2025 Reading Favorites
My mom gave me the gift of reading.
As young children, when my siblings and I outgrew our daily naps, my mom introduced afternoon quiet time. We could play, rest, or read - as long as we were quiet. I noticed my mom often picked up a book during that time.
Eventually, I followed her lead. I put down my toys and began exploring the world in books. Trips to the town library became a weekly habit, and with my mom serving on the library board, our home was always filled with a rotating collection of stories waiting to be discovered.
When my husband and I became parents, our own moms encouraged friends and family to gift us children’s books at our baby shower. Even before our children were born, we had a library of stories passed down through loved ones. Reading bedtime stories became a way to connect our family with theirs, sharing traditions through every page.
Reading has always been a part of my life, and it becomes more important each year. In a world that spins faster than ever, I find clarity and calm in the pages of a book. Paper only.
Here are a few of my favorites from this year.
Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David
I love learning about how emotions, the brain, and the body work together to charge through life. Dr. Susan David translates decades of research into a practical framework for navigating life’s challenges. Emotional Agility is about learning how to befriend your emotions - not suppress them or think yourself out of them.
David dismantles the outdated belief that positive thinking creates a positive life. Emotions and thoughts aren’t instructions for how to proceed – they provide information. When we use our emotions to inform our thinking paths, we gain power and choice. We take control over our experiences and intentions.
One of the overarching takeaways is David’s emphasis on values as a compass. When life feels uncertain, we can turn to our values to provide direction. Values-based leadership is modern leadership. Values-based performance is modern performance. Knowing what matters and why is one of the most powerful inner experiences we have.
I scribbled so many of David’s gems in my notebook as I read. Know when to grit vs. when to quit. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; courage is fear walking. And my personal favorite – Who’s in charge: the thinker or the thought?
Read it. You’ll notice just how loud your inner world becomes.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
I don’t often read fiction, but I kept seeing this book recommended on various lists. I’m so glad I branched out and picked up a copy. This book broke my heart into a million pieces, but I couldn’t put it down. Beartown is the kind of story that stays with you long after the final page.
Backman paints a vivid backdrop: a cold, old-school hockey town fueled by loyalty and buried secrets. Hockey isn’t just a sport in Beartown. It’s identity. It’s life. When pressured, the cracks reveal just how complex people and communities truly are.
What makes this book so powerful is Backman’s ability to hold love, connection, brutality and heartbreak in the same paragraph. He doesn’t rush the hard moments or soften the consequences. He invites readers to sit with discomfort and grief. To question who we protect and who we silence. And why.
It’s devastating. It’s honest. And there are two more books in the series – impatiently waiting for me in 2026.
Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen
Don’t Believe Everything You Think is a short but impactful read that challenges readers to question the truth and purpose of their own thoughts. Nguyen encourages acceptance of reality as it is, rather than how we believe it should be - offering a refreshing shift in perspective.
A central theme is the trap of external validation. Nguyen explains how chasing approval or certainty outside us keeps us stuck, since anything external can be lost. Inner clarity and self-trust are lasting. He also notes that holding onto old thinking leaves little space for growth or new insight.
The book culminates in a powerful question: Are you making decisions to feel safe or to feel free? Simple and reflective, this book serves as a reminder that mental freedom begins when we stop believing every thought we have.
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I thoroughly enjoy looking back through my notebooks at the end of each year. Reflecting on the ideas I’ve scribbled down from thinkers and writers along the way. One of my favorite parts of this season is seeing what others read and recommend for the year ahead. So please, share your favorites. I’d love to add them to my 2026 list.