Some mid-year reading musings

And a handful of bookish superlatives

We’re past the halfway mark of the years and like a decent-sized chunk of literary Substack, I’ve been reflecting on my reading year so far. As of writing this, I’ve read 106 books this year, which is a number that I feel okay about. (Mostly because there’s still a hefty stack of 2025 releases that I desperately want to read teetering by my reading chair!) Something that I’m hoping to prioritize for the rest of this year is chunks of deep reading time: no distractions, no phone, and plenty of time to let myself slip into the depths of a story. Whether that results in reading more or reading more deeply, I think it’ll bring some more reflection and joy to my reading life.

Unsurprisingly, my most read genre is romance, followed by literary fiction and then fantasy. (My first readerly love making a comeback?) I’m one behind my goal of reading one nonfiction book a month but I have lofty ambitions of reading two this month and I’m already halfway there. I also haven’t read as much international or translated fiction as I was hoping to this year, besides my much beloved BritLit. A strategy that I might try for the rest of the year is to go through my shelves and pull all the international fiction I can find off them, form a tower on the floor, and pluck a title from there on a regular basis. Not the most organized method, admittedly, but I often find it easier to prioritize a certain genre when they’re right in front of me, reminding me what I found so enticing about each book in the first place.

My dive into backlist romance, however, has been thriving. I’ve picked up novels by Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Beverly Jenkins, Jennifer Crusie, Lisa Kleypas, and Loretta Chase and I have some Julie Garwood, Sherry Thomas, Laura Kinsale, Nora Roberts, and Joanna Bourne lined up for the second half of the year, as well as a scholarly history of the romance novel. I’ve loved seeing how the genre has evolved and discovering new-to-me authors with hefty backlists to explore.

My ten favorites of the year so far:

• Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

• The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

• First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

• Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase

• Happy All The Time by Laurie Colwin

• Fan Service by Rosie Danan

• Days of Light by Megan Hunter

• Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver

• Audition by Katie Kitamura

• Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

And, inspired by both Sara Hildreth and Michelle Martin, I’m sharing a handful of superlatives:

• Best book you’ve read so far this year: Prodigal Summer, a lush, sprawling epic that has me ready to dive into the rest of Kingsolver’s backlist. (Audition and Gideon the Ninth are close seconds!)

• Book that made you laugh: Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher, a cozy fantasy romance full of charm and dark humor. (Blackwells has a very pretty edition available if you’re also a Kingfisher aficionado.)

• Book that made you cry: Four Squares by Bobby Finger. I previously only knew Finger as the quippy co-host of Who Weekly? but this book’s depiction of friendship, loss, and the collective grief that still shadows queer life made my heart break a little.

• Newest favorite character: Jessica Trent from Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, the cunning, determined, and witty heroine who was written thirty years ago and still feels excitingly fresh and modern.

• Favorite new-to-you author: Laurie Colwin! I was practically bouncing up and down with delight when I read my first Colwin this year. Her writing is the perfect blend of warmth and wit and she’s a remarkable observer of human nature.

• Favorite book by a debut author: The Artist by Lucy Steeds, a sun-soaked story about creativity and control that has some of the most tactile, stunning descriptions I’ve read all year.

• Biggest disappointment: Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. This is one of the iconic Kleypas titles but I found myself frustrated by her use of an evil ex to constantly come between the hero and heroine, as much as I enjoyed Derek and Sara’s chemistry.

• Biggest surprise: Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood! More to come on this next week, but between this and Deep End, I’ve done a bit of a 180 on her writing.

• Most anticipated release for the second half of 2025: No Friend to This House, Natalie Haynes’ take on the myth of Medea, and Heart the Lover by Lily King.

• New release you haven’t read yet but want to: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab, closely followed by Rules for Ruin by Mimi Matthews and The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater.

• Book you want to read by the end of the year: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, a time travel romp that’s just crying out to be read on vacation.

• Most beautiful book you bought this year: The Penguin Classics edition of The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley, which I could have procured locally but chose to order from Blackwells just for the cover.

  

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Currently reading: Vision in White by Nora Roberts, because you can’t explore the romance canon without her.

Recommendations, miscellany, and little bits of joy:

• Elbow Bread in Chinatown. Both their sweet and savory pastries are top-notch but I think the scallion knot was my favorite.

• The season finale of Murderbot and the news that it’s been renewed for season 2! One of the best book-to-screen adaptations I’ve seen in ages.

• The clusters of sunflowers beginning to sprout up around Park Slope, as we sink into the heart of summer. One of my favorite things about living here has been watching the whole neighborhood bloom over the spring and summer.