I read 104 books this year — 35,507 pages. I had more of a nonfiction tilt compared to other years but still read a little of everything, from science fiction and fantasy to memoir and history.

From now on, I won’t be setting a specific reading goal, but this year still felt a pretty natural cadence without trying to cram a TBR list. 

This was also a year of revamping Learning From Literature, so you’ll see many of these books throughout the site.

Here are my favorites from 2025.

James Clavell

After his ship is wrecked on the coast of Japan in 1600, English pilot John Blackthorne is pulled into the country’s feudal power struggles. Valued for his knowledge of European warfare and navigation, Blackthorne rises in status while navigating cultural conflict and the competing influence of the Portuguese.

Gilmer Mesa

Set in a violent Medellín neighborhood during the rise of narcotrafficking, Mesa’s novel follows young men growing up surrounded by poverty, corruption, and death. Through firsthand storytelling, it reveals how crime becomes both a survival strategy and a tragic cycle that consumes entire communities.

Christopher Ruocchio

Hadrian Marlowe, heir to a prestigious family in a vast interstellar empire, is trained as both soldier and scholar to follow a life mapped out for him. But unwilling to accept a destiny he never chose, he sets out across war-torn worlds, uncovering secrets older than humanity itself. As Hadrian faces political conspiracies and alien threats, he is transformed into a figure capable of shaping the fate of entire civilizations across the galaxy.

James Islington

Vis, living under a false identity, enters the Catenan Academy where obedience literally transfers power to the ruling elite. He competes in deadly academic and physical trials while investigating the empire that killed his family. As he climbs higher, he discovers the system is built on far deeper secrets than he expected.

Stephen King

Part memoir and part masterclass, King reflects on the experiences, failures, and habits that shaped his career as a writer. Blending personal stories with practical advice on writing, he offers an honest look at the persistence and daily effort in the life of a professional.

James Blitzer

Blitzer examines the forces driving migration from Central America to the United States, influenced by decades of political violence, foreign policy, and instability. Through personal stories and investigative reporting, he reveals the human consequences of systems that often treat migrants as political problems rather than people.

Susanna Clark

Within an endless House of marble halls, flooded chambers, and towering statues, Piranesi lives a quiet and orderly life shaped by wonder. But as strange messages appear and hidden memories resurface, he begins to think he is not alone, and slowly uncovers truths about the House.

Guy Gavriel Kay

In a kingdom inspired by medieval Spain, rival religious and political factions compete for control of Al-Rassan. A soldier, a physician, and a poet form relationships across opposing sides. As war escalates, personal loyalties are forced into conflict with duty and survival.

Anabel Hernández

Hernández investigates the 2014 disappearance of forty-three students from Ayotzinapa, exposing corruption that reaches into the highest levels of the state: “In this official version, the Mexican government said that the army and the federal police didn’t know anything about what was happening. They got notice two or three hours after everything ends. What I have seen all these years — four years of investigation — is that this official version is a lie.”

Peter Hessler

Hessler spends two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fuling, a city along the Yangtze River, where he teaches literature at a teachers’ college. Initially navigating misunderstandings and local bureaucracy, he gradually begins unraveling the layers of Chinese society. Through his students’ writing and small exchanges, the story chronicles life in a rapidly changing China.

Maya Angelou

Angelou’s memoir describes her early life in the segregated American South, recounting experiences of racism, sexual abuse, and displacement. With resilience, literature, and the support of her family, she develops a powerful sense of identity and voice.

Morgan Housel

Housel redefines what it means to live well, arguing that true wealth is not about how much you earn, but how intentionally you spend. Through simple stories, he shows that mastering money is less about maximizing status and more about understanding what genuinely brings fulfillment.

Timothy Snyder

Drawing lessons from twentieth-century history, Snyder outlines ways democratic institutions can erode and authoritarianism can take hold. Through twenty concise lessons, he argues that protecting freedom depends on ordinary citizens recognizing threats early and actively defending democratic values in everyday life.

Patrick Radden Keefe

During the Troubles, violence between the IRA, loyalist groups, and British forces became part of daily life. In 1972, Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten, was abducted from her home. Through investigative reporting of IRA members, informants, and survivors, Keefe exposes the moral gray zones of rebellion and the lingering wounds of conflict.

Bill Bryson

Australia, the driest, flattest, and hottest inhabited continent, contains an incredible abundance of life — much of it capable of killing you. From cheerful locals and outback towns to strange wildlife and dangerous landscapes, Bryson recounts his journey across the country with humor, curiosity, and admiration for a place unlike anywhere else on earth.

Jane Goodall

At just twenty-six years old, Jane Goodall traveled into the Tanzanian wilderness to study chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Her groundbreaking observations, including tool use, emotional bonds, and social hierarchies, reshaped the scientific understanding of what it meant to be human.

Juan Rulfo

This collection follows farmers, drifters, widows, and laborers struggling to survive in rural Mexico after the Revolution and Cristero War. Across barren landscapes and isolated villages, the characters confront hunger, violence, loneliness, and loss.

Brigid Delaney

Drawing from Stoic philosophy and personal experience, Delaney reflects on anxiety, grief, and the uncertainty of modern life. Blending ancient ideas with contemporary struggles, she explores how intentional living can help people navigate a world that often feels overwhelming.

Cheryl Strayed

Weak with grief after the loss of her mother and the collapse of her marriage, Strayed sets out alone to hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. Along the way, blisters, black bears, and her own doubts test her resolve. Her story is a reminder that sometimes nature, unforgiving as it is, offers the space we need to piece ourselves back together.

Wiliam James Dawson

In the early 1900s, Dawson chronicled his move from a mundane London clerk to a simpler, rural existence, exploring a more intentional way of living and finding satisfaction in everyday experiences. Through reflections on work, leisure, and personal values, it examines how modern life’s complexities can distract from true contentment.

David Goggins

Goggins recounts his transformation from a childhood of abuse, fear, and insecurity into a life defined by extreme discipline and endurance. Through brutal physical challenges and relentless self-confrontation, he argues that most people vastly underestimate their capacity for growth.