There are 49 books in front of me, stacked like colorful bricks in a wall. These are the 49 books I didn’t include in the Chicago Tribune’s 10 Best Books of 2025. If you’re curious about the recipe for this list, here’s how I do it: I read all year long, and when I finish a book and loved it — a comic book, a mystery, a history, essay collection, novel — I set it aside. As months roll on, the stack climbs, teeters. It lives inside a closet. Occasionally, I hear a collapse when the stack gets too tall.

By July, the rumbling begins.

Then, sometime in November, when I can no longer read another thing and the deadline for this list approaches, I drag it all out of the closet and intuitively separate out the books I haven’t been able to shake. When I have 10, I have a list. I wish it were mor

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