Books I Read in 2025: Year End Round Up
Yo! This is gonna be fun. I am so proud of what I’ve read this year! Especially because at the tail-end of 2024 I made the shocking realization that although, I had vlogged consistently every week — which was its own accomplishment — I spent SO MANY HOURS editing said vlogs that I sacrificed reading.
Reading is an absolute passion of mine (Sag stellium, lifetime learner here) so I made the choice to stop vlogging in 2025 and focus on the *british accent* literature. Here’s my year end round up broken down into physical, audio, partner read, with my kids category, what’s in progress and honorable mention references… The bonus? A glimpse into books I bought. Muah!
PHYSICAL
One of the deepest joys of my life is picking out books at the library or thrifting books.
Spider Woman: A Story of Navajo Weavers and Chanters by Gladys Reichard
My perfect intersectionality. As I was venturing on taking my spider identity from the metaphysical relationship to the physical skillset through hand-weaving and firing up the old sewing machine, this book was gifted to me and paralleled that sentiment.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Jean-Yves LeLoup
This felt like a practical place to start developing a relationship with Mary… Reading this aligned with her feast day and a time of singing with sisters in a plant-loving choir while learning a song about wild healing of the rose and thorn.
Descent to the Goddess by Sylvia Brinton Perera
I have deemed this a must read for all women in my life. I had not read Inanna’s journey in such detail before… I fell hard for this book’s concise nature (100 pages), Jungian perspective and raw reflections of descent. It encouraged my processing of specific sisterhood challenges and wounds.
Norse Mythology A to Z by Kathleen Daly
Technically, I found this book in the youth section. I went on a major heritage journey with my Norse side for most of the year and began with the very basics. I’ll be telling much more detail about my quest into the mystery of the runes in a future blog but this is where I started.
The Beginner’s Guide to Runes: Divination and Magic with the Elder Futhark Runes by Josh Simonds
After developing an understanding of Norse legends, I continued on with studying the roots of the runes.
Runelore: The Magic, Mystery and Hidden Codes of the Runes by Edred Thorsson
OK, so I didn’t make it all the way thru this one. I used it as a cross-reference for my primary rune notes.
AUDIO
Briefly, Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End by Alua Arthur
This book, written by a death doula, was recommended to me at the most serendipitous time. In 2024 I felt spiritually pregnant leading me to give spiritual birth in the spring of this year. Because birth and death are on the same continuum, this book served to support my pondering and many drives to and from Denver.
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
Like I said, I wanted to prepare for my spiritual birth and felt drawn to the topic. At times, this material felt dry but in the context of the era it was written, wise and edgy. Inspiring nonetheless, goddess bless the birth workers.
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt
Maybe you know that I draw a Wild Unknown Archetype card once moon cycle on the new lunation. Every once in a while I embrace the “go deeper” recommendation. This listen was inspired by The Shaman card’s details from Kim Kran’s deck.
Hilma af Klint: A Biography by Julia Voss
This was very long. It lulled me to sleep most nights I tried to listen. It was wild to hear about Hilma’s devotion to her spiritual life creations conjured over a century ago.
The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara
I breezed through this story. It was such a unique book — it was like jazz.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho *PARTNER READ*
I like to read or listen to this book once a year. This time, my husband, Nate, and I listened to this classic together as a practice of devotion to our union. It served as a path of growth in non-sexual intimacy and shared intellectual experience.
IN PROGRESS, DETERMINED TO FINISH…
When God Was A Woman by Merlin Stone
I am dedicated to this HERstory, its just more “textbook” than I anticipated. Especially coming to this right after the zippy Descent of the Goddess, the reading is slower moving.
The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger
Just trust that there’s a magical, synchronistic reason behind why I pick up any book. This is no exception, however, it is quite technical at times — interviewing scientists and exploring their research. For the love of plants, I will eventually finish this!
Niki De Saint Phalle (Auto)Biography by Nicole Rudick
Once again, fascinated by the ins and outs of a female artist’s life and inspirations. She was edgy and raw.
HONORABLE REFERENCE MENTIONS
These are books that might be nutty to read cover to cover but are there for me (often) when I want a li’l flip through or need to do some research.
The Book of Symbols by Taschen
This had been on my wishlist. I checked it out from the library but ordered my own copy straight away. I’ve paged through it front to back on multiple occasions and adore it for deepening personal divination and dream associations.
Color Magic for Beginners by Richard Webster
This was my primary book source for the color symbolism blog + email series along with the aforementioned book of symbols. I’d like to explore the mandala section with more thoroughness in the future.
Goddesses and Heroines by Patricia Monaghan
What I appreciate about this book is it’s cross-cultural and cross-continental coverage. It’s beyond euro-centric and relatively robust as a starting point for more studying.
WITH MY KIDS
Of course, I’ve read countless picture books with my sweeties but this year we did more chapter books. I am especially impressed by Daphne’s attention span for the continuity of a longer book. It’s been exciting! So, I mentioned some here.
The Witchlings Book 1 by Claribel Ortega
It’s a bit of an age stretch for my son (age 9) conceptually but it’s magical and adventerous enough to keep him engaged and me sentimental for girlhood.
The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
Curious enough.
Stella and Marigold Books by Annie Barrows
These made me laugh out loud. Such clever details written as an honest depiction of children’s psyches. I saw my daughter, Daphne (age 4), in Marigold’s character for sure.
Oliver’s Great Big Universe: Volcanos are Hot! by Jorge Cham
My son Rex is a science lover. This gave him technical details in a fun, comic style.
BOOKS I BOUGHT
Books I *bought* in 2025 is a whole different story. My (color-coded) shelves are filling in as you can see. This year I discovered my LIBRARY SELLS BOOKS! Sorry for shouting.
Actually, it’s a sister-like, volunteer organization that sells books for the library to fundraise. They have amazing gems. Such gems that I realized one of the boutique thrift stores does their shopping at the library, too. I only caught on midway through the year but I made the last 2 seasonal sales of Friends of the Library and you know I did a haul and another haul. Watch those reels here: FALL THRIFT BOOK HAUL ⊹ WINTER THRIFT BOOK HAUL