I got this idea/inspiration from James over at the Alligators and Aneurysms Blog! (who in turn got it from SFF Book Reviews)
How Many Books Have I Read So far
So let's look back at some books I have read this year! According to Hardcover I have read 36 books this year so far! I think about five to seven were manga/comic!
Considering I went years without reading anything, I'm very happy that I got back into it :D I still have the feeling I would like to read more, but it's hard sometimes. I notice that I often instinctively grab my phone instead of grabbing a book, and also, after work or similiar, I just feel too tired/not in the mood for reading. Maybe I should read more manga again, they have nice storylines and are a little bit easier due to having many pictures (and these pictures rock too, just thinking about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure...)
I'll be leaving out some questions, as I haven't really read sequels, or watched Book-To-Movie adaptations etc. I've been mostly reading German Classic Literature, and they don't really get sequels. I guess many of them are plays that I could maybe go see somewhere!
Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2025?
I was picking my books mostly by premise. The problem is, many premises speak to me and I buy too many books! Then it is hard reading them all. This one was especially a tough nut, but I held my endurance, and taking me more than a month, maybe even two months, I managed to read 'The Idiot' by Dostojewski.
I think I was browsing lists of classics to get something that interests me, and the premise of somebody thats kind and maybe a little naive being thrown in a demimonde society of rather dubious and selfserving people caught my eye. It was a very long and tough read, and I don't want to spoil anything here, but in my opinion it was definitely worth it. Weeks after finishing, I was still thinking about this book. About what happened to Prince Myschkin, but also about the other characters.
It was one of these books were I started slow, and took a lot of breaks (like I sit down with it once a week at most), but then I was reading it everyday, reading deep into the night because I needed to know. Every character in this book feels real, and even if they do horrible things or betray each other, you can always kind of see where they are coming from. You feel sometimes that Myschkin is acting stupid, but he is also doing something kind and good, which just doesn't fit into the world he lives in. I could go on and on about this book, and it feels wrong only dedicating it such a small text, but I would definitely say it is the best thing I have read this year. I would recommend it, maybe more if you are a dedicated reader, as I said before, I haven't read in a longer time and this book was an undertaking, but it was worth it. It was hard to understand sometimes, but by the end, you will definitely take something away from it.
Biggest Disappointment? (not really)
I don't want to say any book has disappointed me, and it definitely hasn't! But I also don't want to leave every category blank. I have read Jedermann, a play from 1911 that gets reenacted every year at the Salzburger Festspiele, making it a staple of Austrian culture.
I haven't really known of it until now, but hearing about this, I also was interested and wanted to read it. And I liked it, it was a good book/play. I just had the feeling it would be a bit more. Again, I don't want to say it was bad, or a disappointment or anything else. I don't know how to quite describe it. Maybe also because of its age and the rather intriguing other classics I've been reading, I just felt this one was a bit .. generic?
Basically: God sends Death to get Jedermann, who is rather a bad person, not caring about his fellow man. His mother also tells him he should think about his relationship to God. While he is eating with his friend and future wife (the Buhlschaft), he feels sick and begins to hear bells ring. Death is coming to get him, and none of his friends, or his family wants to come with him. Not even his personified money wants to go with him. He finds an ill women representing his good works, willing to accompany him, and also asking her sister to come with, the personification of faith. Faith tells Jedermann to believe, as in Gods unlimited love, he will be forgiven. The devil pulls up to get Jedermann to hell, but God steps in and saves him.
Reading the summary (been a while since I read the book), I still think it was a good book. Again, I don't want to put it down, I just felt like the story was somewhat generic; a classic Christian story about faith and believe. Again not bad at all, but showing you the other books I have been reading, I guess I just like more experimental and 'weird' premises.
Biggest Surprise?
Going through the classics at my local bookstore (I love the Reclam verlag, feared by students), I spotted the description of 'Der Sandmann' by E.T.A. Hoffmann. My chin dropped when I read the premise: A student with a rather rough, traumatic childhood goes crazy and falls for a woman that turns out to be an automaton.
Days before I saw this, I was reading a news article about people falling in love with AI agents/ChatGPT. Seeing this same premise in a book from 1816, I was excited, riveted. I knew I had to get this.
And I was not disappointed!
Spoilers! (somewhat)
Nathanael (I was by the way also surprised, as the main characters name and some of his personality was matching my OCs, by complete chance) falls in love with the machine woman, and disregards his girlfriend as the automaton does not speak, and only listens to him. The entire relationship is based on that he gets reflected in her, she doesn't really do anything. And that is the same as with these AIs work! They just tell you what you want to hear, and reaffirm you. Seeing this in a 200 year old book was absolutely insane and surprising. The entire arc how it cames to be and the story is also interesting and kept my hook, and the way it was told was also interesting, iirc it was in the form of letters between the characters. Wholeheartedly recommending this! Tragic and great story!
Favorite New Author?
New for me at least! I've read Franz Kafkas "Der Prozeß" about a year ago, it was also a long and difficult book, but it kept my hooked, and I was glad I read it, seeing it referenced often and also thinking to myself "This is just like the Proceß!"
This year, I read "Die Verwandlung" (The Metamorphosis) and also got a collection of this short stories, which I finished. I'm not saying anything new when I say that this man's writing feels so relevant to this day, like it was written not so long ago. As he is such a big name, I will not say so much, I think many people already have the picture. 'Die Verwandlung' and 'Der Prozess' are genius works, and I can recommend them to anyone (as said, maybe don't start with the Process like I did, it's pretty lengthy and can be hard to follow if you aren't used to Kafka's writing style)
I must also say, I was considering Heinrich von Kleist for this too.. but I have read more books by Kafka. Still, I'll take a second to say Kleist is great, even if he does very long run on sentences xD
Underrated Gems you Discovered Recently?
For me, all these classics are 'underrated gems'. I had to read some classics for school, but I was always dreading it, even though I used to be such an avid reader! I had the feeling I was unlucky, that my teachers just selected books I wasn't much interested in at the time. The Reclam verlag releasing all these classics got a bad reputation around students for that reason (they basically release these classics cheap). I was thinking about reading a book that I skipped in school even.. 'Nathan der Weise' by Lessing, as the premise seems to relevant!
Book That Made You Cry?
'Der Idiot' definitely made by emotional.
Book That Makes You Happy?
I've been reading some Slice of Life manga, they always do a great job of cheering one up, a chill storyline, some cute pictures. I like that genre.
Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year?
Not knowing where our copy of "Der kleine Prinz" (The Little Prince) was, I bought it again, reread it, and damn, it hit that spot again. I still knew the gist of the book having read it before, but I forgot about that ending. I was really moved, again, and the authors illustrations make this book even more lovely. A very popular book for the right reasons.
Conclusion
It was fun reflecting on the books I've read! Some I haven't though about for a while, I pulled up my list of read books and was able to delve in some memories! I hope you find these as interesting as I do! I'm pretty sure there are English translations for all of these, so if you want, go ahead!