2025: A Year's Reading

Here is the list of books that I read for pleasure in 2025 (my sixth such list since 2020). The books are listed in the order I read them, with new favorites being indicated by asterisks (rereads are favorites by default):

Books

1. Iain M. Banks, Against a Dark Background (reread)
2. Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
3. Iain Banks, The Steep Approach to Garbadale
4. Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist*
5. Miles Cameron, Deep Black
6. Christopher Ruocchio, Empire of Silence
7. T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage
8. Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Myth
9. Nicola Griffith, Spear*
10. Susan Cooper, The Grey King (reread)
11. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord Of the Rings (reread)
12. Tad Williams, The Witchwood Crown
13. Robert Jackson Bennett, A Drop of Corruption*
14. Richard Powers, Bewilderment
15. Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Ill-Made Mute
16. Barbara Hambly, Dragonsbane (reread)
17. Alexander Freed, Reign of Empire: The Mask of Fear
18. Chris Kempshall, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
19. Sage Walker, The Man in the Tree
20. James Luceno, Catalyst: A Rogue One Story
21. Robert Jackson Bennett, Foundryside
22. Raymond E. Feist, Magician: Apprentice (reread)
23. A. Lee Martinez, Too Many Curses
24. Martha Wells, All Systems Red (reread)
25. Mick Herron, Slow Horses*
26. Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shroud
27. Mick Herron, Real Tigers
28. Mick Herron, Spook Street
29. Joe Abercrombie, The Devils
30. Seth Dickinson, Exordia
31. Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown
32. Stephen Baxter, Raft
33. Elizabeth Bear, The Folded Sky*
34. Caspar Geon, The Immeasurable Heaven
35. Lawrence Watt-Evans, The Misenchanted Sword
36. Richard Swan, Grave Empire
37. Fran Wilde, Updraft
38. Kameron Hurley, The Stars Are Legion
39. Robert Holdstock, Mythago Wood (reread)
40. Max Gladstone, Wicked Problems*
41. Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lives of Bitter Rain*
42. Max Gladstone, Dead Hand Rule*
43. Antonia Hodgson, The Raven Scholar*
44. Arkady Martine, Rose/House
45. Paul McAuley, The Quiet War (reread)
46. Paul McAuley, Gardens of the Sun
47. Paul McAuley, In the Mouth of the Whale
48. Paul McAuley, Evening’s Empires
49. Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary (reread)
50. James Islington, The Will of the Many
51. T. J. Klune, The House on the Cerulean Sea
52. Hiron Ennes, The Works of Vermin
53. Bethany Jacobs, This Brutal Moon*
54. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (reread)
55. Michael Drout, The Tower and the Ruin
56. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (reread—yes, I read the trilogy twice in 2025)

American Comics

1. Absolute Batman (DC)
2. Absolute Martian Manhunter (DC)*
3. Absolute Superman (DC)
4. Absolute Wonder Woman (DC)*
5. Birds of Prey (DC)*
6. Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown (Dark Horse)*
7. Daredevil (Marvel)
8. The Ephemerata (Fantagraphics)*
9. Exceptional X-Men (Marvel)
10. Fantastic Four (Marvel)
11. The Immortal Thor (Marvel)
12. JSA (DC)
13. The Mortal Thor (Marvel)
14. Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics)
15. A Wizard of Earthsea: A Graphic Narrative (Clarion)

Japanese Manga

1. Akane-banashi*
2. Asadora!*
3. Blue Period
4. Call of Night
5. Hiryasumi*
6. Kageki Shojo!!*
7. Komi Can't Communicate
8. Mob Pyscho 100
9. One-Punch Man
10. Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun*
11. Witch Hat Atelier