Martha and Shirley: Book coverage continued and then lagged in the community -- see Marcia's "Joyce Carol Oates." -- but there was more than enough to vote on in our annual community poll. The bulk of the books came out this year; however, we didn't change the rules. If someone discovered MANSFIELD PARK, for instance, this year, and they loved it, they could vote on it. That really didn't happen. So here are the ten books you most enjoyed reading this year -- including one book you didn't like but felt it revealed all that is currently wrong on the left -- things we need to jettison and change or else we'll continue to lose elections.
10) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's DREAM COUNT -- For the gina & krista round-robin, Betty noted it was like Nina Simone's song "Four Women" as it examined the interconnection of women.
9) Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills' HELP! MY APARTMENT HAS A DINING ROOM CCOOKBOOK: HOW TO HAVE PEOPLE OVER WITHOUT STRESSING OUT. The son and mother team wrote a prior book that Trina reviewed, "Help! My Apartment Has A Kitchen," Trina also reviewed this book and noted that while their first book zoomed in on quick and easy recipes for a single item, this one focused on preparing meals for guests -- meals, multiple dishes. We usually have at least one cookbook make our year's best but this time we had two.
8) EJ Swift's WHEN THERE ARE WOLVES AGAIN which Pru reviewed for POLLY'S BREW and hailed as "a storm cloud and the rain never stops pouring." The syfy novel takes place as climate change impacts the UK and wild wolves return to urban areas.
7) Andrea Bernstein's THE PROFITEERS: HOW BUSINESS QUIETLY TOOK OVER THE SUPREME COURT got a strong two thumbs up in a piece Rebecca and Betty did for POLLY'S BREW under the headline "This Is The Book We Have Been Waiting For." Indeed.
6) Molly Knox Ostertag's THE DEEP DARK -- she wrote it and did the illustrations. Jim noted, in the gina & krista round-robin that this young adult novel had enough complexity that you could read it with your kid and both enjoy. This graphic novel revolves around Makenzie who is in high school, in love with Julian and convinced a monster lives in her basement.
5) Claire North's SLOW GODS is another syfy novel that made the list. Isaiah reviewed the book for POLLY'S BREW. Maw dies and comes back to life as a digital copy. It's kind of like GROUNDHOG DAY but across a galaxy instead of a New England winter day. As he lives endlessly, he sees the rise and decline over and over around him. So maybe it's GROUNDHOG DAY meets Sisyphus?
4) Mateo Lane's YOUR PASTA SUCKS: A 'COOKBOOK' was one of two cookbooks to make our top ten list. Like the earlier one, this book received a rave from Trina. Trina thinks Mateo needs to do another cookbook as well as a comic novel or a comedy book. We would agree.
3) Eoin Higgins' OWNED was like a TV series you hate watch. Ava and C.I. decimated the book in their review "Media: OWNED finds Eoin Higgins owned by bad journalism." Beth noted, "I didn't believe a single book could be as bad as the review made it out to be. But Ava and C.I. were right." Yazz said Higgins' book shows why the left loses so often, "Some of them can't stop lying. It's amazing that Higgins writes about conservatives as Republicans, Libertarians, MAGA and other things but those on the left are just 'left.' Even though Higgins is clearly a Socialist, he can't identify any Socialists in the book -- even when he's friends with them and knows they're Socialists. It's this kind of dishonesty and trickery that gives Socialism such a bad name." Marci agree noting, "I'd love for AOC to be our next president. But that can't happen as long as closet cases like Eoin Higgins treat Socialism like a dirty word that can't be spoken in public."
2) Margaret Atwood's BOOK OF LIVES: A MEMOIR OF SORTS. Elaine reviewed it for HILDA'S MIX and Margaret's many strong novels made a number of you pick it up to find out about the woman's who has created so many worlds in book form.
1) Robert W Fieseler's AMERICAN SCARE: FLORIDA'S HIDDEN COLD WAR ON BLACK AND QUEER LIVES. C.I. reviewed it back in July for the gina & krista round-robin and Mike noted it a little while back. Community members who read the book tended to make it their number one choice -- we use rank voting each year -- and it was an amazing book. If you read it, you didn't forget it. And there's so much in there that we needed to know to grasp just how common and cheap the Ron DeSantis are.
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Martha and Shirley have also done the year in books for 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005.
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2025 end of the year pieces include Rebecca's "hottest men of 2025," Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films," Mike's "Idiot of the Year," Martha & Shirley's "2025 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2025 in music," Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2025," Ava and my "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December" and my "2025: The Year Of The Jig Is Up."