In 2025, I read a total of 64 books in 10 categories (2 5x5s), which means I beat last year's reading by two!
Last year I made a chronological list of what I read. This time I'm going to group the books into my final 5x5 category form, with stragglers at the end. Click here to learn about the 5x5 Reading Challenge.
My star system is my own rating for how well I think the book succeeded in its own goal and genre. All 5 stars I recommend without reservation or caveat.
Theology
- Institutes of Christian Religion, Calvin (hardback, homeschool, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Wonderful Works of God, Bavinck (hardback, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Principle of Protestantism, Schaff (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The War of the Priesthood, Brito (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Tulips on Fire: The Blazing Piety of the Dutch Calvinists, Zornes (Canon+) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
History
- Modern Times, Johnson (Audible, book club, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Defenders of the West, Ibrahim (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- 1066: Year of Conquest, David Howarth (hardback, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Where the Wind Leads, Chung(Audible, book club)
- Bonhoeffer, Metaxas (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards, Marsden (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe, Ozment (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- White Horse King, Merkle (Canon+) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Philosophy/Education
- 12 Rules for Life, Peterson (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice, Rebekah DeYoung (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Improvement of the Mind, Watts (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Intellectual Life, Sertillanges (paperback, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Against the Machine, Kingsnorth (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Literature
- Bleak House, Dickens (Audible, book club, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Lord of the Rings, Tolkein (read aloud by my husband, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Don Quixote, Cervantes (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan (Audible, book club, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Duchess of Malfi, Webster (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Volpone, Jonson(Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Tartuffe, Moliere (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Paradise Lost, Milton (Audible, book club - beautiful English, bold and misguided effort imo) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Economics & Politics
- Basic Economics, Sowell (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Second Treatise on Government, Locke (paperback, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Vision of the Anointed, Sowell (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Third Ways, Carlson (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Boniface Option, Iskar (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (definitely loses a star for normalizing the phrase "fake and gay")
- The Divine Right of Resistance, Kayser (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Shepherds for Sale, Basham (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hospitality
- Hospitality: The Convivial Mission of God, Brians (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Wisdom on Her Tongue, Sauvé (hardback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Duties of Christian Fellowship, Owen (paperback)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Home Is for Hospitality, Winckler (releasing February 17, 2026)
- Competent to Counsel, Adams (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Christian Living
- A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Keller (hardback, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Scholé Every Day: How to Be a Thinking Mom
- The Sin of Empathy, Rigney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Practicing the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Christian Family, Bavinck (paperback, book club, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Courage, Rigney (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- 8 Errors Parents Make, Brock (Canon+) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Femininism Detox
- Eve in Exile, Merkle (paperback, book club, reread) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Privilege of Being a Woman, Von Hildebrand (paperback) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- My Dear Hemlock, Dillehay (paperback, review copy) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Toxic War on Masculinity, Pearcey ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us, Gress (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fun Fiction
- Island of Stars, Brownell (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- A Wrinkle in Time, L'Engle (Audible, book club) ⭐️⭐️
- PG Wodehouse x3 (my husband read these aloud)
Business
- Undoing Urgency, Reynolds (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Build a Business You Love, Ramsey (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Key Person of Influence, Priestly (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Rocket Fuel, Wickman (Audible) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Work the System (Audible) ⭐️⭐️
- You, Happier. Amen (Audible) ⭐️⭐️
I also have 5 books I am in the middle of at the turning of the year:
- The Church Impotent (Canon+)
- Family Politics, Yenor (hardback)
- Wealth & Poverty, Gilder (paperback) - probably won't finish this one
- Oeconomicus, Xenophon (hardback)
- Sermons on Titus, Calvin (hardback)
- Truth of Things, Marion Montgomery - not going to finish
So this year I read
- 23 physical, hard copy books
- 39 audiobooks (including being read aloud to)
- 2 digital books (the ones I was writing, which I also read multiple times each, but only counted once in my total)
- 22 books for book clubs
- 12 rereads
Plus, I continue to plug away at Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Entire Bible, persisting in the goal of reading it all before I'm 50.