best reads of 2025

I once again concede that a year's-best posting before Thanksgiving might seem, well, early. But surely not so much if you -- or your reading giftees -- prefer their material in paper and ink. If that's you, well, you may prefer to undertake your holiday shopping sooner rather than later. Also, in general, Stuff Happens. 

In any event, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will soon be upon us. At some stores/e-stores, they somehow already are.

If you find none of the above convincing? I can live with that :-) Not to mention that if ever there were a year to support one's favorite authors, 2025 (again! sigh) is it. So: on to the latest installment of this annual feature. 

As always, I read a lot: as research, keeping current with the genre in which I write, and simply for enjoyment. Before the annual holiday shopping onslaught, I've taken to volunteering a few words about the most notable books from my reading (and sometimes re-reading) thus far in the current year. IIRC, this is my fourteenth such compilation. 

When I name a book, you can be certain I really enjoyed it and/or found it very useful. Life's too short to gripe about books I didn't find notable (much less the several I elected not to finish). Presuming that you visit SF and Nonsense because you appreciate my assessment of things, you might find, in what follows, books you (and like-minded friends, relatives, etc.) will also enjoy. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates shown are for original publication. Titles of recommendations are Amazon links, often to newer editions than the original publication (and to Kindle editions, where available).

As many of you know, I write science fiction. For many years I mainly read SF. Alas, as the genre skews ever more toward YA, media tie-ins, dystopia, post-apocalypse, and endless revisiting of tired tropes, I find myself reading less and less of it. So: whereas a fair portion of this year's reading remained SF, I found little of that reading to be recommendation-worthy. Not to bury the lede, I mainly enjoyed several books of history, historical fiction, and/or historical mystery fiction. For that matter, two of the three SFnal books I do recommend below are also in an historical vein.

All that said, there certainly are books from this year's reading I can enthusiastically endorse. To see what's impressed me so far this year, read on ....

Science Fiction 

The Lincoln Hunters (1958) by Wilson Tucker. A reread (out of print, alas, though you can often find used copies). This is a time-travel yarn revolving around the attempt to recover a lost speech that catapulted young Abe Lincoln to national visibility. Far from revisiting tired time-travel tropes, Tucker arguably creates the tropes. In parallel with our hero's mission, the novel considers cultural/political themes that still resonate today. 

The Kingdoms (2021), by Natasha Pulley. Part time-travel novel (although the time-travel mechanism is pure fantasy), part alternate history wherein Napoleon conquered the UK. The storyline is clever, rigorously consistent, and well thought-through.

eMortal (2024), by Steve Shafer. A novel that offers an interesting mix: AI, philosophy, and ethics. Reality and the meaning of existence. Coming of age. (Yes, this is YA. I didn't say I never read such.)  An innovative use of a standard trope (though I won't tell you which trope).

Science

Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe (2023), by Philip C. Plait. Have you ever wondered how would the sky look if you had the opportunity to stand on the Moon? On Mars? A moon of Saturn, beneath the famous rings? On a world deep within a globular cluster? Freefalling into a black hole? More, did you ever wonder not just how it'd look, but why? Plait (famously the Discovery Channel's "The Bad Astronomer" -- but really quite a good one) lays it all out in vivid description.

Historical

American Civil Wars: A Continental History (1850-1873) (2024), by Alan Taylor. The civil war long familiar to me as part of US history (1861-65) didn't happen in a vacuum. Before and after, Mexico was engulfed in its own wars -- and a foreign occupation (1864-67) instigated by Emperor Napoleon III of France. Canada ... wasn't Canada yet, but an assemblage of British-controlled colonies, dealing with inter-colony rivalries, aspirations for autonomy, and fear of the acquisitive colossus to its south. During much of the US civil war, members of Lincoln's cabinet advocated for an invasion of those British colonies, thinking it would be a cause to inspire the seceded southern states to rejoin the union. Great Britain, meanwhile, was war-weary from such recent struggles as the Sepoy Rebellion (1857-58) and the Crimean War (1853-56). A fascinating read.

Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline (2024), by Paul Cooper. An examination of civilizations both famous and obscure, and the arc of their existence. Ever wonder what happened to the Sumerians? The Assyrians? Carthage? Roman Britain? Constantinople? The Aztecs? Easter Island? How the rise and fall of one of these (and other!) civilizations contributed to the rise and fall of others? Here's your chance to scratch that itch.

Historical Fiction

The Half-Life of Valerie K (2022), by Natasha Pulley. The view from inside the Gulag of a massive atomic accident the West knew all about -- but the Soviets thought they were covering up. Reads like a technothriller, and the science (mainly radiobiology) seems rigorous. 

The Thomas and Emily De Quincy trilogy by David Morrell, comprised of Murder as a Fine Art (2013), Inspector of the Dead (2015), and Ruler of the Night (2016). Thomas De Quincy is an actual historical figure, notorious in Victorian times as the Opium Eater and as the author of lurid, true-crime articles about infamous murders. In the opener of this trilogy, De Quincy and his daughter are called upon to clear his name when he becomes a suspect for seeming copycat murders. The next two books bring in new ghastly murders and an expanding story arc.

Last, but certainly not least, The Ancient Rome trilogy of Robert Harris, comprised of Imperium (2006), Conspirata (2010), and Dictator (2016). All three rereads. The many rises and falls of Cicero, orator and politician in the final years of the Roman Republic and into the Civil Wars that ended with Augustus as Emperor. It's narrated by Tiro, the actual slave (later freed) and secretary of Cicero. Tiro, BTW, is an historical figure in his own right. Among his accomplishments: inventing shorthand (including such familiar bits as etc. and et. al.).

There you have it ... a plethora of books I can (and do!) highly recommend.