Alberta Review: The Books of Alberta Review, 2025
What I read, what I reviewed, and what I didn't
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It’s become somewhat in vogue to share reading lists and reading goals at the beginning or end of the year (at least from what I see all over the socials). I’ve always had the unwritten reading goal of three books per month, something I could increase if I didn’t read so much news, long-form journalism, and academic articles. I got really bogged down this year when a mail issue resulted in a few months’ worth of New York Review of Books backing up and really bogging down my ability to bang through books. At the end of the day, I was three short of the goal at 33. I’ve lumped my list into categories and provided links where I did do a review.
Short Stories
Creatures of the Kingdom - James A. Michener
The Redemption of Time - Baoshu Baoshu
The Short Story: A Very Short Introduction - Andrew Kahn (Not a short story, but a book about short stories)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Frank L. Baum (Also not a short story technically, but I counted it as such due to brevity and style)
I didn’t review any of these, but I did write about short stories as Alberta’s prime literary form:
Alberta Review: Alberta's Literary Form
The best and fastest way for this to grow is for you to share the posts within your networks. A forward goes a long way, and the more subscribers we get, the more I’ll be able to write. The writing may change in the next few months to be a bit more entertaining (we hope) so tell your friends!
Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Halo: Empty Throne - Jeremy Patenaude
Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
Dark Force Rising - Timothy Zahn
The Last Command - Timothy Zahn
X-Wing: Isard’s Revenge - Michael A. Stackpole
Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson
Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson
Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson
Son of a Witch - Gregory Maguire
The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Nayler
These would be really hard to do my traditional turn of “how does this relate to Alberta,” but I did write about reading these kinds of books:
Alberta Review: Nerdy Star Wars Things
The best and fastest way for this to grow is for you to share the posts within your networks. A forward goes a long way, and the more subscribers we get, the more I’ll be able to write. The writing may change in the next few months to be a bit more entertaining (we hope) so tell your friends!
Theology-ish
Noah’s Flood - William Ryan and Walter Pitman (reviewed here)
Egyptian Mythology: A Traveller’s Guide from Aswan to Alexandria - Garry J. Shaw (reviewed here)
Reading Genesis - Marilynne Robinson
Sports
On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Edmonton Oilers at the NHL Draft - Allan Mitchell
The Game - Ken Dryden (reviewed here)
Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner (reviewed here)
Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion (the title essay is way too relevant to our current times - look for a review soon)
Literary
Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books - Ted Bishop (I definitely should’ve reviewed this one - a UofA English prof writing about a continental motorcycle trip speaks to my soul)
Travels with Myself and Another - Martha Gellhorn (reviewed here)
Random
Origins: How the Earth Shaped Human History - Lewis Dartnell (reviewed here)
The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics - Chris Jones (referenced a lot in my review of The Game)
Canada’s Main Street: The Epic Story of the Trans-Canada Highway - Craig Baird
Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global - Laura Spinney
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Alberta Review is in no way associated with previous iterations of the publication Alberta Review.