What I read in 2025

A short list this year, mostly nonfiction. Standouts: Kapuscinski's The Shadow of the Sun, Le Guin's collected essays, and a re-read of Master and Commander on long train rides.

The Kapuscinski took me months—not because it's hard, but because every chapter wanted to be sat with. He writes about heat and waiting the way other people write about weather, as if they were the main event. Maybe they are.

The Le Guin essays I dipped into out of order, which I think is the right way. “A Rant About Technology” and the bits on rhythm in prose are the ones I keep flipping back to. I underlined more than I'd like to admit.

And Master and Commander simply because the commute got longer and the sea is a good place to be when the train is late. I understood maybe half the rigging vocabulary and didn't mind.

Not a big year for fiction otherwise. Next year I'd like to fix that—suggestions welcome, though I have no comments section, so you'll have to catch me in person.