Every year for over a decade, I’ve challenged myself to read a certain number of books and then go about trying to achieve it. Based on last year and the year before, I set my goal this year at 52 books. I surpassed my goal by reading 55 books!
This year, instead of choosing my top 10, which would be way too difficult because…so many good books!…I’ll list them by the month I finished them in.
Highlighted columns contain books that are particularly recommended (except the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which I highly recommend but if I highlighted all the books, February and March would be too colorful)
January
Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act
By Nicholson Baker
An investigative journalist attempts to discover whether the United States used biological and/or chemical weapons in the era of the early Cold War, but the government’s unwillingness to tell the truth about itself requires him to shift tactics and, instead, report on our democratic government’s method of hiding its actions from its people through a tangled mess of redacted documents, denials, and unanswered requests. It’s as much about government secrecy and bureaucratic frustration as it is about our government’s illegal use of biological weapons.
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
By Cat Bohannon
The story of human evolution is usually told (in an unacknowledged way) from a male-centric perspective, but this book shows how female body traits (lactation, pregnancy, menopause, perception, and even brain development) actively shaped how mammals and humans evolved. This book is a great reminder that biology is not neutral or male by default, and female body traits have significant, some might say species-defining, evolutionary consequences.
February
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook
By Matt Dinneman
I started the Dungeon Crawler Carl series as an audiobook in 2024 and continued it through the first quarter of 2025. This series is so good and so fun, and while the audiobooks are some of the best I’ve listened to, I don’t spend enough time with audiobooks, so at some point, I shifted to reading the books with my eyes instead of my ears. I can’t wait for the next one.
Year Zero
By Rob Reid
A fun little novel that sees the end of the world looming thanks to copyright laws and the rest of the universe’s love of Earth music. This book was weird enough and intellectually stimulating enough to remind me of one of my favorite novels from my teenage years, Buddy Holly is Alive and Well and Living on Ganymede.
The Gate of the Feral Gods
By Matt Dinneman
I won’t review each of the books in this series because they’re all so good. Really, you should just read them.
March
The Butcher’s Masquerade
By Matt Dinneman
I’m not kidding: you should read them.
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
By Matt Dinneman
I mean, if you’re at all interested in video games or role-playing games, existentialism, pop culture, high-octane action, or reality television type game shows, you should read these.
Wicked
By Gregory Maguire
A re-read inspired (of course) by the movie adaptation of the musical adaptation. Yet another example where the book is a 1000x better than the movie.
This Inevitable Ruin
By Matt Dinneman
Have you not gone out and purchased this series yet? That’s just silly.
April
Abundance: How We Build A Better Future
By Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
I disagreed with so much in this book, but at bottom, my disagreements had to do with its premise. The authors somehow believe that removing government regulations will not result in even more of an increase in corpro-fascism.
The Mercy of the Gods: The Captives’ War
By James S.A. Corey
I am a big fan of the authors’ massive Expanse series, so I was excited to dig into this first book in their newest series: The Captives’ War. I’m happy to report that it was another fun read, so I’m looking forward to the rest.
Polostan: Volume 1 of Bomb Light
By Neal Stephenson
The first book in Neal Stephenson’s newest series, Bomb Light, which focuses on the Manhattan Project by way of a Russian spy. If you’ve read his Baroque Trilogy, this is supposed to be like that, but for the Nuclear Age.
May
Listening to the Big Bang
By Brian Greene
A quick listen that recounts the long history of the individuals who led us to the theory of the Big Bang. Greene tells the story with his trademark showmanship and skill as a teacher.
The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain
By Sofia Samatar
A sci-fi novella set in a world where all of humanity lives on giant space ships. As with much of science-fiction, the story explores how class affects humanity.
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
By Lawrence Wright
A fantastic investigation into the origins of Al Qaeda, the motivations of Osama Bin Laden, and the steps that led to 9/11. The book won the Pulitzer Prize, and it should have.
Co-Intelligence: Living & Working with AI
By Ethan Mollick
I listen to a podcast that often references tweets and blog posts from Ethan Mollick and I generally like his takes on topics related to AI, so I figured I’d try one of his books.
Now I have.
Now I don’t have to again.
The Shipping News
By Annie Proulx
What can I say about Annie Proulx that hasn’t already been said? She’s a true master of the novel, so, by definition, The Shipping News is a masterpiece.
