My Year in Books (2025 edition)

 

A respectable number, and a wistful expression!

It seems, dear reader, that I have managed to complete another year with reading accomplishments exceeding my initial estimations. "By how much?" you may be asking. That... is an excellent question. I actually don't recall, and goodreads isn't very forthcoming about the original goal (I think it was 30).

Speaking of goodreads... while they might not remind me of what my goal was, they have greatly expanded their own recap presentation. This year, I thought it might be fun to juxtapose theirs and mine. Let's see where the app and I align and diverge!

To begin with, goodreads reported a total of 56 books encompassing 21,423 pages. This is almost exactly in line with my own totals (56 books, 21,680 pages), so I'm going to go with goodreads' values for my totals this year. Good job goodreads! Good job me!

Five Stars

This year, I rated 19 books at 5 stars. However, it should be pointed out that four of them were Attack on Titan volumes 1-4. Another was one that should probably have been rated 3 or 4, but was the culmination of a long-running series that at least brought most of the lingering story lines together and answered a lot of the questions. For that, it originally earned 5 stars; now that I've had some time to further reflect, I still find myself dissatisfied with a lot of the way it was done. That the author treated me (as the reader) fairly is admirable, but that doesn't mean I have to like the way they did it. Another one was A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, but it's always on the list. :-)

For the rest, a brief list and blurb for each.

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

A retelling of David Copperfield, but set somewhere in Appalachia. If you were too intimidated by the original, I think you'll find this version more approachable if not relatable. Barbara Kingsolver is brilliant as well (as are all of the authors of books on this list).

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Another retelling, this one of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, and set in 19th century United States. It's an interesting examination of morality, free will, and the struggle between good and evil. Definitely worth reading!

Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang

A collection of short stories, some of which you might already be familiar. My sons and I read this one as a part of our book club and had a great time talking about the stories.

The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living, by Joseph M. Marshall III

This is actually a collection of Lakota stories and teachings that are used to convey what they consider the highest of human values, including humility, courage, and balance with the natural world. Another strong recommendation, especially if you're curious about some Indigenous American philosophy/mythology.

Foster, by Claire Keegan

A short story set in Ireland, the main character experiences tenderness and stability for the first time when sent to live with foster parents. I was surprised by how much this story moved me.

Jesus, Interrupted, by Bart Ehrman

This year continued my exploration of Bart Ehrman's body of work. In particular, "Jesus, Interrupted" talks about more of the contradictions and historical complexities resulting from the Christian Bible and early Christianity in general. Another recommendation for folks that want to take a critical look at the main character in Christianity.

The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien

This was an Audible version recorded by Andy Serkis, and it was fantastic. That man is an amazing actor, both voice and otherwise!

Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow

I finally managed to read the book that inspired the musical, and great gannies -- it was a lot. Hamilton was as imperfect as portrayed in the musical, and probably more so. In fact, if he were alive today and working in the government, there's a strong chance I wouldn't support his philosophies. However, he was essential in the founding of the United States, and I won't fault him for doing what he thought was best at the time. I wish I could say the same about present circumstances. :-|

Deadhouse Gates, by Steven Erikson

The second book in an epic fantasy series, this one follows almost none of the characters from the first book. It took a minute to get into, because really terrible things start happening to the characters of this book almost from page one, and don't get very much better. Ultimately, the book paints a vivid picture of the human cost of war and empire building, and I'm planning on reading the next book this year.

Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell

I'd seen the movie a while back, but finally got around to reading the novel this year. It's an interestingly structured novel that follows six different yet somehow related stories across time. David Mitchell gets to write in different genres because of the structure, and the stories are all fantastic!

The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead

Wow, what a hard book to read. This book exposes systemic racism and abuse through the lives of boys trapped in a violent reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. It goes back and forth, past and present, through the eyes of a survivor of the school, and it's obvious he never really left. This one is inspired by true stories of real-life atrocities. Speaking of...

Night, by Elie Wiesel

Wow, what another hard book to read. This is Wiesel's memoir, recounting his experience (and survival) of the Holocaust. It's short, so you should definitely read it, but fair warning: it's tough. Speaking of again...

The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath

Wow, a THIRD hard book to read! Semi-autobiographical, and Sylvia Plath was a genius writer, so you feel it all the way. It details her decent into mental illness and her struggle to reclaim any sense of true identity and autonomy. Also definitely worth reading.

Writing the summaries for those last three has left me slightly drained. I'll have to come back to this blog entry in a bit...

Facts and Figures

A graphic that says it (almost) all!

I wonder if goodreads looked at my blog and reworked their year-of display to be more in line...? In any case, The shortest and longest books were as shown: MC Escher by Sandra Forty and Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson. The mean of 382 pages is actually relatively close to my median book: The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel at 352 pages.

Why was this chart so hard to generate?

Pretty regular pages per month right up until July, then a weird drop, back to normal, then two slow months in a row (September was when Dad passed away), then two DRAMATICALLY HUGE months in a row. I don't remember what the drop-offs were about, but I do know that the increase in November and December was due to me finally paying attention to Libby. If you aren't taking advantage of your local library, you definitely should. Quite a few of the books I read via Libby were actually audiobooks.

But what about the genres?!

Fantasy+Sci-Fi is still the winner!

There were a surprising number of pure fiction books on my list this year, as well as more thrillers than I've read in quite a while. Mythology and philosophy were also respectably counted. I'm pleased that the diversity is still there!

Did I use my eyes or ears more?

Ears win! (but not by much)

Audiobooks have returned as the top medium by which I consume books. It was another close year, with way fewer print books than last year, but the truth is that I had a collection of books in my To Read list that had been there for a long time and for which I managed to find audiobooks via Libby. I had some travel in November and some time off in December, and I was exercising relatively regularly as well. Ultimately, though, I simply wound up "reading" more in the last two months of the year. It's not that I was trying to achieve anything other than perhaps a little escapism, but I did find comfort in those books (despite several of them being REALLY hard reads).

I also has 0 wins in goodreads giveaways this year. I only entered a couple, and still have 3 on my shelf from last year that I haven't read, so I'm tapping the brakes on them for the time being.

Conclusion

I'm not sure there's a huge insight to be gained this year aside from:

You should definitely be using Libby.

I really can't overstate that. Libby is fantastic, and I regret that I haven't leveraged it more to this point. Ironically, Tanya uses it almost exclusively, and has done for a while. She doesn't read quite as much as I do, but she constantly has a book that she wants available. Other folks I know (looking at you, Jake) also use Libby or similar services quite a lot and often read even more than I do.

I also managed to write another short story for Christmas this year. It was quite difficult to write, and I don't think it was my best work, but it's out there and told the story I wanted it to. I also received a couple of things for Christmas that might spark some creativity, so it's possible I'll write something before the end of the year. I'd say "stay tuned," but really you should just check back when it's convenient. I renewed the domain for another 3 years... :-)