My Book List for 2025
(So Far...)
We're about half way through this year - this seemingly endless year. I thought I'd take a moment to post my book list so far. Since I usually read 50 to 60 books and since I'm reading some larger books this year, being at 25 books seems about right.
Some non-fiction I would especially like to note: Timothy Snyder's On Freedom (a longer book) and On Tyranny (a very short book). Both essential in this moment. Also, in this suppposed "age of A.I", I recommend John Warner's More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in an Age of A.I. and The Most Human Human by Brian Christian. Both incredibly thoughful and incredibly useful. Also, How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde.
It's worth noting that Timothy Snyder lists reading books as a pro-democracy activity. I shall continue to do it. Currently I am nearing the end of the massive The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World - and it is mind blowing (no pun intended). I'm also reading David Copperfield to get ready for Demon Copperhead.
How Sondheim Can Change Your Life by by Richard Schoch
The Narnian by Alan Jacobs
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Spamalot Diaries by Eric Idol
How We Learn to Be Brave by Mariann Edgar Budde
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (re-read for teaching)
The Iliad by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
They Drew as They Pleased Vol. 1: The Hidden Art of Disney's Golden AgeThe 1930s by Didier Ghez
More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI by John Warner
Assume the Worst by Carl Hiaasen
William Shakespeare’s The Avengers - The Complete Works by Ian Doescher
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Democracy in Retrograde by Emily Amick and Sami Sage
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (re-read for teaching)
The Mystery of Lunareth Island by my Creative Writing Class (read 3 times for editing and revision)
On Freedom by Timothy Snyder
Cherished Belonging by Gregory Boyle
The Writing Teacher’s Companion by Ralph Fletcher
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
The Most Human Human by Brian Christian
Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities by John Warner
They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art of Disney’s Musical Years - The 1940’s - Part One by Didier Ghez
Truth and Revelation by Nicolas Berdyaev
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon