J.D. Cunegan

This is usually the part where I tell you the five best books I read over the past 365 days.

2025 being what it was, I don’t think I have five “best” books.

I read some really good books, don’t get me wrong. But five that wowed me to the point where I needed to shout about them as the rest of the world geared up for the new calendar year? Not so much.

I guess that’s on brand for the year that almost was. But there was one book that moved me to the point where I still think about it, still revisit it, even months after I finished reading it. Which, considering I almost never re-read a book, that’s saying something.

This book was exactly what I needed, when I needed it. And I’ve seen a lot of other creative people say the exact same thing.

So, without further ado, the Best Book I Read in 2025 is…

We Need Your Art: Stop Messing Around and Make Something by Amie McNee
I dislike self-help and how-to books as a general rule.

But something told me to give this book a chance. I already follow McNee on Instagram (@inspiredtowrite), and I subscribe to her Substack, and I watched her moving TED Talk, so if anything could get me out of my 2025-sucks-and-the-words-aren’t-coming funk, it was likely We Need Your Art.

McNee’s best asset is her ability to give voice to all the doubts and struggles writers and artists face, even when we don’t realize we’re facing them—and even when we don’t know how to articulate them. She gives us the voice we so desperately need to pat us on the head, tell us she understands, and get us off our butts anyway.

McNee represents the voice every creative needs. We Need Your Art is the kind of book to be revisited, to be re-read in spurts, as artists and writers come back to passages relevant in the moment.

An accomplished writer in her own right, McNee also assumes the mantle of Patron Saint of Art, with the rest of us as we travel through this world with the primal urge to make stuff.

She’s positive. She’s passionate. She suffers no fools and admits her own struggles. She is every bit the creative the rest of us are, and her willingness to bare her soul for our benefit is exactly what the world needs these days.

Ever since finishing We Need Your Art, I have made an effort to be creative every day. If I write 250 words, so be it. If I managed to jot down my innermost thoughts in a journal, to be seen by no one other than me, that’s plenty. Some progress is better than no progress—yes, even when what I created more closely resembles a tightly coiled pile of dung.

Especially when what I created more closely resembles a tightly coiled pile of dung.

The simplest of premises—that the world needs our creations—is deceptively powerful, especially in a world determined to rob us all of the creations that make our lives special. Today’s world is bleak, by design, and it’s up to us to bring in the proverbial light.

And McNee lights the way.

Buy We Need Your Art from Bookshop.org and support independent bookstores.

Other Good Reads in 2025: The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates;The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins;Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby; Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn; The Stars and Their Light by Olivia Hawker; Heart Over Hype: Transforming Higher Ed Marketing with Empathy by Jaime Hunt.

About J.D. Cunegan
J.D. Cunegan is known for his unique writing style, a mixture of murder mystery and superhero epic that introduces the reader to his comic book-inspired storytelling and fast-paced prose. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Cunegan has an extensive background in journalism, a lengthy career in media relations, and a lifelong love for writing. Cunegan lives in Hampton, Virginia, and next to books and art, his big passion in life in auto racing. When not hunched in front of a keyboard or with his nose stuck in a book, Cunegan can probably be found at a race track or watching a race on TV.

Follow J.D. on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, Substack, and Goodreads.