Wednesday, December 31: A Year in Books

I read 50 books this year, some good, some bad, many spectacular. Here's a roundup of my top 10 for 2025, along with my Goodreads review if I wrote one, in no particular order:

An absolutely stunning memoir, a balm for these chaotic times. It's hard to overstate the beauty, empathy, reverence, and wonder in these pages; Dalton conveys all of these while steadfastly respecting and maintaining the hare's essential wildness. I'll be rereading this forever. One of my favorite reads of the year so far.

Immersive, wrenching, frustrating. Every member of this family made me want to scream. I couldn't put it down.

An absolutely stunning book. It shattered me. Likely my favorite read of the year. The companion novel, Writers & Lovers, is also a top favorite of the year, but since it was a re-read for me I'm not including it in this list.

Gripping and horrifying. I'll be recommending this one.

Amazing. Horrifying. This book was just an incredible deep dive into this predatory world of MLM—more predatory and deceptive than I could ever have imagined. Bridget Read is a fabulous writer and this book should be required reading. Highly highly recommend.

I loved this story--an incredible tale of survival and, from the point of view of a boat-hating, ocean-fearing reader, absolute lunacy. Extremely well done.

During an ordinary trip to an out-of-town lacrosse tournament, a snap decision by seventeen-year-old Charlie to override the minivan’s self-driving function results in a horrific car crash that leaves the five members of Charlie’s family alive, but two elderly people dead. The fallout from this crash goes far beyond survivor’s guilt and broken bones, leading to lawyers and potential lawsuits. Determined to heal and move forward, parents Noah and Lorelei take the family to a rented house on the Chesapeake Bay. There, as yet another disaster rents the family’s fragile peace, the question of fault takes on new urgency--and Lorelai, a preeminent philosopher and computer engineer, is the only one who truly understands the layers of blame, and the dangers to come.

Confronting the revolutionary changes possible with AI, and the risks that such developments bring, Holsinger tells a story of a family unwittingly controlled by forces well beyond their understanding. The propulsive plot and uneasy ethical questions make this a gripping exploration of where we are--and where AI may lead us.

In 1972, when Allison first encounters the avant garde theater troupe Theater Negative in New York City, she’s a fresh-faced college student desperate for adventure and authentic experiences. The show she attends is unlike anything she’s ever seen, and her life changes after that evening. Even her name changes, as the leader of the group, Peter, mishears her name as “Alice.” Alice becomes embroiled with the group, living collectively and cleaving her fate to Peter’s. That fate is manipulative, difficult, and often violent, but Alice lives for the rush of performing, the glow of Peter’s ardor, and, eventually, the attention of Rosa, a volatile new group member who sets Alice’s world spinning. No one will escape these years unscathed.

In 1997, a much older Allison is a school teacher facing the unthinkable: someone from the past has found her, and initiated contact. Allison prefers to keep her past sealed tightly shut--the nightmare of the group’s dissolution; her betrayal and escape. But just as the stage on those long-ago shows with Theater Negative ended with a bright glare of light, a “flashout,” instead of fading to black, the past demands visibility. Allison finds that telling her story is the only path to closure. Dark, claustrophobic, and startlingly clear in its depiction of youthful yearning and euphoria, Flashout is an exceptional fall read.

I laughed, I cried. Newman's description of what it's like to be swept out to sea on a wave of medical disaster was horrifying and perfect. I love this narrator, and this sequel.

It has never taken me so long to read a book of this length. A vacation over Thanksgiving; the overwhelm of preparing for Christmas--all of it took away any ability I had to focus. And focus is what this novel requires. I started from the beginning three times, never able to track the events and characters closely enough to care about them, and nearly put the novel aside. I'm so glad I didn't. This story has lived in my mind every single day since I finished it. There's a weird comfort in the future-view McEwan writes from here. And the entire engine of the plot--a search for a lost hard-copy version of a poem, and the pursuit of knowledge and understanding through archival research--is like a blessing for those of us who write everything down, or type it, but print it out if we type it.

Once I finally finished this book I started from the beginning yet again. The first third deserves the attention I gave the final two, and this reread will likely take me into the new year. It was an excellent conclusion to my reading year.

Worthy Mention

I read every single book Kevin Kwan has written during the first quarter of this year, some of the hardest months of my life, and I'm including this entry because these books were my escape from reality. They were just so much fun, at a time when nothing was fun.