Old Trend: The Scary

There’s an age-old trend of brilliant and scary AI in science fiction. This is the terrifying stuff that wants to kill us all and take over (think Skynet).

Newish Trend: The Pal

There’s a more recent trend of brilliant and let’s call it neutral AI in science fiction. This is AI that’s maybe on our side, maybe not. It’s more of its own person, often breaking out from the slavery of human control but not jumping to ‘death to all humans’. It’s pairs the speed and computing brilliance of AI with a friendly character. It’s kind of a pal. Not in a subservient sidekick roll (think C-3PO), but in more of a full character with their own autonomy (think L3-37 from Solo).

It makes for fun heroes. Think the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill, the “good” AI in Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson (which also includes the scary AI), You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo, Echo of Worlds by M.R. Carey, Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman, and maybe Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (though if I remember, Okorafor made this much more complicated and not a simple good/bad paradigm—cuz of course she did).

New Trend: Slop

Now I’m seeing what I think might be a new trend of stupid AI. This is AI systems that are not brilliant super intelligences. They’re deeply flawed and easily exploitable. They might be smarter than humans, but they also have crazy limitations that defy common sense.

The two recent examples I’ve come across are Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman and Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. In Hoffman’s work the AI is closer to what we see today, with AI systems that take human prompts but can be easily tricked. Truelove has a more traditional sci-fi AI in charge of a space ship, but it’s clearly limited and makes silly mistakes (e.g., not recognizing that all of its passengers are dead).

The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman might be another one—it puts an AI in charge of the game and it’s weirdly flawed (foot fetish?).

I’m not sure a couple books make for a trend (and I’ve surely missed some), but it’s a clear departure I’ve noticed from AI representation in the past decade or so. I wonder if this signals a new shift highlighting a backlash to AI. As we start questioning the value of AI, will we now see more stories showcasing that questionable value and how it can go wrong? Not in a murder-the-humans way, but just in a sloppy, broken way. Maybe so.

It’s a fun time. We’ve got pics (courtesy of Jeannine Pohl of Block Portrait Studios).

I started this bike ride in 2021 to celebrate the opening of the Robert Street tunnel, a trail connection that made biking in West St. Paul a lot safer and easier. We had been pushing for that tunnel for years and it was finally happening. I thought we should mark that moment. Back then we went about a mile in one direction, turned around and went a mile in the other direction. We were hemmed in by construction and limited trails.

It’s crazy to see the change in just a few years.

We also went from about 25 on that first ride to 120 this year.

That’s also crazy.

I’m not exactly an event planner. I like sitting at my computer. A solo ride is just fine by me. Coordinating stuff like that isn’t my favorite thing to do. I’ve got about 20 volunteers and some great support (and donations) to make it possible.

Where am I going with this? Sometimes the person to do something is you. If you look around and see something you think should happen, sometimes you’re the person you’re looking for.

Here’s the story in a nutshell: We had a crazy international call bill for $183. A text came from T-Mobile after the call warning us of the charge. I went to contact customer service to find out what was going on, and T-Mobile directed me to the AI chat support.

The chatbot seemed as flabbergasted as I was about the charge, but couldn’t get full details until the bill closed. I reached out closer to the end of the billing statement, and the chatbot told me a specific day it could get more details. After that day I chatted with the AI bot again, and it told me I had to talk to an actual customer service rep.

The customer service rep told me I could have avoided the $183 charge by talking to customer service and adding a $15 service to my account. But I had to do that during the billing cycle. It was too late. After talking to their manager, the customer service rep said the best they could do was reduce the charge to $105, which was half the total cost including taxes and fees.

I specifically asked if I had skipped the AI chatbot and talked to a human customer service rep and added that $15 fee if I would have avoided the entire $183+ charge. Yep, no question.

So I’m now paying $105. I could have paid $15. AI cost me $90.

Fallout: I expressed my extreme displeasure to the customer service rep (to the point she fired back, which was fair). I asked her to inform her superiors, and reminded her this chatbot was replacing her job as well. I filled out the requisite surveys, noting the complete failure of the AI support. I gave T-Mobile a week or so before posting this, both because I’m busy, but also maybe they’d realize how they screwed this one up (and I’m not quick to flame a company online). Nope. Nothing.

I need to get a new phone soon. 15+ years with T-Mobile, and you can imagine how eager I am to ditch them.

