Books 2025

This year I'm only going to keep track of the books I read on this website, so this will be a more "live" list in a sense.

As cliché as resolutions are, I've decided to implement at least one in regards to reading; 10 non-fiction books by the end of the year. Compare to the seemingly meagre four that I engaged in the previous year, I believe this goal should motivate a more knowledge and learning based year.

𝙏𝙞𝙩𝙡𝙚	𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧	𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨
Red Mars*	Kim Stanley Robinson	A very nicely written sci-fi epic from the 90's that couples retro-futuristic utopias whilst maintaining a heavy focus on the people that transform this new world. 600-ish pages, well worth the effort, I heartily reccomend it.
Deep Work	Cal Newport	The first book by Cal Newport that I've read. I found the opening 100 pages a little shaky but beyond that well executed. Your standard productivity book.
The Hamlet	William Faulkner	Rich in description, a humorous critique of post civil war America. I feel like I need to reread it to fully appreciate it.
Panenka	Rónán Hession	A nice shorter read that has some lovely depicions of the everyday lives of ordinary people, dialogue is excellent, but at times can feel somewhat manufactured, unrealistic.
How To Take Smart Notes	Sönke Ahrens	A very compelling and motivating deep dive into how note taking systems based on linking notes actually benefits you, and how such systems can aid in writing.
Crime And Punishment	Fyodor Dostoevsky	This was the Project Gutenberg version, I'm not sure about the differences in translations but this one was great, not difficult to read at all. Overall, a superb book 9/10.
Green Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	More of the same great, rich sci-fi narrative, following new and old characters, and second book of the Mars Trilogy. Brilliant.
The Island of Doctor Moreau*	H.G. Wells	An interesting book from the late 1800s by a renowned author
How To Live Safely in A Sciencefictional Universe*	Charles Yu	Again rereading a shorter work, one of my favourite books from last year. More literary fiction than sci-fi, but nonetheless an engagingly unique work.
Death and The Penguin	Andrey Kurkov	Whimsical would be how I'd describe this shorter work, yet endearing all the same, very human.
A Clergyman's Daughter	George Orwell	A brilliant example of Orwell's earlier work. You can se a lot of classic ideas in prototype here. Would reccomend.
Teaching As a Subversive Activity	Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner	My first and probably not last foray into the theory of education, an old book, 1960s to be precise yet all of its ideas are good. Also very welll written, engagingly so. I think I'll use it to branch off of, find more boooks from its footnotes.
Blue Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	Phenomenal is all I can say. The entire trilogy consists of long, time-spanning narratives yet the saga never gets boring. Switching between intense ecological description to sudden philosophical wonderings, the entire process of watching the chracters - and planet - develop over the course of more than 200 years is unforgettable. If Robinson had dropped all the SF from the tale, you would still be left with 300 pages of beautiful writing. Truly what a genre book should be, not leaning on the idea as support, but building on it to make its human elements all the more interesting. 10/10.
In Defense of Housing	David J. Madden and Peter Marcuse	Not the greatest book I've ever read, but did outline some issues well.
The Benefactor	Susan Sontang	I think this is the best book I've read this year, felt similar but better than Crime and Punishment if you ask me, but that just may be a consequence of the translation I read. 10/10, do read.
Shoplifting From American Apparel	Tao Lin	Next to nothing, a novella I got through in an hour. I get a little bit of the appeal but overall much to simplistic, even if that's on purpose.
It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over	Anne de Marcken	A unique take on existentialism, this is how shorter books should be done.
We	Yevgeny Zamyatin	Lots of parrallels with Nineteen Eighty-Four, clearly it's inspiration, thus quite interesting.
The Idiot	Fyodor Dostoevsky	Reads like a soap opera, yet expertly written - will be returning to it at a later date. 10/10.
Slaughterhouse Five	Kurt Vonnegut	A very unique take on the anti-war novel, whimsical yet meditative.
The Brothers Karasamov	Fyodor Dostoevskey	I'm beginning to expect the Project Gutenburg editions of Dostoevskey are slightly harder to read as i enjoyed this and Crime and Punishment substantially less than The Idiot.
Ghost Work	Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri	Enlightening in regard to the future of work, would reccomend.
The Fellowship of the Ring	J.R.R. Tolkien	Still holds up, if not a bit slow at times.
The Word for World is Forest	Ursula K. Le Guin	Short, well paced sci-fi with a good message, will be checking out more of her work.
American Gods	Neil Gaiman	Bought it before the allegations... and I can't say it was exceptional. Percy Jackson but "for adults"
The Picture of Dorian Gray	Oscar Wilde	Probably long overdue, a classic for a reason.
Life For Sale	Yukio Mishima	A whimsical journey of self discovery in Japan. Will look further into Mishima's other works.
Death Kit	Susan Sontang	Not most well executed book but at times feels like it's trying to say something (about drugs..??..... idk read it yourself).
The Plague	Kim Stanley Robinson	More of the same great, rich sci-fi narrative, following new and old characters, and second book of the Mars Trilogy. Brilliant.
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley	I've read better dystopian novels but this had a nice vocabulary.
Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of the Dead	Olga Tokarczuk	Initially, I wasn't too enamoured with the text, perhaps due to the translation, but ultimately a satisfyingly meditative book.
Black Against Empire	Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin	Dense, interesting, informative. Reading up on a topic I didn't know much about.
Animal Farm*	George Orwell	Returning to this as an "easier" read after the previous book, still as good as ever.