Books, My 2025 Favorites, and More Meandering

I read 123 books in 2025.

This was down from 138 books read in 2024.

It's still a lot of books; i know that.

But.

My ability to concentrate was hampered by the state of things that interfered with my reading.  

It interfered with a lot of things.  

My state of general well-being resides at the top of the list.

Things aren't looking any better for this year.  

I seem to walk around in a state of unrest, angry, frightened, tearful, sad.

Exhausted.

And the constant never-ending drama of dispicableness of Washington DC and Maralago continues.

Today, the 6th of January, and I have yet to finish reading a single book.  I did start a book on Jan 1 which sounded good, but I kept thinking about a different book that seemed to be calling me.

So, I put down the first book, (which I hope to go back to), and picked up the second.

But then got distracted by things like football, and putting away a few Christmas sit-abouts, and that already mentioned constant never-ending drama of dispicableness of Washington DC and Maralago.

I've been writing and calling our non-existent congress almost every day, someimes more than once, and there you have it - a big ol' timesuck of my reading time.

Here's an example of me talking to me.  Every single day: "What to tackle today in emails and/or calls to congress?  Hmmm . . .  Health care, grocery prices, illegal destruction of the White House, those Epstein Files, Jack Smith, ICE, the ineptness if this administration, the, imo, corruptness of this administration, Venezuela, calls for impeachment, or or or WHAT?!?!!  There's just SO much!!!!"

But.  In the list of hopeful things is The Buddhist Monks (and Aloka) Walk for Peace which you can read about all over the internet.  Here's a good article published yesterday.

I have found comfort and solace following their walk. 

But anyhoooooo . . . after all the meandering . . .

Here's that list of favorite books I read last year.

We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls #1) by Karin Slaughter (William Morrow, 2025).

Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2025).

Apostle’s Cove (A Cork O'Connor Mystery) by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books, 2025).

My Beloved (A Mitford Novel) by Jan Karon (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2025).

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur Books, 2025).

Hunter’s Heart Ridge (A Franklin Warren and Alice Bellows Mystery) by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur Books, 2025).

Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union Publishing, 2025).

These Heathens by Mia McKenzie (Random House, 2025).

Through An Open Window by Pamela Terry (Ballantine Books, 2025).

That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White (Park Row, 2025).

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown, 2025).

The Look by Michelle Obama (Crown, 2025).

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe (William Morrow, 2025)

Mary Oliver - Poet/Prophet

 Of The Empire

We will be known as a culture that feared death

and adored power, that tried to vanquish insecurity

for the few and cared little for the penury of the

many. We will be known as a culture that taught

and rewarded the amassing of things, that spoke

little if at all about the quality of life for

people (other people), for dogs, for rivers. All

the world, in our eyes, they will say, was a

commodity. And they will say that this structure

was held together politically, which it was, and

they will say also that our politics was no more

than an apparatus to accommodate the feelings of

the heart, and that the heart, in those days,

was small, and hard, and full of meanness.

© 2008 by Mary Oliver

From her 2008 collection, Red Bird

Published by Beacon Press 2008

Today

 

Today is another day that I opened my eyes to yet another horror.

Those who voted for the unhinged man in our White House opened Pandora's Box and unleashed evil into the world.

They have to live with that and the consequences.

Sadly.  So do we.

So.

I will search out things to help ease the pain I feel in my heart.  The pain is real.  It is not forgiving.

If you're having similar feelings, join me in following Aloka and the Buddhist Monks on their Walk for Peace.  It will, I hope, help ease your heart.  ❤

https://www.facebook.com/share/1H5e4wVrXf/

https://www.facebook.com/share/1ANeLnuzuc/

We may not have a working congress, but for a short while we will be graced with these peace loving monks and a dog named Aloka (my vote for the next Nobel Peace Prize).

In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
   The flying cloud, the frosty light:
   The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

               - - -  Alfred Lord Tennyson  

   

Some Ramblings and Meanderings

In the past couple of years I have joined a few Facebook groups.  A couple of those groups have been really nice fits.  Some, however, have been filled with way too much drama for my tastes so I left (including one I started!).  Some just quietly drift away. 

