I had set a target of reading 25 books in 2025 because I had finished 22 in 2024. But what a tumultuous year this has been! There were a lot of things I had to attend to in the first half of the year, and in the second half, the politics of the nation got more intriguing. Even then, I managed to read 16 books. Goodreads says 14 because its database did not have two books. And despite some effort, I could not get them listed. I could not reach my target, but given the little time I had for reading and a change in reading style, I think I did well.
In this post, you’ll read about…
The changes I made in the way I read
This year, I mostly read two or three books simultaneously. Since I spend around three hours in commutation every day, I often read a physical book in the morning and an e-book in the evening. There were also days when I read nothing. This practice slowed my rate of completion, but it also gave me time to contemplate what I was reading and, as a result, analyse the books from different angles.
Completed Books
Most of the books I read this year were political, even though they spanned both fiction and non-fiction. I read a collection of stories and a collection of essays, but I read no book on poetry. I have really lagged in that beautiful genre.
Dune: Messiah and Children of Dune (Books 2 and 3 of the Dune series) by Frank Herbert are often classified as Sci-Fi, but they have rich political philosophy. There are even direct references to thinkers like Machiavelli and Aquinas. The books challenged the idea of hero-worship and helped me become more critical of leaders. However, I still don’t understand the book well. I think some knowledge of philosophy will help me analyse it better.
Another book, Lord of the Flies (William Golding) also had political undertones. I had read the book before in 2016, but the battles between the groups of Ralph and Jack devastated me. I learnt to analyse the book from different perspectives and wrote a series of reviews and character studies which I have shared here.
The next book, Rajiv Upadhya’s Cabals and Cartels is an intriguing book on the political economy of Nepal. It helped me understand the attitudes of politicians regarding development aid and how it has led to Nepal’s underdevelopment.
In March-April, I read Raja, Rashtriya ra Rajniti written by B.P. Koirala following the protest at Tinkune. I understood how far Nepali Congress is today from B.P. Koirala’s ideas. It’s hypocritical that Koirala has been elevated to Mahamanav (the Great Man) by Congressis while they themselves don’t take heed of his words.
After that, I read Why Nations Fail. Its thesis of weak vs strong institutions was easy to understand but was also simplistic. The authors did not account for factors like geography, external trade, foreign influences, liberalisation, and so on that affect the economic activities of a nation.
The next book I read was Krazz Pokharel’s In Search of Elixir. As a fantasy, it had good ideas, but the execution was poor.
Then I read The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate after recommendations in the group Bookaholics on Facebook. I had been overwhelmed by old memories all of a sudden, and I wanted to understand why. I got some of my answers, but like Why Nations Fail, I thought it was oversimplistic in its treatment of trauma as the primary factor for our behaviour.
Just after finishing The Myth of Normal, I went into The Science of Thought by Khaptad Baba. It was short and gave practical methods of improving the way and quality of thinking.
After that, I read Jason Kunwar’s Ramite. The book was dark and traumatic, and reading it became more difficult because of the youth movement, massacre, and arson. I found myself a ramite (bystander), who can see the events unfold but can’t stop them.
The aftermath of the protests told me I should dive deeper into recent history. I started reading several books simultaneously. I finished Massacre at the Palace by Jonathan Gregson in October and Maile Dekheko Darbar by Bibek Kumar Shah and Darbar ko Dukhanta by Sundar Pratap Rana in December. They gave me insights into the history of the Palace, the characters of the kings and the royal family as well as the political games after the Royal Massacre.
I also finished Gregory Douglas’ Regicide, a book that challenged the official narrative of the JFK assassination using different intelligence reports obtained from a CIA operative. It showed how the mafia and the intelligence worked together against the president, who used them to gain power but turned around once he had everything.
Between the last three books, I completed Prithvi Narayan Shah by Maheshraj Panta. Through a collection of 11 articles, the book gave answers to some questions I had about the leader of Nepal’s unification but raised more questions. I have decided to look into the books Panta has referenced.
Physical vs E-books
I love both formats, but I find finishing e-books faster because I have my phone with me almost every time. 11 of my finished books were in the digital format.
Unfinished Books
There are some books that will carry on into 2026. I may also have to restart a few.
I started Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray before Massacre at the Palace in early October, but because of its tough vocabulary, my lack of knowledge of the history of Sikkim, and the time of day I have devoted to it, I have only completed 10 of its 18 chapters.
Another book that will go to 2026 is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. This beautiful philosophical book on finding God has awed me so much that I don’t want it to end.
I had started reading For the Love of Physics by Walter Levin, Singapore: From Third World to First by Lee Kwan Yew, and 1984 by George Orwell but left them in the middle, maybe because other books attracted me more. I may have to restart them.
