> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.andrewliptak.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # What I read in 2025 - URL: https://www.andrewliptak.com/what-i-read-in-2025/ - Published: 2026-01-02T00:20:57.000Z - Updated: 2026-01-02T00:20:57.000Z - Description: 58 books! - Author: Andrew Liptak - Tags: Book List, Books 2026 is here, and with the year ticking over, here's a last look back at the pile of books I read in 2025\. I've been keeping track of what I read on social media (mainly on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/andrewliptak.com?ref=andrewliptak.com) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/andrewjliptak/)), and as I've done in prior years, I set myself a goal of 52 books. At 58 books, I did better than I have in the last couple of years (2024 saw 42 books, while in 2023, I only read 38.) I say *only* like that's a bad thing: most places I've seen say that Americans read around 11-12 books a year, so I'm doing my part to skew that average a bit. Here's what I read in the last year: 1. *Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s* by Adam Rowe ([Interview](https://www.andrewliptak.com/adam-rowe-worlds-beyond-time-70s-scifi-art-book-interview/)) 2. *The Two Towers* by J.R.R. Tolkien ([Commentary](https://www.andrewliptak.com/tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-two-towers-grima-wormtongue-corruption/)) 3. *The Return of the King* by J.R.R. Tolkien ([Commentary](https://www.andrewliptak.com/tolkien-return-of-the-king-lotr-propaganda-disinformation/)) 4. *The Wandering Earth* by Cixin Liu, adapted by Christophe Bec and illustrated by Stefano Raffaele 5. *A Conventional Boy* by Charles Stross ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/charles-stross-laundry-files-conventional-boy-litrpg-gaming-book-review/)) 6. *The Silmarillion* by J.R.R. Tolkien and edited by Christopher Tolkien 7. *Vermont: An Outsider’s Inside View* by Edward L. Rubin 8. *Alien Clay* by Adrian Tchaikovsky ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/adrian-tchaikovsky-alien-clay-sci-fi-book-review/)) 9. *Daredevil: Born Again* by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli 10. *Death of the Author* by Nnedi Okorafor ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/nnedi-okorafor-death-of-the-author-africanfuturist-scifi-book-review/)) 11. *Life Became Very Blurry: An Oral History of Covid-19 in Vermont* by Garrett M. Graff ([Interview](https://www.andrewliptak.com/garrett-graff-vermont-oral-history-covid-19-interview/)) 12. *Hellboy: The Crooked Man and Others* by Mike Mignola 13. *The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of the Solar System* by Dante S. Lauretta ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/dante-lauretta-osiris-rex-asteroid-hunter-book-review-space-astronomy/)) 14. *The Quiet Before: On The Unexpected Origins of Radical Ideas* by Gal Beckerman 15. *When the Moon Hits Your Eye* by John Scalzi ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/john-scalzi-when-the-moon-hits-your-eye-sci-fi-book-review/)) 16. *All Systems Red* by Martha Wells 17. *Star Wars: Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear* by Alexander Freed 18. *Where The Axe is Buried* by Ray Nayler 19. *Artificial Condition* by Martha Wells 20. *Swedish Machines: Sunset at Zero Point* by Simon Stålenhag ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/simon-stalenhag-swedish-machines-zero-point-scifi-book-review/)) 21. *Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly* by Anthony Bourdain 22. *The Martian Contingency* by Mary Robinette Kowal 23. *Damascus Station* by David McCloskey 24. *Project Hail Mary* by Andy Weir ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/project-hail-mary-andy-weir-first-contact-murray-leinster-hard-scifi/)) 25. *Jurassic Park* by Michael Crichton ([Commentary](https://www.andrewliptak.com/jurassic-park-michael-crichton-tech-scifi-book/)) 26. *How To Kill An Asteroid: The Real Science of Planetary Defense* by Robin George Andrews 27. *Automatic Noodle* by Annalee Newitz ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/annalee-newitz-automatic-noodle-scifi-book-review/)) 28. *The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb* by Garrett M. Graff ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/atomic-bomb-garrett-graff-devil-reached-toward-the-sky-book-review/)) 29. *The Folded Sky* by Elizabeth Bear 30. *The Last Vigilant* by Mark A. Latham 31. *The Bewitching* by Silva Moreno-Garcia ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/betwitching-silvia-moreno-garcia-witches-horror-book-review/)) 32. *How To Love A Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World* by Ethan Tapper ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/forests-trees-nature-writing-christopher-brown-ethan-tapper-book-review/)) 33. *Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow* by Tom King and illustrated by Bilquis Evely 34. *Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West* by Aidan Moher ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/aidan-moher-fight-magic-items-jrpg-book-history-review/)) 35. *The Desert Talon* by Karin Lowachee 36. *Winters' Time: A Secret Pledge, a Severed Head, and the Murder That Brought America's Most Famous Lawyer to Vermont* by Jeffrey L. Amestoy ([Interview](https://www.andrewliptak.com/vermont-history-winters-time-jeffrey-amestoy-clarence-darrow-book-interview/)) 37. *Katabasis* by R.F. Kuang([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/rf-kuang-katabasis-fantasy-book-review/)) 38. *The Buffalo Hunter Hunter* by Stephen Graham Jones 39. *FotTrot* by Bill Amend 40. *The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America* by David Baron ([review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/life-on-mars-the-martians-david-baron-book-review/)) 41. *Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler* by Susana M. Morris ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/positive-obsession-octavia-butler-biography-book-review/)) 42. *Physics for Cats* by Tom Gauld 43. *King Sorrow* by Joe Hill ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/king-sorrow-joe-hill-fantasy-horror-dragons-book-review/)) 44. *All That We See Or Seem* by Ken Liu 45. *The Shattering Peace* by John Scalzi ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/john-scalzi-shattering-peace-scifi-book-review/)) 46. *Frankenstein* by Mary Shelley 47. *There Is No Antimemetics Division* by qntm 48. *Hole In the Sky* by Daniel H. Wilson ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/daniel-h-wilson-hole-in-the-sky-first-contact-sci-fi-book-review/)) 49. *The Epic of Gilgamesh* 50. *The Everlasting* by Alix E. Harrow ([Review](https://www.andrewliptak.com/alix-harrow-the-everlasting-fantasy-time-travel-book-review/)) 51. *King of Ashes* by S.A. Cosby 52. *Orbital* by Samantha Harvey 53. *Vermont Female Farmers* by JuanCarlos Gonzalez 54. *Runes of Engagement* by Dave Klecha and Tobias Buckell 55. *The Greatest Sentence Ever Written* by Walter Isaacson 56. *Pass the Loot* by Bill Amend 57. *Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right* by Jordan S. Carroll 58. *Ensorcelled* by Eliot Peper With 2026 started, I've reset the clock. My goal is always the same: 52 books in as many weeks. You can follow along with my progress on social media, where I'll be once again tracking what I've been reading. What did you read last year, and what stood out for you?