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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Your Name Here by Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff, the highly experimental, much-delayed and easily best work of fiction published in 2025.
- 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!
- 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).
- The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee, demonstrating all over again that her literary legacy extends beyond To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon, a most welcome return to literary form from one of the true giants of American letters.
- 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.
