02. Everything I Read (& Half-Read) in 2025

 

And we’re on roll, welcome back to CB’s Book Club!

It’s nearing the end of the year and I’m looking back over everything I’ve read (and half-read!) in 2025.

Stats-wise, we’re looking at 30 books in total (19 finished), split 50/50 fiction and non-fiction, with most books read on Kindle.

And from a more soulful perspective? I’m reflecting on what that reading stack says about where my head and heart have been this year through travel, transitions, fertility, faith and more.

AND the fun part? Listener voice notes from YOU! I’m so excited to be sharing your favourite reads from 2025 and the bookstores that make your heart sing. I had so much fun putting this one together.

You can leave me a voice note at speakpipe.com/cbsbookclub — share your name, where you’re listening from, your favourite book of 2025 and/or your favourite bookstore.

📊 Download the free reading tracker I mention in this episode:
👉 2026 Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

***

Books I Mentioned

Nonfiction

  • Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout — Cal Newport

  • A Year with C.S. Lewis: 365 Daily Readings from his Classic Works — C.S. Lewis & Patricia Klein

  • Spirit Babies: How to Communicate With the Child You’re Meant to Have — Walter Makichen

  • Awakening Fertility — Heng Ou

  • Love Wins: At The Heart of Life’s Big Questions — Rob Bell

  • Sanity & Sainthood — Dr. Tucker Peck

  • Wanderlust: A History of Walking — Rebecca Solnit

  • A Philosophy of Walking — Frédéric Gros

  • It Starts with the Egg — Rebecca Fett

  • Heal Endo — Katie Edmonds

  • How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers — Toni Bernhard

  • Wear It Well — Allison Bornstein

  • The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry — John Mark Comer

  • Bright Girl, Lacks Focus: A Neurodivergent Memoir — Cindy Robinson

Fiction

  • Wedding People — Alison Espach

  • Intermezzo — Sally Rooney

  • So Thrilled For You — Holly Bourne

  • Yellowface — Rebecca F. Kuang

  • Welcome to the Hyuanam-Dong Bookshop — Hwang Bo-reum

  • The God of The Woods — Liz Moore

  • The Life Impossible — Matt Haig

  • The Dearly Beloved — Cara Wall

  • Margo’s Got Money Troubles — Rufi Thorpe

  • Still Life — Sarah Winman

  • Orbital — Samantha Harvey

  • Things Will Calm Down Soon — Zoe Foster Blake

  • Atmosphere — Taylor Jenkins Reid

  • Love At First Sight — Laura Jane Williams

  • Perfection — Vincenzo Latronico

  • A Room With A View — E.M. Forster

***

Books Recommended by Listeners

  • All the Way to the River — Elizabeth Gilbert

  • All Fours — Miranda July

  • The Huntress — Kate Quinn

  • Fairy Smut — genre mentioned by Genevieve 😉

  • Our Bloody Pearl — V.E. Schwab

  • Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir

  • The Compound — Ashlyn Rall

  • Still Life Novel — Sarah Winman

***

CB’s Book Club is made possible by the paid subscribers of The Periodical — your support means the world and keeps the show ad-free and independent. Thank you!

Go gently, read wildly, and I’ll see you next time!

Big love,
Claire x

 
Claire BakerComment