What I Loved in 2025

2025-12-31

At the end of each year, I plan to compile a list of my favourite things, i.e. books, films, shows, and games. This is inspired by Barack Obama's famous lists and by the delightful What's Making Us Happy segment of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast.

Here is this year's list...

Books

• Babel by R.F. Kuang

  Cozy in parts but often deeply unsettling. If you are nostalgic about a particular type of college experience – learning about esoteric things in warm, majestic places – this one might be for you.

• Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

  Incredibly detailed and creative science fiction with generous helpings of evolutionary biology and sociology. Effective and well-written non-humanoid protagonists.

• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

  Mostly set in a kind of military training school with plenty of combat, action, and strategy. What surprised me most was its sensitivity and empathy both towards those in your tribe and those who are not. Try not to spoil the ending for yourself.

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

  After all these years, I still find the premise and world of Harry Potter striking and delightful. Accessible, warm, funny, and fascinating. Who hasn’t dreamed of going to Hogwarts?

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

  I found the protagonist immediately appealing and the world engaging. Go in knowing as little as possible. From the beginning, the book goes into minute detail about statues, halls, and vestibules. No need to remember these; just let it wash over you.

Film/TV

• A Real Pain (2025)

  Just as the two protagonists try to understand the suffering of those that came before them, the film shows the suffering of its two protagonists. Funny and uncomfortable, often within the same scene.

• Encanto (2021)

  A film about generational trauma with a Colombian theme and gorgeous animation. The song Surface Pressure is still in my playlist.

• Karate Kid: Legends (2025)

  Training montages, nostalgia bait, vague and cheesy philosophizing. I knew what kind of film I was getting – and this one really hit the spot.

• Left-Handed Girl (2025)

  A slow-burn family drama that trusts its audience to sit with discomfort. Sweet, tragic, and beautiful. Sean Baker didn’t direct this film, but he co-wrote and edited it, and it shows in the loose, lived-in feel.

• My Old Ass (2024)

  A time-travel premise that’s really just an excuse to talk about growing up too fast. Great jokes with a sweet core. It reminded me to focus on the important things.

• One Battle After Another (2025)

  Quirky, masterful, and thoroughly engaging. Two sequences stand out to me as instantly iconic: Leonardo Dicaprio’s phone call scene and that thrilling car chase in the desert.

• Warfare (2025)

  Immersive and brutal yet restrained in scope. It plays out in real time with almost no music, so the sound design ends up carrying most of the tension.