Thoughts on some books I read in 2025:
David Copperfield: Least favorite Dickens I've read so far. My mom told me early on that Dickens got paid by the word and it kind of ruined the book for me: It's overly long, lots of needless meandering and subplots. Other Dickens books are much tighter. But at least Dickens knew how to tie up his loose plot ends - he creates like 20 mysteries in the book and methodically wraps each of them up by the last page. TV screenwriters could learn from this.
The MANIAC: Historical fiction about Von Neumann told from the perspective of real scientists, family members, etc. Sometimes the construction was a little goofy and overdone, but overall a fun book and a great way to learn about a really interesting guy. I really enjoyed the last section about AI machines competing at Go.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich: Tolstoy really goes for it, putting you in the mind of a dying guy. Pondering mortality not great for falling asleep at night. I found the ending, where Ilyich sort of realizes the meaning of life, a bit unconvincing and too on the nose.
Frederick Douglass Prophet of Freedom: An insane life story. I think this book's main addition to the previous history is the later stages of life, including some interesting relationships and a complicated family. The book leans too heavily though on Douglass' speeches and essays -- half the book is just the author summarizing or little book reports on things Douglass wrote or said, and it gets in the way of the story. I also wished the book would have just printed more of Douglass' words verbatim rather than endless commenting.
My Antonia: Will Cather is so good. Almost every page has some brilliant little insight and the writing and story flow so organically. I was worried the book would veer into sappiness but that is not at all what happens.
Melting Point / Cockerell: This book's exclusive use of primary sources was so refreshing after the Frederick Douglass book. Somehow by pasting bits of articles and letters together the author made this a page turner. Would love to read more history books in this format.
Invisible man / Ellison: Finally got to this after 4 years living around the corner from the Invisible Man statue. The first third or half of the book is like if Kafka was writing about race in America, and is just insanely good and funny and weird. And it jumps from one great set piece to the next. I loved it. Then for some reason the book veers off into like 200 pages of intra-Communist-party-politics and kinda lost me.
Human Transit / Walker: Helped improve my understanding of transit in a million ways. One great point is the tension between maximizing ridership and providing wide coverage. Jarrett Walker doesn't argue it exactly, but I'm convinced that too many US agencies err on the side of coverage when they should be more focused on getting the maximum number of people out of their car. Terrible US land use doesn't help.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle / Jackson: Jackson writes the classiest horror. Maybe the best and creepiest unreliable narrator story I've read.