Juliana Moves

You guys, I really like to read. The world is so dark and heavy and reading – bear with me through this cliche – is such an escape! Sorry, not sorry.

Also, I love when adults read. Period. As I’ve gotten older, I feel like people sometimes have this weird badge of pride about how they never read, which I find.. Odd. I do understand when people feel like they’re too busy to read! That’s so valid! I just think people are missing out when they don’t even attempt to pick up a book. There are so many interesting ones out there!

That said, I was just watching a book-focused YouTuber’s videos and got such a kick out of how different our tastes in books are! I definitely drew some inspiration from books she likes, but she also called out some authors I’d never heard of. I’m not on the booktok train and am decently out of the loop. But many of her recs seemed pretty entertaining!

I used to alternate one fiction and one nonfiction book. The problem with that approach was that sometimes I’d end up with a dense nonfiction that I was dragging to get through or a fiction that didn’t intrigue as much as I’d hoped. I didn’t like the feeling of being chained to a book (and I am admittedly bad about DNF’ing a book) so I changed it up. Now, I read one fiction book and one nonfiction book at the same time. Juliana, don’t you just run into the same issue… with two books instead of one? Great question, but no!

Here’s why this works: 

1. Even if I am taking a long time to get through one or both of the books, I am still reading two books which feels very satisfying to me (lol).
2. If my fiction is stressing me out or if my nonfiction is feeling a bit boring, I have another book to switch to and can take a break from the other.
3. I get to scratch the itch to read fantasy or romance or experiencing a pretend life, while also scratching the itch for learning something new or deepening my knowledge on a subject.

It’s pretty liberating to read about the history of food around the world while reading some high fantasy silliness at the same time. You get me?

Sooo, my list of books read in 2025 reflects this! Occasionally I could get through two fiction books before I even finished my nonfiction and that’s okay! I thought I’d share some of my top reads of 2025 in case you’re also curious to expand your knowledge of authors and books.

In no particular order:

• Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory by Deena Kastor – I credit this book for mentally preparing me for MMT last year. It was the first time that I felt I understood how to develop mental grit and strength.
• The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon – An all around good time. It’s written for kids but I absolutely loved it! Smart, funny, and lovely.

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – I’m a few years late to this but it was astounding. Heartbreaking, but beautiful and important. 
• Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green – John Green’s activism around eradicating TB is what spurred me to become a monthly Partners in Health donor. Outrageous that TB is still as deadly as it is.
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – My first Agatha book. This was so creepy and SO GOOD. I think Sabrina recommended I start with this one and that was a great move. If you’re new to Agatha, start with this one.

• The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves by J.B. MacKinnon – Inspired me to take a long, hard look at how I contribute to consumerism and am absorbed by it. I love a book like this every once in the while for a kick in the pants.

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – If I was a real book reviewer, I’d say something like “a riotously good time!” Since I’m not, I’ll just say I loved it! Space is so fun. Also, Ryan Gosling is starring in the movie coming out this year!!! Come on!!!!
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut – Hey, just 56 years late on this one! I was shocked by how readable this was. Haunting and fascinating and I need to read more Vonnegut.

• Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women by Alissa Wilkinson – A beautiful tribute to some kick ass ladies and a wonderful reminder how breaking bread is such an essential component to building community.

Have you read anything interesting lately that you’d recommend? I’m all ears!

Love,

JN