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The year is half over! Can you believe it? How's everybody holding up? Are you doing okay?

If you're reading this on the day it's posted, I'm in the middle of Hell week at work. July 4th is the busiest day of the year at state parks. Then it's the weekend, which is always chaotic at parks. Also, the fiscal year is ending (and beginning), and I work in the revenue department when I'm not dealing with traffic, tourists, problems, etc. Basically, the world is conspiring to kill me. I'm so tired.

Anyway, let's talk about books. I've read 26 of them this year, which is abysmal. Every year, I read fewer and fewer books. I miss reading! I just don't have time for it.

In better news, my book buying ban worked. In 2022, I decided to stop buying books until I read all the unread books on my shelf. I accomplished my mission in May 2025. I currently own 0 unread books. That's pretty cool. Let's discuss the best and worst of what I read.

Mid-Year Reading Check-In

Best book you've read so far in 2025?

I read two excellent medical-themed books. The first is I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us And A Grander View Of Life by Ed Yong. I spend more time than I'd like to admit thinking about "bad" microbes. I don't give much thought to the others. This book is about the others!

Have you ever been curious about the microbes that live on (and in) you? Why are they there? What do they do? It turns out that they kind of do everything. They make up part of your immune system and help you digest food. They can even influence your behavior. Humans aren't the only ones who rely on microbes to stay healthy. Microbes are in plants, animals, dirt, and the air we breathe. Everything is an ecosystem.

For a biology book, it's extremely accessible. You don't have to Google anything to decipher what the author is yapping about. He talks about a wide variety of fascinating microbes and what they do for the humans and animals they have colonized.

I like the author's honesty about microbe science. There is so much we don't know. He talks about the research currently being done, but there are no conclusions in this book. The author will spark your curiosity and then give you no answers. If you're okay with that, I highly recommend this one.

The second excellent book is Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End by Atul Gawande. The author is a surgeon who works with cancer patients. He talks about his personal experience with people who are at the end of their life, and he shares his research on nursing homes and other options for people who can no longer live independently.

I love this book because it's relevant to every reader. We'll all die eventually. The author argues that medicine isn't always the answer to every health problem. Medicine has advanced so much that we can keep people's bodies alive long after their brains are dead. Should we be doing that? Are we prolonging life, or just prolonging suffering?

For me, the most interesting part of the book is the conversation about what makes life worth living. That's a question that each individual person has to think about. Ideally, it's something you think about and write down before you become sick. Do you want a long life if you're unconscious and being kept alive by machines? Do you want a long life if the pain medication stops working? What about food and mobility? Could you live the rest of your life with a feeding tube? What if you're conscious but unable to move on your own?

This is one of those rare books that I think everybody should read.

Best sequel you've read so far in 2025?

I'm in the process of rereading all The Hunger Games books. Every book is my favorite! No matter how many times I reread the series, I'm still shocked by the plot twists.

New release you haven't read but want to?

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins. The whole reason I'm rereading The Hunger Games right now is because I want to remind myself what happened before I tackle the new book. I'm so freakin' excited. I hope it's good.

Anticipated release for the second half of 2025?

Maybe this book doesn't count because it came out in June, but I want to read Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How The Golden Era Of The Simpsons Changed Television—And America—Forever by Alan Siegel. The Simpsons is my favorite TV show, and I grew up watching it during "The Golden Era," which was the 1990s. Now there's a whole book about how the show shaped American culture.

Biggest disappointment?

Unpopular opinion, but I'm deeply irritated at Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I read it when I had a respiratory infection and was too sick to work for a week. Maybe that's partially why I hated it? I spent a week rotting on the floor, struggling to breathe, and reading this massive book.

The book is long, and boring, and poorly written. Claire needs her nursing license revoked. Also, I couldn't stop thinking about Claire's husband and how she seems to have no issue cheating on him. I think I hate every character in this book except Claire's husband.

Biggest surprise?

