2025 books in review

So far, I’ve read 137 books in 2025 (with a few more in progress, so this number may inch up in the next day or two). This doesn’t include some stuff that I’d previously read (e.g. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, which I re-read every 5 years or so), although you’ll see a few old-familiar titles below. I track my reading using Goodreads (and, another day, I’ll write a post about all the reasons that they could improve their tool and process), and normally I get a manual list together at the end of the year. This year, I decided to do something different.

I exported my reading history to a CSV file, did some light edits to get rid of columns I didn’t need, and then fed it to Claude. I gave it this prompt:

This is a list of my 2025 reading. Create an HTML file listing the books in date order and include a hyperlink to them at Amazon and a one-sentence summary. Include my review if there's one in the review column. Fix any HTML encoding issues.

That was a good start, but I ended up with a standalone web page listing all the books. After a couple more iterations, including telling it to build Amazon links (and check to make sure they work!) I settled on what you see below: the books are sorted by rating, top-rated first, and the text of any review I left on Goodreads is included. I removed the one-sentence summary because it was too AI-y.

Rated & Reviewed

• “Happiness Isn’t Funny: True Stories of a Road Comic” by Gabriel Rutledge. ★★★★★ real, relatable, and funny: I love this guy’s comedy, and I thoroughly enjoyed his no-holds-barred account of a year on the road as a standup comic. I didn’t learn any big life lessons, but I laughed enough to make my airplane seat neighbor give me stink-eye. Five stars for that.
• “Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and the Greatest Race Ever Run” by Matt Fitzgerald. ★★★★★ Four stars for Fitzgerald’s writing (which has improved greatly since he wrote this book; this was one of his earlier books). Six stars for the story he tells.
• “Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football” by Nicholas Dawidoff. This guy embedded with the Giants for a year and wrote what he saw. He really made some of the inside machinations approachable and interesting, with lots of character insight. ★★★★★
• “The Return” by Michael Gruber. ★★★★★ fantastic! If you’re going to die, what would you do to right a great wrong? Thought-provoking, tender in places, unsparing in others. Often funny. Masterful characterization and dialog. One of the best books I’ve read in a while.
• “Hard Town (Kurt Argento Book 2)” by Adam Plantinga. ★★★★★ Non-stop action and bons mots from a bad-ass main character.
• “Doom Guy: Life in First Person” by John Romero. ★★★★★ Romero is one of the most influential people in the video game industry and this memoir is terrific reading. He and I were rough contemporaries and it was fascinating to see his take on the technologies and markets of the time.
• “Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie (Holland Family, #5)” by James Lee Burke. ★★★★★ Terrific dialog and sense of place. Probably the best of Burke’s writing in the last 10 years or so.
• “King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby. ★★★★★ Bleak but absolutely masterful.
• “The Godfather (The Godfather #1)” by Mario Puzo. ★★★★★
• “The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb” by Garrett M. Graff. ★★★★★ I know a fair amount about the Manhattan Project and yet I learned a ton from this.
• “Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan” by Jake Adelstein. ★★★★ Be an American who attends college in Japan, then talks his way into a newspaper reporter’s job and has various adventures.
• “Strip” by Thomas Perry. ★★★★
• “Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany” by Bill Buford. ★★★★
• “Road Seven” by Keith Rosson. ★★★★
• “The Swimmer” by Joakim Zander. ★★★★
• “To Die in June (The Harry McCoy series Book 6)” by Alan Parks. ★★★★
• “The Scarecrow (Jack McEvoy, #2; Harry Bosch Universe, #20)” by Michael Connelly. ★★★★
• “The Breakout: A Novel” by Ryan David Jahn. ★★★★ Terrific adventure/caper novel about a Marine whose sister falls victim to the cartel, and he decides to do something about it.
• “The Reluctant Sheriff (The Mick Hardin Novels, #4)” by Chris Offutt. ★★★★
• “The Human Scale” by Lawrence Wright. ★★★★
• “The Blinds” by Adam Sternbergh. ★★★★
• “The Seven Ages of Death” by Richard Shepherd. ★★★★ Great memoir by a forensic medical examiner in Britain.
• “The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #1)” by Robert A. Caro. ★★★★ Ponderous but  extremely educational. I learned a great deal about turn-of-the-20th-century politics, and Texas, from it, and this is only volume 1.
