I listened to more books than I read. Most were ones I’d already finished. But a few new discoveries made the year.

A week late

This is a bit outdated. We’re almost a week into 2026. But I wanted to review the books that resonated with me most last year.

Spotify says I listened to 15 audiobooks. The real number is probably closer to 25 when you count what I got from the library, had on my phone, or found outside Spotify. And yes, I said listened. For the naysayers: modern neuroscience says there’s almost no difference between reading and listening. The only exception is textbooks, where reading has a slight edge. Everything else activates the same parts of the brain. So I’m using the words interchangeably.

Mostly rereads

Most of these were rereads. I’ve been in a rut. But one benefit of ADHD is forgetting. Give it a few months, maybe a year, and I’ve forgotten everything except the high-level summary. It almost feels like reading for the first time. For better or worse.

The Gentleman Bastard Series

I’ve reread my favorite series of all time. The Gentleman Bastard series, starting with The Lies of Locke Lamora. It’s this weird combo of alternative-universe Venice with light fantasy and heist elements. Written with sarcasm and wit. I’ve read it at least five times now.

The Asian Saga

This is my second favorite series. Most people know Shogun from the recent remake. But Shogun is just the first book. The Asian Saga was so popular that several books became TV shows and movies back in the 80s and 90s.

Shogun is the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603. It’s slower, heavy on Buddhist themes. Historical fiction with high-level truth and dramatically fictionalized details.

Tai-Pan takes it further. It’s the fictionalized founding of Hong Kong. More adventurous, more action. The Buddhist emphasis shifts to what they call “joss”, which feels more Taoist to me. It’s tied for my favorite.

Noble House is a sequel to Tai-Pan, set a decade or two after World War II in Hong Kong. It follows Ian Dunross, a distant relative of Dirk Struan from Tai-Pan. Less action, more spy intrigue and Cold War maneuvering. It’s about someone willing to do what it takes to succeed, finding creative solutions for problems that keep presenting themselves. As someone who’s always wanted to be a founder, this draws me in. Tied for my number one.

Gai-Jin shocked me. It has lower ratings than most books in the series, which makes no sense. I read it for the first time last year, but it felt like it combined everything I loved about Shogun, Tai-Pan, and Noble House. It’s a partial sequel to both Tai-Pan and Shogun, set about 100 years after Shogun’s events while following character lineages from Tai-Pan.

The main character is probably my favorite in the entire series. I thought Ian Dunross in Noble House was phenomenal, but Gai-Jin tops it. Every single character is amazing. The story is so long that you keep thinking when is it going to end, partly because you don’t want it to. It just keeps unfolding. The intrigue, the plot, the dialogue, the personalities. I think people didn’t like it because it doesn’t build to a single climax the way Shogun and Tai-Pan do. It just keeps going. For me, that was the appeal.

King Rat is the shortest by far. It follows one of the characters from Noble House, a fictionalized version of the author, in Changi prison camp in Singapore. The story pulls elements from Noble House and Tai-Pan. It’s a perspective on World War II I never expected to find interesting. If the usual battle violence is too much for you, this one focuses on prisoners of war instead. A different angle entirely.

What I love about the Asian Saga is the bait and switch. You think you’re reading a European’s view of Asia. Then it shatters that illusion. Systematically destroys the Eurocentric framing, rebuilds it through Asian lens, puts that experience at the center.

The Shadow of the Leviathan

This turned out to be my favorite new series of the year. Shocking, because it started slow. I almost stopped.

The first book is The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. It’s a fantasy murder mystery. I don’t think I’ve read those two genres combined before. I was obsessed with murder mysteries when I was younger. Then my adult reading became historical fiction and fantasy. This rekindled something.

It takes a Sherlock Holmes vibe and remixes it. Dinios Kol is the Watson figure. Most of the story unfolds from his perspective. Ana Dolabra is Sherlock, but different. Sherlock comes off as supernatural given his intelligence. Watson sometimes plays the intelligent fool. Din just seems like a regular cop with gifts in certain areas, like most people. Ana is lopsided. Rich in character, not one-dimensional, but with tragic flaws and amazing abilities. You start to understand why as the story unfolds.

The world building is subtle but rich. The societal commentary is sharp. I highly recommend it.

Dissolution

This was my other sci-fi read besides Murderbot. But this is true sci-fi. Sometimes it felt like sci-fi horror. I don’t get creeped out often. I usually treat horror movies as a joke. There were moments reading this where I was genuinely unsettled.

It was nothing I expected. You’re on your toes the whole time. You don’t know where it’s going until maybe the last chapter, if that. If you’re a true sci-fi fan, this is worth it.

The Tipping Point

I rarely read nonfiction. I force myself to as a balance. Someone recommended this to me in early 2025, and I started with skepticism.

It was probably the best nonfiction I’ve read since Sapiens.

The gist: what defines the moment of critical mass? The threshold. The boiling point. Why does a stock rally? What causes a pandemic? Why does a mediocre show suddenly explode in popularity? Why do some artists become 200 times more popular a century after they die than during their entire lifetime?

It’s a great explanation of human nature. Not just individual psychology, but how we function as a collective.

The ratings

The standouts

If I had to pick: Gai-Jin, The Tipping Point, The Tainted Cup, Dissolution, and the first Murderbot book.

Hoping I keep the trend of reading more each year. You can never read too much.