December arrived cold and snowy, perfect weather for sitting indoors with a cup of hot tea and a good book. I finished a trilogy I’d started a couple of months ago, read two books about food, and enjoyed a well-crafted memoir.

In November, I read three books and listened to a fourth, which I count as reading. The selection included an interesting historical biography, a somewhat informative book on corporate innovation, and two pretty good novels. Laura and I also played a couple of excellent co-operative iPad games.

My October reading included a fantasy trilogy, the first volume of another trilogy, and a fun book about the joys of poetry.

Another editor allowed my fiction into their publication, this time a very short story (under 1,000 words) in Nature: Futures, the prestigious scientific journal’s flash fiction column.

In September I read a hilarious satire, a pretty good continuation of a fun series, and a work of speculative fiction that could also qualify as serious literature. After that, I played a few good games my wife recommended.

In August, I went through three fantasy novels, then read a bunch of short stories, and ended the month enjoying the first few novellas of a highly-regarded sci-fi series.

In the Fall 2025 issue of the online speculative fiction magazine ‘Electric Spec,’ there’s a short story called ‘Half Lives.’ It’s my first published fiction, and I think I might do some more of this.

Here’s the start of what may become a monthly post: books I read in July 2025. It’s an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction.

At the beginning of 2025, I resolved to read more, especially fiction. Here are brief reviews of the more than two dozen books I’ve read in the past six months.

A pandemic. Global supply chains grind to a halt. Millions die. History splits into ‘before’ and ‘after.’ Sound familiar? Having lived that story myself, I’m in no hurry to revisit it. I have little interest in re-reading news from 2020, and the trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic - and the appalling mismanagement that made it so much worse - solidified my longstanding aversion to post-apocalyptic fiction. Good books are good books, though, and even for a confirmed non-fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel, is a great read.