Remember that favorite book invitation I included in myDecember Recap?
It’s not easy to pick out one book of all the books you loved last year, but there were a number of you who offered to answer that question.
Amazingly two favorites were for the same book. Or…as in the case where I answer on my phone it sends as “anonymous” it may have been the same person answering twice. (Could be possible.)
Links on titles are to Goodreads. Thumbnails are links to Amazon listings both US and UK if different from US cover.)
In any case, here are the results, one or more that I hope will interest you:
Atmosphere – US
Julia, at Julias Bookshelves noted Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid as her “Undisputed Favorite” in her 2025 Notable Reading Highlights. (Hope it was okay that I borrowed from your blog, Julia!)
Anonymous quipped, “Geesh! If pressed I guess I would pick “The Names” by Florence Knapp (and no, it was not a new genre for me). However, it was SO close to Chris Whitaker’s “All The Colors Of The Dark” that it was really to close to call…”
Anonymous
I get that Anonymous—I’ve had a few also too close to call!
Next, I got another vote forThe Names by Florence Knapp. This one from Davida Chazan at The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog who reported that “It beat out My Friends by Fredrik Backman by a whisker.” Thank you, Davida!
Next, I heard from Amanda Hughes (one of my favorite go-to authors), who sent me her choice, The Sultan’s Harem by Colin Falconer.
If you get a chance, might also check out Amanda’s books. I love her “Bold Women” series!
Endurance – USEndurance – UK
And then in my previous disclosure from my December Review Recap, I finally settled on Endurance by Alfred Lansing as I struggled to decide whether or not Shacktletons Incredible Voyage would win over The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Was one of these a favorite of yours also? Banville is always a favorite and March is coming—a great suggestion for Reading Ireland Month 2026. And for book cover lovers, quite a difference in covers for the same book, huh?
Goodreads Choice Award – Winner for Readers’ Favorite Historiacal Fiction (2025), Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Audiobook (2025)
Book Blurb:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK From the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR, Good Housekeeping, Them, Marie Claire, Book Riot, Library Journal, Chicago Public Library, She Reads
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.
Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.
Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars.
My Review:
Well, phooey. Not what I expected. But it says right up top that it’s a love story. Obviously, not one of my favorite genres.
I really enjoyedDaisy Jones and The Six, and somehow expected that same level of realism in the space industry turned fiction for the consumption of the masses.
Atmosphere – US cover
Joan Goodwin has always been fascinated with the stars and space, and though she is a successful professor at Rice University is immediately consumed with the desire to become an astronaut when she reads an advertisement looking for women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program.
Despite all the odds, she and a select few other women complete the training and are now vying for the upcoming scheduled missions with the few men also selected. These are the elite of the elite: scientists, engineers, and military combat pilots.
Atmosphere cover – UK
The storyline, which is told in a split timeline, details Joan’s story, her family, and her academic achievements. She is singularly devoted to her little niece, Frances, with whom she’s at times at odds with her sister, Barbara. Lots of support characters, mostly lightly developed, who run the gamut from the light-hearted to the back-stabbing Lydia.
I enjoyed some of the discussions regarding the stars, their positions, and history. Somewhere in the middle, however, the storyline veered away from the original mission and strongly into the love story. Once started as an ode to the stars, now drowning in emotional philosophical discussions.
I felt like I was promised an explosive, cutting-edge women in space piece with a double-edged sword. Also, the ending was too predictable. Too much personal development; too little in the aerospace industry. (I think it’s a 3-star effort, but I’m adding a half-star for the subplot with her sister. A well-written antagonist—kept me listening.)
Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, as well as One True Loves, Maybe in Another Life, After I Do, and Forever, Interrupted. Her newest novel, Malibu Rising, is out now. She lives in Los Angeles.
Next, I heard from Amanda Hughes (one of my favorite go-to authors), who sent me her choice, The Sultan’s Harem by Colin Falconer.
Rosepoint Publishing 