Seeing myself in the books I chose to read this year.
Picture in your mind all the books you read this year scattered all around, covers closed, titles on top. What do they say about the year just completed? Your state of mind? Your stage of life? Your desires? A couple of years ago, a writer posted an essay on Substack asking those very questions. I was intrigued and have thought of my responses each of the past two years.*
After posting short snippets about the 60 books I read in 2025, I’ve returned to the question of what my books reveal about me. Here are nine random and totally subjective observations.
- I have found that in today’s world, fiction can sometimes be the best way to the truth — Twenty-four of the books I read—fully 40%—were works of fiction. Several years ago that number would have been in the single digits. Because the authors I read were not fully bound by true events (or perhaps even reality), their minds were able to explore truth in its many different dimensions. My newly-found fascination with mystery books and their inherent puzzle-solving nature has also contributed to the rise in this new area of focus. I have been genuinely moved and challenged by several works of fiction in the past few years and I expect this trend to continue into 2026.
- I need help in shaping my personal resistance to totalitarianism — Three of my seven “top reads” this year focused on the challenges we face today as a nation. It is clear that a once great political party in America has been captured by the forces of bigotry, hatred, and greed. I looked for ways to respond directly as well as reminders that no straight road will take us there. We all need a compass, I suspect, for dealing with the uneven terrain we’re walking together.
- “The past equips us to face the future; continuity of memory tells us we are both descendants and ancestors” — Even with my dive into fiction, I still read a lot of history and biography: 22 books in 2025 when you consider a broad definition of those terms. As a posthumous collection of thought-provoking essays by the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and bestselling author David McCullough reminds us: history matters.
- I’ve given up any thoughts of preparing a reading plan for the year — In the past I would sit down each January and put together a carefully constructed month-by-month plan of which books I already own I want to read. Then I make my first visit to an independent bookshop and the plan goes out the window! I now follow my instincts more than any prepared plan. Plus, I don’t seem constitutionally able to walk into a shop full of books and not find—and buy—at least one that looks intriguing. People’s Book in Takoma Park is my current go-to store, because it is so close and convenient. Plus the staff is interesting, knowledgeable, and helpful. By my count, at least 19 of the books I read this year just leapt out at me from the shelves of some bookstore.
- I’m searching for different perspectives and voices — I continue my search to read and listen to more ethnically diverse voices, although I slipped from reading 10 such books in each of the past two years to six—or only a tenth—in 2025. This trend reminds me that it is important to occasionally be more intentional in some of my choices.
- Tell me what books you think I’ll like, and I’m very likely to read them — Sixteen of the 60 books—or a little more than a quarter—were recommendations or gifts from friends and other readers. The dear friend and former colleague who recommended The Postcard—one of my top reads this year—called it “painful at a profound level, of course, and yet somehow resilient and inspiring.” Well chosen words for a book that is both timeless and so necessary in today’s world. Many other works recommended or loaned by readers are still sitting in my TBR pile. I’ll get to them eventually!
- I get great pleasure in reading books written (or edited) by people I know — Writing well is hard. Writing a good book is really hard. Publishing a book that others will read is even harder. Putting a book into the world that makes NPR’s “Best Books” of 2025 list is even more amazing. At least nine people I know from different parts of my life published books in 2025 and won all types of accolades and good reviews. My series of Author Q&As are how I spread the word of their accomplishments.
- Perhaps it is my age, but as I get older I have become increasingly fascinated with the stories people tell — Those who wrote the memoirs I read have a wide variety of life experiences. Some use styles that are genre-defying to tell their stories. No matter the experiences or the form, I find memoirs lead me to reflect more on how I’ve lived and who has touched and shaped me, perhaps nudging me to think more about finding ways to tell my own story.
- Finally, I find myself reading about subjects that would never have attracted my attention during the first 65 years of life — In 2024 it was about sheep, the book that led my wife to ask with a puzzled look on her face, “who would write a book about sheep?” This year it was a book about nuclear physicists in the 1930s. It turns out that in recent years I’ve read books about beavers, eels, fungi, trees (lots of tree stories), coffee production, time travel, “wild-built” robots, mathematics, quantum physics, the horrors of Japanese slave labor camps, and more. Who knew? Perhaps I have become more adventuresome in my old age!
So I’ll ask again: What do the books you’ve read reveal about you?
More to come . . .
DJB
*You can see the books I read this year here. And click to see how I answered those questions for myself based on the books I read in 2023 and again in 2024.
Photo of book display by Sandy Ravaloniaina on Unsplash. Photo of book lovers sign by Tadeusz Zachwieja on Unsplash.
MORE TO COME... 