Best of 2025, Part I - Books

I like to read. So I've compiled a list of my favorite books of 2025 for those of you who share my literary enthusiasm. My hope is that you may find something of interest in the following list. It's a good list.

Poetry about life in the United States that are more like short stories than poems.

Fun read. Set mostly in western and southwestern South Dakota. It's fiction but lots of references to familiar places and actual events. And some of the characters are eerily similar to real people I've known.

This one is shocking and pretty scary non-fiction. If A.I. continues to develop on its current path we may all be doomed.

Speaking of being doomed, this one is a variation on the theme. It's dark humor and a very cleverly written novel. I couldn'gt wait to find out what was in that damned box.

More poetry. This time based on Lakota culture. I had the privilege of meeting the author in person. Cool guy. Wonderfully illustrated by Thomasina Topbear.

Another one with a Native theme. A journey of personal discovery.

A work of fiction but the further I got into it, the more I realized this could be real. Possibly a harbinger of things to come. I hope not. 

I didn't write this to be an advertisement but it's true that I acquired all of these from Henry's Books in Spearfish, South Dakota. It's a great little bookstore. Not as huge as Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million  and not as easy as just clicking on a keyboard to order by mail, but it's also not as sterile or impersonal. People there will actually talk to you, make recommendations and truly appreciate your business. And it's kind of like the record store...it's a place where you can just go and visit your friends. 

Roger O'Dea   12/31/2025