I’m not going to go song by song, but it is quintessentially U2, from Bono’s soaring lyrics to that signature guitar. There’s even a song with Edge on vocals that sounds so much like Bono you might not notice at first. It’s unabashedly religious (I mean, with that title, duh).

“In a Life,” “Scars,” and “Resurrection Song” jump out at me as the best songs, though “COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord at All Times?) is a beautifully eerie dirge.

But my fear is they all sound like U2 songs we’ve heard before, and not the great ones. I love to be wrong when I write these initial reactions. But that’s my sense. Even in my half a dozen listens, I have trouble distinguishing those three songs I said might be the best. Even on Days of Ash the songs had more variation. (Don’t get me wrong, I like it—they just sound the same.)

What I find especially intriguing is how they talk about this EP. Here’s Bono introducing it:

“We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colour xerox’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives. We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world. It’s a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try to meet the moment…

“With Easter Lily we ended up asking very personal questions like: Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward? Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart?” (Facebook)

They’re struggling with these times, which is reassuring to hear. I think we all feel a little of that.

“While we accept how absurd it is to talk about faith and friendship in such nihilistic times, we are unrepentant… this is emotionally direct which for some will be uncool. But that’s the point… to be confrontational and challenging to the coolness that creeps into relationships.” (Facebook)

I like that they’re unrepentant. I think there’s often been an impression of U2 as a band chasing cool. I don’t think it’s accurate, but I think people dismiss them for it. From having the ego to rub shoulders with greats on Rattle and Hum to reinventing themselves with Achtung Baby, from the try-hard feel of Pop, to the soaring earnestness of the early 2000s—even showing up on everyone’s iPhone with Songs of Experience. It’s like they’ve been holding back lately, afraid to put something out and be ignored or irrelevant. And now they’re just letting it hang out.

I kept hoping for U2’s last EP to break out, with everyone talking about “American Obituary” the way they did Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis.” But they never did.

Now I suspect U2 is OK with that. They’re not trying very hard, and that’s intentional because these aren’t EPs trying to reclaim their space or connect with a new generation. It’s for the fans: “We will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime… this is between you and us.”

What did I learn?

• A reminder that the Civil Rights Movement is recent history. Math, obviously, but plenty of people lived through it and are still alive. They saw ‘White’ and ‘Colored’ drinking fountains in their daily lives. It’s just shocking.
• A man who beat John Lewis came to him decades later and apologized. The only one who did. And of course Lewis forgave him. He said in effect: I have no animus toward you as a person, you were caught up in a racist system. That’s kind of staggering.
• The Civil Rights Movement took that ‘nonviolent’ thing seriously. I knew that, but seeing it carried out was wild. It meant forgiving the person who beat you. It meant not pressing charges against the person who beat you. It meant not posting bail.
• The Civil Rights Movement in general and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in particular, fractured at the seams over tactics and strategy. There’s an incredible amount of infighting among movements like these.
• The root cause of Jim Crow in the South was that many white people simply did not believe the credo of the Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal.’ Their justification was that the races should remain separate, there shouldn’t be mixing, etc. “We’re just too different,” they might have said, trying to keep the conversation polite. It’s literally white supremacy. And it’s wild to me that it was never put that way: You don’t believe in equality. Perhaps it’s just a different time, but that seems like a heinous accusation today. At the same time, that attitude enjoys a resurgence when we talk about certain groups today.
• In comparing it to Operation Metro Surge, it’s fascinating how motivated and committed the protestors had to be. Today, we hail them as heroes. But back then they were radicals. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a popular person. It’s similar to how some people just assume that any kind of resistance to the powers that is a bad thing. Our country is founded on this kind protest (to the point of violence—property damage and ultimately war), but if the other side is doing it, it’s traitorous.

The Discovery

I didn’t even hear about it until Thursday morning.

And even then, I didn’t believe it. I saw a photo post on social media set to music, with the name “American Obituary” by U2. I thought, that’s odd, I don’t know of any U2 song by that name. Often social media sites license music so people can add it to their posts, so I thought this must be some relic U2 song, maybe a Joshua Tree outtake? I unmuted the post so I could hear the song, listened to a bit of it, and moved on.

It wasn’t until another friend posted about actual new U2 music that I realized what it was.

