My Five-Star Books for 2025

Stephen King famously wrote, “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life.” Those words have weighed on me ever since I read them, and I always have a book that I am in the process of reading.

In 2025, I decided to start logging everything I read through Goodreads and rate every book as I finished it. Here are the seven books that I gave five-star ratings to last year.

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (2010)

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and humanizes the first U.S. president, who has been mythologized in the 250 years since the country was founded

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1939)

The best-selling mystery novel of all time has been adapted numerous times for television, film, and theater. However, none pack as much of a punch as the original source material.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)

I will admit that I had seen the Alfred Hitchcock-directed adaptation of this gothic tale that won the Academy Award for Best Picture before I read the book. That being said, I still could not put it down.

Make it stand Eight Days in May: The Final Collapse of the Third Reich by Volker Ullrich (2021)

Ullrich constructs the final eight days of Nazi Germany in the aftermath of Adolf Hitler’s suicide. It is a terrifying account of a descent into madness, not just for the citizens, but for the conquering armies as well.

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent (2017)

This book about a 14-year-old girl living with an abusive father is not for the faint of heart, but it is beautifully written and perfectly paced.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (2005)

Another Pulitzer Prize winner for Biography, this book took Bird and Sherwin 25 years to write, and it shows in the level of detail that they provide.

Garth Marenghi's TerrorTome (2022)

So, Garth Marenghi is not a real person. He is a fictional author created by comedian Matthew Holness, and his specialty is pulpy horror that is written to be hilariously bad. No other book made me laugh harder in 2025 than this one.

If you enjoyed this piece, you might also like my earlier blog on Understanding Both sides for your writing.

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