At this rate, I may finish the first five presidential biographies before January is finished. I just finished Adams. I was pleasantly surprised by how much my perspective of him was able to change. I think history has done him a disservice, painting him as this control freak with the Alien and Sedition acts and a grumpy little guy. I came away with a whole different point of view and a new respect for him. I immediately dove into Jefferson this morning, haha. I let my girlfriend, family, and friends all know my goal and I'm pretty sure I'm getting a bunch of biographies for Christmas this week.
I've been following your progress on Goodreads! I should resume my journey. Which book are you choosing for Jefferson? Adams is my favorite of the first three so far (although it is at times a low bar).
I always get your likes on my updates! Haha. I'm doing Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. I've been reading that it's a really great one. These are the next five I have: James Madison by Richard Brookhiser James Monroe: A Life by Tim McGrath John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger American Lion by Jon Meacham It gets a little dicey after this. There are a few well-reviewed for the less popular presidents, but like Martin Van Buren is an example of a fascinating president who has a few biographies and none of them really stand out for one reason or another.
Nice, that's the one I read for Jefferson. Definitely a solid read in a sea of choices. I have James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham. Don't have a Monroe yet. For JQA, I have A Public Life, A Private Life by Paul Nagel. Then I have The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini but I've heard fantastic things about American Lion. And you're right, it gets tricky with the lesser known ones after that. I have books for the following: Van Buren Polk Lincoln Grant Teddy Wilson FDR Truman LBJ Carter I scour the biography/US History sections at every secondhand store I can but alas, I have yet to find stuff for Grover Cleveland or Millard Fillmore lol
Completed my goal of 50 books with two more down on the last day of the year. Finished reading vol. 7 of the Emma M. Lion series and listening to the audiobook for Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby. Any Emma Lion fans? This series is such a joy to read. Or any S.A. Crosby fans? It was my second of his. I also listened to All The Sinners Bleed and that was 5 stars for me. Such great writing.
A few years ago I think I only read 9 books, might have been 2022. I resolved to read more every year. Read 17 in 2023, 26 in 2024, and I finished out at 42 in 2025. I'm a very slow reader so I doubt I can do much more but overall I've definitely improved
I’m somewhere in the mid to high 30s I think, which is where I am most years. It could be a little more but overall it’s enough for me.
Audiobooks have been a game changer for me. I tend to get the audiobook and also the regular book and switch in between when I can
S.A. Cosby is incredible. Blacktop Wasteland and King of Ashes are also 5 star reads for me. My Darkest Prayer is his words in my eyes, but it's his first and still pretty good. If you like him, you should check out Jordan Harper. She Rides Shotgun is incredible, about an ex con and his 11 year old daughter on the run from an Aryan brotherhood gang and trying to survive.
Everything I read in 2025. 7 of them I rated 2/5 or less, so in 2026 I'm going to stop forcing myself through books I'm not enjoying given I don't have target for the year. Top fiction choice - The Fathers by John Niven (set in my hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, truly laugh out loud tale of 2 dads from the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum). Top non fiction - Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell. With first-hand stories of multiple rock legends including Tom Petty and Dylan it's hard to go wrong but written in a very amenable style and goes into a level of detail across the entirety of his lifetime, which I often find missing in music autobiographies. I also read Alex Van Halen's this year and and it basically ends in 1984 after 200 something pages. 1. The Money Trap : Lost Illusions Inside The Tech Bubble - Alok Sama 2. Old God's Time - Sebastian Barry 3. Brothers - Alex Van Halen 4. The Proof Of My Innocence - Jonathan Coe 5. Whale Fall - Elizabeth O'connor 6. Fire - John Boyne 7. Only Here, Only Now - Tom Newlands 8. Green Ink - Stephen May 9. The Mouthless Dead - Anthony Quinn 10. Air - John Boyne 11. Gabriel's Moon - William Boyd 12. Heartbreak - Mike Campbell 13. The Einstein Vendetta - Thomas Harding 14. There Are Rivers In The Sky - Elif Shafak 15. Clown World : Four Years Inside Andrew Tate's Manosphere - Matt Shea 16. The Fathers - John Niven 17. Buckeye - Patrick Ryan 18. Careless People - Sarah Wynn-Williams 19. The Land In Winter - Andrew Miller 20. Caledonian Road - Andrew O'Hagan 21. Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers 22. Sonny Boy - Al Pacino
