26ish books 2025

Ha same here!

I didn't dislike it, I just don't think I really "got" it! Really not my usual read but as a vegan the blrub made me chuckle so I bought it

@TinyMouseTheatre Thank you!

@MargotMoon his tour details are here

I really loved The Vegetarian! Drive Your Plow was on my list but went to the bottom after I had a difficult time working on the author’s next book, maybe I’ll escalate it

i went a bit mad entering all the prize draws in Waterstones thinking any books I don’t want that you have to get to be entered I’ll just take back and get a gift card so preemptively buying books!!

Funny you should say that - it's on my shelf! I asked the guy in my local book shop what his favourite book was and I'd buy it on his recommendation and that's what he gave me. I started it but put it on pause as it wasn't what I needed at the time - if just finished something really heavy going and needed a bit of a palate cleanser easy read. Maybe I should go back to it.

Yesterday I had 2 child free hours and have blitzed through half of the book I started yesterday which is not my usual reading speed!

@PigInADuvet you are not alone.... DD and I are still not quite sure about the vegetarian either....
DD later read "drive your plow over the bones of the dead", and said it is what the vegetarian should have been.... Funnily enough it has also won a nobel prize, if you want a second go at it :-)

Finished book 7 a few days ago - The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton. Enjoyed it - amusing to find most of it set near me in Somerset/Devon. Would have preferred to have read it before the sequel, but didn't realise when I got the sequel last year.
Started book 8 two days ago - Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard.

1.	Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2.	Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch 
3.	Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4.	Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
5.	Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
6.	Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 
7.	The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton 
8.	Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard

Also currently reading it, and also struggling with it. It's a library loan too so need to decide if I'm going to renew or return it.

I'm currently reading the bee sting. Finding it long and struggling with the lack of punctuation

@Lua I'm in the same boat, I have 2 free audible credits and not sure what to pick. I find non-fiction easier to follow than fiction but I've got all of the His Dark Materials in both formats so I might get The Book of Dust and Secret Commonwealth to complete the set and listen back to before the third one comes out.

Then I'm going to cancel Audible as the library has enough audiobooks to keep me going.

I need to catch up on people's progress (and get some book shelf inspiration!). I'm finding that needing to be a functioning adult is really getting in the way of reading time! Part of new and improved self care strategy is to make time for me, rather than "finding" time, which invariably never happens.

2025 progress - Goal 20 books
1 - An Unwanted Guest - Shari Lapena
An easy read, kept me guessing 3.5/5
2 - The Vegetarian - Han Kang
Despite finishing this, I'm still not 100% sure what it was about or what the "message" was. Maybe Nobel prize winning literature is a bit too deep for me 😆 3/5
3 - The Outsider - Stephen King
Can you ever go wrong with the King? I absolutely do not entertain any kind of fantasy/other worldly stuff...with the exception of SK. This one had me double checking the doors were locked last night. 4/5

I need to pick up the pace a bit!

Next read The Psychopath Next Door - Mark Edwards A standalone Novel, but also #4 in the Magpies series. Looking forward to this one...

Hope he's near to you and you manage to get tickets

So I am not moving very fast on queenie so I think I am moving it down to #5.

Started listening to my new #4 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell

Enjoying it so far, but it is 37 hours long! Might not update my readings for a while!

I have an audible credit that I do not know what to get.

Has anyone read/listened "the sea" or "Tom Lake"?

@TinyMouseTheatre
Hope he's good! I heard his and Shappi Korsandi's obituaries for each other on Kathy Burke's 'Where there's a will there's a wake' podcast and they were wonderful! Both episodes are really good. I didn't know he was on tour, might look up if he's near me soon, thanks!

Who do you think you are? by Mark Steel. Also read by the author.

I might give this a go. I like his show in R4 abs we're going to see him in May. Thanks for the recommendation

I finished these audiobooks in February:

Unruly by David Mitchell - narrated by the author which was very enjoyable although lagged a bit at one point.

Who do you think you are? by Mark Steel. Also read by the author. This was Mark's experience of looking for his natural parents. His anger at the way his birth mother - and thousands of other young women ('unmarried mothers') were considered as and treated as a scourge on society, and pressurised into giving up their babies for adoption (at a time when abortion was illegal) runs throughout the book. But it's also very funny and warm, and covers the nature v nurture debate in an interesting and moving way. Highly recommend!

Ballet Shoes by Noel Stretfeild - one of my all time favourite books. I wanted to see the play at the National but couldn't so wanted to re-read. This was read by Janet Stretfeild so assume a granddaughter or relative, and she was amazing. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to have narrated many other books else I'd look them up just for her performance.

I also finished:

Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan - for this for Christmas. Lots of interwoven characters and strands. Some worked better than others for me, and I'm not sure I'm clever enough to know what some of them were going on about, but overall I enjoyed it. I grew up around Caledonian Road, with one parent living roughly at each end, although I left London more than 30 years ago, so having that element of the book's setting added extra interest for me.

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella - completely ridiculous premise and plot but a very easy and enjoyable light read to balance things out when Caledonian Road was getting bit much.

6. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. I found this to be enjoyable entertaining tosh and was racing through in an escapist sort of way until the big reveal of who the murder was. That just really pissed me off! It was all rounded off neatly enough but I'm not happy. I didn't see it coming and it is plausible but it really irked me because it's a bit too clever for the sake of it. I know probably i am being unreasonable.

All that said, I wouldn't rule out reading the next book. I do realise that's illogical too. But it's the first recent crime novel I've read for ages because I just went off them but I was in the market for a new series.

@Totorosfluffytummy We sound like we have similar tastes🙂. I loved History of Loneliness and Trepassers by Louise Kennedy was one of my favourite books of 2024. Thanks for the short story recommendation, I have somehow missed that she'd written
a collection.

1. A History of Loneliness - John Boyne 8/10 A powerful story, shocking and so sad; beautifully written.

1. The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac - Louise Kennedy 7/10

1. The Minders - John Marrs 6/10

1. Spiked by Caroline Campbell - just starting this.

Thanks apurplesquirrel and Citygirlrurallif! I might just have to give a try, there is so much hype about it..... I must say criminal thrillers are rarely my cup of tea.... but it is good to diversify!

I downloaded it on borrow box after it being mentioned here a few times - not my usual sort of book but I’m finding it very entertaining, well written and the narrator is fantastic

It's set in London - following a policeman called Peter Grant, who ends up talking to a ghost whilst on patrol which throws him into a big case & a secret branch of the Met that deals with 'unusual cases'.
I really enjoyed the first book. The second was good, but not quite as good as the first. I have the next few in the series & will hopefully get through them this year.

I keep hearing about the Rivers of London.... what kind of book is it?

book 3 - Behind the scenes at the museum (Kate Atkinson)

Have been curious to read something by her. Got this on audible, and feel like Margaret Thatcher has been reading to me..... Amusing, but no love....