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... :-)

My Year In Books (2021 Edition)

 

That's a large graphic

Apparently I didn't find the time/energy to post anything to this blog last year except the book review. That's a shame, because last year was actually full of a lot of really interesting and eventful stuff. Maybe I'll get back to it at some point, but I think I'd rather look forward in general. Having said that, let's IMMEDIATELY disobey that directive and look at how last year went in books!

I deliberately set NO GOAL for reading this year. In fact, I didn't formally participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, because I didn't want that to inform any of my leisure actions. As it turns out, I'm very goal-oriented; once I've got the task in mind, I'm pretty irritable of anything that distracts from it until it's accomplished.

Despite not having a set goal, I read a respectable 29 books this year, with a total of approximately 10,400 pages. This was down from last year's totals of 40 and 12,800 respectively.

Top 5

Let's start with the five best books in the list. For reference, 11 of the 29 books I read got a 5-star rating this year, so the following list isn't comprehensive of the great content I consumed. I didn't review any of these on Goodreads, because other folks managed that more eloquently that I would have done.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones

The version of American history I was taught in high school in small town Texas was woefully narrowly-scoped. As it turns out, the same is true of my parents as well, as my mother (one of the smartest people I know) and I were completely unaware of things such as the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. (Note: I first learned of the massacre via the excellent HBO series "Watchmen", and referenced again in "Lovecraft Country".) If you grew up in a privileged bubble similar to mine, quite a bit of the content surfaced here will be surprising. Everyone should read this, and it should be taught in schools.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, by George Saunders

My heart grew at least two sizes when I met my spouse. One spot in there is now reserved for Russian literature; I was never really exposed to it outside of "War and Peace." This book gives the reader a fantastic glimpse of some of the genius that's hidden in a dramatically different culture from the one I grew up studying. I listened to this on Audible, and the translations of the short stories are read by the likes of Glenn Close, Phylicia Rashad, Nick Offerman, and Rainn Wilson among others, with the analysis read by the author. If you love literature, either consuming or producing it, and have wondered a little about why that is, you would do well to read this book.

Just Above My Head, by James Baldwin

There is a special pain that comes with being marginalized that, as you might've guessed from the first entry on this list, I've never really experienced. This book beautifully illustrates that pain as the main protagonist is black and gay in an era where neither were well accepted. This is a fictional account, but the trials and tribulations expressed inside are certainly inspired by real-life, personal events from the author. James Baldwin was a magnificent writer, and I'm once again amazed at the lack of exposure I've had to his work after studying American literature in high school. As with the first book on this list, everyone should read it, and it should be taught in schools.

A Perfect Spy, By John le Carré

John le Carré passed away in 2021. I was unfamiliar with his work, aside from "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"; I'd seen the movie, but not read the book. Jeff VanderMeer recommended his work highly, so after a bit of research, I read this one. I wound up enjoying the book very much, although the author's treatment of women was something I had to fight through. If you've ever thought you'd be interested in reading a spy novel that's more than a 007-brute-force offering, you would be well served to have a look at this one or others by this author.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I'd never actually read Dracula prior to this year. In fact, the only classic horror I'd read cover-to-cover was "Frankenstein". The narrative is progressed as a series of journal entries by different protagonists, and I loved the distinctness of their voices. The most disappointing part of the novel was actually the climax: I found it extremely unsatisfying, given the characterizations offered at the beginning of the novel. With that said, the book is definitely worth 5 stars, and as with other entries on this list, everyone should read it. (Aside: if you have to choose between this one and Frankenstein, favor Frankenstein, but try to get them both in if possible...)

Facts and Figures

Now the part you're REALLY here for: the GRAPHICS! Or at least, some HTML TABLES! First off: the standard metrics are offered. Most notable is the dramatic increase in average book length. This might contribute to the smaller completed count as well.

Year	Longest	Shortest	Average
2021	1232	80	371
2020	960	100	320
2019	1015	131	322

Then comes the number of pages and books consumed per month.

Data in THREE DIMENSIONS!

As usual, I finished a few more books in the first two-thirds of the year compared to the end. What's slightly surprising is that I didn't finish any books in January. I suspect that's because "Rhythm of War" was very long, and I started it the first week of January. The end of the year still had plenty of pages read. This is, overall, a pretty steady pace for me, I think.

Next, the question of whether or not I've abandoned audiobooks is answered. Spoiler Alert! The answer is "no."

Pie chart. Remind me to do a blog post on baking at some point...

Another year where the number of books I read was higher than the number to which I listened. Only four physical books, but still a respectable number given our technological proliferations...

How about a breakdown by genre? 

Pie chart, or donut chart?

Sci-Fi/Fantasy squeaks out the win again, but there are several genres in here that could be classified as Sci-Fi/Fantasy as well (Horror and Graphic, mainly), so it wasn't quite as close as it appears. Still, plenty of diversity here, although I'm slightly surprised not to see any Poetry here. That's the first time in several years that it hasn't appeared on the list.

Other Notes

Book Club

The boys and I started doing a book club this year, and we made it through several titles, including:

• The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy, by Chris Bailey
• The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life, by J.L. Collins
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, by Robert C. Martin

We also started Dune, by Frank Herbert, but haven't finished it yet. The first two were aimed at "adulting," while the third is about helping the boys become better software developers. The fourth... well, that's just for fun. That, and with the movie releasing at the end of 2021, it seemed appropriate. :-)

Authors

Of the 29 books, there were 27 different authors. The only duplicates from this year's list were:

• N.K. Jemisin
• Brandon Sanderson

Both are pretty prolific authors and write stuff that's in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre in general. I recommend essentially everything of theirs that I've read.

Ratings

My ratings breakdowns:

Stars	Count
5	11
4	11
3	5
2	1
1	1

If you were wondering, the single 1-star rating is for The Dark Crystal, by A.C.H. Smith. It's one of the few for which I actually left a review. I'll quote it here.

DNF.

This is the second or third time I've pick this book up and had to put it down. I was slightly less than halfway through this time when I punted. I'm not exactly sure I can pinpoint my challenges with the book. A large part of it must be the juxtaposition of it and the movie -- the movie being wonderfully dark and important in my memory, and the book clinically reciting the story to me. Combine that with the fact that I purchased the book via the Kindle store without paying close attention to the fact that the book was a .pdf, so I couldn't adjust the color, font, etc. In addition, the book would, on occasion, start losing half pages on the kindle app on iOS, forcing me to close and reopen the app. Unfortunately, I can't recommend it to other folks. If you have the inclination and opportunity, watch the movie instead.

On that cheery note, I'll wrap up the first of what I'm sure will be MANY blog entries this year. Or maybe the only one. I actually have other year-end stuff to write about, namely, the year in music. Maybe I'll manage to get that one done, if someone out there requests it... ;)