Lauren's List: Books I Read and Loved in 2025 - Part 1

It was a really wonderful reading year for me. If you're in the trenches of the early childhood years and doing little reading, hang in there. I read very little, and remember almost nothing from what I read the first years of my parenting. Now that my youngest is 7, and I'm in my second year of everyone in full-time school, my reading life is back. I'm so grateful.

These are my favorite reads from this past year in fiction and children's literature.

My Favorite Fiction of 2025:

My favorite series this year was Robert Galbraith's (J.K. Rowling's) The Cormoran Strike series, specifically The Ink Black Heart.

Along with The Ink Black Heart, my favorite novels this year were I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

Other recommendations:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

• Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

• Virgil Wander by Leif Engel

• Inferno by Dante, trans. Jason Baxter

• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

  
  

My Favorite Children's Lit of 2025:

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge is a great fantasty adventure story I think my boys will love, more like Harry Potter and Narnia than not. Loved it so much!

We love a rhyming, funny, beautifully illustrated book in this house. Caught my youngest reading this on his own in his room just last night even though Justin has been telling him this story for five years! Check out The Big Mess by Justin Whitmel Earley, illus. by Janna Mattia.

Other recommendations:

• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

• Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets Illustrated version by J.K. Rowling, illus. by Jim Kay

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3! You can connect with us on Instagram @justinwhitmelearley or @laurenmakeslists (all links in my bio as well!)

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