Read 36 this year. Here are my faves and all my ratings Kabloona - Gontran de Poncins 9/10 Garden Time - W.S. Merwin 10/10 The Book of Questions: Volume I - Edmond Jabès 10/10 The Labyrinth of Solitude - Octavio Paz 6.5/10 Happening - Annie Ernaux 8/10 Flying at Night: Poems 1965-1985 - Ted Kooser 7.5/10 Daniel Deronda - George Eliot 10/10 Trilce - César Vallejo 6/10 Spring Snow (The Sea of Fertility #1) - Yukio Mishima 8.5/10 Runaway Horses (The Sea of Fertility #2) - Yukio Mishima 7/10 Embers - Sándor Márai 9/10 O Pioneers! - Willa Cather 8/10 The River Between - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 10/10 The Sea Came in at Midnight - Steve Erickson 5.5/10 The Apple in the Dark - Clarice Lispector 8.5/10 Our Lady of the Flowers - Jean Genet 4/10 Deep Rivers - José María Arguedas 10/10 Divine Blue Light - Will Alexander 6/10 The Emperor of Gladness - Ocean Vuong 7.5/10 Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton 8.5/10 Between the Sea and Home - Almitra David 6.5/10 Suncatcher - Romesh Gunesekera 7/10 Nightwood - Djuna Barnes DNF Too Loud a Solitude - Bohumil Hrabal 7.5/10 Independent People - Halldór Laxness 6/10 Mountain Amnesia - Gale Marie Thompson 5/10 Fire in the Blood - Irène Némirovsky 7/10 Roberte Ce Soir / The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes - Pierre Klossowski 4/10 Jesus’ Son - Denis Johnson 8.5/10 Split Tooth - Tanya Tagaq 8/10 The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder 6.5/10 The Spirit Level - Seamus Heaney 6/10 Fablemaker - Mandy Moe Pwint Tu 9/10 In/Somnia - Etel Adnan 6/10 Singing from the Well - Reinaldo Arenas 9/10 Resurrection Fail - John Wall Barger 6/10
As a primarily genre reader, it’s always fascinating to see a list entirely of literary/contemporary authors you’ve never heard of.
Haha yeah, I’m really into the artsy fartsy stuff. If anyone wants to follow me on GoodReads, I review every book I read. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/84585951
Do you ever read “for fun” (for lack of a better way to put it)? Or do you approach reading as mostly exploring high art? (To be clear, not a critique or judgment or anything.) I’m pretty sure we’re friends there.
As another almost exclusively literary reader, I read that way because those are the books I most enjoy the most
Interesting question. For me, the fun is being challenged and/or experiencing something new or original within the medium. I try to push my own boundaries because understanding (or at least experiencing) the unknown is why I read. I think of art as a universal connection to the human experience, so I’m seeking that foremost even when I’m in the mood for something more narrative-driven and twisty. Not sure if that really answers your question!
Just to be clear, I am strictly a “read what you love” person so there’s no judgment or anything else. Just curiosity because whenever my reading journey takes me into literary works, most of the time it just doesn’t land for me. It does and doesn’t. There are parts there I definitely get. I also just feel a little part of me rise up that’s like “oh, you sound like my lit professor who didn’t think genre could transcend” which I also believe is patently false. And I don’t think you were insinuating that either. I have an English Lit degree with three different writing minors, so I’ve spent a lot of time in the trenches. I also purposefully force myself to read “outside” my genres pretty regularly just to keep growing. Insatiably curious is probably the best way to explain how I try to supplement what I know I’ll love.
I don’t mind admitting that I approach genre-fiction with some skepticism that it can transcend. Once a book starts entering the high-end of the spectrum of fantasy or sci-fi, it starts to lose me. I like a good amount of historical fiction and horror, though once it starts relying on tropes, I lose interest. Then, there’s speculative fiction and magical-realism which I enjoy a ton of, but can’t explain why that lands for me and the others don’t. At the same time, you can forget everything written above and just know that if something is language-driven and written beautifully and passionately, I’ll probably love it regardless of its genre label.
Have you read Lord of the Rings? It’s the obvious canon classic of fantasy, but curious how you felt about it if you read it. I appreciate your honesty and answers, btw.
No, I haven’t it’s a hell of a commitment for a non-genre reader. Maybe one day. For what it’s worth, I do love Tolkien’s prose.