TLR's 25 for 2025

The best stories that got us through one HELL of a year.

December 29, 2025

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Hi 👋 

It’s been another fruitful year of Lazy Reading ✨

Wanted to start this week’s newsletter with a massive thank you to you for joining me on this journey. I hope my recommendations have kept you entertained and informed (and at least distracted from the craziness of the world). And I hope it stays that way for years to come.

Below are 25 of the best, most memorable stories we’ve read this year. I want to say that this is the definitive top 25 of TLR, but that won’t just be unfair to the other stories that didn’t quite make the cut, but it would also be inaccurate. I’ve been sitting on this list for at least 2 weeks now, trying to figure out what to keep in and what to leave out. And those that did make the final list could have been readily replaced by any of the dozen or so others. It’s been a great year of reading.

I split the list into five categories, each with five stories. Crime is a no-brainer. This is by and large our most common genre. There’s also Disasters, which admittedly is one of my more amorphous classifications, along with Culture. (I may or may not have used them as excuses to put in some top-notch reads that I couldn’t quite fit into one definition—but they at least make some sort of sense).

I also set aside a dedicated category for Politics and Social Justice because that’s a very strong interest of mine (and I presume of my readers, too), and more than any other genre, influences the ultimate decision of if a story gets read or not. Finally, Essays get a subhead of their own: TLR has helped me discover that I don’t actually hate essays; I’ve just been reading awful thinkpieces that pass themselves off as essays. I wanted to share my discoveries with you.

In any case, happy reading and see you again next year!

PS - Thanks to 1440 Media for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! Please do consider clicking their ad links below. It’s free, easy, and really helps me keep this thing going. Thank you! 🙂 

Crime

The Work of the Devil

The disappearance of a University of Texas student in Matamoros led police to the discovery of a drug-dealing cult whose rituals were not only unholy but unthinkable.

Angel Killer | The Atavist, $

Disasters: Natural and Man-Made

The Perfect Fire

It started with a candle in an abandoned warehouse. It ended with the men of the Worcester Fire Department in a fight for their lives.

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Politics and Social Justice

I called everyone in Jeffrey Epstein's little black book.

What I learned about rich people, conspiracy, Ghislaine, stand-up comedy, and evil from 2,000 phone calls.

A Kingdom from Dust | California Sunday, Free

The Dog Thief Killings | Roads & Kingdoms, Free

Culture

The Girl in the Window: A Feral Child was Rescued, Given a Chance at a Better Life

Can love and caring make up for a lifetime of neglect?

Stranded in Space | Esquire, $

Essays

I Believed I Had Seen the Worst Humanity Could Inflict — Until Gaza

A doctor who has led four medical missions to the territory describes the war’s devastating impact on its inhabitants and hospitals — and his fellow medical professionals

The Aquarium | The New Yorker, $

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Until next Monday! 👋

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