While others who write about books talk about the best books of the year in December, I prefer other superlatives. This allows me to mention more books, including those I didn't necessarily like. Keep in mind that I am writing about books I read in 2025, not necessarily those published in 2025.
Most Important Book: David Toomey's Kingdom of Play seems important to me because he shows that human beings are not the only creatures in this world who like to play,
Most Daunting Book: I enjoyed reading Jane Smiley's 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel. Even so, it took me forever to read because of its length, its complexity and that fact that it includes reviews of well over 100 novels, many of them obscure.
Wisest Book: These is wisdom to be found in Matt Haig's best-selling novel The Midnight Library. Haig explores the scientific theory that there may be alternative universes where each of us lives slightly different lives based on our choices. Perhaps our own universe may be the best one.
Most Familiar Book: The book Cinema '62 was not familiar to me, but its subject matter, movies released in 1962, certainly was. Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan make the case that 1962 was the best year for movies ever. It was also the year I began watching movies once or twice each week.
Most Incomprehensible Book: I'm glad I read John Baville's novel The Sea, but I confess I didn't really understand why the death of the narrator's beloved wife caused him to think about and write about other women.
Most Beautiful Book: The beauty of Small Things Like These lies partly in its brevity and simplicity. Clare Keegan sets her story in Ireland at a time when pregnant unmarried girls were not only forced to give up their babies but were also forced by nuns into virtual slavery.
Most Fearless Book: Kat Timpf says witty and fearless things on Gutfield! five nights a week. In You Can't Joke About That she insists there is absolutely nothing you cannot joke about.
Most Unpleasant Book: Amy Helen Bell's Under Cover of Darkness take us back to wartime London when the crews of German bombers weren't the only ones killing people.
Most Luminous Book: I was captivated by Douglas Westerbeke's novel A Short Walk Through a Wide World about a woman who must keep moving to avoid becoming seriously ill.
Most Fun Book: Airplane! was a new kind of film comedy where the humor came from total seriousness. Surely You Can't be Serious by the same guys who made the movie takes us behind the scenes.
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