New Music

So we have new U2 music. We haven’t had a truly new U2 album in nine years (2017’s Songs of Experience). I’m not sure 2023’s retread collection Songs of Surrender counts. And 2024’s “Atomic City” for the Las Vegas residency was just one song.

There have been rumors of a new U2 album for years. I just checked in on the latest rumors a few weeks back, and the reports said to expect a new album in 2026. I figured I’d believe it when I see it, because they always say that.

And they’re still saying it. Apparently, this is just a teaser, and there is a new album coming in late 2026. That’s according to the band’s own press release, but we’ll see.

Why Now?

I’ve mused before about an aging rock band trying to maintain relevance. U2 have been reinventing themselves since 1990.

Bono always used to say, “Two crap albums and we’re out.” I’m not sure you can call their most recent releases crap, but they weren’t amazing. I think they’ve been on shaky ground since 2009’s No Line on the Horizon (looking back, “Magnificent” and “Moment of Surrender” are my only repeat listens). 2014’s Songs of Innocence and 2017’s Songs of Surrender further muddied the waters. Some good moments, a few good songs—not crap, but no real break throughs.

U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. asked the obvious question this week: “Who needs to hear a new record from us?”

The answer? When there’s something to say. Days of Ash is a political statement, each song inspired by person or moment.

“We talk a lot about when to release new tracks,” Mullen Jr. said in a statement. “The way the world is now feels like the right moment. Going way back to our earliest days, working with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we’ve never shied away from taking a position, and sometimes that can get a bit messy, there’s always some sort of blowback, but it’s a big side of who we are and why we still exist.”

So why now is the reason U2 still exists. It’s fitting that the band who always had something to say, always had a flag to wave, is finding a voice with statement songs in a moment that demands nothing less.

Bono’s a little more direct:

“The songs on Days of Ash are very different in mood and theme to the ones we’re going to put on our album later in the year. These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now … because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there’s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future.”

But is it good? I’ve long awaited U2’s version of Johnny Cash’s late career resurgence with the Rick Rubin albums. Is this it? I don’t know. But I will say I haven’t seen so many people talking about U2 on social media in a long time. Granted it’s Facebook, so it’s a bunch of us oldsters. If it breaks through on TikTok then they might have something.

Initial Take on Days of Ash

For the last several U2 albums, I’ve live blogged my initial reaction. I don’t write about music well, but I like capturing my first take. It’s often wrong, and that can be funny. Music has a tendency to grow on you and morph with repeated listens.

This isn’t my very first take. I first heard the album Thursday morning, and it’s been on repeat because that’s what I do with new U2. Though I will say the first listen didn’t blow me away. I didn’t drop everything I was doing and write this post then because I wasn’t that amazed. But it has been growing on me. So here’s my early take on Days of Ash:

• American Obituary – “The worst can’t kill the best in us.” Damn, U2 and maybe Bono in particular have been the conscious of America for a while—”Pride,” “Bullet the Blue Sky,” mourning 9/11 (that Super Bowl performance?), AIDS and African debt relief, Bono’s plea in response to terrorism that ‘we don’t become monsters to defeat a monster.’ Bono has long been enraptured by the idea of America and is quick to call us to account when we fall short. And lately, whew. This song is dedicated to Renee Good, the Minneapolis mother killed by ICE agents six weeks ago (exactly six weeks from her death to the release of this song; can we pause to revel in the speed of that creativity). This song is that conscious, amped up to angry, but still full of the classic Bono hope: “I love you more than hate loves war.” It’s full of powerful platitudes. And leaning into their classic flair for the visual, U2 released lyric videos with each song (again, in less than six weeks?!). The ‘POLICE’ to ‘PLEASE’ transition in this one is powerful. I didn’t react to this one initially, the almost spoken cadence of the verses not hitting, but on repeat listens I’m feeling the power here.

