Annually, I write a post listing almost all of the books I read during the calendar year. It seems kind of hard to believe, but I have produced such a post every year since 2005. This is a link to the 2024 list if blog readers want to work backwards. You will find that the books are loosely ranked within categories.
Nonfiction:
John Owen, Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order (Grawemeyer winner for 2025)
Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
Jonathan Caverley, Democratic Militarism
Ronald Kramer, Apocalyptic Crimes; Why Nuclear Weapons are Illegal...
Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
Michael Lewis, The Premonition
These were all good books, though the Lewis work is not as tight as the ones he often produces. I've previously disclosed a writing project that explains several of these choices and I was solicited to review Kramer for a journal.
I read several other books for this category that I am not listing here. This is because I do not include works that I did not read cover-to-cover even if I read huge chunks of them.
Also, I do not include any works that I reviewed unless those reviews were published. In practice, this means that this post will not include the books I reviewed for the Grawemeyer Awards in Ideas Improving World Order. I generally won't disclose reading a book in that process unless it happens to win. Even then, I mostly read those winning books after they have advanced in the process, it is very rare that a book I was asked to read advances to win. I can think of maybe 2 or 3 examples over a period of decades.
Baseball/Sports Non-Fiction:
Joe Posnanski, The Soul of Baseball; A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America
Jane Leavy, The Last Boy; Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood
Ted Williams with John Underwood, My Turn at Bat
Bob Gibson with Lonnie Wheeler, Stranger to the Game
Dan Gutman, The Way Baseball Works
Philip Lowry, Green Cathedrals
John Dewan, The Fielding Bible
KC Star, George Brett: A Royal Legend
Jeff Montgomery with Matt Fulks, If These Walls Could Talk: KC Royals Stories...
Anthony Castrovince, Fan's Guide to Baseball Analytics
Chuck Woodling, Against All Odds: Kansas Won the 1988 NCAA Championship
Steve Cameron, George Brett: Last of a Breed
I continued my trend of reading lots of baseball non-fiction. Most of these books I own and I'm trying to decide what might be worth keeping.
Posnanski's book is well worth your time and I really enjoyed the books about Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Bob Gibson. Your experience may vary. For more information I recommend you read my reviews at Goodreads.
Several of the books on this list I read a few pages at a time over breakfast or lunch. These include the works on George Brett, the 1988 Kansas basketball champs, Lowry's Green Cathedrals (about stadiums), and Dewan's Fielding Bible.
Literature and Genre Fiction:
Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow
Colson Whitehead, Nickel Boys
John Updike, The Coup
Jonathan Lethem, Brooklyn Crime Novel
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Depending upon who is reading them, two or three of these works might be considered genre fiction. However, the authors and/or subjects are often considered literary. The books by Towles and Whitehead are highly recommended. One is about half the length of the other and it does not lose much in its efficiency.
I was disappointed in this Updike work, but really disappointed in Lethem's book. And Orbital was too unconventional for my tastes.
Genre Fiction:
Donald Westlake (as Richard Stark), Butcher's Moon (Parker #16)
Chris Pavone, The Expats
Kate Atkinson, Started Early, Took My Dog (Jackson Brodie #4)
Philip Kerr, A Quiet Flame (Bernie Gunther #5)
Eric Ambler, Passage of Arms
Lawrence Block, Hit List (Keller #2)
Helen MacInnes, Assignment in Brittany
Ruth Rendell, Wolf to the Slaughter (Inspector Wexford #3)
Mick Herron, Slow Horses
Michael Dibdin, Cabal (Aurelio Zen #3)
Lawrence Block, Out on the Cutting Edge (Matthew Scudder #7)
Ian Fleming, Man with the Golden Gun (James Bond #13)
Agatha Christie, Evil Under the Sun (Hercule Poirot #24)
Walter Mosley, Six Easy Pieces (Easy Rawlins #8)
Everything above this paragraph is superior to the fiction that follows. I actually gave Butcher's Moon 5 stars on Goodreads but it is for long-time Parker fans -- don't start there if you are unfamiliar with the series.
Beyond crime novels, this list includes quite a number of spy stories. The Slow Horses TV show is so loyal to the book that it is hard to recommend the book if you already watched the series. I doubt I'll read more of them as a friend said the series was generally loyal and he's read all or most of the books.
I'd recommend these listed books by Pavone, Ambler, MacInnes, and Fleming. Apparently there are more Kate Moore stories by Pavone, but this is the first, so you don't need to read any of these others after reading something else. That goes for James Bond because I assume you are familiar with the character.
Donald Hamilton, The Wrecking Crew (Matt Helm #2)
James Burke, Dixie City Jam (Dave Robicheaux #7)
Joel Goldman, The Last Witness (Lou Mason #2)
Garrett Epps, The Floating Island
William Forstchen, One Second After
John Grisham, Calico Joe
Ross Macdonald, The Ferguson Affair
Robert Parker, Crimson Joy (Spencer #15)
PD James, Unnatural Causes (Adam Dalgliesh #3)
Joseph Heywood, Ice Hunter
Philip K. Dick, Time Out of Joint
Sue Grafton, O is for Outlaw (Kinsey Millhone #15)
James Michener, Legacy
James Crumley, The Right Madness (CW Sughrue #4)
Most of the rest of the books on my list received 3 stars on Goodreads, though the last few here were unimpressive and disappointing. Grafton's books have appeared near the bottom the last two years but I'll probably plug along anyway. A couple of the books are the first in a series and I'm not sure I'll be reading more of them (Forstchen and Heywood). Many of these authors have written books that I enjoyed more than the ones I read in 2025.
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