Honorable mentions:
2 a.m. at the Cat’s Pajamas
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
The Guardian and the Thief
Stone Yard Devotional
Wild, Dark Shore
Really just didn’t have categories to put them under. But also highly recommended.
2 a.m. at the Cat’s Pajamas
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
The Guardian and the Thief
Stone Yard Devotional
Wild, Dark Shore
Really just didn’t have categories to put them under. But also highly recommended.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Honorable mentions:
2 a.m. at the Cat’s Pajamas
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
The Guardian and the Thief
Stone Yard Devotional
Wild, Dark Shore
Really just didn’t have categories to put them under. But also highly recommended.
2 a.m. at the Cat’s Pajamas
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
The Guardian and the Thief
Stone Yard Devotional
Wild, Dark Shore
Really just didn’t have categories to put them under. But also highly recommended.
Favorite Memoir: Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista. About the extrajudicial killings by and on behalf of the Duterte regime in the Philippines. The playbook of autocrats is all the same. Tough hang.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite Memoir: Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista. About the extrajudicial killings by and on behalf of the Duterte regime in the Philippines. The playbook of autocrats is all the same. Tough hang.
Favorite classic that holds up: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: It’s like Who’s on First meets Kafka meets A Clockwork Orange.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite classic that holds up: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: It’s like Who’s on First meets Kafka meets A Clockwork Orange.
Favorite blow-your-hair-back read (the WTF award): Audition by Katie Kitamura. I’m still not sure what the truth is. But I’d read it again.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite blow-your-hair-back read (the WTF award): Audition by Katie Kitamura. I’m still not sure what the truth is. But I’d read it again.
Favorite cozy sci-fi: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. It’s about robots who want to start a noodle shop in San Francisco after a civil war between California and the rest of the U.S.
Favorite book with spontaneously combusting children: Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson. Low sample size.
Favorite book with spontaneously combusting children: Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson. Low sample size.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite cozy sci-fi: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. It’s about robots who want to start a noodle shop in San Francisco after a civil war between California and the rest of the U.S.
Favorite book with spontaneously combusting children: Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson. Low sample size.
Favorite book with spontaneously combusting children: Nothing to See Here, by Kevin Wilson. Low sample size.
Favorite ending (tie): Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (horror) and We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara (Trans picaresque take on Spanish colonialism). Both are translated from Spanish.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite ending (tie): Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (horror) and We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara (Trans picaresque take on Spanish colonialism). Both are translated from Spanish.
Favorite debut: There There by Tommy Orange. Urban Indians in Oakland. I look forward to reading everything else Tommy writes.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite debut: There There by Tommy Orange. Urban Indians in Oakland. I look forward to reading everything else Tommy writes.
Favorite overall (tie): What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Maybe some recency bias since I finished it late in the year. It’s a slow start, but it’s worth it. I think someone described it as science fiction without the science. Another one where characters are slowly revealed.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite overall (tie): What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. Maybe some recency bias since I finished it late in the year. It’s a slow start, but it’s worth it. I think someone described it as science fiction without the science. Another one where characters are slowly revealed.
Favorite overall (tie): Flashlight by Susan Choi. I loved how each character is different/awful/flawed depending on who was telling the story.
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Favorite overall (tie): Flashlight by Susan Choi. I loved how each character is different/awful/flawed depending on who was telling the story.
The closing credits killed me.
January 1, 2026 at 12:26 PM
The closing credits killed me.
Yes, I’m going slow. I’ll start a book and then change my mind and switch to something else. My next problem is my husband is reading my next selection. I may have to sneak it.
June 29, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Yes, I’m going slow. I’ll start a book and then change my mind and switch to something else. My next problem is my husband is reading my next selection. I may have to sneak it.
It’s a page-turner! I’m halfway through my next book, but my brain is still partly living in Bury Our Bones.
June 20, 2025 at 10:35 AM
It’s a page-turner! I’m halfway through my next book, but my brain is still partly living in Bury Our Bones.
That’s awesome! Go, Josh!
June 13, 2025 at 11:18 PM
That’s awesome! Go, Josh!