Winter Book Read

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Winter Book Read

For you readers out there, what is on your To Read list this winter? What good things have you read in 2025?

And for those of you on Goodreads, did you meet your challenge this year?

I'm currently reading Ingram by Louis C.K. Been through some Stephen King this year, plus some other oddities.

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #1 posted 12/26/25 8:11pm

In 2025, I read the entire Expanse series of books (9 main novels plus a compilation of short stories set in the same universe) as well as catching up on some classics I've never read before like Dracula (hated it) and True Grit (loved it). I finished up reading John Grisham's Christmas book "Skipping Christmas" on Christmas Eve (that's a lot of Christmases in one sentence), which I also loved but I do prefer the movie version with Tim Allen.

I don't have any specific plans for 2026, I kind of just read whatever I'm in the mood for at any given time but there was a book that came out this year called Exodus: The Archimedes Engine which I'm very interested in. So maybe I'll start with that and then see where I go from there.

Reply #2 posted 12/26/25 8:54pm

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I think after I finish my current book (Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney), I'm going to start the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King. It's a crime series. One of the characters, Holly Gibney, has her own books now by King.

Ingram by Louis C.K. was probably one of the best books I read in 2025. It's damn near a great American novel. I've also read:

The Long Hard Road out of Hell - Marilyn Manson

Revival - Stephen King

What In The World?! - Leanne Morgan

The Dark Half - Stephen King

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Can't Slow Down - Michaelangelo Matos (horrible!)

Separation of Church and Hate - John Fugelsang (best non-fiction)

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - Stephen King (Short story collection)

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Jennette McCurdy

Later - Stephen King

The Witches of Eastwick - John Updike

UR - Stephen King

You Like It Darker - Stephen King (Short story collection)

How Not To Drown In A Glass of Water - Angie Cruz

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - Stephen King

Cell - Stephen King

Elevation - Stephen King

This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Betty Smith

Everything's Eventual - Stephen King (Short story collection)

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

Somewhere In Time - Richard Matheson

The Beauty of Living Twice - Sharon Stone

The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

What Dreams May Come - Richard Matheson

Exit Ghost - Philip Roth

How Beautiful We Were - Imbolo Mbue

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #3 posted 12/27/25 9:36am

A Stephen King fan, I see. Have you read The Dark Tower series? I got about halfway through and got distracted by other things and never finished it. Not for the lack of trying though. I've read the first 4 books three times because every time I decide to finish the series I go back and start from the beginning again but something always comes up to interrupt me. I swear I must be cursed or something lol

Reply #4 posted 12/27/25 9:46pm

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ShellyMcG said:
A Stephen King fan, I see. Have you read The Dark Tower series? I got about halfway through and got distracted by other things and never finished it. Not for the lack of trying though. I've read the first 4 books three times because every time I decide to finish the series I go back and start from the beginning again but something always comes up to interrupt me. I swear I must be cursed or something

I am a King fan, and trying to fill in the gaps in my hardcover collection, and reading the ones I've not read (which is still a great handful).

I did read all of The Dark Tower series. There is another book that is considered #4.5 "The Wind Through The Keyhole," that fits between 4 and 5. There's also a short story prequel, #0.5 "The Sister of Eluria." It's a lot to get through, but certainly worth it.

I read The Talisman and its sequel Black House, that are - in some ways - similar to The Dark Tower, as is Insomnia.

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #5 posted 12/28/25 1:50pm

TrivialPursuit said:

ShellyMcG said:

A Stephen King fan, I see. Have you read The Dark Tower series? I got about halfway through and got distracted by other things and never finished it. Not for the lack of trying though. I've read the first 4 books three times because every time I decide to finish the series I go back and start from the beginning again but something always comes up to interrupt me. I swear I must be cursed or something

Thanks for adding more books to my ever-growing list sad

Reply #6 posted 12/28/25 8:15pm

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ShellyMcG said:

Thanks for adding more books to my ever-growing list

I used audiobooks to help me through The Dark Tower stuff. It's so much material. The narrator for most of it did a great job. Using audiobooks is a bit like flexing a muscle. It takes time to get it strong, and concentrate on the narrator. It was worth it. I'd still be reading those books if I didn't have audiobooks to help me through. I got through all of them within a year with time to spare. The Waste Lands was a favorite.

But you have to get through them to find out the ending.

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #7 posted 12/29/25 7:57pm

onlyforaminute

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I guess The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursuls K. Le Guin has to be it.

I'm backtracking on books now. Right now I have gone back to Colleen McCullough's First Man of Rome series.

Rereading The Broken Earth series again.

Ive gotten so slow with books I think that might be it for me.

Time keeps on slipping into the future...

This moment is all there is...

Reply #8 posted 12/29/25 8:28pm

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onlyforaminute said:
I guess The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursuls K. Le Guin has to be it. I'm backtracking on books now. Right now I have gone back to Colleen McCullough's First Man of Rome series. Rereading The Broken Earth series again. Ive gotten so slow with books I think that might be it for me.

At least you're reading! 📖

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #9 posted 12/29/25 8:43pm

TrivialPursuit said:

ShellyMcG said:

Thanks for adding more books to my ever-growing list

I tried an audiobook before. Not any of the Dark Tower stuff, it was something else, but the guy's voice annoyed me lol

. Not only that though, I just felt like I wasn't taking it all in. I can see the appeal of audiobooks for a lot of people but I don't think they're for me. I think that unless I'm actually reading the words I don't really seem to be able to follow the plot.

Reply #10 posted 12/31/25 3:09am

S2DG

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Currently in the middle of Peter Wolf's new book "Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses," and it's been a ride...

Reply #11 posted 01/03/26 1:08am

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This year I'm starting with The Man in the High Castle.

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #12 posted 01/10/26 5:27am

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OK, I was not a fan of Man in the High Castle. I was expecting the TV show to be a bit different from the book, but damn. Whole other story. I hated the prose. It felt stunted, and robotic.

I'm onto Stephen King's Bill Hodges trilogy. I've read Mr. Mercedes, and am just over the halfway point of Finders Keepers. They're straight up crime/mystery/thriller books, no supernatural, but still quite fun and entertaining.

Every day when I awake, the greatest of joys is mine: that of being ME.

Reply #13 posted 01/10/26 4:00pm

2freaky

Marion Nestle has a book on how greedy and deceptive grocery stores are and how they promote bad food.

Tell me how u wanna b done.