• “Through the Yellow Visor: The Life and (Mis)Adventures of a US Navy Fighter Pilot” by E. Vincent “Jell-O” Aiello. ★★★★ Excellent memoir by someone whose grit and determination, not necessarily native skill, got him an instructor slot at TOPGUN.
• “Wings on My Sleeve (Phoenix Press)” by Eric M. Brown. ★★★★
• “A Firing Offense” by David Ignatius. ★★★★
• “Picks and Shovels (Martin Hench, #3)” by Cory Doctorow. ★★★★
• “Never Flinch (Holly Gibney, #4)” by Stephen King. ★★★★
• “The System: A Novel of the Deep State” by Barry Eisler. ★★★★
• “Righteous (IQ #2)” by Joe Ide. ★★★★
• “Nightshade (Catalina, #1)” by Michael Connelly. ★★★★
• “Heartshot (Posadas County Mysteries Book 1)” by Steven F. Havill. ★★★★
• “The Medusa Protocol (An Assassins Anonymous, #2)” by Rob Hart. ★★★★
• “Faithless (Grant County, #5)” by Karin Slaughter. ★★★★
• “Bitter Recoil (Bill Gastner Mystery #2)” by Steven F. Havill. ★★★★
• “Submerged: Life on a Fast Attack Submarine in the Last Days of the Cold War” by Henry Rausch. ★★★★
• “Beyond Reach (Grant County, #6)” by Karin Slaughter. ★★★★
• “The Director” by David Ignatius. ★★★★
• “Royal Gambit (The Checquy Files, #4)” by Daniel O’Malley. ★★★★ Terrific continuation of one of my favorite series.
• “An Inside Job” by Daniel Silva. ★★★★
• “Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology” by Chris Miller. ★★★★
• “Hotel Ukraine (Arkady Renko, #11)” by Martin Cruz Smith. ★★★★ I’ll miss Investigator Arkady Renko, and I’ll miss Martin Cruz Smith, his creator. This book was a suitable farewell to both.
• “Corvus (Frontlines: Evolution, #2)” by Marko Kloos. ★★★★
• “King Sorrow” by Joe Hill. ★★★★ Very, very good meditation on what happens when you call a supernatural being to help you… the term “devil’s bargain” comes to mind.
• “Critical Mass (Delta-v, #2)” by Daniel Suarez. ★★★
• “Mr. Shivers” by Robert Jackson Bennett. ★★★
• “Blood Work (Harry Bosch Universe, #7)” by Michael Connelly. ★★★
• “An Italian Job” by John Lawton. ★★★
• “The Oligarch’s Daughter” by Joseph Finder. ★★★ fit for purpose: This book provided a reliable experience. Which is fine! Not every thriller novel is going to merit six stars and a glowing review. This one was good, and I enjoyed it. There were some interesting plot, twists, and the characters were mostly relatable. For my personal taste, there was a bit too much description of the food and fashion associated with the title character, but maybe that’s just me.
• “Tularosa (Kevin Kerney, #1)” by Michael McGarrity. ★★★
• “Echoes of Silence: A Frontlines Novella” by Marko Kloos. ★★★ not for me: I adore all of Kloos’ writing. This companion novella just didn’t do it for me. If you’ve read volumes 7 and 8 of the Frontlines series you’ll already know what *happens*. That leaves 70% of this book as Halley sharing her feelings of abandonment and loss, which lost its flavor about 15% of the way through. 15% of the remainder is her personal growth, which is mildly interesting. Overall, though, this wasn’t to my taste.
• “Before She Dies (Posadas County Mysteries Book 4)” by Steven F. Havill. ★★★
• “Twice Buried (Posadas County Mysteries Book 3)” by Steven F. Havill. ★★★
• “The Man with the Baltic Stare” by James Church. ★★★
• “Mississippi Blue 42” by Eli Cranor. ★★★ I wanted to love this book. OZARK DOGS was terrific, and BROILER was even better. Sadly this one just left me sort of flat. Too much philosophizing, not enough crime, with cartoonish villains and, ultimately, low stakes.
• “Smoke and Embers (An Inspector Troy, #9)” by John Lawton. ★★★ Weak, certainly the weakest of Lawton’s Inspector Troy novels.
• “The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand” by Christopher Golden. ★★★ There are some truly excellent stories in this book, but there is also a lot of stuff that struck me as filler. The opening story, for example, is about a rapey cop who “falls in love with,” and abducts, a woman whose husband dies of the superflu. it was gross. There are a few standouts, though, and the overall quality is good enough to make this worth reading if you enjoy Kping’s work.
• “Final Orbit (Apollo Murders, #3)” by Chris Hadfield. ★★★
• “The Gun Man Jackson Swagger” by Stephen Hunter. ★★★ Capable western. A bit wordy.
• “Death on Paradise Island (Fiji Islands Mysteries #1)” by B.M. Allsopp. ★★★ Fun sense of place but the slow pace and cardboard-ish characters make it less than it could have been.
• “Rollback” by Michael C. Grumley. ★★★
• “Failed State (Dystopian Lawyer #2)” by Christopher Brown. ★★★ interesting but preachy: So very preachy. Lots of curves in the plot, and there are enough one-line zingers to make it worth reading.
• “Sweet Sunday: A Novel” by John Lawton. ★★
• “The Honeytrap (Espionage Thriller Series Book 1)” by Saul Herzog. ★★

