The Beauty of a Story

The last day of the year is upon us. Ready for it or not, when the clock strikes midnight, a new year will begin. I always spend a great deal of time in the week around the new year thinking about the past year, and what my goals and dreams are for the year ahead.

Last year was a busy one. My memories are full, full, full, just like my calendar was. Without looking at my calendar, I could tell you the year was a busy on just by looking at my booklist. The books, in general, err on the side of short and sweet. Overall I read fewer books than I did the year before. There is even an entire month where I read nothing. The month is just skipped over, like it didn’t exist.

Before any of you wag your fingers and tut tut, let me just say, my husband and I built a freaking house. I think that is excuse enough, don’t you?

Anyway, let’s get to the books.

I read 69 books in 2025.

23 of them were nonfiction books. I had late summer full of biography’s, memoirs scattered here and there, and many, many decluttering and organizing books. (I think the organizing books make me feel like life is in control, or could be put in control, when my life is chaotic)

Next, I read 15 classics. Mostly on the short side. Some familiar authors, and some new to me authors. Who knew Aldous Huxley, famous for ‘Brave New World’, wrote a comedy? I didn’t, but I am glad I found it.

I read 14 fantasy novels. This took me by surprise, I thought the number was much lower. But true to form, I read quite a few in the summer time.

I read 5 books I can only classify as fiction. I stuck all historical fiction here too, because I didn’t want to make a bunch of tiny lists.

I read 4 mystery books. Everything from cozy mysteries to unreliable narrators.

I read 3 science fiction books. I found one of them at our local comic con, yay local authors!

I read 2 epistolary novels. This is one of my favorite novel formats. If I had found more, I would have read more. One of the novels I am still thinking about many months later.

I read 2 books of poetry. One of which was the ‘Iliad’, which I count as poetry even though it could be classified as a classic story.

I read 1 play. ‘Our Town’, in case you were wondering.

My least favorite book of the year was ‘The Book of Doors’ by Gareth Brown. One star. I know lots of people like this book, and I get it. It is an interesting premise and an interesting magic system. However, I dislike time travel (it had time travel), and the villain completely freaked me out. I felt like she fit more in a horror story, and less in a fantasy story. There are some creepy villains in fantasy, but this was a whole other level. Also, I didn’t like the ending.

My favorite book of the year was, um (why is this so much harder than picking a least favorite?), I am going to choose two…

My favorite nonfiction book was ‘House Lessons’ by Erica Bauermeister. I read it while I was in the middle of our own house build, in the middle of the dust and grit and backbreaking work. Her story was similar to mine, and I found comfort in shared struggles and frustrations. The way she thought about her own house project encouraged me to take a step back and see my house project from a birds eye view. What was I learning in this process? What was I learning about my husband and about our marriage? When I took a step back, I was able to shake off some of the frustration and laugh about the hiccups along the way as we turned a dirty shop into a home.

My favorite fiction book was ‘The Listeners’ by Maggie Stiefvater. I have written about the book at length in another blog post, so I will try not to repeat myself too much. I loved the historical setting, and the unique perspective on a war we have already heard so much about. I loved the characters, the female main character is one of my favorites in fiction. Also, I loved the ending.

Honorable mentions go to ‘The Secret Knowledge of Water’ by Craig Childs (I love his perspective on the desert), ‘The Gardeners Year’ by Karl Copek (it was a very funny book about the joys and perils of gardening, I laughed out loud many times during the book), and ‘How to Stop Time’ by Matt Haig (a book about people who live for a very, very long time, and what it is like to live beyond your family, loved ones, and entire eras of history).

I found a few authors this year who I loved and hope to read more of in the years to come.

Joan Didion. I am sure everyone else has heard of her already, but I picked up a book of essays on a whim and was completely bowled over by her writing style. She strives to see the world as it is, to see it clearly, and whenever I read her book I feel I can see the world a little clearer as well.

G. K. Chesterton. I had tried, and failed, to read his fiction. Namely the Father Brown mysteries. They just didn’t click with me. Then I read his essays, and I loved them. He feels like a blogger before the age of computers, writing little essays about everything from Santa Claus, chalk, to marriage. He is humorous, and he also makes you think about things in a slightly different way than you did before.

James Herriot. In my quest to find calm books, I remember ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. Do I usually like animal books? Nope. But I love this one. I don’t know if you could call it an animal book though. The people are as much part of the book, the quirky, kind, and wonderful people he meets as he cares for their animals. I think I have the whole series now, and I am looking forward to many evenings reading about Mr. Herriot’s adventures in Yorkshire.

There you go, my highlights from a year of reading. I make no promises as to what I will read next year. Nor will I make any resolutions of what I would like to read this year. If 2025 has taught me anything, it is that you can’t predict what life will hold or what will even happen next month. I will hold this year with open hands, waiting to see what will unfold over the next twelve months.

Have a wonderful New Year.

Shaina Merrick