Some of my newer FB friends I've met through these groups have gotten in touch with me regarding my recent Books I Read in 2025 post at my blog with questions about how this came to be.  

When I first started this blog in 2008, I had no idea what I wanted out of it, what its use would be (if any) or to whom (if anyone).

My first blog was a copy of a guest piece I did for The Stiletto Gang, which is still going strong although I no longer know most of the contributors.

It was a piece I wrote about giving up my smoking habit.  

https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2008/07/

It was tied to my first foray into the world of crime fiction conventions.  Beginning with Bouchercon 2008 in Baltimore, MD

https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2008/10/bouchercon-2008-my-first-bcon.html

From here Meanderings and Muses took a big step.

We started hosting members of the crime fiction community.  We hosted authors (both well known and yet to be published), publicists, agents, editors, bloggers and reviewers, librarians, and readers. 

https://www.kayebarleymeanderingsandmuses.com/2009/10/announcing-next-years-guests.html

The Meanderings and Muses hosting tradition continued for many years until it simply became bigger than I could handle.  Growing from occasional guests to two guests a week was more than I wanted and more than I could do if I wanted it done well.  But when I look back now and read some of those posts I know that what we created here is to be celebrated and treasured.  Who knew how many would become well known names on The NYT Bestseller List?  Major award winners?  That some of them would have their work adapted for TV and films?  It makes me proud.  

I would be remiss to not mention that I met a great many of these people through the legendary (truly!) DorothyL Website from back in internet infancy.  Michael and Diane Kovacs, along with Kara Robinson, created a virtual salon for crime fiction that created a home for many.  

During the years, Meanderings and Muses has served as a journal.  A place for me to reminisce about growing up, holidays with my folks, trips I've taken, books, essays and short stories I've had published.  And it led me to Maddee James and her amazing and highly regarded website development company, xuni.com.  Maddee and her team built me a pretty fabulous author webpage - https://kayewilkinsonbarley.com/books/ -  that continues to make me happy, even when I'm not writing and have nothing new to add there.  

Meanderings and Muses is kind of a "Dear Diary  . . ." that I can look back on and relive some nice memories, and reflect on some of the hard times.

I can type a word or a phrase, a subject or a name, a recipe name, a date or an occasion into the little Meanderings and Muses search box, hit "enter" and be presented with columns and pieces and pictures that I may have completely forgotten.

And, to get back on point, it's been a handy spot to keep lists of books I've read.

That, my friends, is (in answer to the original question)  how my recent Books I Read in 2025  post at my blog came to be. 

It sometimes takes me awhile to get to the point.  😄

As my dearest old friend, Michael Dean, used to ask, "Kaye Alan. Can you just give us the Reader's Digest version, please?"

And after all these years, the answer is still, with love and apologies to Michael, "No.  Apparently not."

Here's Wishing Everyone Lots of 

Happy Reading 

in the Upcoming New Year!

Books I Read in 2025

So.

On this day, in an effort to stay far far away from all the stuff in the news that is upsetting, I decided to put together my annual "Books I Read This Year" post a little early.

Since there are a few days left in 2025 and i have a couple of books lined up to enjoy, I'll add them once I've finished reading them.

These are all books I enjoyed, and enjoy recommending.

I'm not one to continue reading a book if it's not appealing to me. 

Some of these are Advance Reading Copies I was lucky enough to receive, so may not be available just yet - but worth the wait!  


Mixed in with the books is some "book art" I like. Some I've used in previous posts, some are new to me. I enjoy finding new (to me) artists as much as I enjoy finding new authors and poets.

Enjoy! I hope you find some new books and authors to add to your own list.

If you're an author and find your name on this list - Thank You!!!

