Every year in my reading recaps, I post a TOP NINE list where I recommend my top three favorite fiction, nonfiction, and honorable mentions since 2014. I've read 476 books (for personal pleasure, not including work) and list 90 here (my favorite 19% I recommend). That adds up to this more comprehensive list:
2025
My top 3 reads from 2025 [40 books read]
Favorite Fiction:
Playworld
Perfection
Culpability
Favorite NonFiction:
The Fish that Ate the Whale
The Master of the Senate [LBJ Vol. #3]
Lorne
Honorable Mentions:
Martyr!
A Marriage at Sea
Rental House
2024
My top 3 reads from 2024 [40 books read]
Favorite Fiction:
The God of the Woods
The Secret History
Project Hail Mary
Favorite NonFiction:
The Art Thief
Ambition Monster
Means of Ascent [LBJ #2]
Honorable Mentions:
The Measure
Godwin
Health and Safety
2023
My top 3 reads from 2023 [43 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Wellness
Yellowface
Now is Not the Time to Panic
Favorite NonFiction:
The Path to Power, LBJ 1
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Good Inside
Honorable Mentions:
Vintage Contemporaries
The Midcoast
Birnam Wood
2022
My top 3 reads from 2022 [48 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Tomorrow, Tomorrow,
and Tomorrow
Sea of Tranquility
The Parade
Favorite NonFiction:
Crying in H Mart
In the Land of Men
Dirtbag, Massachusetts
Honorable Mentions:
Bliss Montage
Blood, Sweat, & Chrome
Crossroads
2021
My top 3 reads from 2021 [32 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Such A Fun Age
Laserwriter II
No One Is Talking About This
Favorite NonFiction:
Gone to the Woods
Why Fish Don’t Exist
Fulfillment
Honorable Mentions:
How Lucky
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
The Smash-Up
2020
My top 3 reads from 2020 [33 books]
Favorite Fiction:
The Glass Hotel
Luster
All Adults Here
Favorite NonFiction:
Eat a Peach
Ask For More
Uncanny Valley
Honorable Mentions:
Leave The World Behind
Run Studio Run
Writers & Lovers
2019
My top 3 reads from 2019 [46 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Homegoing
Little Fires Everywhere
Trust Exercise
Favorite NonFiction:
The Power Broker
Trick Mirror
Educated
Honorable Mentions:
The Fifth Estate
Normal People
Fleishman Is In Trouble
2018
My top 3 reads from 2018 [52 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Severance
Conversations with Friends
Less
Favorite NonFiction:
Bad Blood
Small Animals
I Am, I Am, I Am
Honorable Mentions:
New York Mumbai Scranton
Like Brothers
When Breath Becomes Air
2017
My top 3 reads from 2017 [47 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Manhattan Beach
Americanah
Here I Am
Favorite NonFiction:
Hunger
Arbitrary Stupid Goal
The Rules Do Not Apply
Honorable Mentions:
Goodbye Vitamin
Barbarian Days
The Disaster Artist
2016
My top 3 reads from 2016 [50 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Lonesome Dove
A Little Life
Before the Fall
Favorite NonFiction:
Shoe Dog
Boys in the Boat
Lust & Wonder
Honorable Mentions:
Just Mercy
Home Game
Sweetbitter
2015
My top 3 reads from 2015 [44 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Fates and Furies
Station Eleven
Middlesex
Favorite NonFiction:
Missolua
Console Wars
My Salinger Year
Honorable Mentions:
The Martian
Room
Purity
2014
My top 3 reads from 2014 [39 books]
Favorite Fiction:
Shantaram
10:04
The Circle
Favorite NonFiction:
Going Clear
Unbroken
The Skies Belong to Us
Honorable Mentions:
The Empathy Exams
Bad Feminist
New Kings of Nonfiction
Read all my annual reading recaps here.