The Books of 2025

This year I read a surprising (to me) amount of books: 21 according to my notes, 6 more than last year. Here they are, listed chronologically in reading order. I’ll also list my favorite reads towards the end of the post.

Skip list:

• Finished Books
  • Led Zeppelin: The Biography - Bob Spitz
  • The Farther Shore - Christie Golden
  • Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
  • Einstein’s Dreams - Alan Lightman
  • Ghost Ship - Diane Carey
  • The Third Rule of Time Travel - Philip Fracassi
  • The Staircase in the Woods - Chuck Wendig
  • The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
  • Imzadi - Peter David
  • All Systems Red - Martha Wells
  • Emissary - J.M. Dillard
  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X, Alex Haley
  • Strength to Love - Martin Luther King, Jr
  • On Nostalgia - David Berry
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman
  • Tom’s Crossing - Mark Z. Danielewski
  • Maus: A Survivor’s Tale - Art Spiegelman
• DNF List
  • From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout
  • Just So - Alan Watts
• Conclusion

Finished Books

Led Zeppelin: The Biography - Bob Spitz

Finished: 2025-01-19

Reading about the early years was interesting, since I was a big Zep fan as a teen. However, it quickly developed into an exploration of debauchery and the author’s seemingly apologetic writing on the subject of statutory rape, amongst others. I can’t say that my image of the band has remained the same after reading this, and it hasn’t changed for the better. Thankfully, this was an audiobook, so I don’t have to own a physical copy on a shelf.

The Farther Shore - Christie Golden

Finished: 2025-01-29

(ST:VOY Homecoming #2)

This was the conclusion of a fun exploration of what the events immediately after the show ended could have been like. I’m not sure if it’s much in line with the show’s vibe, but it was a fun read.

Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl

Finished: 2025-02-04

I read this in a fairly casual way, which probably didn’t set me up correctly for this work. The first part of the book is basically a memoir of Frankl’s time in a concentration camp, and it stood out the most to me on a purely human level. The latter logotherapy part felt quite iffy from an existentialist perspective. If a person is born in extreme pain, only to die, could they really have found meaning for themselves in this life? I respect Frankl’s work, but I don’t agree with it and tend more towards Camus’ interpretation that we should live in spite of the absurdity and lack of intrinsic (objective) meaning in life.

Einstein’s Dreams - Alan Lightman

Finished: 2025-05-01

This novel was a really interesting exploration of some imagined thought experiments by Albert Einstein while working on his theory of relativity, i.e., the eponymous dreams. It also imagines quite a bit of emotionality and searching for meaning or God in Einstein’s work by him looking to get closer to the Old One. In the end, Einstein didn’t get closer to the Old One, and there was no great mystical revelation, but rather he unraveled some mundane truth which left him feeling empty. Time was quantifiable, and through his work, he became complicit in this process. All of his dreams have a significant melancholy and nostalgic quality to them. Connections not made, words not spoken, regrets, and friendships languished. I have a feeling that Einstein knew that this was the outcome all along, and that’s what was eating him up in each of the intermissions. That he understood the implications of his work and was probably dragging it on because he wasn’t sure he wanted to unleash this onto the world since it would change everything. Maybe the dreams were his way of figuring out if it was worth burdening the world with this new knowledge. But maybe he had to birth this thing just to get it out.

Ghost Ship - Diane Carey

Finished: 2025-05-26

(ST:TNG #1)

This was the first numbered TNG novel I read, having previously read only TNG one-offs. It was OK, like a middling TNG Season 1 episode. The characters don’t feel fully developed yet, and they come across as a bit awkward. Still, a fun enough read.

The Third Rule of Time Travel - Philip Fracassi

Finished: 2025-06-10

This was a book I read together with my wife, though I ended up finishing it before she did. It was a fast-paced and fun exploration of a data-only time travel option, where the body remains in situ and the consciousness separates from the body, traveling as data. The third-person present-tense narrative wasn’t what I was used to, but it worked for this book. I quite enjoyed the short chapters (though sometimes overused), but I didn’t like the ending, which felt cobbled together in the vein of Stephen King.

The Staircase in the Woods - Chuck Wendig

Finished: 2025-06-29

Speaking of Stephen King, last year, I finished reading Wayward, book 2 of the Wanderers series, which in itself is very reminiscent of King’s The Stand (or perhaps a bit closer in tone to Robert R. McCammon’s Swan Song). I really enjoyed the Wanderers books and was excited to read more of Wendig’s work. So, this year, I read the Staircase in the Woods, which was a fun book about, well, a magical staircase in the woods, which takes its climbers up to what’s effectively a haunted house in another dimension. And it was a pretty good read, though not as strong as the Wanderers books.

