This has been a weird year! I am glad it’s almost over. I am tired. I was not especially prolific on the writing front this year, and the length of my best-of lists might reflect this.

All of these are in no particular order, because I am not a numbered list sort of person.

I did accomplish some things this year. For example, I read 325 books this year. Yes, I am aware that trans stuff and horror/sci-fi are overrepresented in my best of list for the year. Americana also appears to be overrepresented in the music category.

I have included some “worst of 2025” things at the end, just for fun. You can leave your favorites and/or least favorite things from this year in the comments!

FAVORITES

Best albums 2025

Florence & the Machine, Everybody Scream

Neko Case, Neon Grey, Midnight Green 

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, Forever, I’ve Been Being Born 

Bells Larsen, Blurring Time

Lady Gaga, MAYHEM 

Japanese Breakfast, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) 

Sunny War, Armageddon in a Summer Dress  

clipping., Dead Channel Sky

John C. Reilly/Mister Romantic, What’s Not to Love? 

Tyler Childers, Snipe Hunter

Mavis Staples, Sad and Beautiful World

Pulp, More 

Lorde, Virgin 

Orville Peck, Appaloosa EP

Best TV 2025

The Rehearsal (s2) 

Severance (s2) 

The Righteous Gemstones (s4) 

The Last of Us (s2) 

Murderbot 

Common Side Effects 

King of the Hill (s14) 

Dark Winds (s3) 

Long Story Short

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (s17) 

The Lowdown 

Hacks (s4) 

The Chair Company 

Pluribus 

Louis Theroux: The Settlers 

Death by Lightning 

Fallout (s2)

Frontline: The Rise of Germany’s New Right

Best movies 2025

Sly Lives! 

Pee-Wee as Himself 

Sinners 

Friendship 

Surviving Ohio State 

Bring Her Back  Weapons 

Frankenstein 

One Battle After Another 

Wake Up Dead Man

Apocalypse in the Tropics

Eternity

Best fiction books 2025

Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo

One of Us by Dan Chaon

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

Terry Dactyl by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Simplicity by Mattie Lubchansky

Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy

Zeal by Morgan Jerkins

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders

Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell

Bat Eater and Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman

When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris

Double Black Diamond by Miles Klee and Mads Gobbo

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Stag Dance: A Novel and Stories by Torrey Peters

Metallic Realms by Lincoln Michel

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cámara

Extinction Capital of the World: Stories by Mariah Rigg

You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White

Best nonfiction books 2025

The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You by Neko Case

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing

Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller

Disposable: America’s Contempt For the Underclass by Sarah Jones

Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age by Leah Sottile

The House of Beauty: Lessons From the Image Industry by Arabelle Sicardi

Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Giuffre

Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs

Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock by Jonathan Gould

Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings by Myriam Gurba

Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet by Tochi Onyebuchi

Replaceable You by Mary Roach

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan Greenwell

Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson by Claire Hoffman

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

No One Gets to Fall Apart by Sarah LaBrie

The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman by Niko Stratis

Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline

Unfurl by Eli Clare

Jesusland: Stories From the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture by Joelle Kidd

I Want to Burn This Place Down: Essays by Maris Kreizman

Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age by Amanda Hess

The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow: The Dark History of American Orphanhood by Kristen Martin

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El-Akkad

The Volunteer by Gianna Toboni

Bad Law by Elie Mystal

Unfit Parent by Jessica Slice

Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

Enemy Feminisms by Sophie Lewis

Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left by Eoin Higgins

Dirtbag Queen by Andy Corrin

To Save and To Destroy: Writing as an Other by Viet Thanh Nguyen

You Didn’t Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney

How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir by Molly Jong-Fast

No Sense in Wishing by Lawrence Burney

Sucker Punch: Essays by Scaachi Koul

Other stuff

Best video essay: “Why has Tori Amos never had a hit?” by Lindsay Ellis (Nebula)

Best new-to-me personal care product: MATER soap in Arbor

Best lip product: Huda Beauty’s Faux Filler lip gloss

Best perfumes: BPAL’s Death Moon: Absinthe and Lavender Tar; Morari’s Cranberry Wine

Best dog toys (according to Sushi): This duck; this fuzzy cherry

LEAST FAVORITES

The Phyllis Schlafly Award for Biggest “Do as I Say, Not as I Do” Conservative Weirdo: Erika Kirk

The WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY, JUST RELEASE THEM ALREADY Award: The unredacted Epstein files

Worst Construction Project That Cost Taxpayers $200 Million Dollars: The White House Ballroom

The Bill Clinton Award for “of course This Fucking Guy was friends with Jeffrey Epstein:” Filmmaker/writer/confirmed creep/child molester Woody Allen and NYT columnist/sandwich dingus David Brooks

Worst photo set: The Vanity Fair photos of the Trump Administration by Christopher Anderson

The J.K. Rowling Award for Worst Book and the Olivia Nuzzi/RFK Jr. Award for Biggest Conflict of Interest Not Already Involving Olivia Nuzzi or RFK Jr.: The Tell: A Memoir by Amy Griffin

Least necessary album: Arcade Fire’s Pink Elephant

Stupidest conservative lawsuit: Samantha Fulnecky vs. the Oklahoma State University Psychology Department over “religious discrimination”

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