⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 History of zoning and land use policies that have contributed to housing shortages, affordability issues, limited mobility in the US. It was interesting if a little dry in some places.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I‘m not sure what this was supposed to be. It was a little bit memoir, but both held back quite a bit and included a lot of post divorce romantic encounters that didn‘t feel that important. It was part history of divorce. It was a little bit of divorce in popular culture. Many of the pieces were fine, but there combination didn‘t really add up to a meaningful narrative.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Similar style of interwoven vignettes with many characters from A Visit from the Goon Squad, loosely centered around the existence of technology that allows you to upload your memories to a shared consciousness in exchange for being able to access the memories of others who opt in. A lot to keep track of, and some stories were more compelling than others, but once I decided to just let it wash over me and catch what I could, I enjoyed it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Totally fine and nothing special. Book about Perl Jam told by a music critic and without new interviews or perspectives of the band. I wanted something that didn‘t ask much of me and this fit the bill. If you‘re into music biographies and/or Pearl Jam, it‘s worth a look.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked this, although maybe a bit less than others here. Interesting story of two women, or a woman and a family in the aftermath of post-WWII Netherlands. The subject and twist were interesting and the book was well written. I found the resolution of the main relationship not believable, which left me a little less enthusiastic than I might have been otherwise. #WPF25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I think I liked this #WPF25 short list pick better than most of the other Litsy reviewers. Definitely some self absorption, but from characters I found interesting because they and their circumstances are so different from mine. I enjoyed passively learning a bit about the Iranian revolution and the lives of characters who stayed and those who left. And I enjoyed over-the-top Shirin and her tiny steps toward growth by the end.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 This one is hard for me to rate. I struggle with Strout—I find many of her characters to be annoying and not people I would enjoy spending time with, so bringing together two characters I didn‘t care for in her previous books didn‘t endear this to me, but I did enjoy the Bob parts of the story here and that helped. Overall soft pick from the #WPF25 short list.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this pick from the #WPF25 short list. British Muslim academic gets a job with the UN developing a deprogramming/re-entry program for ISIS brides in Iraq, gets in over her head, and hijinks and self-discovery ensue. I liked getting to know and root for the MC before it became clear (to me) how problematic some of her behavior was, and also appreciated it mostly came from a good place and not pure self-absorption.

⭐️⭐️ The useful thing I took from this book was the suggestion to identify what‘s most important for you in this given period and to use that to make decisions about what to prioritize, and know that that may change from one period to the next. But overall, ugh, just so many lists, frameworks, and tortured acronyms to wade through with no payoff. PLAN stands for something but even after reading it I can‘t remember what. Between so-so and pan.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Gave this a shot after my Pride and Prejudice reread. It was fine, but also a little confusing (so many characters and relationships to keep track of), and the main relationships were a little (a lot) unbelievable. But Austen is Austen so it was also sharp and interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I needed something a little quiet that didn‘t require much from me and decided to reread (listen to) P&P. Yep, turns out I still love it. Free version on Audible with Rosalind Pike narrating was great. @Andrea313 love the memes from your recent posts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I hadn‘t been aware of this book until a physical therapist recommended it to me, and it was wonderful! Story of a girl and her foster parents outside of Munich during WWII, narrated by death. Fantastic characters, writing, and narration for the audiobook.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 This wasn‘t on my radar until I saw @Billypar post about it, but I really enjoyed it. I knew very little about Brandi Carlile before reading it, but enjoyed getting to know her, her family, and collaborators.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It took a long time for me to get into this—she spent a long time on her childhood and to me that part got bogged down a bit, but once she got to adolescence and adulthood and had more agency in her path and decisions it got more interesting. She seems wise and understanding and like a powerful matriarch, but also doesn‘t shy away from her imperfections. Ended up as a pick from #WPNF25.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Interesting look at the coming of age, education, and early careers of four women in China and the ways they managed their ambitions and passions given the resources and restrictions they faced. Their resilience and persistence were really admirable. A book I wouldn‘t have picked up if not for #WPNF25!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Really great book interweaving the stories of the children and families on either side of a pediatric heart transplant, the providers who cared for them, and the history of the medical breakthroughs required for transplants to occur. My only quibble is that the transitions between the timelines and the inclusion of the history was a little clunky at times, but overall a remarkable book and a strong pick from the #WPNF25 long list.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I became interested in Bishop Budde‘s work after her comments during the ceremony at her church after the inauguration. There are some calming words of wisdom, but I also found it a bit uneven, with a lot of focus on her specific career ups and downs in the middle. I did think it finished a little stronger. A bit of a softer pick than I expected it to be.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Delightful memoir of a woman who came across a struggling, abandoned juvenile hare and went on to raise it after realizing it couldn‘t be returned to its mother. I really enjoyed both her experiences and the documentation of the hare‘s behaviors, and the interweaving with biological and historical information. The end dragged a bit with the inclusion of some ecological advocacy, but overall a great #WPNF25 pick!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was well written, but I just don‘t think I can recommend a book that‘s the aimless young adulthood of a self-absorbed, mediocre white dude. What does he want? Who knows? Mostly just to sh*t on the people in his life who care for him and who actually try for and accomplish things. The writing was good, but there are more interesting stories out there. #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hoo boy… I get what people say about the MC making some… questionable and cringey decisions, but overall I did still like and root for her. #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Coming of age story of a woman who‘s ostensibly an alien sent to report about humans and Earth back to her home. It took awhile for me to connect either this—if it weren‘t for #ToB25 I probably would have bailed, but I found it much more interesting once she reached adulthood. I found many of her observations to be quite true and sweet.

