Today’s TTT is “Top Ten Bookish Discoveries Made in 2025”, which is not a topic I feel confident I’ll be able to fulfill, but we shall see. First up, the Teaser Tuesday.
Abigail [Adams’] biting words only prompted John Quincy to come to [his fiancée] Louisa’s defense. He and he alone, he responded, must be accountable for his choice of a wife. If he waited until his mother approved of his selection, he would certainly be doomed to perpetual celibacy. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
(1) The delight of game warden stories. CJ Box’s Joe Pickett series consumed my reading for 2.5. months and led to not only another game warden series, but to game warden nonfiction. CJ Box is a proper menace.
(2) I’m getting to be a bad Star Trek fan. Not only did I only read two ST novels last year, but I didn’t even finish watching the long-awaited season 3 of Strange New Worlds. I am slowly remedying that: I am halfway through.
(3) 2025 would be remembered as the year of Paul Kingsnorth (an ecological/social critic who is also an Orthodox mystic who lives on an off-grid farm) were it not for my CJ Box obsession. I read through all of Paul’s nonfiction works in 2025, including his most recent release and alleged magnum opus, Against the Machine.
(4) Donald Honig as a baseball historian. I’ve read three of his books detailing baseball from the 1920s to the 1950s.
(5) A YA novel series I read in high school is a lot ‘spicier’ than anything I’ve read as an adult.
(6) Most of James Gandolfini’s filmography, thanks to a biography I read of him, Gandolfini. I watched as many of his movies as I could find last year.
(7) Bell Irwin Wiley as a Civil War social historian. I’d read Wiley before but really got into his works back in 2025.
(8) James McPherson and his Battle Cry of Freedom really live up to expectations.
(9) HARRY POTTER FULL CAST AUDIO EDITIONS ARE AS WONDERFUL AS CHOCOLATE FROGS. I listened to one in December and two this month; I intend to listen to the rest as they come out. Yes, I’ve read the series multiple times; yes, I’ve watched the movies multiple times; yes, I’ve listened to Jim Dale and Stephen Fry both read audio books of the series; yes, I’ve watched CallMeKevin play all the games (a bean!!). It doesn’t matter, I love these productions.
(10) Dead presidents. So…..finding an interesting chap on youtube led to my dormant Civil War obsession from high school being reignited, which led to me reading about the prelude to the Civil War, leading to me reading a lot about the presidents from the 1830s to the 1850s, leading to me reading antebellum history for one, two, three months now. Ah hah hah.
Reading Freely 
I wasn’t expecting the CallMeKevin shout-out!
I don’t think we finished Strange New Worlds season 3…. It’s really not been good…
It’s definitely the weakest of the three — too many gimmick episodes, including an annoying holodeck episode one!
And hah! on the CallMeKevin. It’s scary how long I’ve been following him — I remember when he did short content 5-6 days a week!
You had an interesting year. I must try a full cast audio, I might like them better than the usual
Thanks for sharing your #TTT
They’re really wonderful! Stellar casting for the most part.
I’ve read that there is less spicy content in YA novels today than there tended to be in the past. (I rarely read them, so I can’t confirm if that is true. But if it is, what an interesting trend).
I don’t read any novels that would have spice today, but I keep hearing about the smuttification/pornographification of women’s lit — and from people I take seriously.
I saw James Gandolfini in a Broadway play not long before he died. I’m trying to remember the name of it. I will have to check out his biography. Here’s my TTT: https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2026/01/27/top-ten-tuesday-most-anticipated-book-releases-of-2026/
I’d read he did a little stage work!
What am I waiting to try Paul Kingsnorth??
My post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/01/27/top-ten-2025-bookish-discoveries/
Savage Gods, Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist, and Against the Machine are all really good. 🙂
Yep, all 3 already on my TBR, probably thanks to you
I haven’t read any Strange New Worlds fiction. I might this year. My library seems to have two of the books.
There’s not many SNW books — 3, I think! For some reason they keep issuing Picard books..
Picard is such a popular character.
He was the reason I tried the first season of PIC, only to quickly stop bothering. The third season redeemed it a bit, but I didn’t make it to the end. Still, they were largely flying on the nostalgia factor as they kept bringing in the old TNG actors.
I still dabble in YA reading, and while I’m not as surprised by the spice/content levels pushing boundaries in newer releases, I am surprised sometimes by rereads. Some of the books I’ve picked up, that I read when they originally released {many, many moons ago} are definitely pushing that “teen rating” level — and I never noticed in the original reading. That is the part that blows my mind the most.
I was especially surprised with Roswell, because I was a Pentecostal teen when reading them — it seems like that would have been memorable!
Same for me! Especially with the language in a few of them too. Maybe I was so innocent/naive/etc that it didn’t really register at the time?
I read YA (among other books), but I try to look for books that have no spice or where skipping it is easy. I never actually read the spicy scenes, but the genre is sadly spicier than I would like. The baseball books actually sound interesting, and I’m not a very sporty person 😂. I hope you make many more amazing discoveries this year! Thanks for visiting my blog 😊.
I’ve been curious about the new audio versions of Harry Potter, since I wasn’t a fan of the Jim Dale versions. Strange New Worlds was great!
I feel like anyone who grew up in the southern US either had a Civil War obsession, or they avoided it like the plague. LOL! I was one of those with an obession, but in secret at I grew up in Virginia. I didn’t want everyone to know, and think I needed to spend hours in Richmond. Honestly, I preferred spending time in Petersburg.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/2025-reading-google-map-books-i-read-in-2025/
From the way I hear it, these days Richmond is fallen to the general ‘east coast’ culture!
I haven’t been that way in quite a while, but I believe it.
Not sure there’s really such a thing as a “bad fan”; surely as long as you’re having fun, coming to things in the right time for you is a good thing. Feeling obligated to keep up seems like a fun-killer!
James Gandolfini’s filmography – a great idea!
Always looking for ways to distract myself from today’s reality.
I enjoyed all of them, though his role in one was minor.
I admire your deep dives into the topics that interest you. Well done! Strange New Worlds is so good!
What an interesting collection and I am definitely trying some of the books you mentioned in here. Thank you for sharing and happy reading