Matt's 2025 reading reflections

I churned through a ton of books in 2025–72 this year–which is by far my highest total in a single year.

Breaking down some trends–in picture form

I loaded my reading list into ChatGPT to put together a graphic based on what I read:

The percentage breakdown is based on number of books (count), not the number of pages. If I take that into account, I think that’ll impact the numbers like this:

• 50% Thriller & Crime
• 40% Epic Fantasy
• 10% Nonfiction

I continued the chat with ChatGPT and I particularly appreciated this “Blunt take” that it gave me:

You don’t “sample” authors—you commit to them once they prove trustworthy. That’s consistent with how you approach tools, systems, and long-term projects elsewhere.

I hadn’t considered this before in the context of reading, but it definitely rings true.

I also got this, which also made me think:

You optimize for time well spent
Your heaviest page investments are authors who:

• reward continuity
• improve over long arcs
• don’t waste pages

You’re minimizing regret, not chasing novelty.

A few books I’m particularly glad I read this year

• Mistborn – This was the second Brandon Sanderson book I read, the first being The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive), and it drew me in immediately. I think I actually liked Elantris the most out of his books that I read this year, but Mistborn was a key read where I felt at home from early in the book.
• Lonesome Dove – I’m glad to have finally gotten to this. It’s been on my reading list for over a decade. My dad has talked it up several times and I always found it hard to get into a long western novel. There was a ton of action and some real characters. I’m glad I finally crossed the bridge on this.
• American Assassin – Vince Flynn has also been on my list of authors to check out. The Mitch Rapp series ended up being a surprising hit for me. I’ve made great progress on the overall series, taking them (mostly) in order.

Why so many books this year?

I mentioned before that this was a huge increase. In fact, it’s probably 100% more than I have in any previous year. Worth noting–2/3 of the books I completed this year were audiobooks that I listened to while running or otherwise working out.

Audiobooks naturally go more slowly for me than traditional reading, at least by default. I do speed up the playback up to as high as 1.5x speed. This is well below the 2.2x that I use for most podcasts–I’m going for enjoyment with the audiobooks and I 1.2-1.5x is the sweet spot for me to feel like it’s not dragging, while being able to process what’s going on in the book.

In 2026, I’m planning to ratchet down the number of books, this pace was too strong for me. I don’t regret the time I put in, but as I plan for the upcoming year I’m looking forward to more quiet time.

Full book list from 2025 (alphabetically by title)

As I complete books, I typically post the title to my Micro.blog account and plan to continue that in 2026.

Here’s the complete list, consolidated from my Epilogue/Micro.blog. Open to recommendations for the future!

• A Crown of Swords — Robert Jordan
• The Affair — Lee Child
• American Assassin — Vince Flynn
• Annabel Scheme — Robin Sloan
• Bad Business — Robert B. Parker
• Black Fridays — Michael Sears
• The Black Prism — Brent Weeks
• Bloody Genius — John Sandford
• Blue Moon — Lee Child
• Crossroads of Twilight — Robert Jordan
• Dark Angel — John Sandford
• The Darkling Child — Terry Brooks
• Deadline — John Sandford
• Dirty Thirty — Janet Evanovich
• Dune — Frank Herbert
• The Edge — David Baldacci
• Executive Power — Vince Flynn
• Extreme Measures — Vince Flynn
• Extreme Prey — John Sandford
• The First Rule of Mastery — Michael Gervais
• The Fix — David Baldacci
• Gathering Prey — John Sandford
• Golden Prey — John Sandford
• The Hero of Ages — Brandon Sanderson
• The High Druid’s Blade — Terry Brooks
• High Profile — Robert B. Parker
• Holy Ghost — John Sandford
• In Too Deep — Lee Child
• The Investigator — John Sandford
• Kill Shot — Vince Flynn
• The Late Show — Michael Connelly
• The Last Man — Vince Flynn
• Lethal Prey — John Sandford
• Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry
• Mad River — John Sandford
• Make Me — Lee Child
• Masked Prey — John Sandford
• Memorial Day — Vince Flynn
• The Midnight Line — Lee Child
• Mistborn — Brandon Sanderson
• Neon Prey — John Sandford
• Night Angel Nemesis — Brent Weeks
• Ocean Prey — John Sandford
• Ordinary Thunderstorms — William Boyd
• Painted Ladies — Robert B. Parker
• Past Tense — Lee Child
• The Path of Daggers — Robert Jordan
• Personal — Lee Child
• Pieces of Her — Karin Slaughter
• Prey — Michael Crichton
• Pretty Girls — Karin Slaughter
• The Professional — Robert B. Parker
• Pursuit of Honor — Vince Flynn
• Relentless Forward Progress — Bryon Powell
• Rules of Prey — John Sandford
• Separation of Power — Vince Flynn
• Silent Prey — John Sandford
• Simply Lies — David Baldacci
• The Sorcerer’s Daughter — Terry Brooks
• Stillness Is the Key — Ryan Holiday
• Sudden Prey — John Sandford
• The Survivor — Vince Flynn
• The Third Option — Vince Flynn
• To Die For — Joyce Maynard
• Toxic Prey — John Sandford
• Transfer of Power — Vince Flynn
• Trust Your Eyes — Linwood Barclay
• Twisted Prey — John Sandford
• The Waiting — Michael Connelly
• The Way of Kings — Brandon Sanderson
• Well of Ascension — Brandon Sanderson
• Winter’s Heart — Robert Jordan