The Rest

Don’t make any assumptions about these; I didn’t rate or review them, but that doesn’t mean they’re especially bad (or good). Sometimes I just can’t be bothered.

• “The Drowning Game” by Barbara Nickless.
• “Out of Sight (Jack Foley #1)” by Elmore Leonard.
• “Agent X (Steve Vail, #2)” by Noah Boyd.
• “Zeroes” by Chuck Wendig.
• “In the Shadows: True Stories of High-Stakes Negotiations to Free Americans Captured Abroad” by Mickey Bergman. Too self-congratulatory.
• “Breath of the Dragon (Breathmarked, #1)” by Shannon Lee.
• “Invasive” by Chuck Wendig.
• “Dark Arena (The Frenchman #2)” by Jack Beaumont. This was a fun spy novel featuring an agent of the French DGSE, something we don’t see featured often in this genre.
• “Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life” by Steve Martin. Not bad, not great. Not intended to be funny, and it isn’t; this is a more straightforward recounting of his life.
• “Ella” by Mike Lawson.
• “IQ” by Joe Ide.
• “Assassin Eighteen (Last Man Standing #2)” by John Brownlow.
• “Deep Past: A Novel” by Eugene Linden.
• “A Deniable Death: A Thriller” by Gerald Seymour.
• “Rust: The Longest War” by Jonathan Waldman. Interesting history of the fight against corrosion, and the amazing efforts (and expense) directed at making sure ships, planes, buildings, medical implants, etc. don’t rust away.
• “Entry Island” by Peter May.
• “Mickey7 (Mickey7 #1)” by Edward Ashton.
• “Red Queen (Antonia Scott, #1)” by Juan Gómez-Jurado.
• “The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T” by Steve Coll.
• “Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance (Inside Technology)” by Donald Angus MacKenzie. Fascinating but super-duper technical; I could only read it in small chunks.
• “The Marriage Act” by John Marrs.
• “The Last Surgeon” by Michael Palmer.
• “Fair Warning (Jack McEvoy, #3; Harry Bosch Universe, #34)” by Michael Connelly.
• “The Barcode” by Paul V. McEnroe. Goodreads says this is the least-shelved book I read this year– only 3 other people read it.
• “Youngblood Hawke: A Novel” by Herman Wouk.
• “Antimatter Blues (Mickey7, #2)” by Edward Ashton.
• “Three Days in April” by Edward Ashton.
• “Comrades in Miami: A Novel” by José Latour.
• “A Spy at War (The Oxford Spy Ring Book 2)” by Charles Beaumont.
• “Havana (Earl Swagger, #3)” by Stephen Hunter.
• “Kisscut (Grant County, #2)” by Karin Slaughter.
• “A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County, #3)” by Karin Slaughter.
• “Worst Case Scenario” by T.J. Newman. Fast-moving, mostly unbelievable, but still entertaining.
• “Indelible (Grant County, #4)” by Karin Slaughter.
• “Typhoon” by Mike Sutton.
• “The Increment” by David Ignatius.
• “Worlds Apart (The Worlds Trilogy Book 2)” by Joe Haldeman.
• “Worlds Enough and Time (The Worlds Trilogy Book 3)” by Joe Haldeman.
