2025 Reading List
books, reading
I tried to widen my reading horizons a bit this year, by reading more literary and historical books. I still ended up reading five different Sanderson books, and seven Terry Pratchett books, but I also read a bunch of cool new books by new (to me) authors.
Numbers
In 2025 I read 57 books (counting one book twice, since I read it twice), with a total of 26,511 pages (mostly autdiobooks, though). Compared to 2024, that's five more books and 558 more pages.
Top-10 Favorites
(In the order I read them.)
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
I don't remember the details of this book, but I remember the feelings. I was thrilled to get to know Daniel's world. I couldn't stop reading. I had to know the history of Carax and his books. I remember extreme embarassment in one point, and great satisfaction at the ending. I remember a confusing romance: I was pretty sure it was doomed, but wasn't certain. I remember sadness. I remember a vast hidden library of treasured books that touched something in my reader's soul.
Here's the blurb for the details:
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
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The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
WWII books invariably make me cry. This book gives a detailed account of many people and how they came together and were brought together to build the weapon that ended the war.
It is very informative. It explains many scientific discoveries they needed to make and challenges they needed to overcome in order to build an atomic bomb, such as:
- The first time they worked with plutonium, they only had microgram traces of the element, so they had to use challenging novel techniques and almost microscopic tools in their studies.
- Assembling the sub-critical pieces of uranium into a super-critical piece at the moment of the explosion was a particularly interesting challenge, and one that required investigating several different possible solutions by different teams in parallel.
- I mostly enjoyed the scientific challenges, but the logistical and people challenges of assembling the team and resources for the Manhattan project was also an interesting process.
It was also very sad. They intentionally left Einstein out of the work because they knew he was a pacifist. They suspected Oppenheimer of being a traitor the entire time he built the atom bomb, and had agents following him constantly. There were people who wanted to use the atomic bomb as only a show of force, without harming anybody, but they didn't know how to make any such show convincing. We dropped a bomb out of a single airplane on Hiroshima that killed about 60,000 of the 350,000 people there and destroyed 70,000 of the 76,000 buildings in the city -- within about 2 seconds. And then did the same thing in Nagasaki.
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When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
My wife and I read this for our two-person book club.
Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon, finds himself diagnosed with lung cancer. Paul wrote an honest, sincere reflection on his journey, from young medical student, to parent and cancer patient, with thoughts and questions about “what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life?”
Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’”
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The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
This was a return to my childhood. I remember watching the 2002 film many times when I was a kid and loving it. I later found out it was a book and read it in highschool. I liked it, but there was so much I missed! Reading it again this past year was very fun, and I expect I'll re-read it again eventually.
“[U]ntil the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words,—‘Wait and hope.’”
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The Legends of the First Empire series, by Michael J. Sullivan
I read this book with my fantasy (mostly Sanderson-focused) book club.
This is a prequel series to the Riyria Revelations series, which I hadn't yet read when I read this.
This series takes place in a primitive fantasy setting. Some of my favorite parts were the explanations for how some common inventions came to be (such as the wheel, and the bellows, and steel). And it had some very fun characters that I was sad to part with at the end of the series: Gifford the cripple, who ran and won the fastest race to save the world; Roan, with her own mental challenges, who went from slave-girl to world-changing inventor; Raith and Persephone, in love but with such different goals; Tesh the epic fighter seeking vengeance to his own detriment; and Brin, the historian with a heart of gold.
I later read the Riyria Revelations series, which I also enjoyed very much.
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Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson
We got a new Cosmere novel this year! 🎉
This would not be my first recommdation for someone new to Sanderson's work (that would probably be Tress), but it wouldn't be a terrible start. Certainly, if you're looking for a sci-fi setting with an ecological, natives-against-colonizing-expansionists setting, this could be a great place to start.
I certainly liked it plenty: I read it twice this year!
I appreciated watching the main character, Sixth of the Dusk, dealing with the "dusk" of his and his world's ways of life.
Fair warning though: this one has no romance.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
“People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”
In high school I have distinctive memories of wearing an Atticus Finch shirt, with a stylized dead mockingbird. I don't know where it came from, and--more embarassingly--I was only vaguely aware that it was a reference to a book. I somehow graduated high school without ever being assigned to read To Kill a Mockingbird.
