I’m running a bit behind on this, mostly because I’m teaching a winter course at work and those are always pretty time-intensive, but I thought I’d briefly discuss my favorite reads from last year, out of everything I read this year (pictured above, and see also here). I’m including fiction, poetry, and graphic novels (in that order). No nonfiction, but basically just because none really made the cut. No RPG books—most of those were reviewed in the same post, so there’s no reason to go over it all over again.
In no particular order, here were my favorite reads from the year 2025:
Glen Cook’s Chronicles of the Black Company: The first novel’s a bit over the top in spots, but the trilogy in this first omnibus really hooked me, to the point where I picked up the other three available omnibuses to read in 2026.
R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis: My wife borrowed this for me from the local library when she noticed it on the shelf, and though I’d heard things about Kuang’s other work that made me unsure whether I’d like it, I ended up really having fun with it. Hell-as-grad-school is a hilarious starting point for an underworld odyssey novel.
Vajra Chandrasekera’s The Saint of Bright Doors: A great weird modern fantasy set in a world full of incarnate divinities, magical doors, and internet dating.
Youssef Daoudi’s Monk!: Thelonious, Pannonica, and the Friendship Behind a Musical Revolution: A great graphic novel about the life of Thelonious Monk and his relationship with the jazz patron Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. Recommended to me by Marvin Long! (Thanks!)
Indra Das’ The Last Dragoners of Bowzabar: A book I picked up on a whim after seeing the author mention it on Bluesky. It was a beautiful story, wonderfully told, and it’s stuck with me since I read it.
Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, which I read from the omnibus Burning Your Boats: Collected Short Stories: After many years of hearing her work mentioned, a now-defunct book club finally got me to read some, and it was excellent! I’ll have to dig into the rest of the collection this year.
Joris-Karl Huysmans Against Nature (A Rebours): A completely crazy and wonderful novel about a shut-in who loses his mind, hyperfocusing on the most absurd things. Every chapter is a revelation.
Bae Myung-hoon’s The Proposal. A fun, twisty story about a proposal deferred by space war with a mysterious enemy.
Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness: A wonderful novel about which most of you won’t need any introduction. I’m not sure why it took me until now to read it.
Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth: I’m talking about the full set of four novels, three of which I read this year, if I remember right. It’s a classic of fantasy for a reason. The first of the Cugel novels and the last novel of the series (about Rhialto and his awful peers) were my favorites.
Fritz Leiber’s The Second Book of Lankhmar (comprising Sword of Lankhmar, Swords and Ice Magic, and Knight and Knave of Swords): Well, as the stories progressed, I generally loved them less and less with each passing collection as Leiber’s dirty-old-man schtick came increasingly to the fore—I’ll never feel the same about the Gray Mouser—but even in the last book, there are some moments of brilliance.
Björn Kurtén’s Dance of the Tiger: A great novel about neolithic Cro Magnon humans, Neanderthals, and life in the stone age—one that’s informed by scientific knowledge that was up-to-date when the book was written. The people in this book are very human, not the caricatures one encounters in a lot of stone age-set fiction. Sent to me by Justin Howe! (Thanks!) Marvin
Eric Ambler’s The Mask of Dimitrios: One apparent literary forebear of the modern British spy novel, this book was fun and dark and weird, and I agree that it still reads well today. This was also sent me by Justin Howe. (Thanks again!)
Sir Thomas Malory’s Complete Works (edited by Eugène Vinaver): Technically, I’ve only read approximately the first quarter of this book, which is to say the first quarter of the Morte D’Arthur, but it’s still worth mentioning. It’s odd and bloody and at times ridiculous in a way that doesn’t come across in a lot more over-serious modern interpretations of Arthur, and I’m enjoying it even though it takes a little more brainpower to read than
George D. Economou (editor)’s Proensa: An Anthology of Troubador Poetry: A really solid collection of troubadour verse. Not my favorite ever, but a really good collection that introduced me to some troubadours I hadn’t explored before.
Arthur Rimbaud’s Rimbaud Complete (translated by Wyatt Mason): I’d had this on the shelf for a couple of decades, I think, but finally got around to it. It was kind of a slog toward the end, but mainly because I was bound and determined to read it all in a single go. There’s a reason Rimbaud remains important to this day.
Gou Tanabe’s At the Mountains of Madness (2 volumes), The Call of Cthulhu, and The Haunter of the Dark: Wonderful graphic novel adaptations of classic Lovecraft stories. The art is really worth checking out here!