2025 Post-Mortem
Everyone seems to do their year-end posts at some point in December. I get it, but also, what if something happens in the last couple weeks of the year? So here on The Plot Sickens, I’m doing my year end wrap up in the beginning of the new year. A TRUE retrospective. Take that, convention!
So, lets get some stats out of the way, then we’ll get on to the awards.
The Details
First, from StoryGraph:
And then, from Bookly:
As you can see, they don’t exactly line up, but they’re pretty close. You can peruse these to your level of interest and time. Which may mean you skip them entirely, which is also your prerogative. I don’t judge.1
Personal Reflection on 2025 in Books
Before we give out awards, a quick discussion.
As I was thinking about what to write on this post, I was trying to come up with a single through-line of what I’ve learned this year in reading. Here’s the most pithy thing that rings true to me:
No one cares.
No one cares if:
You read 300 books this year
You loved that book everyone else loved
You hated that book everyone else hated
You hated that book everyone else loved
You loved that book everyone else hated
You read for pleasure or for enlightenment
You read books aimed at your demographic
You read classics, new books, or new classics
You didn’t read anything at all.
Your time with your books, whether that be marathon sessions in your favorite chair or a page or two on your phone while you ride the subway, is just that: YOUR time. Don’t be cowed or influenced by social media folks bragging about reading Gravity’s Rainbow in 12 minutes or having to put an extension on their home for their personal library. It. Doesn’t. Matter.
One of my favorite aspects of reading, the reason it soothes my nervous system and quiets my brain, is that it is one of the few spaces in our modern life that does not require or request a response. The words are for your eyes, at whatever speed or cadence you consume them. The story means what it means to you, regardless of how it affected others. You are required to do nothing but allow the words to impact you. That release, that abdication of responsibility, that freedom to let your mind do whatever it does without analysis or introspection: that is my happy place. I hope it does the same for you, whether your stack of books looks just like mine or nothing at all, or whether you find that solace in some other place.
The Awards
And now, let me disregard all of that and hand out awards for the books I read this year. We’ll start with the worst, finish with the best, and have some fun in-between.
I’m a bad book apologist. Things just aren’t for me sometimes, and that’s ok. They can be for someone else! Lord knows there are plenty of books that I’ve loved that others have panned. However, it’s rare for a book to not only be garbage, but offensive garbage, even rarer for that offensive garbage to present itself as the second coming. So I guess a tip of the hat to Patric Gagne for at least doing something…unique?
God, what a steaming pile of self-important unethical dog shit.
Given to the book that stuck around in my head for the longest. There were a lot of contenders here. I debated giving it to Havoc, The Art Thief, Unbroken, and a few others. Funny enough, the one that pops into my head most often? The Great When by Alan Moore.
Don’t ask me why. I just find myself thinking about it quite a bit. I guess I just really loved that world and I’m excited to see what happens in it next.
Awarded to the book that had me turning pages so fast, they were at risk of igniting. Another category with a few strong contenders, but this years award goes to:
When The Wolf Comes Home was just so frenetic and insane that you never knew what the next page would bring. Definitely some of the most fun I’ve had reading all year.
Close runner up for this award: The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett.
Given to the book that is most screaming for a film adaptation. Here I’m looking for something that has mass appeal, a strong visual component, and enough stuff going on to be interesting on screen. Maybe not a surprise, but this year’s award goes to:
The set pieces, the action, the tension…all of Cosby’s books are begging to be put in theaters, but this is the one I read this year.
Coming in second: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
For the weirdest book that still worked. I read a lot of weird books and this one was very hard to choose. Finally, I decided that the deserving book may not be the oddest book of the year, but, I think it was the one that maximized it’s oddness while also maximizing its success as a novel. Does that track? Anyway, the award goes to:
What a bizarre concept, but somehow, someway, Wendig pulled it off. Really though, go through the archive of posts on this Substack and you’ll see that about 75% of the books listed could have slotted in here just as easily.
Pretty self-explanatory, but the book I was most looking forward to that was disappointing. Note that this doesn’t mean the book was bad by any means - just that the hype I had in my head was not achieved by the largest margin. For that, we have:
I love V.E. Schwab and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is an instant all-timer. I was so psyched for Bury Our Bones, and it wasn’t bad but it just didn’t resonate in the way I hoped. I hope V.E. can forgive me…and write a better book next time.
For the biggest pleasant surprise of the year. Oddly, this might also be the most celebrated book I read in 2025, but I really didn’t think it would land for me. I’m not a big history guy, or a WWII guy, or a biography guy. And yet…
…grabbed me by the back of the neck and didn’t let go once. I was completely enthralled. I think about Louis Zamperini often.
Close runner up: The Art Thief by Michael Finkel.
And finally…
It was a good year of literature for me. I read some classics that will be discussed for decades to come. I read some old favorite authors who continue to delight. I read some new authors that surprised me with their talent. Yet, as I look through the list of everything I read this year, I can’t find one to beat our winner here. It’s not the kind of book I usually read, and it was a new author (for me), and yet, I could not stop and never wanted it to end. That book was…
drumroll
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If you don’t agree with me, you’re wrong.
What did I get wrong? What other awards should I give out? Let me know!
In fairness I guess this whole Substack is about judging books, but I digress.
I am just about to read King of Ashes. ! Yay. Thanks for the info. Very descriptive and informative.