If you haven’t read it, you must.
The Book of Air & Shadows
By Michael Gruber
This was like The DaVinci Code, minus the Vatican and focused on Shakespeare. It was a fun read, but not a great one.
June
In June, my wife and I decided we would not buy any books for the summer. If we needed a book, we would take one off of our shelves. The agreement lasted until the Long List for the Booker Prize came out. My wife joined a book club that intended to read every book on the Booker Long List before the winner was announced. That would require the purchasing of a lot of new hardcover books (some only available in Europe). But until then, no new books for us.
Levels of the Game
By John McPhee
McPhee is The New Yorker writer par excellence. In this book, he uses a single tennis match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner to explore race relations in the U.S. in 1968. This book has been called “the high point of American sports journalism,” but it sat unread on my shelf for nearly two decades. When my wife and I made our agreement, I decided it was time to pick this book up, if only to assuage my guilt. I liked it, but then again, I like The New Yorker. Your mileage may vary.
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
By N.K. Jemisin
Another book whose unbroken spine brought me guilt. My sister-in-law bought this for me for Christmas several years ago because it was on my wish list, but then I didn’t read it.
But now I have.
I love Jemisin, so this collection was a real treat.
Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel
By Martha Wells
I’m a sucker for the Murderbot stories. The narrative voice really tickles me, and this particular book’s take on the subjective reality of a computer network was really cool. The best kind of sci-fi popcorn.
And the TV show is fun too.
July
A Psalm for the Wild Built: A Monk & Robot Book
By Becky Chambers
I’m a fan of Becky Chambers. She has the ability to write relatively quiet sci-fi books that aren’t exactly “cozy fiction” but are “comforting” in their way. Her plots make moves that generally steer away from clichés and towards kindness, generosity, and humanity.
Little, Big
By John Crowley
One of my favorite books of all time. This was my second read through, and it’s still one of my favorite books of all time.
Let me put it this way: the first time I read this book, I cried at the end, not because it was sad, but because it was so beautiful.
The only other time that has happened to me was at the end of James Joyce’s “The Dead,” which I consider the single best piece of literature in the English language.
Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart—Again
By Robert Kagan
I generally disagree with Robert Kagan, but I do respect him as a conservative thinker. In this work, he argues that the U.S. is the foci of a long-standing battle between (classical) liberalism and anti-liberalism, with the rise of Trump being the latest and most dangerous resurgence of the anti-liberal position. Written prior to the 2024 election, its warning went unheeded by conservatives.
Gilligan’s Wake
By Tom Carson
A chaotic, what-the-fuck-is-happening, psychotically narrated romp through the 20th century, this book is a series of interconnected short stories that imagines the cast of Gilligan’s Island somehow being present or influential in much of the American century’s most dramatic events (some examples: the Professor participated in the Manhattan Project; Thurston Howell III was an ignorant force driving Alger Hiss’s career; etc.). A weird, fast, pseudo-Beatnik style novel. Fun if you can handle it.
The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel
By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fred Fordham, & Aya Morton
After reading Gilligans Wake, where “Lovey” Howell reveals she was great friends with Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan, I wanted to remind myself of the plot of Gatsby again but didn’t want to deal with Fitzgerald’s writing; this was my compromise.
Spent: A Comic Novel
By Alison Bechdel
The latest from the author of Fun Home, this wonderful graphic novel examines the life of a group of late middle-aged hippies trying to live out their ideals while also shopping at Amazon.com. This one felt extremely close to home.
Ginseng Roots: A Memoir
By Craig Thompson
A graphic memoir of the author’s childhood that also reckons with the effect his previous graphic memoir had on his family. More than that though, it’s an examination of the entire ginseng industry, which was weirdly compelling and a great example of the effects of globalization.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
By Oscar Hijuelos
Recommended by my wife, this was such a good freakin’ book. An entire life (and then some) told with grace, speed, and a vulgar beauty. I made the mistake of watching the movie afterwards; don’t do that.
August
Cannery Row
By John Steinbeck
I feel comfortable enough to say that Steinbeck is my favorite American author. The fact that he can write a perfect romance like this while also writing East of Eden and Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice & Men is just silly. Heartily recommended by an old friend, Cannery Row doesn’t really have a protagonist; instead, it reveals the adventures of an entire neighborhood. I have so much love for every character in this thing.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century
By Timothy Snyder
A collection of short essays written by an academic who, despite reports, did not move to Canada to escape the Trump Administration. I enjoyed the essays, but if you’ve been paying attention and have any sense of history, there’s not much to see here.
