Rudolph's Favorite Books of 2025

We’re doing favorites! I’m starting with books, because I don’t know how many more I’m really going to get through before the end of the year. Hopefully two more! Or I won’t reach my Goodreads goal, which would be humiliating.

I’ll confess from the start, this has not been my best reading year. Usually, I set a goal for myself of 12 books a year (that’s one per month if you don’t have your calculator). This year, I set a goal of 8. I was planning on reading “Wind and Truth” by Brandon Sanderson, a 1300+ page fantasy book that I knew would take me at least 4 months to read. I did not do this. Which makes it even more humiliating that I’ve barely finished my 7th and it’s December! Whatever.

 

Here are my top three books of the year:

 

3

MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, by Joanna Robinson

 

As a former pretty big Marvel fan, I was concerned that there wouldn’t be much in this book that I hadn’t already heard/read about over the years. Instead, I found a very fun romp through the years that had some enjoyable exclusive stories about Hollywood’s most successful studio of this century. I’m kind of a sucker for all stories about movie-making, so the BTS quality of this made it a fun read. The politics behind how movies get made are both endlessly demoralizing and fascinating.

 

2

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

 

I had seen this book on fantasy recommendation lists for years and decided to finally give it a try. The less known about this one the better, so all I’ll say this is about a man who lives in and cares for a mysterious labyrinth. I was touched by the protagonist’s earnestness and love for his home.  Piranesi might technically be a mystery novel, and the mystery aspect does take a little bit to pick up. But once all was resolved, I found myself not caring about it so much, and instead valuing the protagonist’s perspective and adoration for the world around him. A pleasant read!

 

1

Nexus, by Yuval Harari

 

AI bad? Probability a little bit! Nexus is both a history of information networks (e.g. the written word or the internet) and a hypothesis of how artificial intelligence will play out based upon that history. That description might sound boring, but I can’t stress enough how much I appreciated Harari’s accessible and level-headed approach to a hot button issue. The first half or so is a history lesson, and a very engaging one at that. His predictions about AI are compelling and refreshing perspective in a moment with a lot of hype from the tech world. 

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Thanks for reading!

Rudolph