• “The Last Run: A True Story of Rescue and Redemption on the Alaska Seas” by Todd Lewan.
• “The Poet (Jack McEvoy, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #5)” by Michael Connelly.
• “The Good Daughter (The Good Daughter, #1)” by Karin Slaughter.
• “Void Moon (Harry Bosch Universe, #9)” by Michael Connelly.
• “The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World” by Nathan Gorenstein. Super interesting biography of a little-known inventor who literally did chang the world.
• “I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom” by Jason Pargin.
• “Semi-Tough” by Dan Jenkins.
• “Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride: A Twisty, Funny, and Uplifting Novel” by Will Leitch.
• “Hercules” by Scott Bateman.
• “Untouchable (Joe DeMarco, #18)” by Mike Lawson.
• “Gunshot Straight (Shake Bouchon, #1)” by Lou Berney.
• “Night Train to Rigel (Quadrail, #1)” by Timothy Zahn.
• “The Bank of Fear” by David Ignatius.
• “Havana World Series: A Novel” by José Latour.
• “The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Freaks Reengineered F1 into the World’s Fastest-Growing Sport—A High-Octane History of Formula 1’s Rise in … Racing Culture, and Engineering Marvels” by Joshua Robinson. Very good retelling of how F1 got to be in its current market position.
• “Sun of Suns (Virga, #1)” by Karl Schroeder.
• “The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories” by Ken Liu.
• “The Girl Who Came In From The Cold (Licensed to Love: The Agency Files)” by J.P. Birmingham.
• “Ilium (Ilium, #1)” by Dan Simmons.
• “World War 3.2: The Axis of Time (The Axis of Time Reloaded Book 2)” by John Birmingham.
• “Worlds Enough & Time: Five Tales of Speculative Fiction” by Dan Simmons.
• “The Secret Hours” by Mick Herron.
• “The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan, #3)” by Tom Clancy.
• “Privileged to Kill (Posadas County Mysteries Book 5)” by Steven F. Havill.
• “Prolonged Exposure (Posadas County Mysteries Book 6)” by Steven F. Havill.
• “Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race” by Christian Davenport.
• “Out of Season (Posadas County Mysteries Book 7)” by Steven F. Havill.
• “The Boomerang” by Robert Bailey.
• “Fields of Fire (A Matthew Redd Thriller #1)” by Ryan Steck. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
• “The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)” by N.K. Jemisin.
• “Cop Town” by Karin Slaughter.
• “Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law” by Mary Roach. How can you not love anything written by Mary Roach?
• “Bag Limit: A Posadas County Mystery (Posadas County Mysteries Book 9)” by Steven F. Havill.
• “Toxic: A History of Nerve Agents, from Nazi Germany to Putin’s Russia” by Dan Kaszeta.
• “Asset in Black” by Casey Prescott.