The Song Of Orphan's Garden by Nicole M. Hewitt. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a middle grade fantasy novel written in verse. How do you cram all that world building into poems? I shouldn't have worried. It was very good!

The Song Of Orphan's Garden is about three kids who are all looking for the same garden. They live in a world where it's always winter, but the gardens are warm and full of food. They provide relief from the snow and ice. Unfortunately, they're guarded by giants who make the humans pay an entry fee.

Two of the characters are humans. The third is a giant. When the three of them meet in an unguarded garden, they have to put their differences aside and work together to save the dying garden.

There is so much to love about this book! My favorite element is the imagery. I like the idea of summer islands in an ocean of winter.

I like that we get to see both sides of the human/giant conflict. The characters have valid reasons to be angry at each other. They also have legends about how the other side wronged them. As the story progresses, the kids learn that legends might not be true, and that saving the world requires you to work with your "enemies." We only have one planet. We're all in this together.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It's a quick, sweet read with loveable characters.

Favorite new author?

Maybe Ed Yong? Science confuses me, but I Contain Multitudes is extremely accessible. It sparked a new obsession with microbes. Now I've read a bunch of articles about the human microbiome and what it does. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in nature stuff.

Favorite character?

I'm not the biggest fan of Mark Twain, but the most memorable character I've encountered this year is Tom Sawyer from The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer. He sure is rambunctious. I can see why this book is a classic. It was first published in the 1870s, but Tom reminds me of the boys I grew up with in the 1990s and early 2000s. I guess outdoorsy boys are all the same.

Book that made you happy?

The Archived duology by Victoria Schwab. These two fantasy books reminded me why young adult fiction is so addictive. The duology is about an alternate dimension where ghosts are stored like library books. Sometimes the ghosts wake up and try to escape from the library. It's our main characters' job to leave our world, enter the ghost world, and put the ghosts back on the shelf. The ghosts don't always go quietly.

These books are fun. They're twisty, angsty, mysterious, creative. There's even a love triangle. I couldn't stop reading. I enjoyed learning about the world where ghosts are archived. It's an intriguing take on the afterlife that I haven't seen before. I'm sad that this series got canceled. I would have happily read more books. There's so much that the author could do with the ghost library.

I want more books. I have questions!

Favorite book adaptation?

YOU season 5 happened. Of course I loved it. I'm sad that the series is over, but I'm glad they didn't drag it out forever, and I like how it ended. If you have Netflix and enjoy psychological thrillers, then it's worth watching. Here's a summary:

What would you do for love? For Joe, an intense young man who frequently becomes smitten with beautiful, smart women, this question is put to the test. A charming yet awkward crush becomes something more sinister when love turns into obsession for Joe. Using social media and the internet, he uses every tool at his disposal to become close to the women of his dreams, even going so far as to remove any obstacle—including people—that stands in his way of getting to them.

Most beautiful book you bought in 2025?

I've only bought one book this year. Is it beautiful? No. It looks like it was made by a fourth grader who just learned how to put gradient backgrounds on her PowerPoint slides.

I bought this book because it was prescribed by my doctor. Actually, I was talking with my doctor about self-help books and if they actually help. He said this one helped him while he was in medical school. It's called Feel The Fear . . . And Do It Anyway: Dynamic Techniques For Turning Fear, Indecision, And Anger Into Power, Action, And Love by Susan Jeffers, PhD.

What book do you need to read by the end of the year?

I have to finish Feel The Fear because I bought it. I'm excited for Sunrise On The Reaping and desperately want to read that. Also, while wasting time in a local store, I found a book about historical attempts to climb Pike's Peak. It looks like the type of book a grandpa would read on vacation, but I guess I'm becoming a grandpa because the bits I read were super interesting. I might go back and buy it after I finish Feel The Fear. I don't remember what it was called. (Apparently, I'm becoming a grandpa with dementia.)

Do you want to answer these questions on your blog? Go for it!