My top reads of 2025: nonfiction, poetry, plays, short stories

My 2025 was full of tremendous reading. This is first of two videos sharing my absolute favourites. Part 2 will have the novels.

0:00 Summing up the year.
03:50 Top 4 non-fiction
09:55 Top 4 books of poetry
17:40 Two best plays
20:27 A surprise short story collection win
21:43 The books I wish I hadn't read

Channels mentioned:
Katja ‪@PageTurnersWithKatja‬ and Jack ‪@spreadbookjoy‬ my fellow Reading the Globe hosts. Join us for more great global literature in 2026.
Angelia ‪@readandre-read‬ who is running Endless Drama again in 2026.
Dear Shawn ‪@shawnbreathesbooks‬ thanks for Nishga!
Katie ‪@katiejlumsden‬ and Charlotte‪@CoynieReads‬ the perfect Rebecca Romney buddyreaders.
Thomas ‪@art.and.lit.matters‬ who prompted a revisit of TS Eliot.


Books mentioned:
Raising Hare Chloe Dalton
Black and British David Olusoga
Jane Austen's Bookshelf Rebecca Romney
Nishga Jordan Abel
The Wickedest Caleb Femi
Forest of Noise Mosab Abu Toha
Stung With Love Sappho translated by Aaron Poochigian
Homer's Odyssey translations by Robert Fagles and Emily Wilson
TS Eliot Collected Poems
The Laramie Project Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard
Plain Tales from the Hills Rudyard Kipling
The Forgotten Book Mechthild Glaser
Reckless Cornelia Funke translated by Oliver Latsch
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat Oliver Sacks
All Fours Miranda July