I likely missed a handful, but—for the 16th year in a row—here is my annual reading and listening summary (as always here are my posts on books read in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009):
Books read in 2025: 136
Comics and graphic novels included in reading total: 4
Books of poetry included in reading total: 3
Books reread included in reading total: 8
Academic & Education related books included in reading total: 22
La Cuenta and immigration research related books included in total: 14
I just finished the third book in Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series and I. am. In. (Think French Groundhog Day but with nothing happening for most of the first two books.) I am excited for book four next year.
My favorite non-fiction book of the year was Vauhini Vara’s Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age. If you have ever a) used the internet or b) known someone who has used the internet, you’d probably be interested in this book.
In similar fashion, I read Jesse Singer’s There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster—Who Profits and Who Pays the Price shortly after the Eaton Fire at the beginning of the year and it’s been a guiding text for much of my thinking this year. I talked to Singer shortly before beginning the interviews that were reflected in the report linked here; her perspective was invaluable.
Novels that have stayed with me throughout the year include Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel and Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability, both very different reflections on our current relationship to AI, surveillance, and automation.
I don’t read a ton of horror but loved Joe Hill’s King Sorrow. Pitch: a group of kids summon a dragon to deal with a bully and then deal with the lingering consequences.
Nearly twenty years ago, I read an excerpt of Helen DeWitt and Ilya Gridneff’s Your Name Here in an early issue of N+1, promptly sent a few bucks to DeWitt via Paypal, and printed out a full PDF of the unreleased book. It’s a strange feeling to see such an odd book out in the wild and finally commercially available.
Did I mention that The Cost of Being Undocumented was published earlier this year? Or that there is a free discussion guide for it? Or that we publish weekly at La Cuenta the stories, perspectives, and voices of members of the undocumented community? While this blog has not been updated in a year, I’m consistently sending out a weekly missive through La Cuenta every Thursday, join me over there.
My favorite records from this year were Deafheaven’s Lonely People with Power and Oklou’s Choke Enough (Oklou’s album doesn’t really sound much like that Tiny Desk performance, but both are lovely.)
I also loved albums this year from Sharp Pins, Geese, Swans, Nation of Language, Dijon, Jehnny Beth, Good Flying Birds, and—improbably–Pulp.
The 28 Years Later score is lovely.
Finally, the recent records from Old Saw and Rafael Toral are these strange takes on drone and melody. Along with Deafheaven, these are probably the two records I’ve gotten the most writing done while playing. Toral takes jazz standards and stretches them to their glacial, unrecognizable limits while Old Saw takes the ingredients of Appalachian folk and keeps them in an indefinite, simmering stasis.