fellow 30-something, being able to stay up past 1 am.
High Crimes by Michael Kodas: The Fate of Everest in a World of Greed
Published in 2008, this was a stressful, nail-biting read that tells the stories of what people will do in order to stand atop the world’s highest peak.
Memoir
Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show (While Also in an Actual Cult!) by Bethany Joy Lenz
A unique story about Lenz’s time as a star of One Tree Hill, and how just as her career was taking off, she became involved in a religious cult. I listened to the audiobook, and hearing Lenz tell her story herself, combined with her excellent voice acting chops, made this a delight.
Check out my full review here.
Over the Influence: A Memoir by Joanna Levesque
A heartbreaking but beautifully told memoir by teen pop star Joanna “JoJo” Levesque about her difficult upbringing with parents who battled addiction and depression, an unlikely rise to fame at 12, and her years-long battle with her record label.
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Ina Garten’s lovely and spirited memoir chronicling decades of personal challenges, triumphs, and relationships. From a lonely childhood to becoming the Barefoot Contessa, this is a transparent recounting of a life full of risk taking.
Fiction
Isola by Allegra Goodman
Captivating historical fiction about a teenager cast off a French ship and left to fend for herself on a desolate island off the coast of present-day Canada. Equal parts love story and survival epic.
Check out my full review here.
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
A sweeping coming of age story following two girls from very different backgrounds who become friends and spend each summer on Martha’s Vineyard. Once they become adults, their lives take drastically different turns and they must navigate a still-strong but fraught connection.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
A mystery that begins when a camp counselor wakes one morning and discovers one of the camper’s bunks is empty. The missing girl is from the wealthy New York family who own the camp, and in the ensuing search, long-buried family secrets begin to emerge.
Check out my full review here.
Dream State by Eric Puchner
Dream State begins with a major betrayal before a wedding in Montana, and then follows the affected lifelong friends over generations as they grapple with the fallout. It’s drama, biology, love, and the outdoors wrapped into one excellent saga.
Check out my full review here.
Wedding People by Alison Espach
At the beginning of Wedding People, two women encounter one another in a decadent seaside hotel lobby. One is about to get married, having planned the perfect wedding. The other has just gotten divorced, and is there to kill herself. Their initial interaction is the start of a difficult, funny, and poignant week.
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Broken Country kicks off with protagonist Beth’s brother-in-law shooting a dog attacking their sheep. When the dog turns out to belong to the wealthy man Beth was in love with as a teenager, who has just returned to their sleepy village with his son, it sets in motion a tense and dark plot.
All The Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
A riveting story set in 1975 in a small Missouri town where girls have been disappearing. An unlikely hero, a local boy with one eye, saves the daughter of a wealthy family from being abducted. This book focuses on what happens to people in the aftermath of a tragedy.
What wasn’t for me
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
The Unwedding by Ally Condie
Favourite Book I’ve Read So Far in 2025: Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Sometimes you read a book at just the right time in your life. I read this book just after I’d given notice at my job—I’m taking this summer off to take some big swings on a few creative projects. Reading about Ina’s attitude towards going all in on things that feel scary and exciting was inspiring. I enjoyed reading about her thought process and optimism when new opportunities arose, and her unfailing belief in herself to take on new adventures. She always bet on herself. Plus, I can read about food all day.
What have you loved reading so far this year?
Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed this issue, share with a friend! If you hated it, please share with an enemy.
This has been one of my best reading years (so far) in a long time. Love seeing others' recommendations! My highlights: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder; Live Through This by Kristen McGuinness; Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit by Nadine Sander-Green; Twist by Colum McCann; The Siren's Call by Chris Hayes; Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams.
Thanks for the book recommendations! I loved Dream State, which I picked up after I read your description. Like you, I did not love Creation Lake and abandoned it halfway through, despite liking many of her other books. Books I loved: The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, and Sandwich by Catherine Newman. I just downloaded Ina Garten's book after seeing your enthusiastic recommendation. Thanks Hannah!