Books I read in 2025

These are the books I read in 2025. I’ve included a few notes.

• Camino Ghosts, by John Grisham. Every time I read a Grisham book I’m reminded of what a page-turner A Time to Kill was, and of the many happy times I’ve lived in and visited the South.
• Distant Greens, by Paul Sochaczewski. Golf stories from exotic places told by one of the most well-traveled golfers you’ll find this side of Gary Player.
• Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes. This was my second favorite book of the year. This was also my second time to read the book. It was one of my favorite books ever when I first read it more than 30 years ago, and a second reading confirmed that assessment. From my notes: “In particular I find it so interesting how the first half of the book is all about preliminary discoveries, and then the fission and bomb all came together in a rush at the very end. The Manhattan project seems it was only 1942–.”
• Deep Work, by Cal Newport. I finally read this. I was expecting a bit more. Good information, but a bit too much like a self-help book which is not my favorite genre.
• The Myth of AI, by Erik Larson. Pretty good. The AI industry moves fast and this book is a few years old, but I still enjoyed it.
• Sketches by Boz, by Charles Dickens. I’ve had this on my shelf for decades but never read the whole thing from cover to cover. I did this year, and Sketches was my third favorite book this year. Dickens has a way of making characters and places seem both familiar and exotic. That was evident in these sketches and short stories from the 1830’s. I realize that I’ve been reading some other books about that period that make it seem less exotic than Dickens does.
• Snow Country, by Yasunari Kawabata. I also read this one for a second time this year. Part of it on a train to the snow country. After making many visits to the area since I first read Snow Country, and then reading the book a second time, I was struck at what an accurate depiction of the area Kawabata makes with his sparse prose. I also note that 2025 was the 100^th anniversary of the opening of Echigo-Yuzawa station.
• Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, by David Lipsky. I had no idea this book existed until late in 2025. I was glad to learn of it and to read it.
• The Wide Wide Sea, by Hampton Sides. Books about sea travel in the 1700’s are usually pretty good. This one is no exception.
• Five Decembers, by James Kestrel. This was my favorite book of the year. I read this summary with a quote that says as well as I can what made it so enjoyable: “Five Decembers is a Russian doll of a novel: a crime story within a war epic within a love story. Thoroughly researched, it affords readers a distinct perspective on World War II without feeling didactic. While the novel spans different countries – Honolulu, Hong Kong, Tokyo – it always has a firm sense of place.”

In addition to reading, I should note that once again I also signed many books in 2025.