The Books That I Read in 2025 📚

Plus: A Lamb and Squash Tagine, Crispy Gnocchi Revelations, and One Ugly Apple Pie.

Hey everyone,

This is one of my favorite newsletters to write each year: the one where I share my private book journal and everything that I thought about the books that I read over the past 365 days.

This was a big year of reading for me. I think because I published my first novel in May, I felt an obligation to keep up with the literary Kardashians. This may have been the most I’ve read in any given year. I asked my editor Jenny Jackson and also my editor friend Andy Ward how they read so much and they both had the same answer: they get into bed early and do their reading there.

I loved that idea so much that instead of watching The Real Housewives of (Insert City Here), I’d frequently get into bed at 9 PM and do some serious marathon reading. I also returned to my 20 - 20 - 10 method when I really wanted to blaze through a book (I came up with it when I got through War and Peace during the pandemic): 20 pages in the morning, 20 pages in the afternoon, 10 pages in bed at night.

Before I get to all that though, I have two new posts to share with you.

The first: a lamb and squash tagine that’ll warm your bones on a cold December’s night.

There are few things that I love more than a rib-sticking, long, meaty braise and this one — from Andrew Tarlow’s Dinner at The Long Table — gets the job done. Here’s the recipe:

Then, last night, I had a truly mind-blowing experience with frozen gnocchi.

Did you know that you can take gnocchi directly out of the freezer and throw it into a hot skillet? Learn all about it in today’s post.

Finally, I made an ugly apple pie the other day using my usual recipe.

My overhang was extra long and when I folded it over I had a ton of dough and instead of trimming I just thought “thick crust!” but it came out more like bread than anything else. Still, it was pie. And pie is pie.

Now for the event you’ve been waiting for… the books that I read in 2025!