2025 in review (and reviews)

A roundup of what I read, watched, attended, listened to, and cooked in 2025. All links are to my reviews or related posts.

Books

Top 10 books I read in 2025, ranked

1. Memorial Days, Geraldine Brooks
2. The Season, Helen Garner
3. All Fours, Miranda July
4. A Great Act of Love, Heather Rose
5. The Heart in Winter, Kevin Barry
6. Saffron Incorporated, Stuart Coupe
7. Lee Gordon Presents, Jeff Apter
8. Remain in Love, Chris Frantz
9. The Jam Maker, Mary-Lou Stephens
10. The Surgeon of Crowthorne, Simon Winchester

Other fiction, alphabetical order

Beatlebone, Kevin Barry
The Breakthrough, Daphne du Maurier
City of the Beasts, Isabel Allende
The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williamson
A Few Days in the Country & Other Stories, Elizabeth Harrower
Ghost Cities, Siang Lu
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Honour and Other People’s Children, Helen Garner
In Certain Circles, Elizabeth Harrower
Metroland, Julian Barnes
Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs, Nick Trout
Small Boat, Vincent Delecroix
The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
The Watch Tower, Elizabeth Harrower
The Word Detective, John Simpson

Other non-fiction, alphabetical order

The 70s & 80s New Wave & Post-Punk Almanac, Michael Krilich
Ethics, Benedict di Spinoza
First Australians, Marcia Langton et al
Remorandom 4
Remorandom 5
Thinking Inside the Box, Adrienne Raphel
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), Sly Stone
The Uncool, Cameron Crowe

Accessibility & Disability, alphabetical order

Appt Accessibility Handbook, Abra
Developing Inclusive Mobile Apps, Rob Whitaker
Demystifying Disability, Emily Ladau
Designed with Care, Rachel Edwards
Disability Is Human, Stephanie Cawthon
Guide to Digital Accessibility
Haben, Haben Girma
Inclusive Design for Accessibility, Dale Cruse et al
Neurological UX, Gareth Slinn
Practical UX, Maigen Thomas
Practical Web Accessibility, Ashley Firth
Sound is Not Enough, Svetlana Kouznetsova
WCAG for Designers, Stacey Swinehart Ganderson
Web Accessibility Cookbook
What Can a Body Do?, Sara Hendren
What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility
Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life, Alice Wong

Poetry

Flow, Andrys Onsman

Theatre

Top 10 live theatre I attended (or was in) in 2025

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, LPAE (May, Casula Powerhouse)
2. A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen, Merrigong (August, IPAC)
3. Romeo & Juliet, Bell Shakespeare (December, SOH)
4. Hir, New Theatre (July, New Theatre)
5. Duck Pond, Circa (October, IPAC)
6. The Laramie Project, New Theatre (October, New Theatre)
7.The Dictionary of Lost Words, STC (May, IPAC)
8. Henry 5, Bell Shakespeare (May, IPAC)
9. Mr Red Light, Nightsong (July, IPAC)
10. Scenes from the Climate Era, Belvoir (May, IPAC)

National Theatre At Home (streaming), alphabetical order

All About Eve
All of Us
All My Sons
Coriolanus
The Crucible
Dixon and Daughters
Good
Henry V
Ian McKellen On Stage
Macbeth
No Man’s Land
Othello
Red
A Streetcar Named Desire
This House
Twelfth Night
Vanya
A View From the Bridge
The Wind in the Willows
Yerma
Young Marx

Movies and TV

Top 10 streaming series I watched in 2025, ranked

1. The Diplomat, Season 3
2. The Bear, Season 4
3. Slow Horses, Season 5
4. Stranger Things, Season 5
5. The Last of Us, Season 2
6. Black Mirror, Season 7
7. Mr Scorsese
8. Down Cemetery Road, Season 1
9. The Eternaut, Season 1
10. The Twelve, Season 3

Other streaming series, alphabetical order

Blacklist
Black Rabbit
Darby & Joan
Duster
The Hack
Plur1bus
Rick Stein’s Food Stories
Stick
Untamed