• The Tears of Things – “Richard Rohr suggests that the greatest of the Jewish prophets found a way to push through their rage and anger at the injustices of the day, until they ended up in tears,” explained Bono, talking about this song that wades into the difficult ground of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Some poignant words here—”If you put a man into a cage and rattle it enough / A man becomes the kind of rage that cannot be locked up”—but it doesn’t strike me as a go-to song.
• Song of the Future – This song is about 16-year-old Iranian Sarina Esmailzadeh, who was beaten to death by Iranian security forces during the 2022 schoolgirl uprising. Initially I thought it felt different for a U2 song, though Bono’s falsetto and those guitar licks remind me of 2000s era U2. “She’s holding up the sign all alone / But not alone, yeah, we’re not alone.”
• Wildpeace – A poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai set to music. I’m never a big fan of these. I mean, the words are great—”the howl of the orphans is passed from one generation to the next”—but I’m listening to an album, not digesting poetry.
• One Life at a Time – This reminds me of U2’s music for the movie The Million Dollar Hotel, like “The Ground Beneath Her Feet.” It’s written about Palestinian Awdah Hathaleen, who was killed by an Israeli settler. “Perfect love drives out all fear / Well how’s that gonna happen here?”
• Yours Eternally – This song feels like a fun departure. In contrast to Bono’s statement that these songs are “songs of defiance and dismay,” this one feels joyful and exuberant: “If you have the chance to hope / It’s a duty,” (reads kind of clunky, but in the cadence of the song it really works). The song features Taras Topolia from the Ukrainian band ANTYTILA and Ed Sheeran. Edge and Bono met the band when they traveled to Ukraine shortly after the Russian invasion (because of course they did). It’s written like a letter back and forth, with Ed Sheeran coming in for the response (what little I know of Sheeran’s music is everything is soaring and catchy). The song has a light, airyness. Some of the opening guitar licks after the first verse are very reminiscent of recent U2 songs (can’t put my finger on which one, but oh so familiar). This definitely feels like those songs of celebration Bono hinted at for the upcoming album:

You are not lost out there because
You are not alone
If you have a chance to reach
Reach for me
In the chaos of the earth
We’ll find beauty
All this time we’ve been chasing dust
A soldier’s song a sailor’s lust
For the glory of a world
That we can’t yet see

So my verdict? I think there’s potential here. “American Obituary” and “Yours Eternally” are definitely growing on me. I don’t know if they’ll stand the test of time, but they are meeting the moment. Sometimes that’s all you need.

Here’s what I’ve experienced:

• ICE is everywhere. Seriously, they’re all around town—Target, Walmart, gas stations, restaurants, strip mall, etc. They are in marked and unmarked vehicles. They’re masked and geared up. 
• People are detained and harassed seemingly at random. Many are U.S. citizens. There are stories of ICE going to door to door—I haven’t seen it in my neighborhood, but I did hear about it a mile north of us. ID checks in the parking lot of Lowe’s. I heard about a masked person waiting at the dumpster for people to take out their trash. 
• Kids aren’t going to school. One local school had 25% of kids absent on Friday. When kids do go to school, getting them to and from school can be a challenge as ICE shows up at bus stops, and parents are afraid to come out and get their kids. Local police have been following school buses to make sure nothing happens (though I’m not sure what local police could do). Since people are afraid to go out, schools have started delivering food and essentials to families. There are even collections to pay rent and bills. 
• Businesses are closed. I saw two businesses announce temporary closures, I went to a third and found it closed, and I know of a fourth that’s considering a permanent closure. Employees are afraid to come to work and customers are afraid to go out.
• We got takeout on Friday night. When I went to pick it up, the front door was locked and an employee was there letting people in one at a time to ensure they were customers. ICE hung out in their parking lot the night before.
• My son is an immigrant. He’s a U.S. citizen, but he’s not white and could easily be targeted. We renewed his passport last year out of an abundance of caution (apparently not enough—we only got his passport book and should have also got a passport card; getting the card now would require sending in his passport book, which seems like a bad idea). We’re constantly debating what to do—should he carry his passport? Is a photocopy good enough? Will any of that matter when they frequently detain citizens? He wants to help and participate—but is that safe? Should he deliver food to apartments? Should he partake in a peaceful walkout at his school? Should he drive to work by himself?
• We all know social media has to be taken with a grain of salt. I’ve seen AI photos of crowds in Minneapolis. But I’m also seeing videos I recognize as the places I shop, posted by people I know. Yes, I see reports from random strangers, but I also see reports from friends I know and trust. I’ve also seen an absolute flood of trolls—it’s unclear if they’re bots or just riled up people, but they are folks who have not participated in our extremely local online community before. Not only does it feel like we’re under siege, but we’re being drowned out by people telling us we’re getting what we deserve.
• I’m a journalist who didn’t go to school for it, and I’ve had to take safety classes and consider how I would cover an ICE/protestor standoff, especially if it becomes violent, chemical irritants are used, etc. As a one-person, part-time operation—I’m simply not prepared. The decisions about what to cover and how to cover it are intense. I’m often at a loss. 
• I covered City Council last night and about 40 people showed up, with a dozen speaking during citizen comments. They were unanimously opposed to ICE, and the elected officials agreed but were at a loss for how to respond. 

