Well, it’s been another year.

It’s the first year that neither of us have worked, and that’s improved the quality of our lives.

In 2025, I read 83 books, an all-time high since I’ve been keeping track. Brad read 51. See the lists below.

Brad walked an amazing 1046 miles, more actually since he didn’t track every walk. I don’t keep track of my miles.

Weatherwise, we had 12.6 inches of rain. This is still a little below average, but better than the previous couple years. Our land has changed a lot because of the prolonged drought. The high temperature for the year was 105; the low 14.

---

Karen’s Reading List for 2025

(favorite books marked with ***; for the first time this year, I abandoned several books midstream that I didn’t find to my liking and also got through a couple audiobooks)

1. A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

2. The Way of the Hermit by Ken Smith 

3. Destination Wellness  by Annie Daly

4. Orfeo by Richard Powers

5. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

6. We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E Taylor

7. The Man Who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher

8. Remote: Finding Home in the Bitterroots by DJ Lee

9. Zen Mind, Beginner Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

10. One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey by Sam Keith

11. The Color of Everything by Cory Richards

12. The Man Who Cycled the World by Mark Beaumont

13. The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

14. A Race to the Bottom of Crazy by Richard Grant

15. Laughing Without an Accent by Firoozeh Dumas

16. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

17. The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters by Lorraine López

18. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

19. The Journey Home by Edward Abbey

20. The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May

21. The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

22. Still Life by Sarah Winman

23. Gathering Blossoms under Fire by Alice Walker

24. ** Home Made by Liz Hauck

25. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

26. The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

27. Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu

28. The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

29. ** The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing

30. ** New Moon (Luna #1) by Ian McDonald

31. Yellow Bird by Sierra Crane Murdoch

32. ** On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle

33. Wolf Moon (Luna #2) by Ian McDonald

34. My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

35. The Antidote by Karen Russell

36. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

37. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff 

38. ** Landlines by Raynor Winn

39. ** On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle

40. Orbital by Samantha Harvey

41. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu

42. The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

43. American Rust by Philipp Meyer

44. A Gardener at the End of the World by Margot Anne Kelley

45. Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant

46. ** Seed to Dust by Marc Hamer

47. A Sliver of Light by Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd

48. Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier

49. Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively

50. The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

51. ** West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

52. The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

53. The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

54. Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit

55. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

56. *** The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

57. Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

58. Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner

59. A Field guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit 

60. Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale by Lynda Rutledge 

61. The Round House by Louise Erdrich

62. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

63. The Measure by Nikki Erlick

64. The Exchange by John Grisham

65. Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow

66. The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

67. The Kinfolk Garden by John Burns

68. The Mercy of Gods by James SA Corey

69. Saving the World by Julia Alvarez

70. The Children of Men by PD James

71. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

72. The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane

73. M Train by Patti Smith

74. The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri

75. Crazy River by Richard Grant

76. Recursion by Blake Crouch

77. The Outsider by Stephen King

78. I Have Some Questions by Rebecca Makkai 

79. If It Bleeds by Stephen King 

80. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King 

81. Finders Keepers by Stephen King 

82. End of Watch by Stephen King 

83. Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

---

Brad’s Reading List for 2025

1 The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

2 We are Legion Bob

3 The Last Apothecary

4 We are many Bob

5 How the Penguins Saved Veronica

6 A Memory called Empire

7 Solo Leveling vol 1

8 Solo Leveling vol 2

9 Solo Leveling vol 3

10 Solo Leveling vol 4

11 Solo Leveling vol 5

12 Solo Leveling vol 6

13 Solo Leveling vol 7

14 Solo Leveling vol 8

15 The Book of Elsewhere

16 Everyone in My family has killed someone

17 The Ministry of Time 

18 Children of Time

19 A Desolation Called Peace

20 On the Calculation of Volume I

21 On the Calculation of Volume II

22 The Keeper of Lost Causes

23 The Absent One

24 Finders Keepers

25 A Conspiracy of Faith

26 The Blessing Way

27 Dancehall of the Dead

28 Rogue Male

29 Down Cemetery Road

30 Purity of Vengeance

31 The Spear Cuts Through Water

32 The Last Voice You Hear

33 A Pale Light in the Black

34 A Brightness Long Ago

35 Listening Woman

36 The Fellowship of the Ring

37 The Two Towers

38 The Return of the King

39 End of Watch

40 The Witchstone

41 Hold Fast Through the Fire 

42 Recursion

43 The Ghosts of Trappists

44 Why We Die?

45 Empire of the Damned

46 The Outsider

47 Stone and Sky

48 The Ghostway

49 Skinwalkers

50 American Psycho

51 Hidden Depths