December Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month
- The Bossy Bookworm
- Dec 30, 2025
- 7 min read
Bossy Favorites of the Month
These were my six favorite reads of December--a nonfiction wonder, a bonkers fever dream, a heartwarming tale, an intriguing mystery that ticked all of my boxes, a funny and poignant story about living fully into oneself, and a solid installment in a great mystery series.
I hope you've been able to take some time for yourself this holiday break and read some great books.
Have you read any of these titles? What were some of your favorite reads this month?
01 Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green
Everything Is Tuberculosis is about tuberculosis, but it's also a view of our deep global interconnectedness, gross healthcare inequalities, the TB devastation that is still prevalent, and the possibility of both simple and comprehensive approaches that could eradicate the disease.
In John Green's nonfiction book, he tells his story of befriending a young man, Henry, who was suffering from tuberculosis and living in a hospital in Sierra Leone.
In Green's insightful hands, he illustrates how the modern-day fight against TB--with conflicts about pricing, tragically skewed accessibility, powerful perceptions of cultures' inability to adhere to protocols, and devastating gaps in care--is also a look at greater global issues.
Green uses his tender eye and piercing analysis to explore the health care inequalities that allow the world's poorest citizens to disproportionately contract the incurable disease tuberculosis and to advocate for greater access to quality care and a search for a cure.
Green makes the situation personal, following the cases of real people, tracking roadblocks to care, exploring potential simple and complex solutions, and challenging assumptions that hinder progress in each of these areas. The situation around TB is a public health travesty, and it's devastating and heartbreaking--and, Green poses, solvable.
John Green is also the author of the nonfiction collection of essays The Anthropocene Reviewed (which was one of my six favorite nonfiction reads the year I read it) as well as other novels.
For my full review, please see Everything Is Tuberculosis.
02 Bunny (Bunny #1) by Mona Awad
Bunny begins with an outcast main protagonist in a MFA program who's infuriated by her twee fellow seminar students. It builds into an increasingly unhinged, intriguing phantasmagoria, equal parts dark nightmare and outrageously silly absurdity.
Samantha is a scholarship MFA student at the progressive Warren University in New England. An outsider, a solitary type immersed in her own sometimes dark writing, she is disgusted by the rest of her cohort--childish women who call each other "Bunny," dress in twee outfits, speak in high voices, and, aside from their hilariously outrageous creations, seem to be of one unimaginative mind and to operate in a mindless echo chamber of nonsense.
But then the Bunnies invite Samantha to their "Smut Salon" and into their hive mind of dottiness. She becomes oddly entrenched in their circle, then increasingly unsure of herself and vulnerable. She ditches her few true friends, also outsiders, and feels at a loss to determine the line between reality and richly imagined dark, seemingly impossible developments.
Just as the novel felt as though it were lasting too long for me and began to teeter toward the tedious; just as I wondered if I could stand to listen to the Bunnies' perfectly horrible, put-on baby voices for another couple of hours (narrator Sophie Amoss deftly handles the voices in this novel to great effect), the story went in a truly unhinged direction that intrigued me.
It's difficult to describe how bonkers this story is. I was surprised by how hooked I became on it. This is not a book I would universally recommend, but for an audience that appreciates cutting satire and a bananas story, this one will fit the bill.
For my full review of this book please see Bunny.
03 The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy
This bighearted novel holds a mystery, but its main focus is neurodivergent main protagonist Denny and his dogged persistence, ambitious acts, decisiveness, wisdom, and loving kindness as he gets into increasing trouble, touches lives, faces loss, and establishes just who he is and wants to be.
Denny lives a quiet life in small-town Minnesota, caring for his elderly mother with the companionship of his blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George.
A developmental delay--caused by an accident at his birth--means that his options are limited, but Denny seems to keep finding himself in grave trouble. There was the time he kidnapped a neighbor's pet goose, the time he accidentally aided and abetted a bank robbery, and now he's under arrest for the murder of a candidate for mayor.
