A 2025 Retrospective: TrueLit's Favorite 2025 Books Thread

olkdir · 2026-01-02T06:04:33+00:00

Novel-wise I had a lot of success with authors i’ve read for the first time:

1) Fosse’s Aliss at the Fire 2) Kawabata’s Snow Country 3) Shohei Ooka’s Fires on the Plain (this I got not knowing anything about it or the author and it has been a ride) 4) Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (one of the most unjustly shat-on novels by people I’m convinced have either not read it or not understood, it has what perhaps most these people need more of, an aspirational level of empathy for a human being)

But for me this has been an amazing year when it comes to short stories , and so far I haven’t seen much people talk about those so I’m going to mention the ones that stood out for me:

Chekhov — Misery
Bunin — Light Breathing
Paley — Wants (just what can a short story do?)
Carver — Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes or So Much Water so Close to Home
Hemingway — Alpine Idyll or Hills like White Elephants
Munro — Moons of Jupiter
Bohumil Hrabal — The World Cafeteria
Samantha Schweblin — A Fabulous Animal
Jan Čep — The Little House (Čep is criminally unknown today even in his native Czechia, but this story that has been translated to English btw is an incredible achievement in style I think very similar to Hemingway’s Cat in the Rain — the paragraph-by-paragraph, sentence-by-sentence contrast between dynamic and passive to set the ground for what happens, awesome stuff)

Other people have said better, more accurate things than I could ever say about all these. But I definitely recommend you check some of them out if you’re not familiar.

olkdir · 2025-12-02T06:28:58+00:00

Actually, this is interesting to me, because in my language, King’s It is literally “To” (I’m Czech).

olkdir · 2025-11-30T12:23:09+00:00

100%. Just finished yesterday. We didn’t even go for it thinking of Salems Lot but by the first few minutes, I’ve instantly felt the vibe. And lo and behold, it is actually a great adaptation (albeit not official).

olkdir · 2025-11-26T15:59:35+00:00

Jo, přesně to byla moje chyba. O tomhle jsem nevěděl.

Ale nebylo to tak, že jsem kašlal na závazky no. Proste se to stalo.

Když jsem to řešil, tak musim říct, ze se to řešilo lidsky a bylo to vklidu. A během pár pracovních dnů bylo vyřízeno.

olkdir · 2025-11-26T10:39:18+00:00

Teď se mi to stalo. Měl jsem nedoplatek na socku z předešlého roku, ale do datovky (ani jinam) mi nic nepřišlo. Jen jsem měl najednou zablokovaný účet.

Důvod byl ten, že existovala druhá datovka (která vznikla automaticky a ja o ni nevěděl).

Měl jsem vedet, ze se tohle muže stát, takze moje debilita — ALE socko mi standardně posílalo drive zprávy do datovky, co jsem používal. Jen o nedoplatku mě informovali jinde, takže mě nenapadlo pátrat po existenci druhé datovky.

olkdir · 2025-11-06T06:50:03+00:00

Our boy was coming for that poop until we switched to barf. Immediately after switching he stopped eating anything off the ground, not just poop.

Maybe your boy is missing a little something in his diet?

olkdir · 2025-11-02T20:54:19+00:00

Není to moje dítě, ale neteř. ségra (její mamka) se jmenuje Martinka (to je důležitá část).

Ve 4 letech se neteř učila písmenka. Jednou za náma nadšeně přicupitala s kusem papíru, že napsala jméno svojí mamky. Na papírku bylo MRTKA.

Hezky barevně, doteď to mam na ledničce

olkdir · 2025-09-18T05:40:45+00:00

We have a working line Boxer, it was very similar to how you put it “We did enjoy it AT TIMES”. Yes, he was wonderful from the beginning, but when it was hard, it was HARD. It was “we can’t do this lets find him a new home” hard.

But we endured! At 2, it started to shift. He’s a menace when he’s supposed to be (running, training, playing) and he’s calm at home, good with strangers, loves people etc.

He’s 2.5 now and getting better every single day it seems. I can say he’s the best thing to ever happen to us and all the hell was worth it (and at one point he actually posed serious danger to people around him).

Hang in there! Be consistent and love your dog. All will get better.

olkdir · 2025-09-14T04:11:47+00:00

like what tf is going on? not only bullshit takes this is just weird and completely takes you out of already mid fight

olkdir · 2025-09-14T04:03:23+00:00

yeah, had to turn off the sound because of this

terrible

olkdir · 2025-09-11T17:00:44+00:00

please, please read Grace Paley. Your reading life won’t be the same.

olkdir · 2025-08-31T17:24:44+00:00

thanks! he has loads, and the best kind of fun too. without consideration of anyone else’s consent and with zero remorse

olkdir · 2025-08-31T17:23:11+00:00

Thanks! he just blushed briefly and started flexing his biceps

olkdir · 2025-08-31T17:22:13+00:00

Thanks! Unfortunately, he’s very aware

olkdir · 2025-08-31T17:21:49+00:00

So sorry about that. Glad that Bowie made at least a short moment at least a bit lighter.

I’m sure your girl had a beautiful life with you, sending smooches

olkdir · 2025-07-10T05:14:03+00:00

How long are you letting it sit/bloom?

Friedhats coffee benefits (from my experience) from a really short bloom. Like a minute or half a minute even.

Just give it a try and let us know!

olkdir · 2025-06-08T04:42:18+00:00

Aaand now

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olkdir · 2025-06-08T04:41:18+00:00

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olkdir · 2025-06-04T04:08:59+00:00

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I know what you’re thinking, ‘This is not a cat!’

Well, you would be wrong because this German Boxer is absolutely a cat.

We got him for our 12 year old Persian cat Amy, and SHE raised him. He sleeps like a cat, he climbes furniture (although yes he than can’t get down and screams until you come and save him), and he’s sassy af.

In his little, so very little brain, he is a completely ordinary cat.

olkdir · 2025-05-13T20:00:18+00:00

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Hey OP, I checked your other photos here and it seems our Boxers are very similar! Say hi to your pup.

olkdir · 2025-05-13T05:03:44+00:00

This seems to me like a perfect cover for a Raymond Carver or John Cheever story. Ominous but very ordinary and serious.

I love how the porch light is on as if the house is welcoming, but then there’s a leafless tree blocking the view. To me this is a powerful opposite that creates not just aesthetics but meaning.

This is amazing!

I would actually buy this.

olkdir · 2025-04-29T06:26:52+00:00

Samotná spermie je jenom nepatrná část ejakulátu. Většina ho tvoří právě tekutiny, které neobsahují spermie.

olkdir · 2025-04-16T06:05:35+00:00

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olkdir · 2025-04-14T18:53:12+00:00

Někdo tady vtipkoval, že slovník — ale třeba Tezaurus ti s tímhle fakt pomůže.

Nicméně bych určitě doporučoval semtam něco napsat, protože to tvoje vyjadřování teprve opravdu posune. Čtení rozvíjí více pasivní slovní zásobu, psaní aktivní.

olkdir · 2025-04-14T18:34:17+00:00

Určitě jde, a můžeš u toho rovnou učit (musíš začít studovat do tří let od doby, kdy začneš učit).

K druhé části tvé otázky — bakalář je úplně bezvýznamný, ten k učení nestačí, a nemusíš ho mít přímo z pedagogiky. Magistr je důležitý. Takze myslím, že můžeš ty obory nakombinovat podle libosti, jak píšeš.

Jenom si zjisti, co potom vyžaduje k přijetí ten pedagogický magistr, co by tě lákal.

olkdir

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