The Best of 2025.

This is a "best of" list based on the 84 books I read and reviewed in 2025. I do not focus on new books, so there are books on this "best of" ranging from being published in 1973 to being published in 2025.

The titles are active links to my reviews.

*** = Best of the best in that category

MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

I acknowledge that it is odd that I found a 39 sports autobiography to be the best book in this category, but I found this to be thoroughly enjoyable read. The cover has a blurb from Playboy saying it was the "best sports book of the year." They may have been right - it is very good. If you are an old fan of NASCAR, this will be a fantastic read for you.

***King Richard I: The Autobiography of America's Greatest Auto Racer by Richard Petty with William Neely.

A Paper Orchestra by Michael Jamin.

Brian Epstein: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

Our Subway Baby by Peter Mercurio.

John Wesley Hardin: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

HISTORY/NON-FICTION

Winston Groom will always be best known as the author of Forrest Gump, but he should be equally well known as the author of a series of well-told American histories. His history of the Civil War's Vicksburg campaign is part of a trilogy, but it is a solid stand-alone telling of one of the greatest military campaigns in American history.

***Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom.

Lincoln's Generals (Gettysburg Civil War Institute Collection) edited by Gabor S. Boritt

Commemorative History of the George Rogers Clark Bicentennial Exhibit by the Indiana State Museum

The Swedish Empire: A History from Beginning to End by Hourly History.

GRAPHIC NOVEL

I read so many great graphic novels this year. Jeffrey Wilson's interview with Chomsky was unique, but I really liked Soule's tale of Anakin Skywalker's first few months as Darth Vader. It does not make Vader sympathetic, but you end up hating the Emperor even more.

***Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, Volume 1 - Imperial Machine by Charles Soule

Slaughterhouse-Five: The Graphic Novel by Kurt Vonnegut and Ryan North.

Superman '78 by Robert Venditti

The Instinct for Cooperation: A Graphic Novel Conversation with Noam Chomsky by Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Wilson

Batman - One Bad Day: Penguin (One Bad Day series) by John Ridley

FICTION

This was a tough category, as it usually is. Samira Ahmed's well told tale of a controversial book banning campaign in a small town was excellent. The story is emotionally compelling and the reader, Kauser Mohammed, is a real talent. Put them together and you will find yourself looking for chances to keep listening.

***This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed

The Price You Pay (Peter Ash #8) by Nick Petrie

The Big Empty (Elvis Cole/Joe Pike #20) by Robert Crais

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Dragonlance Chronicles #1) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Lullaby Town (Elvis Cole #3) by Robert Crais

SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS (audiobook) by John Fugelsang

Published in August of 2025 by Simon and Schuster Audio.

Read by the author, John Fugelsang.

Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes.

Unabridged.

John Fugelsang is seemingly omnipresent on the cable TV news/political talk show circuit. He is a talented debater because he knows how to bring the goods to an argument, especially when Christian Nationalism is involved.

Fugelsang had a unique upbringing in a super-Catholic household. Why was it unusual? His mother was a former nun and his father was a former Franciscan friar. They fell in love, had a bunch of kids, and made sure that they all went to church whenever it was having a service. 

In a a lot of ways, this felt a lot like my childhood. No - my parents weren't nuns or priests. But, I grew up in rural setting where my Lutheran church was one of the centers of my life. Church every weekend, most of the holiday services, Sunday school, Christmas programs, church youth group, vacation bible school, and I worked at a church summer camp for five years. 

The author, John Fugelsang

I had a "lite" version of what he experienced, but a heavy dose of Christian teaching compared to most people. The result is the same - we grew up steeped in church teachings and we know that the stuff we see on TV and from Christian Nationalists does not match what we were taught.

The first and last chapters are a general summary of the problem of Christian Nationalism and his reactions to it. I found these to be very powerful chapters. The story of his grandfather at the end was very touching.

The heart of the book is Fugelsang picking a hot culture war topic (immigration, trans people, abortion, etc.), presenting the Christian Nationalist perspective, and then demonstrating why it is not really a Christian perspective at all.

Fugelsang's choice to read the book himself was perfect.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS by John Fugelsang.

DRAGONS of SPRING DAWNING (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in 1985.

Audiobook published in 2012 by Audible Studios.

Duration: 16 hours, 26 minutes.

Read by Paul Boehmer'

Unabridged.

I distinctly remember loving this series 40 years ago and excitedly visiting my local bookstore to pick up a new one when they were published. I was an avid player of Dungeons and Dragons and a book series released by the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons was a guaranteed win. As the series continued to print new books, I kept on buying them. I probably owned dozen or so of them.

Somewhere along the way I sold off my Dragonlance collection. I worked part time at a used bookstore at one point and they probably ended up there.

When I found the books in audiobook format, I decided that it was time to revisit these books and see if they held up to my memories of uncritical acclaim.

Synopsis:

In The Dragons of Spring Dawning, the forces of the Dragon Queen are rolling up victory after victory. But, rather than confidently rolling up the scattered forces arrayed against them, they are pausing to search for a man knows as "The Green Gemstone Man."

The companions are still split up. Tanis flees the bedroom (and self-imposed prison) of the self-absorbed Kitiara. He and his friends had previously bought passage on a smuggler ship and Tanis had noted that the pilot was The Green Gemstone Man, unaware at the time that he was the subject of a manhunt.

