What have we all been reading this year? I've been playing a bit of catch up here in 2025; I read Neuromancer and Burning Chrome from William Gibson and, sticking to the cyberpunk genre, I was gifted a copy Snow Crash that I still have to get to. Enjoyed those a lot! 

I also read the first two Redwall books for a podcast I'm doing that hasn't been released yet. They're cute books, if ultimately children's books. There's two adventure games out based on the series actually: a Telltale style one based around the first book and a text adventure based on the second.  I was planning to get to those with my co-host later on.

In the horror genre, I got around to The Haunting of Hill House. It's probably the best book I've read so far this year- I was crying at the end, and that's very rare for me. It's one I'll definitely be re-reading many times over the years. I'm currently working on Joe Hill's first short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts. It's my first time reading Joe Hill and I'm enjoying the prose. I think I liked the first story in the collection the most so far, fun to read as both a critique and love letter to the horror genre at the time (early aughts).

Oh yeah, I also have been occasionally throwing on some Sherlock Holmes audio books while I'm at work. So far, I've done some of the first stories and The Hound of the Baskervilles. It's surprising how many of the stories still hold up, though of course, there's a few that really, really haven't.

What about you all? What has the AGH community been reading this year? What do you recommend?

I've read all but the latest of John Scalzi's Old Man's War sci-fi series and many of his other books.  I love his sense of humor combined with real food for thought. 

I also devoured 19 of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries.  Gamache works for the Sûreté du Quebec, and I've really enjoyed not only Penny's unique stories and flawed but likeable characters, but also how her mysteries flow with the seasons.

Some other books I've enjoyed this year are:
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitiker
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Ledkie
The Life Impossible and How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

I am currently reading Slaughter House 5!!!! Fantastic so far!!!!

I've been getting into Brandon Sanderson lately. I just read through the first Mistborn trilogy, and earlier today I finished The Frugal Wizards Handbook for Surviving Medeival England, which is kind of fun adventurous version of Michael Crichton's Timeline, or a sci fi version of Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I read it as an e-book, but I think it would be better as a physical book because there's lots of illustrations and margins doodles that the ebook just puts all together at the end of the chapter out of context.

Cool! I think I'd like to read some cyberpunk, William Gibson sounds like a great place to start.

I am currently reading Slaughter House 5!!!! Fantastic so far!!!!

I saw the movie last week!

I'm reading Interventions: A Life in War and Peace, by Kofi Annan. Started when I was stuck at home with a broken foot - the healing went quicker than the reading.

After averaging 6 or 7 books read per month for the first half of this year, I've suddenly hit a dead stop. I'm not sure why, but it would be nice to find my way back.

Anyway, my partner and I are in the middle of a project to read all of Stephen King's works in published order, which we started several years ago. The last one we read was The Regulators (1996) which neither of us enjoyed much. I might read a Joe Abercrombie novel next (A Little Hatred).

Having a slow year so far.

I haven't been reading as much as I used to. There were years when I easily reached 50 books. This year so far I'm only at 17.

Last one I finished was "Playground" by Richard Powers. It was great but I understood nothing of the ending.

I'm currently reading the novelization of "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" by Gordon Doherty (which might be a pseudonym, idk) and "Until the end of time" by Brian Greene

After reading Stephen King's It in the summer of 2024 I figured I would plough on and finally finish his The Dark Tower series. This meant rereading the first four novels. A year later I have reached the seventh and final book but I must say it has become a slog. I quite liked the epic western vibes it starts out with. But it devolves more into an urban fantasy setting with long meandering stretches reaching into Stephen King's other works. I would have rather stayed with the western theme. Moving very slowly but intend to finish it this month.

Next I intend to start the recently rereleased and updated Myst Reader. Have only read the Book of Atrus in the past but excited to finally dive into the other two books. A shame the Riven remake did not live up to its sales expectations. Would have liked to see Cyan take another stab at the Myst universe.

After reading Stephen King's It in the summer of 2024 I figured I would plough on and finally finish his The Dark Tower series. This meant rereading the first four novels. A year later I have reached the seventh and final book but I must say it has become a slog. I quite liked the epic western vibes it starts out with. But it devolves more into an urban fantasy setting with long meandering stretches reaching into Stephen King's other works. I would have rather stayed with the western theme. Moving very slowly but intend to finish it this month.

My favourite Dark Tower novels ended up being #2 (Drawing of the Three), #5 (Wolves of the Calla) and #7 (The Dark Tower). Those ones captivated me, the rest were honestly difficult to get through. I'm glad it ended on a high (for me!).