Top 10 streaming movies I watched in 2025, ranked

1. Unforgiven
2. A Complete Unknown
3. Ballad of a Small Player
4. The Phoenician Scheme
5. Midnight Cowboy
6. The Last Showgirl
7. Nitram
8. To Catch a Thief
9. The Verdict
10. Moonrise Kingdom

Other streamed movies, alphabetical order

The Apartment
Bottle Rocket
Black Bag
Breaking the Waves
Carry-on
Conclave
The Darjeeling Limited
The French Dispatch
The Full Monty
F1
Gasoline Rainbow
Highest 2 Lowest
Hijack
It’s a Wonderful Life
Jobs
Journey to Shiloh
Kneecap
Marie Antoinette
Midsommar
Murder on the Orient Express
Ned Kelly
Paper Towns
Rushmore
Steve Jobs
Tomb Raider
Train Dreams
Training Day

Music documentaries I streamed in 2025, alphabetical order

Becoming Led Zeppelin
Devo
The Last Waltz
Stop Making Sense
Sunday Best

Music

Top 10 albums released in 2025 that I bought, ranked

1. Lux, Rosalía
2. Sad and Beautiful World, Mavis Staples
3. More, Pulp
4. I Quit, Haim
5. Live God, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
6. Seventy, Paul Kelly
7. On Karen’s Piano, David Bridie
8. Hold Everything Lightly, Isabel Rumble
9. Always Been, Craig Finn
10. Can’t Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82 (2025 Deluxe Edition), various

Top 10 albums released in 2024 but I bought them in 2025, ranked

1. The Second Act, Missy Higgins
2. Bilambiyal, Radical Son
3. Fabiano Palladino, Fabiano Palladino
4. Incommunicado, GS Ward
5. Prussian Blue, Richard Clapton (remaster)
6. The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed, various
7. Wall of Eyes, The Smile
8. A Dream is All We Know, The Lemon Twigs
9. Pinkerton Pendlebury, Pinkerton Pendlebury
10. Last Leaf on the Tree, Willie Nelson

Older albums I bought in 2025, in chronological order of release

After 40 Years …, Wil Greenstreet (2023)
Lightning in a Clear Blue Sky, Don Walker (2023)
Best of Satie, Erik Satie (2021)
Melodrama, Lorde (2017)
Stretch Music, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2015)
So Lonesome I Could Cry, Charlie Rich (2015)
Looking for Gold, Murray Cook (2011)
The Very Best of Tom Lehrer (2011)
The Essential Sly & the Family Stone (2003)
The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
Discovery, Daft Punk (2001)
Houdini, Scribbletronics (1998)
Connie Francis: The Collection (1995)
MTV Unplugged Live in New York, Nirvana (1994)
The Raw & the Cooked, Fine Young Cannibals (1988)
Fine Young Cannibals, Fine Young Cannibals (1985)
Songs From the Big Chair, Tears for Fears (1985)
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, Brian Eno (1983)
Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club (1981)
Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, Brian Eno (1980)
Phaedra, Tangerine Dream (1974)
American Gothic, David Ackles (1972)
David Ackles, David Ackles (1968)
Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan (1965)

Events

Events I attended, presented at, or helped organise in 2025, aphabetical order

A11y Camp (present)
Accessibility Book Club (co-host)
Ask The Professionals (moderator, panellist)
Activism, Art and Culture in Wollongong in the 1980s (attend)
Beyond Barriers (podcast interview)
Heather Rose Book Launch (attend)
Merrigong Season Launch (attend)
Perth Accessibility Meetup (present)
True Story Festival (attend)
UX Australia (attend)
WordPress Accessibility Day (tech admin)
WordPress Accessibility Meetup (present)

Cooking

Recipes I made and posted in 2025, alphabetical order

Chicken & Bacon Open Omelette
Chicken Penne
Chicken Schnitzel Burger
Chilli Beans with Pork
Fish Laksa
Mexican Tuna Rice
Noodles with Prawns, Mushrooms, and Peas
Noodles with Prawns and Vegetables
Prawn and Mushroom Fried Rice
Salmon and Rice Bowl
Salmon Laksa
Salmon Spaghetti
Seafood Laksa
Seared Barramundi with Vegetables
Spanish Omelette
Spanish Seafood & Beans Stew
Summer Salad
Vegetarian Spanish Omelette
Warm Tuna Bean Salad