June 2025 Reading Wrap-Up

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June was light on reading but heavy on non-fiction, as that was the only genre I ended up reading. While I had grand plans of tackling an overly large monthly TBR, life and a reading slump kept me distracted from picking up most of them. Without further ado, let’s get to my June 2025 reading wrap-up.

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The Library Book by Susan Orlean

I picked this book up on a whim, and I’m glad I did.

Before reading this, I had never heard of the fire that ravaged the Los Angeles Public Library. This book not only covers the devastating fire, how the library recovered from the loss and destruction of the books and part of the building, but also the overall history of the library. I also enjoyed hearing about the author’s passion for books, which was part of the reason why she wrote this book.

Though the author did go on some tangents at times, they all did eventually circle back to the focus of the book, the library, and the effects of the fire.

The Notebook: A History of Thinking On Paper by Roland Allen

As a regular notebook user, I was quite intrigued to learn about the history of notebooks. There are essentially two focuses of this book: the notebooks themselves and the ways they were used. Each chapter talks about a different style of notebook and its uses, as well as who used them. While the vast majority of the book mentions notebooks used by those of wealthier classes and important historical figures, there is also a single record of a notebook from a peasant, which is phenomenal.

I learned so much about the different styles of note-taking, from the Zibaldone (which is now my new favorite notebook term) to commonplace books all the way up to the recent phenomenon of bullet journals. This book gave me a greater appreciation of notebooks and note-taking. I highly recommend this one.

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

For such a short book, under 250 pages, this one packs a ton of information into its pages.

While I already knew there was more to trees than simply bark, roots, and leaves, I was blown away by how little I knew about trees. From the way trees of the same and different species help or hinder each other, to the way parent trees ensure the survival of one of their many ‘babies’, to the various defence mechanisms used to counter disease and pests, there is a ton to learn about trees. This has me looking at trees and forests in a whole new light. I highly recommend this book.

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