Red Pill
By Hari Kunzru
The worst book I read this year. Just boring as shit with characters I cared nothing about.
I highlighted it because everyone should be sure NOT to read it.
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead
By Olga Tokarczuk
Recommended by my wife, this novel by a Nobel Prize winner is a heartbreakingly hilarious depiction of a curmudgeonly hermit and her rural neighbors, wrapped in a murder mystery and spiced with an unreliable narrator. This was one of those books I didn’t want to end.
Heat 2: A Novel
By Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner
My father-in-law gave me this book, and it was a fun read. Not sure I would have read it if I didn’t have Al Pacino, Robert Deniro, and Val Kilmer in my head, but it made for a good sequel to a great movie. Apparently, they’re gonna now turn it into a movie, with rumors having Leonardo DiCaprio standing in for Val Kilmer, plus Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Adam Driver, and others.
September
Tortilla Flat
By John Steinbeck
Set in the same neighborhood as Cannery Row, this book provides an American re-imagining of the Knights of the Round Table: a group of men bound by loyalty and shared ideals and morals, with no real hierarchy, and plenty of quests. I absolutely loved this book.
All The Pretty Horses
By Cormac McCarthy
I haven’t read much Cormac McCarthy, but the two books I’ve read were each incredible. All The Pretty Horses was no different. It’s the story of two young Texan men who, basically, run away to Mexico, where trouble quickly ensues. Do yourself a favor: Don’t watch the movie afterwards.
A Drop of Corruption: An Ana & Din Mystery
By Robert Jackson Bennett
The second book in the Ana & Din series, A Drop of Corruption is a Sherlock Holmes’ type of story set in a fantasy world where giant monsters rise from the deep sea to destroy towns and cities. I enjoy the series a lot, but I can imagine some people finding the book too long.
A Promised Land
By Barack Obama
Know what’s a great way to escape the daily horror of the Trump shitshow? Listen to Barack Obama narrate the memoir of his 2008 campaign and his first term. The former president reads the audiobook, tricking your mind into believing there’s still hope for America.
Judevine
By David Budbill
Recommended by one of my colleagues, this collection of narrative poems focus on the people, places, and events in a fictional Vermont town. Easily the best representation I’ve come across of what life is actually like in Vermont for those who don’t live in Burlington. It includes drugs, alcohol, flatlanders, humor, beauty, sex, farming, and machinery and people that break down.
Cosmicomics
By Italo Calvino
A collection of short stories that take some kind of scientific theory or fact as inspiration and then uses it to populate an impossible narrative. Calvino is a giant in my conception of myself as a reader and writer — his If on a winter’s night a traveler changed my understanding of what is possible with a text — but Cosmicomics (and its follow-up collection, t zero) doesn’t move me like his novels do.
October
Sunrise on the Reaping: A Hunger Games Novel
By Suzanne Collins
A prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, this book focuses on the games played by Hamish (Woody Harrelson in the movies). If the original books are a parable about PTSD, this one provides heartbreak after heartbreak to explain why Hamish is as depressed as he is at the start of the original books.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
By Omar El Akkad
I loved Omar El Akkad’s novel, American War, so when I heard he wrote a nonfiction book ostensibly about Gaza but also about life as an American immigrant, I was all in, but then I heard it was a contender for the National Book Award, and I had to get my hands on it. This book was devestating, and it should be recommended reading for every human.
The Solitudes
By John Crowley
This is the first book in a trilogy I haven’t finished. I enjoyed the book — which is, kind of, about a history professor who is considering writing the secret history of the world — but not enough to read the second or third entries.
Night
By Elie Wiesel
I read this following One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This because a) I hadn’t read it; b) El Akkad made me feel guilty that I hadn’t read it; and c) it was on our bookshelf and our agreement didn’t allow me to buy a new book.
I’m glad I read it, but by this point in my life, I’ve read a lot of stories about the Holocaust, so this one didn’t hit as hard it would have when it was first published.
Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague
By Maggie O’Farrell
Another one recommended by my wife (are you starting to see why I married her?), this tells the story of Shakespeare’s wife and kids. While Shakespeare is obviously a character, the real protagonist of the novel is his wife. It’s not historically accurate, but that’s okay because it’s a beautifully human tale of woe.
