The Year in Reading (2025)

It was mostly a very good year in reading. Certainly it's been a long time since I read more than 40 books, 44 in total for 2025. There were only eleven rereads (marked with an *), meaning 75% of the books were read for the first time-- some of them borrowed from a friend (shoutout to Elliott), while most were bought online or in bookshops. All books were read were physical paper editions. Of the 44 books, 17 were by women authors, which is a larger number than years' past. Of the 44 books read, 36 were works of fiction, the other eight being histories or essay collections.

Some of the books reread were done so for nearly the 8th or 9th time, including Alan Moorehead's Blue Nile (a history of that river from the 18th-19th centuries, first read in Africa, reread every few years because it has so many great adventure stories), Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (first read in High School, reread many times over the intervening years and 2025 was the book's centenary), Jennifer Egan's Visit from the Goon Squad (a rock and roll novel about time... probably my favorite book ever), and Paul Bowles' Sheltering Sky (I love everything about the tragedy and self-destructiveness of the book's characters). While rereading Percy's Moviegoer was a disappointment, while it was refreshing to reread Franzen's Corrections (he has a lot of haters but I'm a fan) and Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone (which is a coming of age novel that runs circles around Holden Caulfield, ha!). 

There were two hilarious books, Tom McCarthy's Remainder (about a weird rich dude who likes to spend his money recreating very random insignificant memories to the smallest detail) and Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces (which is so bawdy and vulgar I'm sure it's been canceled by some of today's prigs for its language, but for those unfettered from such constraints, it's truly wonderful). One of the great challenges of literature is an LOL chuckle, but I laughed an awful lot with both of these gems.

Importantly there were some revelations, including Tony Tulathimutte's Rejection (it's wild and will be reread), Rachel Cusk's Outline (a novel as a brilliant series of conversations), and especially St. John Mandel's pandemic novel, Station Eleven (an optimistic apocalypse). The only real disappointments were Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America (it's such a slight and unimportant work when considered against its literary shadow) and Jenny Odell's How to Do Nothing (which I thought would be a pro-Luddite book, but was full of tech nonsense nonetheless-- read Neil Postman instead if you want joy in disparaging our modern zombie society). Books that held up well to their hype were Rooney's Normal People (I'd expected to really loathe it but it was great), Chabon's Kavalier & Clay (great historical fiction of early comic book publishing in NYC), and Roth's Human Stain (which is a devastating work of art).

For those who love cinema, this is what I watched in 2025.

And here is this year's reading journey in chronological order, with books marked as an * indicating rereads:

1) The Corrections Jonathan Franzen *

2) Hard Travel to Sacred Places  Rudolph Wurlitzer

3) American Pastoral Philip Roth

4) Concrete Island J.G. Ballard

5) Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard

6) Remainder Tom McCarthy

7)  The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida Shehan Karunatilaka

8) Tomorrow, Tomorrow, & Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin

9) Rejection Tony Tulathimutte

10 The Blue Nile Alan Moorehead *

11) The Russian Revolution Alan Moorehead

12) Normal People Sally Rooney

13) Air Guitar Dave Hickey *

14) The Wager David Grann

15) The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald *

16) Dawn Octavia Butler

17) White Tears Hari Kunzru

18) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Michael Chabon

19) How to Do Nothing Jenny Odell

20) A Visit from the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan *

21) A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole *

22) Fight Night Miriam Towes

23) Let It Come Down Paul Bowles

24) The Spider's House Paul Bowles

25) Trout Fishing in America Richard Brautigan

26) The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles *

27) Emerald City Jennifer Egan *

28) Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman

29) Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel

30) A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra

31) Doppelganger Naomi Klein

32) Angels Denis Johson *

33) Train Dreams Denis Johnson

34) The Moviegoer Walker Percy *

35) Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro

36) Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel

37) Break it Down Lydia Davis

38) Almost No Memory Lydia Davis

39) Samuel Johnson Is Indignant Lydia Davis

40) Varieties of Disturbance  Lydia Davis

41) Outline Rachel Cusk

42) The Candy House Jennifer Egan

43) The Human Stain Philip Roth

44) Rule of the Bone Russel Banks *