All the Books I Read
I don’t do new years resolutions, I do new years goals.
I write down goals for skiing and biathlon all the time, this practice should not be exclusive to other goals I want to achieve in life. Sometimes I have to remind myself I am more than an athlete, I am a whole person too.
In 2025, I made the goal to read one book per month, just twelve books. For a long time, I have said I want to get back into reading but just wasn’t doing it. I put pen to paper and made myself accountable of this goal.
Without further ado, here are all the books I read in 2025 and a quick quip about them.
January: The Animal One Thousand Miles Long by Leath Tonino
A book all people moving to Vermont should read. I gained a new appreciation for what makes this state a wonderful place. It was a slow read and I did have to get past the author’s ego.
February: Death Valley by Melissa Broder
I bought this book at the airport because I liked the cover, I will admit that. This book was weird. It touched themes of loss, love, and a lot of hallucinating in the desert.
March: The Lunar Housewife by Caroline Woods
A gift from my sister, Meredith, not something I would normally pick for myself and I LOVED IT. A little cold war history theme, a little love, a little feminist power, an easy page turner.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
I read two books this month! I really felt myself calming down when I was reading and wanted to keep that feeling going. This is a classic that largely talks about what you can do to be 1% better every day.
April: Jack Reacher: Persuader by Lee Child
Definitely not something I would ever pick up for myself. It is a total boy book that is a part of a series about an ex-military police guy that goes undercover and always gets the girl. It was fun to read (I begrudgingly admit.)
Going Infinite by Micheal Lewis,
April is the one month off from training and racing and thinking, so I dived into more books with all my spare time. This is a biography about an early crypto currency tycoon who rises and falls within a few years. A lot of it was jargon that is out of my depth, but still consumable because it was written a bit like gossip.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
I got this on a sale table at the book store and absolutely loved it. As you read, you are faced with mortality, heart break, and question what life is really worth. It was a very dark theme but it was written in a really beautiful way.
May: Still Life by Sarah Winman
I love a book with a little history theme and this was no exception. It follows the lives of two people from very different backgrounds, finding each other again post WWII and the joy that comes from friendship and found-family.
June: Two in the Far North by Margret E Murie
I actually started this book three years ago, but I put it down and took a long time to come back to it. The book is true stories about early research and exploration in remote Alaska, but told by the experiences of the woman who accompanied her husband, the researcher, on these trips. These were epic journeys and even crazier once there is a baby involved. Absolutely astonishing what people did back in the day.
July: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
I was house sitting this summer and saw this book on the shelf, so I decided to read it during my stay. It actually has nothing to do with wolves, like at all. You don’t even really learn what is happening until the last chapter. It is very cryptic and was hard to follow, I didn’t like it, but I felt like I had to finish it to get answers on what the heck is happening.
August: none
I started the book I finished below in September, but I got glutened really badly. I felt guilty I didn’t read, but I simply couldn’t. A huge part of gluten getting in my system is the brain fog, I couldn’t understand what I was reading. I had a migraine for weeks, it hurt to try to focus my eyes, and my hands lose a lot of motor skills so it becomes very painful to hold things, I simply couldn’t hold the book open. I chose to be gentle with myself, that it is okay I won’t hit my goal this month.
September: An Arsonists Guide to Writers Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
I stole this book from a coffee shop but I think that is the point. Surely a coffee shop doesn’t have floor to 20-foot-high ceiling book shelves just for decoration. This book was also really weird and also clearly written for a male perspective I didn’t quite vibe with, but, I am reading with an open mind and trying new things out.
October: Outlawed by Anna North
I stole this book too. In the same fashion from a different coffee shop. Loved this book, of course history, the wild west, crime, and kicka** women. It is easier to read a book you can see yourself in.
November: The River Why by David James Duncan
A book about a hermit who really likes fishing, like REALLY likes fishing, completely obsessed about fishing. Defintely touched on themes of mental health, the environment, and the significance of community. It was completely different from anything I have ever read before.
Dec: Flow in Sport: How to Master the Mental Game of Peak Performance by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
I told my sport psychologist I like to read and I would like book recomendations. I read this every night before racing Phase 3 of Olympic Trials and it seriously grounded me and allowed my brain to focus on what I needed to do rather than let anxiety and stress take over. Now that being said, it was not very reader friendly if you aren’t decently versed in neuroscience, a lot of the big words went right over my head (ironically.)
Book Count for 2025: 14
The goal for 2026 is not to read more, but to, again, read one book per month. I do not need to challenge myself to do more. I am meant to enjoy reading, not add an arbitrary pressure to ‘beat’ my previous number. I think this is a healthy approach when every other aspect of my life is about being competitive.
My biggest take-away from this goal, is I found myself feeling calmer when reading. Reading before a race rather than scrolling on my phone massively supported my nervous system and preparation going into a race. I would encourage all athletes to pick up a book the night before a race.
Cheers to 2026!