• All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
• Them Bones by David Housewright
• Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer
• The Last Carolina Summer by Karen White
• 
  

• Booked for Murder by P.J. Nelson
• Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein
• Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts
• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
• 
  

• Nobody's Fool by Harlan Coben
• The Secret Library of Hanna Reeves by Christine Nolfi
• All the Signs by Jessie Rosen
• The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer
• 
  

• Through an Open Window by Pamela Terry
• The Safari by Jaclyn Goldis
• Our Last Vineyard Summer by Brooke Lea Foster
• Propaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak
• 
  

• The Light on Horn Island by Valerie Fraser Luesse
• The Doorman by Chris Pavone
• Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure by Rhys Bowen
• The Rebel of Seventh Avenue by Annabelle Marx
• 
  

• 
  
• The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase
• Death is a Caberet by Deborah Morgan
• Hunter's Heart Ridge by Sarah Stewart Taylor
• All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan

• The Bayrose Files by Diane Wald
• The Weedless Widow by Deborah Morgan
• The Marriage Casket by Deborah Morgan
• Four on the Floor by Deborah Morgan
• 
  

• At Home in the World:A Memoir by Joyce Maynard
• Under the Stars by Beatriz Williams
• The Majolica Murders by Deborah Morgan
• My Beloved by Jan Karon
• 
  

• The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time; A Memoir by Jane Bertch
• The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods
• Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger
• Falling for Provence by Alison Roberts
• 
  

• The Missing Pages by Alyson Richman
• The Gourmet Club by Michael A. Kahn
• The Sandy Page Bookshop by Hannah McKinnon
• The Tattered Cover by Ellery Adams

• 
  
• A Nice Class of Corpse by Simon Brett
• Mrs., Presumed Dead by Simon Brett
• Mrs. Pargeter's Package by Simon Brett
• Mts. Pargeter's Pound of Flesh by Simon Brett

• 
  
• Framed in Death by J. D. Robb
• Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman
• Just Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald
• The Bones of Point No Point by D.D. Black

• 
  
• The Shadows of Pike Place by D. D. Black
• The Fallen of Foulweather Bluff by D. D. Black
• The Horror at Murden Cove by D. D. Black
• The Terror in the Emerald City by D. D. Black

• The Drowning at Dyes Inlet by D. D. Black
• The Nightmare at Manhattan Beach by D. D. Black
• The Silence at Mystery Bay by D. D. Black
• The Darkness at Deception Pass by D. D. Black
• The Vanishing at Opal Creek by D. D. Black

• The Secrets of Second Beach by D. D. Black
• A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet
• We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
• Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter
• 
  

• The Island Club by Nicola Harrison
• The New Book by Nikki Giovanni
• The Secret Christmas Library by Jenny Colgan
• Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen
• 
  

• The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts
• The Dark Side of the Moon by Fiona Valpy
• Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell
• Last Seen by J.T. Ellison
• 
  

• Served Him Right by Lisa Unger
• The Lake House by Kate Morton
• Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
• The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton
• 
  

• The Storm by Rachel Hawkins
• Go Gentle by Maria Semple
• The Christmas Guest by Sally Royer-Derr
• Where Light Lingers by Ashley Farley

• Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb
• Once and Again by Rebecca Serle
• All My Bones by P. J. Nelson
• Old Books and Faded Dreams by D. L. Norris

• Everyday Enchantments by Maria F. DeBlassie
• The Women of Wild Hill by Kirsten Miller
• Life: A Love Story by Elizabeth Berg
• Sacred Light by Kathryn Lasky

• The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
• Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay
• The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor
• Pendergast by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

• The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles
• Sing Down the Moon by Robert Gwaltney
• Tata by Valerie Perrin
• In the Spirit of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

• Other People’s Summers by Sarah Morgan
• The Midnight Book Club by Emily W. Andersen
• The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave
• Edge by Tracy Clark

• Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter
• Dawnland: A Novel by Tess Callahan
• At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming
• The Red Queen by Martha Grimes

• The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth by Barbara O'Neal
• Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle
• The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty by Kirsten Mickelwait
• Young Fools by Liza Palmer

• The Saint Laurent Muse by C. W. Gortner
• A Paris All Your Own edited by Eleanor Brown
• The Engagements By J. Courtney Sullivan
• The Belles by Lacey N. Dunham

• 
  
• The Forget-Me-Not Library by Heather Webber
• The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
• These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
• Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron

• The Violet Hour A Lowcountry Tale by Victoria Benton Frank
• Cher: The Memoir (Part 1) by Cher
• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
• The Look by Michelle Obama

• Our Marriage is Murder by Carol Goodman   
• The Faraway Inn by Sarah Beth Durst
• The Keeper by Tana French
• Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel 
• 
  

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe (122 books) 

Heat of Paris by Peter Breyer