Holiday Book Exchange
I sort of skipped over Thanksgiving, buuuuut the scene changed pretty quickly after returning from a relaxing turkey day in the desert. The cat has resumed her holiday ritual of checking out the tree each morning, and my mood has increased substantially just from the scent of the fresh Douglas Fir.
What I wanted to mention here is that I’m part of a group that does an annual cookie and book exchange around the holidays, and this year’s event having been completed, I thought I would just propose this to anyone who has friends and likes books. Everyone brings cookies and a wrapped book, then amongst the cookie eating (take-home boxes are also packed), everyone takes a turn picking a wrapped book from the table. People have the option of stealing someone else’s book rather than taking one from the table, much like a white elephant exchange, but everyone goes home with a book.
My favorite part of the evening though isn’t the taking home of books. It’s not even the cookies. It’s the chance each person gets to talk about their favorite book of the year. Meaning the book (or books) you enjoyed most out of all those you read. For me, it’s a fun opportunity to look back in my Goodreads history and decide which was my favorite. Usually it’s as easy as the ratings, because there was only 1 book I gave 5 starts to in 2025. (Most get 3 or 4.) My favorite book of the year was Crying in H Mart. I was so drawn in, in part because it’s well-written and emotional in ways that are uncomfortable but very real. I loved the Oregon backdrop, having been raised in Oregon myself, and, surprisingly, at least to me, was how much I felt wrapped up in the Korean culture and food. Honestly, this book has SO MUCH KOREAN FOOD. Not just a mention here and there, but details around the preparation of the food, the ingredients, the flavors. Reading this book felt like a home-cooked meal.
A couple of honorable mentions include Firstborn, a heart-wrenching but so well done memoir about a couple who must make a hard decision about their unborn child. Odd that a book that is on its surface so sad can be so hard to put down. Also I was quite impressed by The In-Between, a memoir from a hospice nurse about some of her patients as she helped them navigate the end of their lives. I hadn’t given much thought to hospice, certainly not from the perspective of the nurses and providers, but this is another book that manages to be so lovely—and even inspiring—amidst the heaviness of the topic. I cried numerous times, and have also cried even in just re-telling one of the stories from the book in recommending it to others.
I never read as much as I would like to. I have friends whose reading challenges for the year are numbers like 50 or 100 books. Even 150 books. And they exceed those goals! My goal this year was so piddly that I’m almost ashamed to admit it—a mere 15 books—but as someone who devotes so much of her free time to writing, it leaves less time for reading. Whether you read 15 books a year or 150, it does make you think about how finite the task is overall. There is a limited number of books a person can read in their life. It makes me want to be purposeful in what I choose, and it also makes me want to increase my goal. Maybe I can tackle 20 books in 2026? Here’s hoping. And happy reading this Christmas season!