This year I turned the page to nonfiction and childhood classics.

This year was one of spontaneity. I read whatever caught my eye, as I perused the shelves of social media, local libraries, cosy bookstores, book swaps, and family homes. Book club selections had an off year (IMO) — so you won’t see many mystery or romance novels. You’ll see more nonfiction interspersed with pop culture and YA:

1. Leaving Time (Jodi Picoult, 2014)
2. Not Your China Doll (Katie Gee Salisbury, 2024) — This book lets Anna May Wong shine and sparkle, and deservedly so. While Hollywood bigwigs thought her too Asian, too American, too young, or too old; Wong wrote her own rules and rose to fame in Germany and Europe. Oh, what could have been!
3. The Anxious Generation (Jonathan Haidt, 2024) — Read this if you want to learn about how social media poisons our minds and self-image.
4. After the Ivory Tower Falls (William Bunch, 2022) — An exposition on why liberals have lost the working class.
5. The Diamond Eye (Kate Quinn, 2022)
6. A Walk in the Park (Kevin Fedarko, 2024) — My pick of the year! Fedarko regales us the time when he and his buddy hiked the length of the Grand Canyon. He tells us a tale of majesty, comedy, and hubris.
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay (Michael Chabon, 2000)
8. An African History of Africa (Zeinab Badawi, 2025)
9. The High Mountains of Portugal (Yann Martel, 2016) — My dud of the year, a most boring read.
10. Poverty, By America (Matthew Desmond, 2023)
11. Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning (Peter Beinart, 2025)
12. Me Earl and the Dying Girl (Jesse Andrew, 2012) — This did not age well.
13. The Latehomecomer (Kao Kalia Yang, 2008) — I found another favorite author after I came across this evocative memoir. Kao Kalia Yang recounts, through the lens of a child, her family’s escape from the jungles of Laos and their perseverance over the shackles of American poverty.
14. Little House on the Praire (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1935) — Revisited a few childhood classics — this one included.
15. The Twits (Roald Dahl, 1980)
16. The Witches (Roald Dahl , 1983)
17. Throwback (Maurene Goo, 2023) — I loved this quirky YA novel. The plot follows a teen as she travels back in time to help her mom win homecoming queen. It’s like if you spliced together Crying in H-Mart and Back to the Future into the same book.
18. Abundance (Ezra Klein, 2025)
19. The 10 (E.A. Hanks, 2025) — Yes, that’s Tom Hanks’ eldest daughter. No, this is not a tell-all.
20. Making Movies (Sydney Lumet, 1996) — An auteur gives us a glimpse of how he made great movies. Working in an industry not yet adulterated by CGI and IP-driven franchises, Lumet treated every directorial decision as make or break.
21. Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt, 2022)
22. Starter Villain (John Scalzi, 2023)
23. Black Beauty (Anna Sewell, 1877) — A classic children’s book that resonates today, I wonder if Sewell wrote this story as an allegory for how humans sometimes treat each other with unkindness. In witnessing Black Beauty’s life, we receive a powerful lesson: ignorance is no excuse for injustice and cruelty.
24. It Girl (Marisa Meltzer, 2025) — A fascinating read. Meltzer tells the story of Jane Birkin, a the singer-actress-fashionista-mistress who was one of the most important footnotes of the 20th century. This biography uncovers a woman’s metamorphoses from muse to artist.
25. The Knight and the Moth (Rachel Gillig, 2025) — I couldn’t help but fall for this Arthurian-like novel. Written with a hint of satire, the book is great for a rainy day or long-distance flight.