Notice I haven’t made a value statement about anything that’s happening. I’ve simply described it. Most of it isn’t even that extreme. But through it all, there is a palpable atmosphere of fear. 

One comment I see frequently is that if you don’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to fear. Tell that to the citizens detained. And officials are lying about what is happening, so what trust can we have that citizenship will protect us? It’s a bizarre shift from the second amendment crowd.

Another comment I see frequently is the comparison to Nazi Germany—what would you have done then, well now is the moment to find out, etc. I have a new appreciation for the complexity of that scenario. Hindsight makes things simple and easily heroic. It’s a lot harder to accept risk in the here and now, especially when it means the safety and provision of your family.

I want people to understand the reality we’re facing here, because it’s so far from normal. It’s not the America we know and love. People need to make their voices heard. Call your senators and representatives in Congress. I know that sounds like bullshit, but the voice of the people matters. Sometimes it’s the only thing that does.

Finally, remember a week or two into the pandemic lockdowns in March 2020? That uncertainty and anxiety? It’s back. The doomscrolling is real. And I’m getting emotional. I broke down yesterday writing this. My eyes welled up when my wife came home and told me how people were volunteering at her school (good news at least!). And again during the Council meeting when a 16-year-old kid said, “It just hurts.”

And I’ll end with this: I have a hard time reading the comments right now. One of my stories related to ICE has nearly 500 comments and there’s a lot of hate there (and my stories don’t get 500 comments, they rarely get 10). I stopped reading them. The only reason I haven’t shut off the comments is because people are taking the opportunity to show us who they are. 

Which reminds me of a blessing I often heard at church. It’s kind of a command to show the world who you are. So to paraphrase, whatever we do in this moment, gladden the hearts of those around you, be swift to love, and quicker to kindness. Because I don’t know what else we can do. We’re frazzled and weary. Please, help.

(Here’s my more journalistic roundup of ongoing updates on what’s happening just in my community.)

Total Reads

As noted before, I hit 211 total books this year. That’s my second highest all time.

How is that possible? I wrote a whole book about it, so it gets tiring answering that question. You have to love it and then make time for it. It’s not that hard. Put your phone down, shut off the TV.

Audio: And yes, listening to books is reading. This is a silly thing to fight over. Audiobooks accounted for almost 40% of my reading. That’s more than double since 2023. I now listen to audiobooks while doing chores. It started when I got sucked in to a good book and had to see how it ended, and now I do it all the time.

Not a flex: And I say this every year, but I’ll repeat it—I’m not bragging about reading 211 books. It’s just a number. I know people who read more. The point is just to read. However many books you can read, that’s awesome. Readers are a rare breed, and I want to celebrate any reading achievement, whether you read two books or 200. So don’t fall into the trap of comparison.

My Diversity Stats

• 51% POC books
• 64% women/nonbinary authors

Here’s how it compares to previous years:

Here’s how that compares to total reading:

Why?: In a year when diversity was practically outlawed, it’s more important than ever. I’ve long believed it’s important to be exposed to a diverse range of voices, and that requires an intentional effort.

Difficulty: Finding diverse books continues to be hard. It’s better than in the past, for sure. But I had a hard time this year. I think romance saved me, as I was able to tap into a vein of diverse authors there (that also likely explains the spike on women/nonbinary authors). I hit a slump, maybe around May, where finding diverse reads just wasn’t working. For a while I didn’t worry about it, and it looked like I wouldn’t hit 50% POC books and I wouldn’t hit one of my goals of reading so many Latino authors. Romance for the win.

