I first started tracking my reading in 2010. Since that time, I've read more than 1,800 books. As I start my list of favorite reads of 2025, I've been thinking about my favorites since 2010. At the end of 2019, I shared my top 10 of the past 10 years - https://jaymebooks.blogspot.com/2019/12/my-top-10-reads-of-decade.html. I thought I would update that list with my top 6 of the past 6 years (2020-2025), which aren't necessarily my top book from each year. With time and perspective, those yearly picks sometime evole. These are the books I can't stop thinking about, the books I choose to listen to again (and sometimes over and over) on audiobook. The more I think these books, I'm going to post 6 fiction and 6 non-fiction books that had the greatest impact on me from 2020-2025.
Non-Fiction
I talk about these first three books constantly when talking about how brains work, what our brains need to function optimally, and how to keep our cells healthy.
1. The Power of Showing Up by Drs. Tina Payne Bryson and Dan Siegel
This book changed the way I think about relationships. During CASA training, we talk about the infant attachment cycle - how a baby learns that the world is a safe place and when they express a need, someone will be there to meet it. Drs. Tina Payne Bryson and Dan Siegel take that cycle to the next level. To feel secure, we must be safe, seen, and soothed. This is true in every relationship we have throughout out lifetime. Essential reading for all parents and teachers (and honestly all humans!).
2.
What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey
I have been a Bruce Perry groupie for years. I first heard him speak at a conference in 2000, and I was hooked! His work on how brain development is impacted by trauma and how to overcome that trauma is critical to the work we do at CASA and in helping every child who has experienced childhood trauma thrive. This book is on my list of 5 books every human should read. It's a great audiobook, too!
3. The Telomere Effect by Drs. Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel and its companion book The Stress Prescription: Seven Days to More Joy and Ease by Dr. Elissa Epel
For years, I've been talking about childhood trauma and its impact on lifelong health (see
The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris) as seen through the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs). The ACEs study by itself is rather depressing - having signficiant trauma in childhood leads to disease in adulthood and early death, increased rates of suicide and substance abuse, and an overall decrease in quality of life. The work of Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel finally provide both a mechanism of action and HOPE!
Our brains are designed
to keep us alive. Under times of stress, our midbrain takes over and
disengages the cortex, the thinking and learning part of our brain. It
pulls a fire alarm for our bodies by releasing adrenaline and cortisol to prepare
us to flight or flee. Blood rushes to our major muscle groups, our heart
rate increases, digestion stops as we direct our energy elsewhere, our immune
system ramps up in case our body is damaged in a fight. As Dr. Nadine
Burke Harris says, this is great if you are in the woods and facing a
bear. But what happens when the bear lives in your house? What
happens when you live in a world focused entirely on survival? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk )
An excellent video I use to describe this when
making presentations, particularly to educators, is called Learning Brain vs.
Survival Brain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoqaUANGvpA). In this video, Jacob Ham, PhD,
describes how difficult it is to process new information in survival
brain. Please take a few minutes to watch. Imagine how hard it must
be to take in new information with your brain in survival mode. Dr. Bruce
Perry (my hero!) talks here about how stress impacts learning and behavior (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COMwI2akgqM ).
As you may know,
science is my educational background. Because of this, I’m fascinated by
the science around toxic stress and trauma, as I’ve spent my career working in
fields with individuals experiencing both. One topic I always found fascinating
in my biology classes was aging and the role telomeres play. Have you
heard of telomeres? They are caps on the end of our chromosomes (the big
bundles of DNA where our genes are encoded) designed to keep our DNA from
unraveling. Just like an aglet on a shoelace, telomeres keep our DNA from
fraying. (I know the word aglet from watching so much Phineas and Ferb
with Kaiden when he was younger! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwizJNvl62U ). The shorter your telomeres, the
more aged your cell becomes. Just like you could replace the aglet on a
shoelace, our body has a protein called telomerase that can add telomeres back
to the ends of our cells like glue. Do you know what inhibits telomerase
and keeps it from working? High levels of stress hormones.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn has done significant research on the role
telomeres play in cellular aging (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wseM6wWd74 ). She wrote a book with Elissa Epsel called The
Telomere Effect that details scientific research around what shortens
our telomeres and what can cause them to grow. What has been shown
scientifically to grow telomeres and keep our cells healthy longer?
Healthy relationships top the list. The list also includes mindfulness
activities, journaling, exercise, and good sleep. This work has formed the basis for the direction we've taken our work at Thrive! and has certainly changed what I highlight during CASA training.
4. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson (who also wrote The Warmth of Other Sun: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration)
To understand the current state of our country, we must look to the past and the true origin story of the United States. This engaging book helped me to examine the systems we all take for granted as "just the way things are done," my privilege as a white person in America and helped me think about ways to work to dismantle systems of oppression. If I truly believe in "liberty and justice for all," there are steps I must take every day to stand up for what is right and just.
5. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott
What started as a series of articles in the New York Times became a heartwrenching book about a girl named Dasani and the struggles of her family experienced with poverty, homelessness, the foster care system, and the education system. I love the quote that books can be mirrors, windows, or sliding doors. Mirrors are those books where you see yourself reflected, sliding doors are escapism, and windows give you a glimpse into the life of another. For most of you, this will be a window book. "We read...to learn how to live life more deeply and richly, to experience the world though the eyes of the other." Barbara Davis
6. The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff
For those of us who are old enough to remember the shock and distress of 9/11, it shaped our view of the world and destroyed some of the safety we all took for granted as Americans. This book is an incredible oral history of a single day and how it changed us all forever.
Fiction
1. The House in the Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
I LOVE these characters! Most of my favorite books have some kind of magical element to them (Harry Potter, Narnia, The Night Circus). This book moved into my top 10 books of all time. The narrator of the audiobook does an amazing job bringing the charaters to life. This is a book about family you create, about authenticity, and about standing up for what is right.
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
When I read the description of this book, I didn't think I would enjoy it - a book about video games? But really, it's a book abour relationships and connection. This was my favorite read of 2023. After I read it, Brian listened to the audiobook with me on a road trip. The narration wasn't on the same level as Jim Dale or Daniel Henning or Frank Muller, but it was a decent listen.
3. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
The first time I tried to read this book, I couldn't get into it and put it down. Then everyone I knew was talking about it, so I picked it up again and fell in love with Elizabeth Zott and her daughter Mad. As a female chemist in the 1960s, Elizabeth struggles to find her place, ending up the reluctant star of a TV cooking show. The limited series on Apple TV was so well done - I highly recommend watching if you haven't already.
4. The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Sergovia
Originally written in Spanish, this book is set during the Mexican Revolution and focuses on Simonopio, an abandonded baby who chnages the lives of those he touches forever. This is a truly beautiful story of love and loss with a magical twist.
5. The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Saenz (who also wrote the Aristotle and Dante books which are so good)
This is a beautiful story of three friends in high school, searching for belonging, purpose, and discovering their authentic selves.
6. Historical fiction by Fiona Davis, Marie Bennedict, and Stephanie Dray
Okay, you knew there was no way I could narrow it down to 6 books! Here are my favorites from each of these authors read in the past six years.
Happy Reading!
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