Btw, if you want to share your 3 favorite reads of the year, please share those here:

https://shepherd.com/bboy/my-3-fav-reads/login?next=/bboy/my...

You get a cool page like this:

https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/bwb

I read ~130 books this year, and my 3 favorites of the year were:

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

I kept seeing recommendations for this book on Shepherd, but I was reluctant to try it. Many years ago, I tried a progressive fantasy book, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. This was a colossal mistake on my part because Dungeon Crawler Carl is AMAZING. This is one of the funniest and most beautiful books I have ever read. The satire is biting, and I love the characters from the bottom of my heart. If you love the TV show “Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” you will love the dark, absurd humor of this book. And this book isn’t all laughter; the characters often moved me to tears as they try to hold on to their humanity in the face of utter inhumanity and insanity.

The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter

One of my favorite concepts in the book is called a “misogi.” It is this idea of taking on one massive challenge each year, with a 50/50 chance of failure (don’t die is rule #1).

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

This book series is pure magic. It’s hard to put into words what Ken Follett has accomplished. I read a LOT of historical fiction, and I’ve never found another series that lets you live through history with characters you love, while also showing the sweeping forces that shape the world.

It makes for intense reading because you will experience the day-to-day reality of fighting for women’s right to vote in England or resisting the Nazi party’s slow takeover of Germany, and you do this through the eyes of characters you have grown to love. You feel what it is like on a daily basis, frustrated with the pace of change, and also just living the regular ups and downs of your life. It feels like the life you are living right now.

At the same time, you can see the big waves coming and want to scream at them to do more, even though they might not be able to do more. And sometimes you watch as the waves break over them without any warning or care. But throughout it all, you understand why these waves are happening with incredible clarity.

Recommended this to a friend who hates keeping track of "how many" kinds of things, and was dismayed at having to say how many books they've read (which they really don't want to do) and found they couldn't skip that question.

Maybe make it optional?

Dungeon Crawler Carl has been on my TBR for some time. But your review saying it’s like Always Sunny made me want to read that next. I love the dark humour in that series.

I’d be glad to share my top 3 2025 reads but I’d like to do so without having to create an account or link to Google for authentication.