More Stats

I love nerding out about the numbers:

• Genres: I have a new genre king! Romance has dethroned science fiction. Shocking, I know. My long favorite sci-fi has been on a dip in recent years, falling to 22% last year (but still on top; in 2021 it hit a high of 53%). This year sci-fi fell to 17%, while romance soared from just 5% in 2024 to 29% in 2025. Why? I stumbled into romance last year and really enjoyed it. I think there’s something about a happily ever after that really resonated with me this year (huh, wonder why that would be?). And as much as the tropes should be annoying, I think there’s freedom in embracing the tropes and seeing what an author does with them. Honestly, I think it’s the characters that pull me into romances. When I quit books, I often find there’s no connection to the character and that stops me reading. It kills quite a few science fiction books. Nonfiction (11%) and memoir (10%) came in at #3 and #4 genres, which is a bit of a shock for nonfiction (though maybe that’s just a catchall).
• New is always better: My reading definitely slants to more recently published books, though goals in recent years to broaden that have helped. I read a book from every year going back to 2002, but then it gets spotty, though I did read at least something from every decade back to the 1940s. The three oldest books I read were from 1949, 1952, and 1967.
• Quit: New stat this year—quitting! I quit an astounding 146 books this year. There are too many good books to read to bother slogging through something you don’t enjoy. I get it, it’s hard to quit. But it’s worth it. This year only had 5.2% two-star books this year, down from last year’s 6%, and probably still too many. This year I often quit books that were probably good but I just wasn’t in the mood. I’ve learned there are definitely times to read a book and times not to. Don’t force it. Reading should be enjoyable. We’re not in school anymore.
• Book source: 70% of my reads came from the library, 20% from my ‘new’ shelf (books acquired in the last year or so), and 10% from my ‘old’ shelf. With our local library being remodeled in 2025, I thought that might lead to less library use. Guess not (last year was 62%). I imagine 40% audiobooks had something to do with that, since 100% of those come from the library.
• Monthly: March was my lowest reading month at 10, and December the highest at 24. Cold weather continues to encourage more reading.

Reading Goals

Since 2023 I’ve made some unique reading goals to keep my reading interesting. I did more of that in 2025, reaching most of them. It feels like gamifying reading, which works for me.

• Total books: I’m still not a fan of a total number of books reading goal. That puts too much pressure on quantity.
• Author goals: I had a list of 24 authors I wanted to read, and I tried all of them (quit one, Percival Everett; maybe should have quit the Frederick Buechner as well). This tends to be a mix of old favorites I haven’t read in a while and newer authors I’m trying to read more of. Sometimes it feels a bit like padding my goals, so not sure how well it’s working.
• Diversity: I didn’t have hard diversity goals, though I tried to read more in specific months (Black authors during Black History Month, women authors during Women’s History Month, Asian authors during Asian and Pacific Islander History Month, etc.). A bit of a reading slump killed those first three, but later ones were successful. I did want to read at least 14 Latino authors, since I seem to lack in that area. Searching for books was an important part of the process, and I did ultimately more than double that goal (with a big assist from the romance genre).
• Clear the list: I dropped my to-read list from 163 to 93 (part of quitting so many books). I like seeing that become a more manageable list. This year I specifically worked to remove everything added before 2020 (no more books languishing on the list from a decade ago).
• New vs. old: This year I worked to clear my ‘new’ book shelf, which was pretty successful. I struggled to read ‘old’ books (unread books that I own) and just hit the goal of 20 (at the beginning of October, I was only at nine). It’s especially satisfying to actually read what’s on your self (and get rid of some books if I didn’t like them). I need to do more of that in 2026.
• Local authors: One creative goal I had this year was to read five new-to-me Minnesota authors. I managed it, discovering Mindy Mejia (made my top 10 fiction), Allen Eskens, Tasha Coryell, Antonia Angress, and Mona Susan Power. I tried and quit eight books from six authors, so this one took some effort.
• In-person: In college, I discovered the wonder of author readings and seeing an author in-person. Haven’t done much of that lately, so I made a goal to do that at least once, and ended up going to several, seeing Jilly Gagnon (in my romance top 5), Maris Kreizman (though I haven’t read her collection of essays yet—oops), Mona Susan Powers, and Marcie Rendon (a 2024 honorable mention and I’ve read almost everything she’s written).

More Reading

If you want to read more, check out my booklet 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading Again.

For more on diversity and stats, check out previous years: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.

You can also check out my top 10 fiction and my reading stats/goals.

