Favorite Books Read in 2025

Oooh...I was kind of on a hot streak all year, starting last January, when I went on a torrid pace that was nearly a book a day.  Much of that was graphic novels, but as the year progressed, I think I turned the tide, but at any rate, I chased and conquered and obliterated my Goodreads era totals.  2015 had been my record for a number of years with 134 books read until 2022, when I hit 138, and then 2023 I hit 144, and in 2024 I fell short of that with 139, which was a kind of bummer, so I think I took that at a subconscious level when I made 145 the new mark somewhere in the middle of 2025 after having cruised past 100 easily.  I ended up with 152.  Page numbers was another one, which is always a relative accomplishment, since there are books I don't finish reading (and there were some notable entries to reach that ignominious fate, a whole series I'd obviously been hoping would be considerably better than that I won't name here, among them), but I couldn't help but crush the previous benchmark of 36,582 from 2023 by clocking in, technically speaking, at 39,586.  But what were my favorites?

1. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, a book in hindsight I cannot believe I hadn't read before, a part of local lore growing up in Maine by how it helped elevate Joshua Chamberlain into a hero of the Civil War.  I consider it a classic just waiting to be officially enshrined, perhaps after the later volumes of Jeff Shaara and the films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals have faded from memory.  This certainly isn't the era in which that'll happen, but it would do wonders if we could remember, or even consider, that regardless of our differences, Americans hail from a common country.
2. Conclave by Robert Harris, tied up with how much I adored, and still do, the 2024 film of the same name, carrying much the same story and as such, all the same thrilling moments, including the sermon on certainty that the modern era (by which I mean, basically the past five hundred years) needs hearing more than anything.
3. Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, very much like the above book inspired by the movie (Mickey 17) that was adapted from it, though in Ashton's case there are plenty of differences to be found in the prose, and while its sequel (Antimatter Blues) is worth reading, too, I wasn't nearly as wowed when I read past Mickey Barnes.
4. Across the River and into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway, the second of two books I added to my very late appreciation of Papa in 2025, a late entry that has unfairly gotten very little respect.
5. Your Name Here by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff, the highly experimental, much-delayed and easily best work of fiction published in 2025.
6. The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith, the climactic eight mystery investigated by Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, in which their relationship comes closest to finding resolution.  To date!
7. Maria La Divina by Jerome Charyn, the latest and for me seemingly most mesmerizing portrait of a historical figure, an opera star whose fate becomes entangled with Aristotle Onassis (and/or a certain miss Jackie O).
8. The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee, demonstrating all over again that her literary legacy extends beyond To Kill a Mockingbird.
9. Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon, a most welcome return to literary form from one of the true giants of American letters.
10. The Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, which I also very much appreciated finally reading, showing the true military genius of the man, not through boasting, but his brilliantly maneuvering as well as insights into the Civil War.

Favorite books read in 2022

 Last year I finally beat several Goodreads records from 2015, although an earlier one from 2013 eluded me.  I read 138 (versus 134) books, with a total pagecount of 34,176 (versus 33,492).  I just missed, in December (I made a push in the final two weeks over the course of two long weekends), my August 2013 total of 21 books with 19.  I was knowingly chasing the first two (although I guess I was probably safer with the second one than I'd thought), and would've definitely pushed a little further had I known how close I was with the third!

Such are the achievements of a book nerd...

1. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, which I passed up reading for years, figuring a popular book club bestseller couldn't really interest me, but I finally reconsidered on the basis of the film adaptation once again placing it on bookshelves.  I actually love the film better, but the book is basically the American version of the Millennium Trilogy's full arc for Lisbeth Salander, and that comes with considerable praise for me.  I figure it's as close to a true classic as has been published in the last decade.
2. The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith, the latest Strike/Ellacott mystery tackles social media poison from the same mind that has been cracking the modern psyche so brilliantly since it was done with wizards.  No further legitimate intellectual defense necessary.
3. The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt, the latest (slim) volume from the writer who has very quickly become one of my favorites.  I read her collection Some Trick twice this year, as well as Lightning Rods for the first time, and of course this.  Her Last Samurai is another modern classic.
4. Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, which is the last and probably clearest spotlight for the famous cannibal, which in later film appearances perhaps got lost in the infamy but I also explored this year in Hannibal, the sequel that cemented his later reputation, both in book and film.  
5. Metamorphica by Zachary Mason, a spiritual successor to his Lost Books of the Odyssey, both being miracles of modern interpretations for Greek myths.
6. The Complete Short Stories by Ernest Hemingway, which is fairly self-explanatory.  I didn't start reading Hemingway until Woody Allen's brilliant Midnight in Paris, which led me to A Moveable Feast, which led to everything else I've read to date, which covers what I believe to be all of the major works at this point.
7. Cowboy Graves: Three Novellas by Robert Bolano, the latest posthumous collection from my favorite writer, well worth the wait and yet another easy suggestion for anyone who still has yet to experience him and wants something simple before tackling his masterpieces (2666, The Savage Detectives).
8. Big Red by Jerome Charyn, the latest from another favorite writer, this time honing in on yet another creative dynamo, Orson Welles, and Rita Hayworth.
9. Sugergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King & Bilquis Evely, my favorite of the many graphic novels I read in 2022, and my favorite of the several Tom King masterpieces among them (including Rorschach and Strange Adventures).  This one's one of his shortest works, but most inventive, harking back to his best work, Omega Men.
10. Gump & Co. by Winstom Groom, the best of the considerable backlog of books on my shelves, a sequel to the first book and not the movie adapted from it, although cleverly written with an eye to it, a true piece of classic Americana that's been all but lost in an era that has little use for such things as it cherry picks for whatever is most useful for current needs. 

Favorite books read in 2019

Here's my list of favorite books I read in 2019.  As I don't read a lot of new releases, most of these will be older, in some cases quite a bit older, than what you typically find in these lists...

1. The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt, something I tracked down expressly because of one of those wildly premature "best of the century so far" lists that began appearing within the last year or so.  And I was pleasantly surprised to really love it!  
2. Distant Star by Roberto Bolano, part of my push last year to collect and read all the remaining books from the late author I hadn't yet gotten around to.  This one focused on the little-explored legacy of Nazis who fled to South America following WWII, not merely from the spectacular reclamations for later trials, but the effects they had on the native populations, part of the youth that greatly affected Bolano's life.
3. Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, which presents the imaginative response from another native perspective, this time as part of the Iraq War, a book I found at an airport.  (I recently bought a few more from another trip, and hope the results are even half as good.)
4. Don Quixote by Cervantes, a first-time read of a classic, and hugely illuminating.
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway, another first-time read of a classic, and by far the best book I've read in my recent push to finally read Papa.
6. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, the first time I've read it since high school, and I'm pretty sure I got more out of it this time, and a greater appreciation.
7. Heroes in Crisis by Tom King, a controversial graphic novel for some, but the next great piece of writing from my current favorite in the medium.
8. Quichotte by Salman Rushdie, coincidentally released the same year I read the book on which it's mostly based.
9. The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King by Jerome Charyn, a book based on Teddy Roosevelt by one of my favorite authors.
10. Lessons from Lucy by Dave Barry, the latest from one of my favorite writers, slowly working his way past strict humor.

I spend all year writing extensive reviews over at Goodreads, and then I write the bare minimum here...At least I know about as many people are likely to care one way or the other!