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Finished: 2025-07-15

I liked the book quite a bit, as the story is almost mythical or like a parable in telling, but it got a bit too heavy into religion. I don’t mind religion in my novels, but this one felt like it was beating me over the head with it. Yet, it was a beautiful read, but probably not enough to entice me to return to Coelho in the future.

Imzadi - Peter David

Finished: 2025-08-15

(ST:TNG standalone)

Not a bad Trek novel, although I lost interest in it a few times throughout. I had just finished watching the TOS episode The City on the Edge of Forever when I began reading this, so the timing was fortuitous. Later during the year, my mind kept going back to this story, so it had a bit more of a lasting effect on me than I’d antipated after finishing the book.

All Systems Red - Martha Wells

Finished: 2025-09-12

(The Murderbot Diaries #1)

Short and fun, but I won’t continue the series since I think (for once) the TV adaptation is better than the novel.

Emissary - J.M. Dillard

(ST:DS9 #1)

Finished: 2025-09-26

This novel surprised me. Not all Trek novelizations are good (shocker), but this one expanded on DS9’s pilot episode in ways I wish had happened on the show. The Sisko-Picard scene from the pilot was expanded upon in exactly the way you’d want it to. A great little Trek novel, easy to read and visualize.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Malcolm X, Alex Haley

Finished: 2025-09-27

While the book is described as an autobiography, it’s more of a biography by Alex Haley compiled from transcribed interviews, events, and notes. Although this doesn’t become clear until the very end, and only in the printed version, not in the (brilliant) audiobook, which omitted the prefaces and afterwords, which I found essential to read.

His trip to Mecca really seems to have had a profound effect on him, causing him to reevaluate his choices and beliefs. From testimonies in the afterwords, X was becoming more and more centrist, and it’s interesting to think about what his viewpoints could have evolved into had he not been assassinated.

Overall, I respect his angle, even the more militant ones. There’s sense in his ideas, especially the observation that Northerners keep their racism in their pockets, while Southerners spit it out. The Northern sly fox versus the Southern brash wolf metaphor remains apt to this day.

Strength to Love - Martin Luther King, Jr

Finished: 2025-10-22

While this is not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, I can understand why some rejected the idea of nonviolent resistance at the time in favor of a more radial approch. King’s work is steeped in Christianity and rejects humanism, rationalism, and anything not supported by his Christian faith. This may not have sat well with everyone in the mid to late 60s, which were fraught with white on black violence despite nonviolent resistance.

King’s sermons often retell many biblical stories and reframe them for a 1960s audience, rather than telling his own story. And in those moments of authentic reflection and relaying personal anecdotes, this book shines the most. It’s not when he’s preaching, but when he’s talking like a man to other men. I wish more of the book were like this, rather than biblical retellings and theology. Because of this, the last essay/sermon in the book is my favorite, “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence.” It illustrates his philosophy clearly and relates to the human Martin Luther King, rather than the preacher.

On Nostalgia - David Berry

Finished: 2025-11-02

An interesting topic to read about, though it could have been even shorter, as it tends to repeat itself a lot. Overall, enjoyable.

Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman

(Books 1, 2, 3, and 4)

The Soundbooth Theater audiobooks are like catnip to a TTRPG nerd like me. I finish one and immediately start listening to the next. I am not a big LitRPG reader, having previous only read NPCs by Drew Hayes, but the DCC series so far is amazing. If you’re into TTRPGs, you’ll probably like these.

Tom’s Crossing - Mark Z. Danielewski

Finished: 2025-12-27

It took me more than a month to finish this book at over 1,200 pages, and a few days to process. When I went into this book, I had high hopes that it would be similar to House of Leaves, which it was definitely not (although it is in some ways). The stylized writing style made me wonder if I’d even make it all the way through. I am glad I did, because the story of Kalin, Tom, and Landry is a long, but beautiful tragedy wrapped in a western adventure that will stick with me for a very long time. Even though it’s a 1,200 page tome, I am already thinking of re-reading it.

Clop-Clop-clip-Clop.

Maus: A Survivor’s Tale - Art Spiegelman

Finished: 2025-12-29

A powerful graphic novel about Art Spiegelman’s relationship with his father and the story of his father’s experience during WW2. This one hit very close to home as someone who grew up around so many people forever altered by the events of WW2.

DNF List

From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout

DNF: 2025-07-09

My wife and I thought it would be fun to recommend books we liked to each other. She recommended this one to me, and I recommended House of Leaves to her. Well, I lost interest about 20% into the book; it just didn’t grip me. Not a bad book, per se, but maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for reading something like this. She also didn’t finish House of Leaves.

Just So - Alan Watts

DNF: 2025-09-29

Alan Watts is best listened to, not read. In text form, he just comes across meandering and vapid.

Conclusion

As you already may have guessed, my favorite books this year were The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Tom’s Crossing. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series is my ongoing addiction and closely follows these two. Hopefully, next year I’ll have the good fortune of reading as many good books as I did this year!