⭐️⭐️💫 Unpopular opinion, but I didn‘t connect with this at all. Found the MC self absorbed and as a result just didn‘t really care about his obsession with martyrdom or any of the side stories from the other characters. I kept thinking “I don‘t care!” to myself and bumping up the playback speed to get it over sooner. Glad others enjoyed it more than I did! #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Solid pick from the #ToB25 short list. Lots of others have reviewed much better than I can. I loved that James was the hero, both of his own story and for so many others. And I loved that Everett got in, told the story, and let it wrap up—I feel like a lot of other authors would have added a couple hundred more unnecessary pages to the last part of the book and it didn‘t need them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lots of useful, tactical information about saving, investing, and deciding how to prioritize what to save for and what to leave alone. There are a lot of other ideas for couples having monthly meetings with agendas and scripts that I don‘t necessarily see myself using in the way he recommends, but I did get some useful information and ideas from it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I thought this would be essays about liking big, overdone things in a world trying to praise minimalism. It kind of was that, but in a much more cerebral/philosophical (and less accessible) way, with topics focusing more on gender roles and relationships and societal expectations (and probably a lot I forgot or just didn‘t really engage with) and not so much in praise of venti Starbucks orders. So philosophical that I just didn‘t care much.

I think this is going to be a DNF for me. Library loan is due and I just don‘t care enough to race through it. Not the book‘s fault, but I can‘t really get into the world of a fictional Obama staffer right now… 🤷‍♀️ #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ugh, that husband! 😡 This is one of those books where after reading it I thank my partner for not being a narcissistic nightmare. And even though he is a lovely person, this also made me glad to not be married and horrified at the treatment some women are trained to accept as normal. Infuriatingly readable. This one definitely stayed with me. #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 A book I never would have picked up if not for the #ToB25 short list! Unique structure of telling the stories if 8 teenage girl boxers as they fight in matches at a tournament in Reno. It was interesting enough while reading, but I finished it a few weeks ago and none of the characters or stories stayed with me. Soft pick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I liked this better than I expected. Three teenagers die under mysterious circumstances and are brought back to be part of a magical quest that affects them, their loved ones, and their town. Magic is not something I usually seek out, and this took a little bit for me to get into but I eventually did. I do feel like it was about 25% too long and the same ground could have been covered in fewer pages. Soft #ToB25 pick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Engaging history of reality TV, from a mid 20th century show about a California family through The Apprentice. It focuses on a subset of particularly influential/pivotal shows and follows the genre‘s evolution and impact on society. I‘m not much of a reality TV person, but this was interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am not religious but I find Fr. Boyle‘s books and way of approaching religion so comforting and inspirational, and this is no exception. Based on the premises that everyone is unshakably good (no exceptions) and that we all belong to each other (no exceptions) it‘s an aspirational way of looking at the world and the people in it, especially now with everything feeling so fractured. ❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really unique story of the friendship of two people who met in a hospital as kids, reconnected in college, and went on to be professional partners, but told through the sequence of the development and playing of video games. There were things I found frustrating and unrealistic, but I‘ve also never read anything like it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was interesting—a biography of Queen Elizabeth told through more than a hundred vignettes from throughout her life. I enjoyed the author‘s similar book, 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret. This one was long at 20 hours, but the vignettes break it up nicely. A pick for anyone predisposed to be interested in books about the royal family.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Series of essays that make a compelling case for her thesis that people love dead Jews and stories of dead Jews more than they care about the lives of the living Jews. Learned a lot (e.g, that last name changes on arrival at Ellis Island is a myth) and thought about unlit I‘d never really had to confront as a non-Jew. I found the narration a little grating, but otherwise a definite pick.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Stories of a woman and a couple who lived in and renovated the same Paris apartment at different times. Very contemplative, dealing with themes of marriage, monogamy, sexuality, parenthood, and feminism. It felt a lot like a more cerebral and less bananapants All Fours, which I just finished and didn‘t love, so I think that brought my view of this down a bit. Well written but a soft pick. #ToB25 #ToB25longlist