I'm so glad to finally get to know Scout, Jim, and especially Atticus Finch.
“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
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Flashlight by Susan Choi
I wanted to read some more recent literature, so I picked some books from the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist. Both of them ended up on my list of favorites. I intend to read more of them in the coming year.
One night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the beach. He’s carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later Louisa is found washed up by the tide, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.
This was hauntingly and mundanely beautiful. Anne and Louisa and Serk and Tobias feel so real. Their challenges are at times so small and ordinary, and at other times so exceptional and unsurmountable.
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The Terror by Dan Simmons
My sister recommended this book to me, and I put it on hold, but didn't grasp how excited I should have been. I didn't realize that it was written by Dan Simmons, who also wrote Hyperion, one of my favorites from 2019 (and one I wouldn't mind re-reading...)
This a fictionalized telling of [Franklin's very real lost expedition of 1845].
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition's leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape.
This was so much better than I could have hoped for. The characters are engaging, the setting is fantastically alien and terrifyingly factual, and the plot is a very satisfying slow burn. The bad guys grow in badness, the good guys are indefatigable, and the monster... The monster is satisfying, from beginning to end.
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Flesh by David Szalay
This was the second book I read from the Booker Prize shortlist, which turned out in fact to be the finalist.
This was the story of István, a Hungarian boy who commits a violent crime, emigrates to London, and lives a life buffeted from circumstance to circumstance. He seems entirely dependent on those around him to make his own life choices. In the whole book, I can think of only one moment where István makes a significant choice.
It was also incredibly uncomfortable to read. Terrible events were recounted in plain language. The events were shocking if I didn't think about them, but became appalling once my brain processed the meaning.
I didn't like any of these characters on a personal level; though his mom was inoffensive. The first chapter made me feel bad for István, but that feeling didn't last for long. Seeing him failing upwards was entertaining and infuriating. The ending made me cry.
What really made this book for me, though, was how concisely the author captured the story of a man's life. I already said I can think of only one moment where István makes a significant choice, but I admit that's because his other significant choices didn't need to be written for them to be understood. That pattern holds in the areas of dialogue and plot as well: there is so much left unsaid and unwritten, though understood. Reading such a precisely written book was satisfying in a way I hadn't otherwise experienced this year.
This book was amazing. I'm not sure I would ever want to reread it though.
All Books of 2025
The entries with triangles expand when clicked to show my review of the book.
1. James by Percival Everett [4.0/5] Jan 7
Good book. I don't remember much of the original Huckleberry Finn book. This one had strong characters, an interesting plot, and strong themes.
2. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón [5.0/5] Jan 12
This was ridiculously good. I loved the mystery and investigation. The bad guys were so creepy. And uncovering the mystery was so satisfying! Carax! What a crazy character. There's a lot of sadness here, and so much happiness. Some romances are happy, some are pointless, or doomed to failure.
3. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros [4.0/5] Jan 15
This is super fun! I like books with magical colleges (like The Magicians and Vita Nostra), and dragons are cool. The sex scenes are more explicit than I expected, and so is the constance of the characters' horniness. There is some fun character growth, the world is interesting, and the story is just fun. I liked it. :)
4. Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager by Michael Lopp [3.5/5] Jan 20
It reads like nice series of blog posts. (See the author's blog: https://randsinrepose.com/)
The chapters are individually good, there's just little overarching sense of progress. The order of the chapters seemed arbitrary, and the book ended so suddenly it was jolting.
Lots of good tips for handling meetings (know the types of people expected in a meeting, and the types necessary for the meeting to be productive), job interviews (both sides), starting a new job (form connections with people, expect it to take at least three months to feel settled), handling different types of conflict (completionists vs incrementalists, mechanics vs organics)... I liked most of the tips.
5. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni [4.0/5] Jan 23
Effective little book. The story makes it easy to see how the different dysfunctions might play out.
6. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson [5.0/5] Jan 31 (3 reads total)
I'm not sure I've met a Sanderson book I didn't love.
That was such a fun story! I could hardly stop reading. The spore-oceans were terrifying. I liked the characters. The plot was very satisfying; more satisfying than I had expected.
The one thing it lacked was tragedy. :)
I want to read more about Tress and Chuck sailing the 12 spore seas.
