Read 2025
I did one of these last year after being unimpressed with any service's "wrap up" summary. Consequently, it also led me to discover bearblog... and while I haven't done a lot of blogging (read: none published) since that initial post, I thought why not explore my 2025 reading journey as another jumping off point!
I had two goals in mind for 2025. One: Finally get to reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy (love the movies, always wanted to read the books). Two: Dial back on the number of books I was aiming for (as an arbitrary goal) in favor of just exploring titles I had a strong interest in or desire to tackle.
I'm glad to report I've succeeded with both.
--Middle Earth--
Starting with the big-guns! My time with J.R.R Tolkien's universe. Wow. I knew I was going to enjoy it, but I was a little taken back with how much I absolutely loved every bit I consumed. I started with The Fellowship of the Ring and immediately jumped into The Two Towers and kept rolling into The Return of the King. Not wanting to miss a beat, I quickly followed up with The Hobbit and ended my sprint with The Silmarillion. The detail, the character depth, the meticulous thought that has gone in every damn little (and grand) thing in that world... It all sucked me in. The existence of Tom Bombadil, the multitude of songs (and everyone breaking out into them at all junctures), the extended scenes, conversations and character detail that we just didn't get in the motion pictures, the back story to it all... It all just enthralled me. I won't go too deep into this as I do have a draft post breaking down my experience further, but suffice to say: I'm very happy I finally sat my butt down to read these. I've set additional Middle Earth works to my TBR pile (once discovering the plethora of material available!).
--Adrian Tchaikovsky--
Tchaikovsky, easily one of my fav authors at the moment, certainly got his fair share of titles in under my year of reading. And Put Away Childish Things was a surprising play on the Narnia series - but in a much darker, adult themed setting (they even reference Narnia at times) which is surprisingly engaging. It was just last year that I dug into the Narnia series proper (childhood aspiration) and to have jumped into this so quickly, I think helped the read feel extra neat. Both Alien Clay and Shroud were interesting Sci-Fi / other-worldly adventures, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Something that always seems to (pleasantly) surprise me is how Tchaikovsky builds living, breathing worlds with memorable characters that stand on their own between two unrelated novels even if two books end up having similar themes/settings. Shroud was the stronger title in this pair, but both were well worth the read. Service Model was a nice change of pace. Humorous and set in a future where Robots have kind of taken over everything... but in a dumb, can't go past their simple programming kind of level as humans just give up... it was a fun read.
--Remembrance of Earth's Past--
Cixin Liu's spectacular series that starts with The Three Body Problem is something I shelved after the first book. I found some of the translation structure difficult to get past, some of the character back stories complexities... hard to get see a payoff within the context of the first book. Overall the book's story stuck with me and after discussing with a colleague, I decided to give the followups a second chance. I'm VERY glad I did. The Dark Forest and Death's End are absolute masterpieces. The interwoven story across all three is so damn expansive, thought provoking and haunting! I was eager to rip into these any chance I got. Just when I thought I had wrapped things up, I found The Redemption of Time by Baoshu. This is a fan-fiction piece that evolved into a full blown novel, blessed by Liu, and acts to further wrap up to the series. It helps to extrapolate some concepts, give more concise endings to some characters and leave the world with less cliff hangers. I rather enjoyed the interesting ideas he came up with to further the work!
--Everything Else--
Sherry Thomas' Lady Sherlock series is one I keep coming back to. A Tempest at Sea and A Ruse of Shadows were two volumes that I had the pleasure of delving into this year. Both hitting their mark with a Sherlock mystery (the series follows Charlotte Holmes in a world where Sherlock Holmes is merely an assumed name she uses to solve crimes without a need to divulge her identity) with a sprinkle of romance thrown in. Being books 7 and 8 in the series, the author has built up a strong cast of characters whom still surprise from time to time.
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn was a very engaging read following a female Russian Sniper through her experiences in WWII. A work of fiction, but also based on and inspired by an real person with a similar story. It was a good mix of action and humanity wrapped up in a packing with a bit of intrigue. When the World Fell Silent by Donna Jones Alward was particularly interesting in that the story revolves around a disaster in history (The Halifax Explosion) of which I'm quite familiar with, having grown up in the province it takes place in. Again, fiction, but based on real world accounts and timelines. The Mercy of Gods by James S.A Corey was a decent intro to a planned series. I did want more from it, but it was good grounding work for more to come.
But not all books I ripped into were winners. Last year I really enjoyed Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants, which follows a number of characters as they start to discover and unearth parts for a giant robot around the world. I was eager to get into the two follow ups... and felt that the first sequel, Waking Gods was lesser than the first book which then really fell off for me when I moved onto the end of the trilogy Only Human. The arc (of the trilogy), which started out with such promise and mystery quickly fell into an unevenly paced, not sure what it wanted to focus on, puddle of 'meh'. The moments that were meant to invoke emotion and push a strong message really failed to deliver. Characters lost their personalities to fit the story or message. Overall it felt... misdirected. I felt deflated by the end of it and ended up giving the books away rather than shelve them with the idea of a re-read.
Nnedi Okorafor is usually a name I have strong faith in to deliver a unique story with strong characters. Lagoon fell flat for me. I actually found it a chore to get through and am left a little shocked by it.
Lastly, The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin, while the subject matter appealed to me (WWII era adventure), the writing really let me down. The characters ended up being too flat and predictable. The overall story around the same and in no way did it feel engaging.
But outside of those few disappointments, I very much enjoyed my 2025 in reading. I got to delve deep into Middle Earth and explore some titles that align with my interests; succeeding on picking up titles merely based on my desire at the time.