Every year I write down all the books I read. There is a competitive sub-culture around reading goals, which myself personally do not subscribe to. But nonetheless, it helps me to rekindle which books I read on a given year. What themes and authors I was seeking at different stages in my life. Or with stressful surrounding environments (Covid anyone?).

In 2025 I read 6 books. With data in had I can see that it’s the year where I read the least in more than a decade!!!

No data analytics are needed here, this became obvious to me as the year progressed. Other hobbies took precedence. Parenting has eaten more time. And my surrounding uncertain climate (mainly the workplace), have made me miss the state of mind required to pick up a book.

On top of that, there was a singular book choice where I had to put it down and stomach every page. It was a very hard (emotionally speaking) read for me. Anyways, here come a few words about the books that did meet the finish line. At least I’m proud in that all of them were bangers.

Hard to be a God - Boris & Arkady Strugatsky

Scores around a 7/10. This constitutes yet another book from the Strugatsky brothers under my belt. Yet another paperback in the SF Masterworks series from Gollancz. The style and pace are great, and the overall premise I found intriguing enough.

Observers are sent to a more primitive world, akin to our late middle ages. They are powerful and concealed, there to steer history from brutal absolutism into a more prosperous society. But how much is it fair to intervene? How much should injustices be left untouched, so that history runs its course? The moral and personal struggles of the main character, Rumata, felt believable and compelling. Probably a whole semester of ethics could come out of this book.

Of course it suffers the (usual for its time) lack of female characters, other than the love interest/Mary Sue. But other than that, strong recommendation.

The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe

This is my first Wolfe. I’m hooked. If you like stimulating science fiction, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Wolfe is considered like one of the more rewarding and literary (?) science fiction writers of all time. His books, this one included, open up a lot of questions and ambiguous interpretations.

Gyo - Junji Ito

The Tomie omnibus and character remain my favorite from Ito to date. But this is still in the same ballpark of one of the greatest horror fiction manga writers and illustrators of all time.

Ice - Anna Kavan

I have a strong stomach. But this book single-handedly put a hump on my reading appetite after more than a decade. Still, I’m proud to have read it and have taken the space and time to digest it. It’s a tough read for me personally, given the subject matter. It is a story of two abusers in pursuit of their abused woman. Who could well just be one and the same person, from which we are getting two separate personas. Or it all comes from the psychological trauma from being treated in a psychiatric ward. Thankfully, sans one or two exceptions, there is nothing really graphic in this work.

An oneiric Lolita set in a dystopian world-ending war zone. Kind of.

Even more disturbing and unsetting once you understand that in all likelihood the stream of consciousness style of writing stems from the disturbed psyche and real life experiences of the author, Anna Kavan / Helen Woods.

For some readers this is likely an incoherent pile of steaming horse output. For me, it was the read of the decade, hands down. But please, proceed with caution.

The Black Tongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman

Whenever I discover some solid fantasy off the beaten path, I get excited. The main character is believable and relatable. The goblins in this world have an interesting twist, even though they’ve been done a gazillion times in these kinds of stories. You get magic tied to tattoos. You get a charming witch and a sincere love story. A hispano-italian inspired culture and characters at the centre of the story.

Buehlman’s style really was up my alley. Will be seeking more works by this author. And more works in this series (a second one was recently published)

Elric of Melbinone - Michael Moorcock

Elric is praised in Sword and Sorcery circles as one of the grand-daddies. An inspiration on early Dungeons and Dragons. And The Witcher series. And many more, I’m sure. Whilst Moorcock’s writing flows with ease, several points made this one not a home run for me.

First, given the original way this was published in shorter installments, there was a lot of repetition (on past events, context, etc.). Second, Elric might have been “edgy” fifty years ago when he was originally published - now he seems a tad petulant and childish in his decisions. Thirdly, the stories go into a too far and byzantine tone almost right from the beginning, instead of starting with more mundane stories and building up as the character progresses.