8. The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition by Richard Rhodes [5.0/5] Feb 13
Very informative. It explains the scientific discoveries and challenges, how they needed to use almost microscopic tools to work with the microgram amounts of plutonium for the first time, how they assembled the Manhattan project, and the different approaches they tried for both enriching uranium and for assembling the sub-critical pieces of uranium into a super-critical piece at the moment of the explosion.
It was also very sad. They intentionally left Einstein out of the work because they knew he was a pacifist. They suspected Oppenheimer of being a traitor the entire time he built the atom bomb, and had agents following him constantly. There were people who wanted to use the atomic bomb as only a show of force, without harming anybody, but they didn't know how to make any such show convincing. They dropped a bomb out of a single airplane on Hiroshima that killed about 60,000 of the 350,000 people there and destroyed 70,000 of the 76,000 buildings in the city -- within about 2 seconds.
9. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi [5.0/5] Feb 19
Paul wrote an honest, sincere reflection on his journey, with thoughts and questions about what gives life meaning.
10. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare [3.0/5] Feb 24
A very silly comedy where the reader is fully aware of the situations and misunderstandings but the characters are not.
11. Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang [4.0/5] Mar 3
This is a wicked cool magic system. I liked the characters and their relationships. I liked how the book handled both racism and sexism (and fyi I'm a white dude). I grew up entirely focused on academics, so I related very much with Sciona. And now I work as a programmer, so I related very much with the magic system!
I liked the dystopian elements and world-building as well. We got a small, brief look at what was obviously a larger world. I would happily read more in this setting.
12. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros [3.25/5] Mar 13
I like the magic, and the world building is still very fun. I'm not a fan of angst. And, for audiobook specifically, I don't like the narrator's dramatization (like reading intense parts more quickly or making yawning noises).
Violet annoyed me in this book, especially her ongoing fight with Xaden. I can see why she'd feel upset, but reading about the same fight for most of the book made the story feel sluggish and boring.
Also, something happened partway through that really bugged me, but I felt better about it by the end.
I want to know more about what's up with Andarna.
And what's up with Xaden? Dang. Poor guy. Who was his mom?
There was some very intense torture in this book fyi.
13. Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan [4.0/5] Mar 24
I liked this one. I'm impressed that the author wrote the whole series before publishing any of it.
I listened to the audiobook, so my working may be completely off.
Persephone and Raith were my favorite characters. I also really liked Suri and Minna. Malcom was a fun comic character most of the time.
The magic system is basically unexplained in this book, which I don't mind. I like the sense of mystery. I've enjoyed the world building so far and look forward to learning more.
14. Choose Possibility: Take Risks and Thrive by Sukhinder Singh Cassidy [3.5/5] Apr 12
It's got good general advice, and has some good anecdotes. I generally dislike the while Silicon Valley venture capital & hustle & unicorn culture, though.
15. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros [3.5/5] Apr 13
I'm feeling cynical now after the annoying cliffhanger at the end of the book, and my review will probably reflect that.
I like the magic, and want to know more about that and how the gods work.
I like the friendships.
Seeing them exploring some new locations in this book was exciting.
I didn't enjoy the sex scenes.
Dragons are still cool.
VI is still being really dumb, which annoys me. Her intelligence varies wildly for the convenience of the author.
17. Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan [5.0/5] May 18
(I listened to the audiobook, so I've no idea how to spell these names.)
Gifford is awesome. He and Roan make me happy. I enjoyed his epic race. And her becoming a smith was super cool!
<spoiler>There was, sadly, another dragon made in this book.</spoiler>
I'm sad for Raith and Persephone.
Seeing tesh learn to fight was cool. He and Brin are cute.
19. Aesop's Fables by Aesop [3.0/5] May 29
The fables are fine. Well, most of them are. My main issue was that this particular printing was extremely bare-boned. I expected an introductory note or some kind of commentary on the fables, but there was nothing beyond the fables and an index. The artwork is nice.
It's bare-bonedness recommends it to children, but the archaic stories made many points unintelligible to my son. I wouldn't recommend this Barnes and Nobles edition for either children or adults to read. For looking at it's fine and pretty though.
20. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas [5.0/5] Jun 11
“[U]ntil the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words,—‘Wait and hope.’”