Tanis and his companions convince the captain to leave port, even though a massive winter storm is expected. Dragons pursue, the storm rages and they steer into a whirlpool.

And that's when things start to get thorny...

My Review:

Was the series as good as I remember? 

No. It's good, but not amazing, especially this last volume. When the stakes were smaller in the first book, the book was better. Don't get me wrong, the situation in the first book was serious, but not as serious as saving the entire world and I think the ending was a bit forced. 

*********Spoilers**********

The idea that the Dragon Queen would stop offensive actions and bring all of her generals and their armies together in one location to impress them with her arrival from the spirit realm is more than a bit ridiculous. I understand that it feeds into the idea that evil is more than a bit self-absorbed so the Dragon Queen wants the admiration and awe of her more than anything else, but...C'mon! She's a narcissistic evil being, not an idiot! Having all of your forces in one place is bound to be trouble.

Also, I have never seen a character more charmed by a good time in bed than Tanis. His adoration of Kitiara after she has demonstrated her true ways goes against everything we've learned about him from the first pages of the first book. The moment when he finds his senses is supposed to be epic - I just wondered why it was even a struggle.

*********End spoilers*********

To be fair, this book has great scenes. The loss of certain characters is touching and well done, The chase scene through the mountains is riveting. In a lot of ways, this trilogy is the story of the growth of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. He grows up in ways that his people rarely do. 

The reading by Paul Boehmer was once again good, but not great. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I rate the series 4 stars out of 5. There are two more books that were added on to the original trilogy, but I am going to stop right here.

DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in book form in 1985.
Audiobook published by Audible Studios in 2013.
Read by Paul Boehmer.

Duration: 17 hours, 52 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The war against the Dragon Queen continues.

The forces of good pulled off a major victory at the end of the last novel, but now the forces of evil are looking for revenge. 

Tanis, Flint, Goldmoon, Laurana, and the rest of the intrepid companions head off in search of new ways to fight the Dragon Queen's advancing armies. Or, if that fails - lead a refugee exodus. They use an ancient map from before the Cataclysm to find a legendary seaport only to find that it is no longer anywhere near the sea due to the immense destruction of the Cataclysm.

As the companions try to figure out their next steps, an armada of dragons attacks the city, breathing flames from above. Dragon Army ground troops swarm into the city and the companions are split into two groups while Tanis faces the decision of a lifetime.

My Review:

This is a solid story with compelling action scenes that gets bogged down in protracted political discussions and Tanis's unwillingness to just make a decision.

Paul Boehmer's reading is solid, but not amazing. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO.

THIS BOOK WON'T BURN (audiobook) by Samira Ahmed

Published by Little, Brown Young Readers in 2024.
Read by Kauser Mohammed.
Duration: 10 hours, 34 minutes.
Unabridged.

Book summary

Noor Khan is a senior in high school and she is devastated. Her father walked out on her family and moved back to his native England. He gave no warning and the family is reeling.

Noor's mother decides that a change of location would be best. Noor, her little sister (a freshman), and her mom move from their diverse upper middle class Chicago neighborhood to a downstate Illinois small town so that her mom can work at a small college. 

Noor hates it. She misses her friends and the vibrancy of Chicago. She also feels like an oddity because she is Indian and Muslim in a school that is very white and very Christian. 

She determines to gut out this one last semester of high school and then head back to Chicago to go to college. She decides she doesn't need friends or even to enjoy this small town - she just needs to get in, get the diploma and then get out.

But, she finds friends - the only Muslim/Indian boy in the area and his best friend - an proudly out-of-the-closet feisty lesbian. Together, these three comprise the diversity of their high school. They hang out in the school library whenever possible.

The library seems like a refuge until Noor notices that the stacks are missing lots and lots of books. The local chapter of a Moms for Liberty-type group has demanded that dozens and dozens of books be removed due to content. Like most of the large scale book bans across the country, this book ban has focused on books with LGBTQ+ characters, books with black and brown authors, and books that focus on America's troubled racial history. The local school board President is using his support of the high school library's book ban as the springboard to a run for the state legislature.

Can Noor stick to her original plan and just be quiet and graduate? Or, does she speak up in defense of her ideals of free speech and the freedom to read? 

Also, she is very much intrigued by the Indian/Muslim boy. But, she is also strangely attracted to a very nice white boy - he's an athlete, he's polite, and he thinks Noor is great - and his stepdad is the school board member that initiated the book ban...

My Review

The author, Samira Ahmed

The author, Samira Ahmed, has written several books that have been added to the seemingly never-ending book ban lists. She was inspired to write this book when a small town teacher spoke with her about her experience. The teacher was using one of Ahmed's books in her class when the book was banned. The teacher was caught in a bind - small town politics meant that her school administration would not support her and she feared for her job if she pushed to her hard. Her colleagues didn't fight for the books because they were about people who were different than those who lived in their town. They refused to fight for books written by and about people who were unlike themselves (NOTE: I am a public school teacher and I am so unbelievably disappointed that literature teachers would respond to a book challenge like that.)

The author changed that story a bit - instead of a teacher, she created a fiercely independent high school student with a strong sense of right and wrong when it comes to the First Amendment. 

I liked this story a lot. It drew me in - Noor and her friends are great characters. The love triangle aspect of the story works to make the consequences of Noor's actions even more powerful.

The reader was Kausar Mohammed and she did a fantastic job with a wide variety of voices and accents. Excellent work.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed.