Bent Country's Top Ten Novels of 2025

I've let go of preamble here in my fifth decade wandering here on the earth. Here are the ten books that hit me the hardest over the past year, in particular order /

1. 

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories by Carson McCullers

Had wanted to read this one for a long time, and it didn't disappoint. The characters are vivid and unforgettable. Best of all, it's set in the South but doesn't rely on it; it's not one of those books in the South where people say after reading it, "The setting was just like a character." It doesn't have to be in order to be a wicked good setting. This book proves that.

2. 

Red Pyramid by Vladimir Sorokin

Discovered Sorokin by doing nothing more than scrolling through "You Might Like These" type of thing on Amazon. I can't remember which book where this was listed like that, but I'm glad I came across it. Sorokin is fearless, but he's not for everyone; if you're easily offended, or possibly not easily offended, just normally offended, then do not read this book. Ever.

3. 

At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid

If I hadn't read Sad Cafe and Sorokin this year this would be the one. I guess the order of these alone says that, but I wanted to restate it. How did Kincaid manage to write really short short stories and only a handful, at that, and manage to write a book that would be a career-maker for anyone who would have written it? Just a perfect book.

4.

American Kings by Seth Wickersham

First football nonfiction book I've read and I immediately corrected that by starting Wickersham's other football book Better to Be Feared. This book will not appeal to folks who ain't sports fans, but if you are, then it's a MUST read.

5.

Becoming Dr. Seuss by Brian Jay Jones

I worshipped this man's books while growing up. They are by far and away the best children's books ever written. He might have had a dud I'm not aware of, but I didn't read about it in this book. And, yep, it touches on the badness the man became infamous for later on. All of it interesting.

6.

Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry

Read this to finish up the Lonesome Dove set. Loved it. Plain and simple. Oh, also, you'll like it even if you don't like reading westerns.

7.

Day of the Oprichnik by Vladimir Sorokin

My introduction to Sorokin. My jaw legitimately dropped several times within the first quarter of this book. How did this guy write such shocking material and pull this off, write this amazing novel? I generally can't stand fiction that has large political platforms, but Sorokin approaches that so brazenly and bravely and with such a straight punch, messy and insane and with a knee in a what some would consider the gutter but is anything but.

8.

Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

Just really dig Larry. His writing is pure and without irony or all those other little social motives that turns my stomach after enough of it. Sometimes you just want to sit around a campfire, have a couple hotdogs, and listen to a guy who can tell it straight and true and, well, perfectly.

9.

Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes 

I honestly thought, at around page 50 of this novel of all novels, that I had become lost in a new universe, and not in the lost-in-the-fictive-dream sort of way. I listened to it on Audible and there would be long periods while driving that I drifted away, staring at passing billboards or thinking about the last time I ate. Then, at around the halfway point, it all started to happen, whatever that IT was. I know this: what came together for me right then has never came together so solidly for me while reading any other novel. By the time I finished, I knew I'd read the first novel ever written. It was like waking up inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. Can't put it anywhere but here in the list, though, because realizing you've just read the first novel ever written doesn't mean it was as enjoyable as some others.

10.

The Life of Rocks by Rick Bass

If I were to pitch an Obvious Shirt for Rick Bass it would be this: Rick Bass Crushes Short Stories. Some writers just know pacing, the elegant rise to the the climax, how to add a brushstroke or two to a character's heart perfect enough to break yours, setting, and all the rest. They put their arm on the table, tap a vein, and what comes out are stories like "Pagans."