Summing up 2025

What I read, what I viewed, and why I didn’t write more often

Dec 24, 2025

I HATE TO end the year with an apology, but the fact is I have been remiss in attending to Everything Is Broken. Ideally, I would be writing and sending out these missives at least once per week, but over the past half year (at least) that just has not happened. Not for lack of ideas about which to write, and not for lack of desire – honestly, this endeavor holds a special place in my heart. I just haven’t yet found the wherewithal to hit a groove here, and over the past year or year-and-a-half it has been complicated by two very demanding projects.

Last year into the first half of this year, much of my “spare time” was taken up by post-publication efforts with my book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison. Then, last August -- just when the smoke dissipated and I sensed a new, clear space for recommitting to this long-term project – an opportunity fell in my lap to work on a new and exciting project, about which I can say very little at this point (literally – it is in my contract not to talk about it). But I can say that since August I have been immersed in working on a film documentary about one of my areas of expertise. In time and effort, it has been the equivalent of a full-time job, including occasional nights, weekends, and seemingly endless Zoom meetings. It’s only gotten busier the more time passes, and it certainly will continue to be so at least into early next year.

This is a reason for my seeming lack of commitment to Everything Is Broken – a reason, not an excuse. For those of you who have generously contributed to this effort, please take the next year off, and don’t re-up your paid subscriptions until I have demonstrated the ability to file regularly, enough so that you are getting what you deserve in return for your support. For the rest of you, thanks for continuing to subscribe freely; at least I haven’t been filling your inboxes with junk!

I TRY TO keep track of the books I read and the movies and TV shows I watch, and most of the time my lists are pretty accurate. I didn’t like everything I saw and read on the lists below; I probably only liked about a third on average. I haven’t read nearly as many books as I typically do in a year, and many of them have been work-related (and these don’t always make it onto the running list I keep).

The books I have read this past year include:

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden *

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

The Wolves of Eternity by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Meditation for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

The Magic Kingdom by Russell Banks

Sons and Daughters by Chaim Grade *

What Art Does by Brian Eno

The Sixties by Jenny Diski

A Fool’s Kabbalah by Steve Stern

Grief: A Comedy by Alison Larkin

On the Calculation of Volume (Vol. 1) by Solvej Balle

Burning Down the House by Jonathan Gould

The Man Who Died by D.H. Lawrence

The Uncanny Muse by David Hajdu

Passion Is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash by Pat Gilbert

Tonight in Jungleland by Peter Ames Carlin

Giant Steps by Derek Shulman

Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed by Ron Rosenbaum

Bread of Angels by Patti Smith *

Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith

Martyr! By Kaven Akbar

*especially recommended

MOVIES

Didi

Time Out of Mind (dir by Oren Moverman)

The Substance

A Rainy Day in New York

All We Imagine as Light

Call Me By Your Name

Sea of Love

Glengarry Glen Ross

Universal Language

His Three Daughters

Thank You Very Much (Andy Kaufman doc)

Babygirl

The Insider

As Prescribed

La Cocina

My Name Is Blotto

Black Bag

Blue Steel

For the Living

Closer

Among Neighbors

Insomnia

Hard Truths (d. by Mike Leigh)

Midas Man (dramatization about Beatles manager Brian Epstein)

Materialists

Rude Boy

Sinners

Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round

The Nature of Love

What Lies Beneath

Sick of Myself

Misericordia

Bad Shabbos

Lurker

Notice to Quit

Deliver Me from Nowhere

The Woman in Cabin 10

28 Years Later

Ella McCay

You Got Gold (John Prine doc)

Oslo, August 31 (d. by Joachim Trier)

My Son, My Son, What Have You Done (Werner Herzog)

One Battle After Another *

Jay Kelly

TV SHOWS

Catastrophe

Autonomies

The Penguin

Missing You

The Zweiflers *

Severance *

Prime Target

Paradise

False Flag

Parks and Recreation *

Zero Day

Somebody Somewhere

Seinfeld * (I had never seen the series, only isolated episodes)

No Good Deed

The Studio

White Lotus

Dying for Sex

Your Friends and Neighbors

Ludwig

The Last of Us

Veep

Secrets We Keep

Mr. Loverman

Reformed

Couples Therapy

Nine Perfect Strangers

The Split

Dept. Q

Righteous Gemstones

Hostage

Dexter

The Paper

You’re the Worst

Task *

Slow Horses *

Fargo *

Hal and Harper *

The Day of the Jackal

Pluribus *

Old Cemetery Road *

The Diplomat

The Beast in Me

The Lowdown *

All Her Fault

The Beatles Anthology

Everything Is Broken

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