The best months of my year were spent circling the bases around all the funky fields where my vintage baseball team played this summer, from the old House of David colony in Benton Harbor, Michigan, to a haunted Methodist Campground in Des Plaines, Illinois.

I also spent too many months this year walking around our neighborhood with a whistle around my neck, along with so many others in Chicago, during the cruel and inhumane immigration raids all over our city. But it was heartening to get out and meet so many neighbors from Rogers Park who believe fiercely in this community and are working hard to keep people safe. 

The schools near us are filled with students and staff from all over the world. One was the subject of Elly Fishman’s 2021 book, “Refugee High,” which gave me more insight into what so many immigrant families in Chicago are dealing with — even before the current crisis brought on by masked, armed paramilitary enforcers on our streets.

The best Chicago book I read was Scott Berg’s award-winning “The Burning of the World,” a gripping narrative of the Great Fire. I also enjoyed reading Studs Terkel’s classic “Division Street: America,” which was the focus of an outstanding podcast series last year by Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Schmich. 

Speaking of Pulitzer winners, I was tickled to learn Malcolm Johnson — who won the award in 1949 for his series of exposé articles on NYC dock corruption later adapted into Marlon Brando’s “On the Waterfront” — grew up in my hometown of Gainesville, Georgia. So I had to read his book (but you should just see the film instead.) 

The most delightful book I read was Leonie Swann’s “Three Bags Full,” a sheep detective story, which will soon be a delightful movie with Hugh Jackman. A lovely palate cleanser during a chaotic year.

Samin Nosrat’s new cookbook “Good Things” was also a heartwarming read, and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing her speak on her book tour in November.

“Station Eleven” was fantastic, even though I’m not usually into dystopian fiction. The characters and world-building reminded me of the best parts of Stephen King’s “The Stand.” I was also intrigued by the idea behind Gish Jen’s “The Resisters” but as usual with most baseball-related fiction, I’m probably not the target audience.

After we watched NBC’s “Homicide” TV series from start to finish — keeping an eye out for all the fun Baltimore references and newspaper headlines — I went back and read David Simon’s original book, which holds up well.

Without further adieu, here is my reading list for 2025:

• Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, by David Simon
• From Dixie to Rocky Top: Music and Meaning in SEC Football, by Carrie Tipton
• Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie
• Battle of Ink and Ice: A Sensational Story of News Barons, North Pole Explorers, and the Making of Modern Media, by Darrell Hartman
• Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks, by Ron Rapoport
• The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel
• Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
• Division Street: America, by Studs Terkel
• In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeanette, by Hampton Sides
• The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie Rubenhold
• The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler
• All Systems Red (Murderbot #1), by Martha Wells
• In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson
• Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder, by Rachel McCarthy James
• Refugee High: Coming of Age in America, by Elly Fishman
• The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City’s Soul, by Scott W. Berg
• On the Waterfront: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Articles That Inspired the Classic Film and Transformed New York’s Waterfront, by Malcolm Johnson
• Girl Waits with Gun, by Amy Stewart
• Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, by Kim Kelly
• People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks
• Jun Fujita: Behind the Camera, by Graham Harrison Lee
• Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann
• Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love, by Samin Nosrat
• The Fix Is In: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game Fixing Scandals, by Daniel E. Ginsburg
• The Resisters, by Gish Jen