1. Everybody Writes: Your New and Improved Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley – Really solid and meaty writing advice. Used it with my intern this summer.
2. A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings – I thought this would be one of those windows into extremism, but it felt way too close too home.
3. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis – Essential reading for a time when government workers are under attack.
4. You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing by John Scalzi – Another incredibly practical book for writers. Longer than it needs to be (reprinted blog posts), but still good stuff.
5. Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen – In-depth and frightening.
6. Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding A True Faith by April Ajoy – More of the church/politics embrace that hits too close to home.
7. Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy by Bill Adair – Intriguing and depressing.
8. The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource by Christopher Hayes – Really interesting take, though the author goes a little too far down the rabbit hole on some of his tangents.
9. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder – Inspiring stories and narrative flow. Pretty much anything Tracy Kidder writes is worth a read.
10. Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders – More writing advice, though this one is very specific nuts and bolts for fiction writers, so less appealing for me. But I hadn’t read anything this practical before.

Honorable Mentions

• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond – Really detailed investigative reporting about landlords and renters and poverty. It’s pretty depressing, but gives real insight.
• How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future! by Danny Caine – Not the best written book—the arguments often feel too hyperbolic. But I mention it because I think it’s time we wrestle with mega-corporate greed. Danny Caine’s other book highlighting independent bookstores is more positive and better, but this gives some of the foundation about why Amazon is a problem.

More Reading

If you want to read more, check out my booklet 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading Again.

And how about previous top non-fiction lists: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

You can also check out my top 10 nonfiction and my reading stats/goals.

1. Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley – Sort of a romance with song-writing thrown in. Best example I’ve seen of a book about a writer where they show you their writing and it’s good.
2. Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor – I’ve soured on Nnedi Okorafor’s stuff lately, but this is her best yet. Really fascinating and a bit meta.
3. The Reason You’re Alive by Michael Quick – I love a strong voice, and this book has it. Doesn’t matter that the character is gruff and mean, it’s all part of the charm. Matthew Quick is good at that.
4. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez – This author single handedly got me into romance, and this was a fun read. I love the guy’s goofy but committed focus. It’s endearing.
5. Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton – I’m a sucker for deadpan AI narrators.
6. King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby – This was dark, disturbingly so, but Crosby tells a good story.
7. Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria – I enjoyed reading this romance, but part of why it worked so well was the build up of the previous two in the series.
8. The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean – Oof, this was a dark thriller. Really sucked me in.
9. Leave No Trace by Mindy Mijea – Really interesting mystery and setup, enjoyed the Minnesota angle.
10. Coyote by Allen M. Steele – An old school sci-fi colonizing story that had some fun and unique takes.

Honorable Mentions:

• Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall – Mystery and family drama all in one.
• Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller – This one felt a little too heavy handed, but lots of fun.
• Woodworking by Emily St. James – Powerful story about the complications of the trans experience.

Romance Top 10

I read lots of romance this year (lots!), so let’s do a top 10 with some honorable mentions (keeping in mind there’s three more romances above in the original top 10).

1. The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams – The jock-bro voice actually worked for me. Also, the rare romance about a married couple.
2. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – Really enjoyed the characters here.
3. Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin – An old guy romance? Yeah, I just loved Eddie as a character.
4. Beach Read by Emily Henry – I’m a sucker for books about authors, and this one was pretty fun.
5. What If It’s You? by Jilly Gagnon – Really interesting alternate choices story, with some don’t-think-too-hard quantum dynamics thrown in.
6. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – The escort setup feels a little weird, but the character voices were great.
7. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren – Just a happy read.
8. The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata – Such a slow burn romance, and I only gave it three stars, but it stuck in my head a bit. Really enjoyed watching the characters make a life together.
9. Before I Let Go by Kennedy Ryan – Another married couple, with a layered and complicated relationship.
10. Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory – I enjoyed the relationship dynamics.

• Best holiday read: A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone – It helps to read the first in the series to get the full porn/Hallmark set up, but this installment has a great purity culture angle.
• Great author: Casey McQuiston. One Last Stop was my favorite of their’s, though the first half of The Pairing was better (the viewpoint shifts halfway through, and I didn’t like the character telling the second half of the story).
• Therapy for romance: Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey is another great example of a married couple romance. They actually go to therapy, which I thought was really intriguing. Unfortunately, it’s also very cliche, with a little too much toxic masculinity and a climax that’s kind of contradictory.

More Reading

If you want to read more, check out my booklet 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading Again.

And how about previous top 10 fiction lists: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.