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I didn‘t love this. The writing was engaging and I got through it quickly but I just did not connect with the MC. There were some interesting pieces of commentary about women‘s sexuality and relationship structures and menopause, but by the time they came around I wasn‘t willing to give the MC a pass for being a self-absorbed jerk. #ToB2025 #ToB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I‘m torn on this one. The author highlights important areas where boys lag behind girls (rates of maturation, educational attainment) and ways particularly Black boys experience discrimination and the structural issues they face in school and society. He‘s careful to make clear he does not want to improve outcomes for boys and men at the expense of women. He loses me when talking about how now that women don‘t “need” men, ⬇️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Finally read this one. Took awhile to get going but then I mostly enjoyed the separate but overlapping (back)stories of several characters who were important in the lives of a divorced music executive and his assistant. Well written and engaging, but I didn‘t necessarily like or care much about most of the characters, and the last section was a little bizarre. I did enjoy it, though.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 What a trip… Separate short stories of rejection (feminist dudebro no women want to sleep with, woman romantically obsessed with a friend, etc.) that veer into the very explicit, and then into someone creating an online bot universe? Finishes with a “rejection letter” to the author about the book‘s flaws. I liked some, some went maybe farther than necessary, and the end got too navel-gazey for me. Soft/equivocal pick. #ToB25 #Tob2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lovely and charming, like Ina Garten herself. It‘s probably exactly what you think it is—Garten telling her story, starting with childhood with emotionally difficult parents, falling in love with Jeffrey as a teenager, and then her paths through school, travel, education, and work all the way to Barefoot Contessa and TV. Perfectly enjoyable, not difficult or surprising.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this more than I expected to. Silver digs into what the calls “The River,” characterized by people who take big, calculated risks in order to maximize payoffs and profiles and interviews professional gamblers, Silicon Valley founders, cryptocurrency inventors and others to illustrate several related concepts. The last few chapters include a philosophical look at the potential outcomes of AI. It was interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Starting to work my way through the #ToB2025 shortlist, and liked this one! I enjoyed following Margo as she navigated financial, legal, family, moral, and personal issues after getting pregnant by her community college English professor. She was flawed but relatable and I really rooted for her. Great overall cast of characters.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Look at fat phobia from a formerly/“small” fat philosopher. The moral philosophy about what we “owe” others in society was interesting, but a lot of the stuff about issues fat people face in society has been covered better by others, like Aubrey Gordon. Her conviction about abandoning diet culture fell a little flat considering she recently lost 60 lbs. and is in a smaller body, and the coverage of GLP-1s seemed hastily tacked on to the end

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was on the #ToB2025 long list, but it didn‘t really work for me. Set in dystopian version of the Great Lakes, MC and his wife take in a boarder who it turns out is on the run and that sets off a chain of unfortunate events. My issue was that it wasn‘t clear what the MC wanted other than avoiding bad things, so not really compelling. And the resolution seemed to come out of nowhere. 🤷‍♀️ Glad when it was done.

⭐️⭐️💫 Meh. I almost bailed but decided to finish purely to try to catch up on a yearly reading goal I‘m behind on. This felt so much longer than 320 pages. Some of it was that this was just different than I expected. A lot of the friendships profiled really were more profound partnerships even if not sexual. I guess that was partially the point, but I just found this book more tedious and annoying than informative or interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Story of 4 teen daughters of a wealthy Iranian American entrepreneur who were supposed to star in a Kardashian style reality show that was delayed due to COVID. I was initially put off by a very silly opening where one daughter was trying to change her birthday in order to be a different astrological sign. It tended a little vapid, but it eventually got more substantive and interesting.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Been looking forward to #LitsyToB25 but realized I‘ve only read 2 of the #ToBlonglist 😬, so getting started with what‘s easily available. A 4 year old was partly involved in her friend‘s accidental death and wrestles with the mental and emotional fallout from that and its toll on her and her close relationships until she‘s finally able to address her guilt. Got a little slow in the middle but picked back up and finished strong.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I enjoyed this because I like R.E.M. and enjoyed learning about them and their careers. It didn‘t do a great job of giving a picture of each member‘s distinct personalities, and there was a lot of music review writing, which is appropriate but not my favorite thing to read. But it was also great nostalgia for some music I have loved and that‘s been prominent at different times of my life. Worth a read for R.E.M. fans.

Meh. I was really looking forward to this, but at 38% I‘m thinking it may be a bail. The examples so far are all of pretty young people, and a couple are actually more explicitly partnerships rather than friendships. All of that is fine but not what I was hoping for, and I‘m finding it kind of boring.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved this. I found the meditations on why it‘s important to do the right thing because it‘s the right thing to do, even when it seems pointless or hard or when you won‘t get credit for it to be very comforting and inspirational, especially in light of what‘s going on politically right now.