Top Reads of 2025

The Stats:

Total Books Read: 179

Shortest Book Read: The Grand Miracle (60 Pages)

Longest Book Read: The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough (698 pages)

The Breakdown of How I read:

• Audiobooks: 42 (3 books per month average)
• E-Books: 37 (3 books per month average)
• Physical Books: 100 (8 books per month, or 2 books a week average)

The Ratings (out of 5):

• One Star: 3 Books
• Two Stars: 13 Books
• Three Stars: 68 Books
• Four Stars: 70 Books
• Five Stars: 25 Books

Looking at my stats for this year, I feel really good about physical books still  leading the way in terms of how I read. My rhythm is fairly simple. Audiobooks remain a good fit for me in terms of my job (I drive for a living). It is also a part of my regular routine to fit in anywhere between an hour and an hour and a half of listening time on my daily morning walks with the dogs. With the average audiobook being around 8 hours in length, 3 books per month in this format feels about right after I balance that out with my susbscribed podcasts.

I typically have a mix of three books going at once- a fiction book, a non-fiction book, and a theology book. My prime reading times in physical or e-book form- in the morning after I walk the dogs and before I leave for work, usually for about a half hour, in the afternoons between my split shift (a half hour to an hour), and when I go to bed (usually a half hour). It’s not alway all three, but typically I am reading around 100 pages a day, as my rhythm naturally seems to gravitate towards 50 pages of one kind of book and 50 pages of another. If the average physical book is around 300 pages, that translates to 2 books a week, which seems on point with the stats.

For a more indpeth discussion about what these different titles meant for the story of my reading year see my recent blogpost here:

https://thestoriesofmylife.ca/2025/12/30/end-of-the-year-reflections-the-story-of-my-reading-journey-in-2025/

Top Fiction Reads:

1. Isola by Ellegra Goodman
2. Phantastes by George MacDonald
3. Impossible Creatures/The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell
4. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
5. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
6. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
7. The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes
8. Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell
9. Kings Ransom by Ed McBain
10. Aurelia by Stephen R. Lawhead
11. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
12. The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
13. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
14. The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry
15. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly/Frankenstein’s Monster by J.S. Barnes
16. Before Dorothy by Havel Gaynor
17. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
18. The Spirit of Scatarie by Lesley Crewe
19. Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
20. Mirror Lake by Juneau Black
21. The Great Divide by Christina Henriquez
22. Tomorrow Is for the Brave by Kelly Bowen
23. Finding Grace by Mary-Lynn Murphy
24. How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
25. Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman
26. The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce
27. Whistle by Linwood Barclay
28. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
29. Summer of the Monsters by David Sodergren
30. Moon Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Top Non-Fiction Reads:

1. The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix
2. My Roman History: A Memoir
3. How To Read a Film: Movies, Media, Multimedia by James Monaco
4. Signposts in a Strange Land: Essays by Walker Percy
5. Guillermo del Toro: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work by Ian Nathan
6. Is A River Alive by Robert Macfarlane
7. The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher W. Alexader
8. The Smiling Land: All Around the Circle in My Newfoundland and Labrador by Alan Doyle
9. How to Write Your Own Life Story: The Classic Guide for the Nonprofessional Writer by Lois Daniel
10. Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive by Eliot Stein
11. Walking Home by Lynda L Wilson
12. The Myths We Live By by Mary Midgley
13. Overnight: Journeys, Conversations and Stories After Dark by Dan Richards
14. North End Love Songs by Katherena Vermette
15. I Am Part of Infinity: The Spiritual Journey of Albert Einstein by Kieran Fox
16. The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate by Robert D. Kaplan
17. The Path Between The Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914by David McCullough
18. Ocean: A History of the Atlantic Before Columbus by John Haywood
19. The Banquet of Souls: A Mirror to the Universe by Joshua Farris
20. They Flew: A History of the Impossible by Carlos M.N Eire
21. The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher
22. To the River: A Journey Beneath The Surface by Olivia Laing
23. Hope: The Autobiography by Pope Francis
24. Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J Fox
25. Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth
26. The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr
27. From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll
28. The Message by Ta Nehisi Coates
29. The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World’s Deadliest Addiction- and How to Overcome it by James Kimmel Jr
30. The First Ghosts: A Rich History of Ancient Ghosts and Ghost Stories by Irving Finkel

Top Theology Reads:

1. All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life by David Bentley Hart
2. Circles and the Cross: Cosmos, Consciousness, Christ, and the Human Place in Creation by Loren Wilkinson
3. A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle, Author of a Wrinkle in Time by Sarah Arthur
4. The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis: How Great Books Shaped a Great Mind by Jason M. Baxter/The Last Romantic: C.S. Lewis, English Literature, and Modern Theology by Jeffrey W. Barbeau
5. Theology of Horror: The Hidden Depths of Popular Films by Ryan G Duns
6. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
7. The War For Middle Earth: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933-1945 by Joseph Loconte
8. Judaism is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life by Shai Held
9. Jesus and Divine Christology by Brant Pitre
10. Understanding Biblical Law: Skills for Thinking With and Through Torah by Dru Johnson
11. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary by Peter Altmann
12. Jesus and the Law of Moses: The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel within First Century Judaism by Paul T. Sloan
13. Pause: Spending Lent with the Psalms by Elizabeth F. Caldwell
14. Scripting the Son: Scriptural Exegesis and the Making of Early Christology by Kyle R. Hughes
15. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence/Soul Feast: An invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life by Marjorie J. Thompson
16. Light of the Mind, Light of the World: Illuminating Science Through Faith by Spencer Klavan
17. The Bible: A Global History by Bruce Gordon
18. Godstruck: Seven Women’s Unexpected Journeys to Religious Conversion by Kelsey Osgood
19. Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’ Greatest Miracle by James Martin
20. Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious by Ross Douthat