I read (kinda sorta, mostly, sometimes DNF’ed) 31 books in 2025. A drop in total count but I leaned into longer ones a bit more. I think this was a good change overall. Not my best reading year, but the highs were high, and very British!
My top two, call it a tie:
Middlemarch (Eliot). Fictional story of a town in rural England, early 1800s, and its various inhabitants – sons, daughters, doctor, lawyer, mayor, etc. – pursuing their life. Rich and lively, couldn’t put it down.
The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV (Castor). Two kings, two cousins. One who wanted all the trappings and ceremony and none of the responsibility of governing. Another who wanted the burden (and power), and took it, and learned the costs. It’s a cliché but some books really do make the figures “come alive”.
Other great ones from the year:
- Rainbows End (Vinge). Scifi thriller with augmented reality and wearable tech and dementia cures.
- Extinction (Preston). Jurassic Park, but detectives and Neanderthals.
- On the Calculation of Volume, Book 1 (Balle). Novel of philosophical Groundhog Day time repetition.
- Sense and Sensibility (Austen). Two daughters find their way to love!
- The English and Their History (Tombs). Exactly what it says on the tin, but just the right balance of momentum and detail.
Mark Larson 