As Denny's big personality, kindness, and discerning views become clear, the story tracks the lead-up to the recent death in the community and how Denny became a murder suspect. We see how he touches strangers' lives, frustrates neighbors, is ambitious in addressing societal wrongs, and we (and he) begin to understand previously unknown elements of his origin story--which he refuses to allow to define him.
The Author's Note details how Kennedy's main character and some of the story's side plotlines were built from relatives and loved ones in her own life.
The Sideways Life of Denny Voss is a bighearted novel with an irresistible main protagonist and surrounding players, and the mystery keeps the story humming along. I loved this story.
For my full review, please check out this link.
04 First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Elston's first adult novel ticked all of my mystery-reading boxes: a con artist, fake identity, dangerous boss, complicated mark, trusty sidekick, clever maneuvering, and non-manipulative twists. I can't wait to read her next mystery.
Evie Porter is embracing her current fake identity and getting closer to her mark Ryan--who she's lured into being her boyfriend. Now she awaits her mysterious boss Mr. Smith's instructions about the information he needs her to obtain to take down Ryan or his associates, she's not sure which.
After what happened on her last job, she can't afford to make mistakes. Mr. Smith could make life unpleasant--or abruptly shortened--if she fails. And he seems to be throwing curveballs at her on purpose. But Evie knows that since her desperate entry into this powerful, dangerous world, its tricky elements, its constant deception, and its hefty paycheck, she has always been one of the best. She expects to manage this job--whatever it may turn out to be--without much difficulty.
But the situation isn't exactly what it seems, and when a woman comes to town using Evie's birth name, which only her boss was aware of, Evie isn't sure whether she's being tested or whether she's being set up for sabotage.
I loved the key elements of this story: the capable con woman, the past coming back to haunt her, the complicated mark, the trusted sidekick, the tricky cross and double-cross, and Elston's non-manipulative, delightful twists. This was smart and intriguing, a fast and compelling read, with a main protagonist I was rooting for.
You can read my full review by clicking this link.
05 Woodworking by Emily St. James
Woodworking explores interconnected transgender characters' experiences, fears, challenges, and joys as they work toward living true, fulfilling lives. Emily St. James's debut novel is poignant, funny, heartbreaking, often surprising, and heartwarming.
Emily St. James crafts a tender, funny story with zing about a secretly trans high school teacher in a small town in South Dakota who befriends the only other transgender person she is aware of, one of her students.
The novel flits between the stories of three women from disparate backgrounds, drastically different paths to becoming themselves, and poignant recognition among them of their struggles and victories, even as they diverge in their approaches to living fulfilling existences.
The book title comes from the idea of trans people blending in and fading into the woodwork. The concept is mentioned in a conversation between a frightened young trans woman and a mentor of sorts; later in the novel the young woman realizes that "woodworking" wasn't meant to be a handbook, but a warning about hiding identity.
I was most touched by the interconnectedness and love, the universal elements of the characters' experiences as well as their unique perspectives and circumstances, and the reimagined possibilities for their futures.
Click here for my full review.
06 The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club #2) by Richard Osman
Book two of the series sees our septuagenarian characters each trekking their own paths while working cooperatively to solve a new mystery. They show vulnerability and strength, use their instincts and smarts to outsmart criminals, and grow. I laughed while listening to this one; Osman's series has me hooked.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are septuagenarians feeling let down after the thrills, danger, and success of their first solved mystery (related in The Thursday Murder Club).
But things start getting interesting when a piece of Elizabeth's past is illuminated. Her ex-husband shows up, under the protection of fellow MI-5 spies, suspected of having stolen 20 million dollars' worth of diamonds and professing to still be in love with her. And someone has it in for him, which means danger for all.
Not everyone is who they seem, and someone the group trust's may have let greed and deception compromise everything.
The main protagonists' tendencies and personalities have room to shine here, and Osman allows for vulnerabilities and also moments where the characters come into their own.
Osman writes older characters with grace, not relying on archetypes but serving up poignancy, dialogue that made me laugh, and grand adventure that keeps his protagonists inspired and engaged.
I listened to The Man Who Died Twice as a library audiobook.
For my full review, please check out the page at this link. For my review of the series' first book, The Thursday Murder Club, please check click this link.
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