Book List

Let's face it, if you're a reader then you're in the market for book recommendations.  I write about the books that I'm currently reading in my weekly posts and do a "best of the best" list in my year end wrap up, but after accidentally writing an "everything I read in 2022" post I thought it would useful to keep a live page of this year's books.

• 2022 book list (at the end of the post)
• 2023 book list 
• 2024 book list (ain't got time for that?  Here is the Reader's Digest version, aka a spreadsheet)
  
• 2025 book list (you really don't have time for that...here is the spreadsheet)

Here is the real time list of what I'm reading in 2026.  I'll keep this page updated and then archive it into a regular post at the end of the year.

Just want to see a spreadsheet instead of my ramblings?  Here is my 2026 books spreadsheet.

How I rate books

100% based on emotion.  My scale is:

DNF: did not finish.  This doesn't mean that it was a bad book, just that it was the wrong book at the wrong time for me.  My goal in life is to DNF anything that doesn't work for me ASAP in order to make room for the right book to come in.

Skim: again, this does not mean that it was a bad book, it just means that I got bored or had some other issue but chose to skim rather than DNF.

Meh: I finished it.

Good: means exactly what it says, this is a good book that I would recommend to others.

Love: I adored this book.

OMG 😻😻😻: this book gave me all the feels and made my toes curl.

Disclaimer about DNF's and negative comments: it takes two to tango.  If I didn't like a book, that's a reflection on both the book and me.  I used to avoid saying anything negative about anything, but I think that it's helpful for you to see what I don't like so that you can assess how well my reading tastes line up with yours.  I just want to be very clear that because I don't like something at a particular moment in time doesn't mean that it's bad or that it won't work for you.  I also like to point out that my number of published books is zero, so it's at least one less than any author whose work I don't like.

2026 Booklist

Best Laid Plans: A Simple Planning System for Living a Life That You Love by Sarah Hart-Unger.  The title says it all.  I've been listening to the Best Laid Plans podcast for a few years, and this book is a "one stop shop" of  the author's planning principles that have made it possible to be a physician/spouse/parent/blogger/podcaster/author/and all of the slashes to come.  I finished the book, but I am not "done" with it and will be referencing it again.

• How I heard about it: technically I heard about it on the Best Laid Plans podcast, but this one justified adding a new source category to my spreadsheet: I know the author!  I had the pleasure of having lunch with SHU last year.

Discontent by Beatriz Serrano.  When work is a little much, so you get through the day by watching YouTube videos and popping pills.  This book was a delightful ride.

• How I heard about it: Newspaper book review (either NYT or WaPo).

The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins (audio).  A rundown of everything that ya oughta know about money, including that it's not difficult.  I've heard the author on a billion podcasts and read his blog, and this is one of the money books that I recommend when people ask me about my own investing journey.  This is how I would have done things if I had it to do all  over again.

• How I heard about it: Purple (someone who read the book and did the thing).

Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton.  Kinsey takes on a cold case as a favor to a friend, and finds that the path leads close to home.

• How I heard about it: continuing the series.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks (audio).  When it's the 1660s and you're a young widowed mother and you wish you could time travel to 2020 and go through COVID instead.

• How I heard about it: book club

The Pelee Project: One Woman's Escape from Urban Madness by Jane Christmas (audio).  When you need a break so you spend the winter on a small island.

• How I heard about it: I went to Pelee Island in the summer of 2023, so when I saw this book mentioned on the Pelee Island Facebook page I dropped everything to snap it up.  I'm glad that I didn't know about this book before I went, because I can tell that a lot of things changed on the island between when this book was written in 2001 and 2023.

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny.  When you're new in town and you meet the man of your dreams...and everyone else in your town thinks so too.

• How I heard about it: repeat business for an incredible author!

Currently Reading

Heart the Lover by Lily King.  When you're a college senior living in a dump with no heat and you meet two guys who are living in a professor's house with a bunch of heat and then some.

• How I heard about it: everyone has heard of this.  It's the hot It book of the moment.