Note — I wrote this back at the beginning of 2026, but for whatever reason, I didn’t publish it. Sharing now, as I still really love these! Image is from the CT article.

I always love reading people’s EOY round-ups, so here’s some media I’ve really enjoyed in 2025! I might elaborate on this list with reviews at a later point.

Books‍

• The American Spirit, by David McCullough (American History)
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson (Nonfiction)
• Hope in Times of Fear, by Timothy Keller (Theology)
• A Quiet Mind to Suffer With, by John Andrew Bryant (Memoir)

Articles

• ”War Changes Everything — And Nothing,” by Mark Meynell in CT. “The crucial question, therefore, is not which activities may be justified in wartime but which activities are worth doing at any time. For something to be worth doing, it must have inherent value, whatever the circumstances and despite human mortality.”
• Review of Georg Simmel’s 1904 essay “Fashion,”  by Sergio Benvenuto. “According to Simmel, fashion (non-cumulative change in cultural features) derives from a basic tension specific to the social condition of the human being. On one hand, each of us has tendency to imitate others. On the other, we also have a tendency to distinguish ourselves from others. Undoubtedly, some of us tend more towards imitation (and thus to conformism) while others tend to distinction (and thus to eccentricity and dissidence), but fashion's flux needs both of these contradictory tendencies in order to work. In short, Simmel argues that we need to postulate two radical drives which he attributes to human nature.”

Poetry

• Ash Wednesday, by T.S. Eliot
• Golden Hour, by William Fargason
• August, by Mary Oliver

Videogames

• Fields of Mistria, by NPC Studio (slice of life/farming videogame)
• Red Dead Redemption II, by Rockstar Games (open-world videogame)
• Citizen Sleeper II (TTRPG-inspired sci-fi role-playing videogame)
• Hades II, by Supergiant Games (action roguelite game inspired by Greek mythology)
• Kabuto Park (wholesome indie bug-catching game)
• Balatro (poker-themed card roguelite)

TTRPGs

• Last Train to Bremen, by Caro Acersion (I played this moody TTRPG with four friends and it birthed some hilarious roleplaying and many fits of laughter)
• Koriko: A Magical Year, by Jack Harrison (beautiful, medtitative solo journaling RPG!)

Movies

• Wake Up Dead Man, directed by Rian Johnson
• Superman, directed by James Gunn

Albums

• Burnout Days, by Flipturn (Favorite Track: Swim Between Trees)
• Older (And Wiser), by Lizzy McAlpine (Favorite Track: Spring Into Summer)

Song of the Summer

• My Baby (Got Nothing At All), by Japanese Breakfast