I enjoyed this book in high school, and I loved this re-read.
21. Age of Legend by Michael J. Sullivan [4.0/5] Jun 14
I like this series. This one has fun action, some bitter-creepy vengeance, magic, regrets, sneaky planning...
22. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett [4.0/5] Jun 18
Death has gained a personality, and personality cannot last forever, so it is time for death to die and be replaced. But in the time before his death he stops being Death, and so there is no death. Instead, the dead come back as zombies, vampires, ghosts, and bogey men.
I like Terry Pratchett. This was a fun one.
23. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett [4.0/5] Jun 25
I like the witches. I also enjoyed Death's small appearances.
24. Age of Death by Michael J. Sullivan [4.0/5] Jul 2
This book has a bunch of lore. It's fun.
25. Age of Empyre by Michael J. Sullivan [4.0/5] Jul 9
I great conclusion to this series.
I feel like my recent reviews have been inflated, so I'm trying to tone it down. I liked this book enough to read the book instead of listening to an audiobook! But it's not LotR or East of Eden, so it doesn't get 5 stars.
I loved the world building, but it came with a lot of info dumping.
My favorite parts were seeing Brin and Roan and Gifford grow.
26. The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett [4.0/5] Jul 9
I liked the characters and the world building. I also very much enjoyed the narration by Andrew Fallaize of the audiobook. The plot was nice and solid.
I want to know more about the world.
28. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman [3.0/5] Jul 16
This book is crude and violent, and the plot is super dumb and simple, and none of the characters really connected with me, and it's not edited super well, but I couldn't hardly put it down.
At first it reminded me a bit of the Hitchhiker's Guide, but then it turned out to be more like the Hunger Games. But it's like a computer game? I didn't like that stuff, there was way too much exposition, and dumb video-game achievement.
But again, I couldn't stop reading it. Something about this sucked me in. Like a painful reality TV show.
29. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman [4.75/5] Jul 18
This is heartbreaking. The main character is so brave. She seems to doubt her own humanity, but she's so brave and loyal and curious. It's be willing to reread this one.
30. Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute [4.5/5] Jul 20
Thought-provoking. I liked it a lot. I want to be a better person now. I'd be willing to reread this one.
31. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien [4.0/5] Jul 28 (2 reads total)
I'm not sure how to rate this. It's undeniably epic, but large portions of it are not engrossing for me, and I was easily distracted from the audiobook. My favorite part is the tale of Beren and Luthien. I also enjoy the beginning, about the creation of Eā and Arda, and the ending, which is an overview of Sauron making the rings and eventually being destroyed.
32. The Long Walk by Stephen King, Richard Bachman [3.5/5] Jul 30
It's okay. There's nothing surprising: it's a walk to the death for 100 teenage boys. You learn the back stories for some of them, but the story never really leaves the road. It's gruesome, but at times hopeful.
33. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett [4.0/5] Aug 7
I liked Brother, and the turtle god. I liked meeting the philosophers. The bad guy was a good bad guy. The plot was interesting, and strong, and unpredictable.
Fun!
34. The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen [3.25/5] Aug 9
Fun story. Predictable traffic twists. The editing bothered me in places. I liked the geography. I also enjoyed watching the relationship between Lara and Aren, and between Lara and the new culture she dove into.
35. I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin [3.75/5] Aug 10
This one is darkly funny. There's no romance, but there is friendship. I enjoyed the wacky plot, and the crazy characters. I very much enjoyed reading (multiple times) how people on social media vastly misinterpreted trivial things.
It's commentary on social media and the division of society is made by a kinda crazy lady, but it's still compelling. I liked her metaphor of the big black box of doom.
36. John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin [3.0/5] Aug 13
This book is weird. It blends lovecraftian horror with male, college-dropout humor. The humor was hit-or-miss for me, but the horror was always satisfyingly creepy.
I probably won't keep reading the series, though, since it's not available at my library.
It reminded me a bit of Dungeon Crawler Carl. They both hooked me pretty good with interesting stories and characters, but I probably won't read more of either series.
37. Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson [4.25/5] Aug 21 (2 reads this year)
Sixth of the Dusk is such a good character. I love watching him face the many transitions that come with the "dusk."
