Hello loyal subscriber to this rarely-sent-to list that I started almost six years ago,

This is THE annual email where you can expect to find, in order below:

• Personal update
• Reading Recap for 2025
• 2025 Favorites list

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Update

One small birthday present I gave myself in 2025 was acquiring the one domain that I've always had to long for from a difference, by auction for a reasonable fee, PeterKnox.com​

Then with no time for myself to do anything with it, I'm thankful for the generosity of Nick Gray and his team at PersonalWebsites.org who got me up and running and backfilled some posts so that eventually I may finally move off Tumblr and Goodreads.

Visit PeterKnox.com

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2025 Reading Recap

Now the real reason I'm emailing you now is because it's finally 2026 and I'm no longer able to say I read a book in 2025. Therefore, the list is final. Here's what the 40 books that I read for fun (not work!) last year all look like together:

Here’s a quick look at the 2025 breakdown by the numbers:

• Total Books: 40
• Total Pages: 11,582
• Format: 8 Print / 32 Digital
• Genre: 15 Fiction / 25 Non-Fiction
• Author Gender: 11 Female / 29 Male
• Library Use: (100% digital) 32 library books (including 6 audiobooks)

The year to year trends that stand out to me, given that I read exactly the same number of books in 2024, is that I read six fewer books by female writers, slightly less fiction, and just two more physical books (and one less audiobook). I did read one poetry book!

And since I started tracking two years ago, my reading is still ‘frontlist’ heavy which means 24 (more than half!) of the books I read in 2025 either published within the last year. I can’t help but want to know which books live up to the buzzy hype and to have my own opinion about them (which then helps you sift through new recommendations!).

Even though I read two fewer fiction books this year, those were the ones I that will stay with me. There’s something about single word title novels like Perfection, Culpability, Playworld, Martyr!, Dogs, Rejection, (then incl. non-fiction like Lorne, Montaigne, Molly) that made the list in 2025 that stand out looking back now.

Usually it’s the novels by female authors that rise to the top for me, and there were so many good ones this year like Rental House, Colored Television, and Long Island Compromise that I loved that were just slightly overshadowed (and maybe this is recency bias) by the men I've recently read that I’d call my top favorites. Those who wrote Culpability, Perfection, and Playworld (as well as Martyr!) rocked my reading experiences this year. Everyone should read all of these, I can say without a second’s hesitation.

When I can get lost in a masterful biography, I tend to learn a ton with a deep dive into cultural, political, and social history more than any class I’ve ever taken and this year was no different with Lorne (absolutely fascinating anecdotes I’ll never forget), Master of the Senate (a true education in its comprehensive history of the Senate, civil rights, and LBJ), and The Fish the Ate the Whale (trust me, you need to know more about how the banana shaped our world) were complete standouts that I think everyone would love as much as I did.

Now that I can see the data laid out in a grid, I’m going to make my common pledge to try to shift more towards print fiction books by female writers to balance the scales a bit more in 2026. But who knows where the year will take me. Want to see previous years?

Reading Recaps Archive

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Favorite Nine Books of 2025

If any book below catches your interest, I hope you follow through and read it. You can check out my reviews for every book I read on my Goodreads page. Let me know what you’re reading these days and send me your recommendations!

And without further ado, here are my top reads from 2025:

Favorite Fiction: Playworld by Adam Ross Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico Culpability by Bruce Holsinger Favorite Non-Fiction: The Fish that Ate the Whale by Rich Cohen The Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson #3) by Robert A. Caro Lorne by Susan Morrison Honorable Mentions: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar A Marriage At Sea by Sophie Elmhirst Rental House by Weike Wang ​ If you're looking for more, I have 99 more favorite books listed from every year since 2024 here, where I'm sure you'll find something new to read and enjoy. ​ Favorite Books List