what I read this winter
To close out 2025, which was a great year for blogging/reading and a shit year for just about everything else, I thought I'd talk about all of the books I read this winter! I had a great reading year, going over my goal of 20 books and finding many new favorites. I recently received an e-reader for my birthday which I talked about in a recent post, and it's helped me quicken my reading pace and read in bed without my wrists hurting or getting icked out by weird paperback textures. I mention that because most of these books were read on my e-reader through Libby, which is a very cool and very free way to access e-books through your local library and transfer them to your e-reader. Introduction aside, let's get into the books.
ʚ ═══･୨ November ୧･═══ ɞ
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988)
This is a book I read for a class (two classes technically since it was also assigned to me last semester, but... whoops) and ended up deeply enjoying! The class was an African women's literature course, which focused on 1970s-90s fiction written by women from several African countries. This novel was my favorite of those assigned, as I eat up a coming of age story and a fraught sibling dynamic like it's nobody's business. I thought the portrayal of Nyasha's eating disorder was ahead of its time for 1988 and appreciated its symbolic and direct meaning. We discussed the novel at length in class and I was very invested in that discussion. Points all around!
I Am Your Sister by Audre Lorde (1988)
Lorde's essay "I Am Your Sister" is part of a larger collection of essays, A Burst of Light, which I also read for a class (clearly there is a trend of me not reading outside of homework during the semester...) on literature/film of the African diaspora in Europe. We watched a documentary of Audre Lorde's feminist work in Berlin and read this collection of essays, but I chose to reference this one specifically in my reading log because it was my favorite of the collection. It's short but very poignant and just as relevant today as ever.
Making and Faking Kinship by Caren Freeman (2011)
You're never going to guess why I read this. Yup. Class. Though I was only assigned a short portion of this book for an anthropology course on Asian migration and globalization, I ended up reading the entire book because the topic was so interesting. It follows marriage and labor migration between China and South Korea, particularly through the practice of rural South Korean men seeking brides from rural Chinese villages. The ethnography delves into the perspectives of several couples and even the matchmaking industries themselves to discover the motivations behind all involved parties for agreeing to enter these arranged marriages. Even if you have no interest in anthropology, it's an engaging and interesting read, especially when paired with the BBC documentary Heartbound (2018) which also explores arranged marriages but between rural Thai women and lonely bachelors in a small Danish fishing village.
November 10
Foxglovewise by Ange Mlinko (2025) 
"You stare into it for days, all your life, as if waiting for a curtain to rise."
Foxglovewise is a new poetry collection from Ange Mlinko which I chose to write about for my American women's poetry seminar. I really enjoyed the collection's explorations of nature, childhood, agency, and existentialism. If you're into contemporary poetry, I'd defintely give this a read. My favorite poems were "The Open C" and "Radishes", which you can read for free online from The New Yorker.
November 29
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (2017)
"Etsuko had failed in this important way-- she had not taught her children to hope, to believe in the perhaps absurd possibility that they might win. Pachinko was a foolish game, but life was not."
This has to be my favorite read of the entire year. I've wanted to read this book for at least five years, but was always deterred due to the length. I also watched the series on Apple TV based on this novel back when it aired, so I felt like the book wasn't going to effect me as deeply since I already knew what happened. Oh, boy, was I wrong. I downloaded this on my e-reader and absolutely flew through it in about four days. I was enraptured by the narrative, which is rare for me when it comes to these multi-perspective/multi-generational stories, since there's usually one character or plot I care about less than the others. But in this case, I think the character of Sunja as a kind of anchor throughout the story kept me engaged, as everything that happens branches out from her choices and sacrifices at the beginning of the story. The writing style was right up my alley and prioritized communication over aesthetic most of the time, but still managed to emotionally affect me with its brutal honesty. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the various settings in the novel, and I could imagine what characters like Sunja were seeing when they remembered their childhood home. I also found that the TV show barely scratched the surface of what is explored in the novel, and having seen what happens still didn't prepare me for all the twists and turns. The ending of this book destroyed me. I have multiple selfies of me in my camera roll snot-faced and crying. If you have immigrant parents, read this if you also enjoy crying!
November 30
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)
“They were all so nice and it was just excruciating. I was never taking off the helmet again. I can't do even the half-assed version of this stupid job if I have to talk to humans.”
Ah, yes, the beginning of my Murderbot obsession. I picked this up on my e-reader looking for something quick and breezy to read on a random weekend, and found myself obsessed with this emotionally stunted, homicidal, hilarious robot and his adventures. This first installment in the series is an absolute romp! It's about a two hour read and I finished it in one sitting immediately hungry for more. It has a lot of action, but also some tender character moments that I really loved. If you're into emotional character development and action-packed space adventures, you'll love this series!
ʚ ═══･୨ December ୧･═══ ɞ
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (2009)
Don't ask me why I read this, because I really don't have an answer for you. I think final exams were making me loopy. I started this because I had never seen the series on Prime and didn't understand just how much worse the source material was. I thought it would be cute. It wasn't. I thought it would be fun and silly. It wasn't. Two and a half stars. The extra half is because I had fun ranting to everyone I know how terrible this book is.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (2018)
This is the second book in the Muderbot series. I actually didn't enjoy this one as much as the first, but I liked seeing Murderbot venture out on his own and try to find himself. I also enjoyed the world building beyond the planet we begin the story on, as we explored more of the Corporation Rim side of this world in this installment. Not much to say here since the books are pretty short. I didn't not like this by any means, as I quickly moved onto the third book, it just wasn't my favorite. It was a lot of step-by-step actions and less character-driven than I typically go for.
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells (2018)
The rest of this list is just going to be Murderbot. I hope that's okay with you. My final exams had ended by this point, so I was trying my darnedest to speed through the Murderbot series about as quickly as I could before my adult responsibilities caught back up with me. I enjoyed this book more than the one before due to the character moments throughout, though Wells still tends to go on tangents about exactly what Murderbot is doing/thinking at any given moment (which isn't always necessary to understand what's going on).
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (2018)
This one was a solid four stars for me! I loved seeing Muderbot's more vulnerable and emotional side, and it tied up some loose ends from the previous two books. It felt like the side quests of the previous books had resolved in a satisfying way and a new era was beginning for Murderbot. The end actually made me well up a bit, which earns it plenty of points because it takes a lot for me to cry at a book (unless it's Pachinko, in which case I'll cry just thinking about it).
Network Effect by Martha Wells (2020)
"Fuck, fuck everything, fuck this, fuck me especially."
Talk about a strong finish to the year! This is the 5th installment in the Muderbot series and also the first novel-length installment. Though it was over double the usual length of a Muderbot story, I still sped through it and loved every second! This was a nearly five star read for me, and I loved it even more than the first book. It was very character-driven and emotional, and I loved the alien contamination plot. It was engaging, chaotic, vulnerable, and fun! Though Wells gets a little too wrapped up in the technical elements of her stories sometimes, it wasn't anything that made me like the book any less. For me, Muderbot is like watching a blockbuster movie, but in book form, so my expectations aren't much beyond "Did I have fun?" In this case, yes, I had tons of fun.
Currently Reading:
Just Kids by Patti Smith (2010)
Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt (2025)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (2011)
I'm currently working my way through a few shorter books and trying to wrap up my half-read TBR that I abandoned back in November for Muderbot. I tried watching the series on Apple TV for the Muderbot series (called Muderbot), but didn't like it as much as the books and gave up three episodes in. I hope 2026 is an even better reading year (and everything else year) for me, and I'll keep you posted if I actually end up reading all the books for class I'm supposed to.