Books on a bookshelf.

2025 One Line Book Reviews

About this post…

I normally read 35 to 50 books a year (from a variety of genres). In the past, I would write a summary of each book in a journal set aside for the purpose. Then I started putting the reviews in GoodReads. The older I get, the lazier I’ve become…I present my 2025 One Line Book Reviews.

(If you want more info about a specific book, leave a comment. Or, if you have questions about WHY I would read a particular book, leave a comment. Also, if you buy books, try as hard as you can to buy them from a used bookstore or one of the less convenient bookstores.)

Theology/Religion

  • The Mission of God – A view of theology that fits with my own, this long book is a little redundant.
  • The Gospel of Philip – Though there is some value in this gospel, it’s easy to understand why it is considered spurious.
  • The Book of Enoch – Like the Gospel of Philip, this book probably causes more confusion than blessing.
  • The Tears of Things – Richard Rohr always causes me to think.
  • The Interior Castle – A Christian classic, if you’re female and live in a convent, neither describe me.
  • God of the Possible – A defense of open theism (I mostly agree), but like most modern theology, a tilting at windmills…

History

  • Big Wonderful Thing – A history of Texas stripped of mythos – big and wonderful, and sometimes painful. I have to add another sentence here: This is probably my Book of the Year for 2025.
  • A History of Spain – From 206 BC to 1917 AD, interesting development of the Iberian Peninsula, and sometimes painful.
  • Santiago Cathedral – I’ve spent a lot of time in this cathedral, very interesting to learn the history and meaning of the architecture.

Classics

  • War and Peace – Slow to start and develop characters, but I didn’t want it to end on the last page.
  • The Double – Anything by José Saramago instantly goes on the classic list, master storyteller and understand(er) of humanity.

Growth

  • Meditations – I find some Stoic philosophy interesting and useful, in the first 30 pages or so.
  • On the Brink of Everything – Great little book about aging gracefully and meaningfully.
  • Thrive – Finding happiness is simpler than we make it out to be.

Pilgrimage

  • The Way My Way – Camino memoirs, or “anecdotal guidebooks” as I call them, are all good and useful.
  • Historias Tras Cado Paso – Easy to read Spanish, I’ll try any and all methods to develop a functional level of the language.
  • Mi Primer Camino de Santiago – See above, also, I find the topic interesting.
  • Pilgrimages – Great history of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, seems pilgrims back then aren’t much different than pilgrims today.
  • A Pilgrimage to Eternity – Great memoir of a journey along the Via Francigena!
    • Interesting (or not) side note – I bought these last two books for $1 each at the San Antonio Public Library.

Adventure

  • The Old Ways – Referred by a hiking friend; great combination of memoir, history, and science.
  • The Wild Places – Referred from the book above; great combination of memoir, history, and science.
  • Mountains of the Mind – Referred by my brother and the books above, great combination of memoir, history, and science.

Audiobook

  • The Paris Diversion – Bought for a 12-hour road trip, good mystery with interesting twists.
  • Satantango – From the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, listened as a sample.
  • The Eye of the Bedlam Bride – From my new favorite genre – Apocalyptic Satire, 5th in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. (Yes, I’ve listened to the previous 4).
  • The Butcher’s Masquerade – From my new favorite genre – Apocalyptic Satire, 6th in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
  • This Inevitable Ruin – From my new favorite genre – Apocalyptic Satire, 7th in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
  • Champion of the Apocalypse – From my new favorite genre – Apocalyptic Satire, Book 6 of the Duck & Cover Adventure series. (Note re: the genre – “even a mushroom cloud has a silver lining!”)

Storytelling

  • Return to Sender – Book 21 in the Longmire series, always a good read.
  • No One Left – Second book in the Pinter (and daughter) P.I. series, similar to Longmire stories.
  • The Pusherman – Third book in the Pinter (and daughter) P.I. series, similar to Longmire stories.
  • Fahrenheit 451 – Circling back (because of current affairs) on all the dystopian classics (1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World).
  • Man Without A Country – I enjoy the snarky humor of Vonnegut.
  • Breakfast of Champions – Vonnegut’s snarky satire, about war, sex, racism, success, politics, and pollution in America, and the truth is buried somewhere in the rubble.
  • There’s Only One Noon Yeah – Number 2 in this series, I don’t know for sure, but Rob Bell may be building a big sci-fi parable.
  • Baby Bird, – Goof story told by a friend.
  • The Spectator Bird – First book of Wallace Stegner I’ve read, enjoyable story.
  • A Miracle in Seville – What?! A Michener book under 2,487 pages? (Good storyteller as always).
  • The Smiling Country – Texan Elmer Kelton has written two of my favorite books of all time (The Time It Never Rained and The Good Old Boys), this is the sequel to The Good Old Boys.
  • I Cheerfully Refuse – More dystopia, this is a well-told story!
  • Satantango – It was hard to follow the slow-moving audiobook, so bought a hard copy at this novel look at human nature.
  • Olympus Texas – Good small town Texas story, a little painful if you’ve been around rural Texas for a generation or two, we know the characters…

Leave a comment