And we get a dragon in this book! She comes with some mysterious background.
The plot is great. It has some good surprises, and never felt boring.
I still like Warbreaker more, I think, mainly just because of its romance. But it's close!
38. Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan [3.75/5] Aug 30
Fun!
I like Royce and Hadrian.
Notably, this book is two books put together in one. I liked them both. I think I liked the first one slightly more.
39. Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan [3.5/5] Sep 8
I liked seeing Royce and Hadrian as sailors.
40. Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan [4.0/5] Sep 18
What a satisfying ending to a very fun series.
41. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson [4.0/5] Sep 18
I like Threnody as a setting, and Silence as a character. The story is good too.
42. A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett [4.0/5] Sep 24
Cool magic system, approaching body-horror. I like Ana and Din a bunch. The mystery is very satisfying, too.
43. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson [4.0/5] Oct 2
That was so cool! And so satisfying!
It's the story of how a crew handles unending acceleration--growing ever closer to the speed of light--with no way to decelerate and rejoin the rest of the universe.
I liked Reymont and Lindgren at first, then disliked them both around the middle, and then they grew in me again by the end of the book.
44. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett [3.0/5] Oct 5
I would have liked it more if I was familiar with the Shakespeare plays it was referencing (Midsummer Night's Dream and Taming of the Shrews, I think).
I liked the witches, but not their infighting. I liked the king more when he was the court jester.
I really liked the blacksmith, though, and the price he has to pay for being able to shoe anything.
45. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee [5.0/5] Oct 8
I'm so glad I got to read this, and I can hardly believe it too me this long.
For some reason I was never assigned to read this in school. I'm so glad to finally get to know Scout, Jim, and especially Atticus Finch.
47. Soul Music by Terry Pratchett [4.5/5] Nov 4
I liked "music with rocks in." And Susan was awesome. :)
I tend to like the ones where our world spills into the discworld.
48. Flashlight by Susan Choi [5.0/5] Nov 11
This was hauntingly and mundanely beautiful. Anne and Louisa and Serk and Tobias feel so real. Their challenges are at times so small and ordinary, and at other times so exceptional and unsurmountable.
I appreciated the ending.
49. Sabriel by Garth Nix [4.5/5] Nov 15 (2 reads total)
Wow! What a cool magic system! Using music and the mysterious "charter" to control "free magic" and the spirits of the dead! I loved the prologue, with Abhorson (spelling? I listened to the audiobook) entering death to save a baby's life--it was such a nice, quick way to introduce us to the magic and themes of the book.
50. The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen [3.5/5] Nov 21
Fun book, interesting politics. It has some very fun escape sequences. I liked meeting Lara's sisters.
51. The Terror by Dan Simmons [5.0/5] Dec 8
Easily worth a re-read.
Simmons' "Hyperion" was awesome, so I was excited to read this, despite not reading much historical fiction.
This was so much better than I could have hoped for. The characters are engaging, the setting is fantastically alien and terrifyingly factual, and the plot is a very satisfying slow burn. The bad guys grow in badness, the good guys are indefatigable, and the monster... The monster is satisfying, from beginning to end.
52. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett [3.5/5] Dec 14
This was fun. The plot was pretty simple, but I liked the characters.
53. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. [4.0/5] Dec 18
I liked it. It's three short stories stitched together and building on one another. It's uncomfortably close to reality.
54. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World by John Mark Comer [4.5/5] Dec 19
Very good. I didn't realize that this book would basically be a long-form sermon, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I'd like to return to this one.
55. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman [3.75/5] Dec 26
Cool. I don't know many Arthurian stories, but this one at least was fun. It was an interesting view of the sunsetting Arthurian reign. I liked the characters, and I liked getting to know the other knights through flashbacks.
56. Flesh by David Szalay [4.75/5] Dec 28
This book was so uncomfortable to read. Terrible events were recounted in plain language. It was shocking if I didn't think about it, but then became appalling once my brain processed the meaning.
I didn't like any of these characters on a personal level, except maybe his mom. Chapter 1 made me feel bad for the main character, but that feeling didn't last for long. Seeing him failing upwards was entertaining and infuriating. The ending made me cry.
This book was amazing. I'm not sure I would ever want to reread it though.