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel
By Suzanne Collins
Another prequel (and published before the one I read earlier in the month), this book tells the story of a young President Snow and the origins of the “modern” version of the Hunger Games. This one tries to show that, contrary to the saying, power does not corrupt; it reveals. This one also shows why Snow is so fascinated by the contestants from District 12.
November
Childhood’s End
By Arthur C. Clarke
A sci-fi classic about what happens when non-hostile aliens show up and decide we need their help.
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
By Stephen Kinzer
Let’s put it this way: most of what you hate about the rise of the American Empire in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s is directly attributable to one of these two motherfuckers. This book tells their story. Fuck these guys.
The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding
By Osita Nwanevu
I’m a sucker for books that propose a progressive re-imagining of democracy in the United States, but I would have liked this better if it was an article in The Atlantic. I’ve read too many books in this area for me to have found much new here.
Washington Black
By Esi Edugyan
Recommended by my wife, Washington Black (which is now a show on Hulu) tells the life story of a young slave boy whose life becomes a grand adventure. This was a fun one.
I Cheerfully Refuse
By Leif Enger
This is a unique post-apocalyptic novel set in, on, and around the Great Lakes. Plenty of tragedy occurs within its pages, but there’s also a quiet beauty about human connections, literature, and love.
Prophet Song
By Paul Lynch
Another recommendation from my wife, Prophet Song is an incredibly oppressive novel focused on an Irish woman whose family suffers through a right-wing fascist takeover of Ireland. Picking up this book each night was a struggle because the protagonist’s experiences are so…well, oppressive…but it’s so well written, so prophetically realistic, and so compelling that I couldn’t not pick it up.
December
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
By Jack Weatherford
This audiobook filled in a major gap in my knowledge of world history. The story of Genghis Khan’s rise and death hooked me from the beginning, but the author’s contention that the Mongols were way more important than Europeans gave them credit for is why I kept listening. If you don’t know much beyond “and then the Mongols invaded,” this is a great place to start.
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
By Susanna Clarke
This was my second time reading this one, and it remained a great read. Written in a pseudo-19th-century vernacular, the novel provides an alternative history of the United Kingdom where magic once ruled, fairies are real, and Napoleon lost at Waterloo because he didn’t have a magician. It’s a long book, but it’s very much worth it.
Traction: Get A Grip on Your Business
By Gino Wickman
I went to a conference for work this year where there was a panel discussion about the concepts presented in this book. The conversation was intriguing enough to make me go out and get the thing. I don’t do a lot of “business” reading (as you can tell), but there were some ideas in here I found useful for work. If you are a leader in a small business, this is a decent read.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
My final audiobook of the year, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks documents the origin and fallout of what doctors call the HeLa cells, which began as cervical cancer cells inside a poor black woman’s body and have outlived her by more than fifty years, with no end in sight.
But more than highlighting the scientific importance of these cells, the author tells the story of the woman behind the cells, the family that sprang from her womb, and how the existence of the cells have haunted the women’s children for decades.
This is a fascinating story, and it’s also a heartbreaking, respectful, and deeply felt narration that examines the realities of poverty in the United States.
The Once & Future King
By T.H. White
I finished reading this one on New Year’s Eve while staying at my father-in-law’s cottage on a pond in Indiana while the snow fell outside on a cold, dark night.
This was my first time reading this classic from the 1940s, and holy shit is it as good as everyone says it is.
Sir Thomas Malory may have written the definitive version of King Arthur’s tale, but White’s 20th century retelling is perfect for the expectations of modern audiences. Divided into four books, the first was the basis for Disney’s The Sword & The Stone, the second introduces Lancelot, the third is the quest for the Holy Grail, and the final is Mordred’s takedown of Arthur.
Each book increases the pathos of the characters until, at the end, the reader feels the full tragedy of Camelot. Such a great book.
If I had to pick a single book for my favorite read of the year, I guess it would be The Shipping News.
But that’s only because the Dungeon Crawler Carl series has to be experienced across all seven books (so far) to be fully appreciated. Really…you should read it.
Okay, that was 2025. In 2026, I’m shooting, again, for 52 books. We’ll see how it goes.
If you’re interested in my previous years’ roundups, here are some links for ya: