My Year In Reading - Books Consumed in 2025

  

Here they are for your visual perusal - the books that made it on to my 2025 reading list. If you care to read my thoughts about them, stop by my page on Goodreads. Prefer to listen to what I had to say? Then head over to my booktube channel - Roy's Book Reviews. Maybe even subscribe, which would fill me with such joy. Simply want to know what they are? Scroll down the page of this blog post where you'll find them presented in no particular order. Tasked by Shepherd.com with the pleasant mission of selecting a Top 3, I settled on The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller), Small Mercies (Dennis Lehane), and The Vanishing Half (Brit Bennet). The narrowing down process wasn't easy since I read several excellent novels in 2025. Olive Kitteridge and A Visit from the Goon Squad both won the Pulitzer Prize for good reason, The Changeling had me hooked from page one; The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is wonderful storytelling; The Night Circus is a master class in descriptively establishing a sense of fantastical place; Dan Brown made us wait a minute before putting out his latest addictive gem; and Zone One is another gift from one of my favorite authors - Colson Whitehead. 

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And to wrap up my year in reading, I finished this excellent book in between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I've since moved on to What is the What by Dave Eggers.

Oh, by the way, along with reading a number of books I also finished writing one (my third novel) in 2025. I read it as well in the editing process as I've tweaked it in follow-up drafts, so technically that's one more novel read this year. Stay tuned here and beyond for more news about the upcoming publication of SECOND SHOT.

 

Another thing I managed to squeeze in before switching to a new calendar is recording and posting my latest children's book reading at Roy's Book Reviews.

   

HAPPY READING THROUGHOUT 2026 AND THE YEARS TO FOLLOW 

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@mudhousebooks 📚 #booktok ♬ I Walk This Earth All By Myself - Ekkstacy

@mudhousebooks How was your year in reading? How much are you looking forward to your 2026 reads? 📚 #booktok ♬ Jazz Instrumental - Marco Antonio

@mudhousebooks Patches of Grey - a novel by Roy L. Pickering Jr. Available in print and kindle editions at Amazon. #booktok #stockingstuffer ♬ Gray - Ari Bose

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Matters of Convenience by Roy L. Pickering Jr. (sold at Amazon)

♬ original sound - little4love

Some Stuff I made

I keep finding stuff to make. From the laborious - like writing a novel. To the mindless - like using Grok's AI tech to animate a bunch of pictures. I highly recommend that you do some making of your own. The stuff you can generate with a few pushes and swipes on your phone is increasingly impressive, but that which comes from artistic minds will forever be the gold standard. So, if you think you have it in you, or even if you don't - Make Short Stories; Make Books; Make Plays; Make Poems; Make Screenplays; Make Drawings; Make Paintings; Make Music; Make Moves; Make Memes; Make GIFs; Make Noise; Make A Fuss In These Perilous Times; Make A Stand; and of course, Make Love.

While you're thinking of specifically what you'd like to make, enjoy and be inspired by the makings of others. Including mine!

@mudhousebooks The holiday shopping season quickly approaches and this book makes a wonderful gift for the little readers (or those who are read to) in your life. #AvaAppelsawse (available at Amazon) #christmasgiftideas ♬ After Nine - Veil

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THE SAXOPHONE MAN

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 Merry are the makers. For they can always think of something to do to occupy themselves.

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The death of a young provocateur

R.I.P. Charlie Kirk - But let's be real here about who he was, discuss some of the ridiculous assumptions and attempts at pinning blame that took place in the brief time between murder and capture, and touch upon attempts by the usual suspects to use a young man/husband/father's death to rile up a Civil War. Much better to keep our eyes on the prize (return of normal democracy). And those infamous files.

   

 

   

   

   

   

Okay, fine. If you know me you know I have a little more than that to say. As do others.

   

   

That was probably a rhetorical question, but whether sincere or not, the answer/song remains the same.

   

   

   

Don't get it twisted no matter how much misinformation they spread. The Democratic party, while by no means unflawed, is not the organization that's indoctrinating and turning people into hateful killers. While I'll grant that there may have been some sensitivity overkill on the generous behalf of those belonging to marginalized groups, the "wokeness card" is being severely overplayed. So called wokeness has resulted in a grand total of zero deaths/tragedies. When it comes to killing, or to combatting BS masked in "Conservative Christian values", the Dems simply don't have it it them.

   

   

   

      

   

   

   

   

R.I.P. Iryna Zarutska

P.S. - Mostly unrelated, but this social media post caught my eye recently and is too good not to repeat.

  

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Also unrelated to Charlie Kirk / Tyler Robinson and other non-fictional people specifically - but take a listen to the video below anyway and stay tuned for more of SECOND SHOT. 

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My conversation with Grok

I enjoy a good debate of important issues. But you can't have a quality debate with just anyone because people with different viewpoints than your own are often led by emotion rather than reason. If someone quickly resorts to insults and name calling rather than addressing what it is you said and why they feel it is incorrect, it's best to abort that mission. The person is either intellectually incapable or simply not interested in attempting to persuade by presentation of facts. Say what you will about Artificial Intelligence (I've certainly had unflattering things to say about it), but at least it attempts to stick to what's reasonable and probable and pertinent rather than hurling insults when it doesn't like what you said. When Elon Musk claimed on Twitter that @Grok has been significantly improved in answer giving, I decided to put it to the test. Its debate technique was to ask me questions in return rather than truly answering what I had asked, as well as consistent reference to the Heritage Foundation. Admittedly, my question was an accusation. So when Grok requested examples of my claim, for me to prove that I was not being partisan just for the hell of it, I provided two to get the ball rolling.

I invite any polite humans willing to engage in civil discourse to answer my two-part question. Below is what Grok had to say in response, and my rebuttals, and so on and so forth. Pick a winner if you wish. In the end, while I believe in being open to having my mind changed by a potent counter argument, I remained unswayed by Grok's replies.

                                             

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

      

   

   

   

WHAT HE SAID...

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Texas camp flood turns deadly on July Fourth; beloved director dies saving campers https://t.co/AzJfIt4BE5

— 13News Now (@13NewsNow) July 6, 2025

Pope Leo offered prayers for Texas flood victims Sunday, urging compassion as search crews comb debris fields for survivors. Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence when the river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. https://t.co/JCAMw8ETJh #TexasFloods

— james jackson (@jackgoesvirtual) July 6, 2025

At least 51 people, including 15 children, are dead and 27 girls remain missing after a flash flood devastated Kerr County, Texas, and Camp Mystic, as rescuers continue searching and questions mount over emergency preparedness and warnings https://t.co/xloXrb4hIV

— FireRescue1 (@FireRescue1) July 6, 2025

Even Grok gets it, that Trump and Musk contributed to this Texas disaster: pic.twitter.com/aFux5NlkY4

— Steven Scott Reynolds (@SteveSReynolds) July 5, 2025

 

If Grok gets any more woke, it’s going to qualify for job on The View.

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 5, 2025