So good to see your list! Like you, I was inspired by our voracious reader from the north and for the first time kept track of my reads in 2025. Not sure why it hadn't occurred to me before.
For me, the highlights were (fiction) Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown, & To the Wedding by John Berger, (non-fiction) Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being by Neil Theise & The Art of Dying: Writings, 2019-2022 by Peter Schjeldahl, and (poetry) The Storm by George Mackay Brown.
I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one! And what a great list! I've been meaning to read that Peter Schjeldahl collection, so I'm happy to hear you liked it. The other nonfiction one you mentioned, on the Theory of Connection, sounds like something I would love too. I'm writing all of these down.
Holy merde! That's a ton of books. Monday, I'm posting an essay about a friend of mine who read 65 books one winter in Truckee. Your list far exceeds that prodigious number, I believe. Unlike you, I've always been a slow reader, but have enjoyed many novels in my time. Hillerman was a favorite. Working at the library fed my interests at that moment, but certainly not very "high brow" or classical most of the time. Sadly, my eyes are making reading the printed page a trial. Even computer reading is getting harder, so my days of reading are numbered. It's all I can do these days to keep up with my Substackers. A fairly rich mine of good stuff as it is. I admire your list and reading habit. Obviously, it has enriched and honed your fine writing over the years. 💖
Reading, for me, has always been more of a vice than a virtue. I read books the way most people watch TV, for pure pleasure. Still, 65 books in one winter would be ambitious, even for me! And I haven't read any Hillerman, but he's been recommended to me by multiple people whose taste I trust, so I'll likely get to him at some point.
I'm so sorry you're having eye issues. I have a couple friends who have shifted to audiobooks for that reason, and I always think that sounds like a relaxing way to read.
That might be what I need to do. Audio books. If a substacker reads their work in their posts, I usually choose to listen while skimming the photos. I'm a visual learner anyway, so this is heading into an interesting future. Oh well.
I just looked up Septology. Sounds absolutely fascinating. I wonder if our resident Norwegian (Damon) has read it yet. I'll add it to my to-check-out list. Thanks, Benjamin
So good to see your list! Like you, I was inspired by our voracious reader from the north and for the first time kept track of my reads in 2025. Not sure why it hadn't occurred to me before.
Here's mine, for what it's worth: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11jE0JsKNB2R-yBpq89OJddjQhIOZW89pV3odCOr5nqY/edit?usp=sharing
For me, the highlights were (fiction) Seascraper by Benjamin Wood, Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown, & To the Wedding by John Berger, (non-fiction) Notes on Complexity: A Scientific Theory of Connection, Consciousness, and Being by Neil Theise & The Art of Dying: Writings, 2019-2022 by Peter Schjeldahl, and (poetry) The Storm by George Mackay Brown.
I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one! And what a great list! I've been meaning to read that Peter Schjeldahl collection, so I'm happy to hear you liked it. The other nonfiction one you mentioned, on the Theory of Connection, sounds like something I would love too. I'm writing all of these down.
Holy merde! That's a ton of books. Monday, I'm posting an essay about a friend of mine who read 65 books one winter in Truckee. Your list far exceeds that prodigious number, I believe. Unlike you, I've always been a slow reader, but have enjoyed many novels in my time. Hillerman was a favorite. Working at the library fed my interests at that moment, but certainly not very "high brow" or classical most of the time. Sadly, my eyes are making reading the printed page a trial. Even computer reading is getting harder, so my days of reading are numbered. It's all I can do these days to keep up with my Substackers. A fairly rich mine of good stuff as it is. I admire your list and reading habit. Obviously, it has enriched and honed your fine writing over the years. 💖
Reading, for me, has always been more of a vice than a virtue. I read books the way most people watch TV, for pure pleasure. Still, 65 books in one winter would be ambitious, even for me! And I haven't read any Hillerman, but he's been recommended to me by multiple people whose taste I trust, so I'll likely get to him at some point.
I'm so sorry you're having eye issues. I have a couple friends who have shifted to audiobooks for that reason, and I always think that sounds like a relaxing way to read.
That might be what I need to do. Audio books. If a substacker reads their work in their posts, I usually choose to listen while skimming the photos. I'm a visual learner anyway, so this is heading into an interesting future. Oh well.
Just finished Septology...hard to believe writing can still do that sort of thing...yes lists... I couldn't begin to recall everything read..
I just looked up Septology. Sounds absolutely fascinating. I wonder if our resident Norwegian (Damon) has read it yet. I'll add it to my to-check-out list. Thanks, Benjamin
I have read Septology. It's marvelous. A slow, hushed read that spreads over you and stays. Warmly recommended.
I was thinking that ..and curious about reading in original