26ish books 2025

Please can I join?
I read 20 books last year and set my goodreads goal this year for 25 books.
my TBR pile is huge thanks to DH who works in publishing and brings home free books every week!!

my last book of 2024 was The Housemaid, and I have finished the others last week.

1. The Housemaid’s Secret
2. The Housemaid is watching

currently reading Wicked - Gregory Maguire

That kept popping up on my feeds over October.

1.The Safekeep by Yale van der Wouden
#2. Fire by John Boyne. I had high for this as I really enjoyed the Water book in the series. This one was a little far-fetched and a bit thrillerish and just didn’t stack up for me. There was a connection to Water via one of the characters. I’m still looking forward to reading the next in the series Earth as overall I’m a fan of John Boyne’s writing.
Next up Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

1. The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. Thought I would see what the hype was about as this seemed to be everywhere a while ago and I spotted it on kindle unlimited. A predictable, easy read. Quite a lot of making out scenes, with the traditional misunderstandings in a romance novel.

Just finished reading 'The Christmas Book Club' by Sarah Morgan. My mum bought me it for my birthday back on November. Was a good book 👍 Need to choose another one now 🙂

3 The Swimmer - Graham Norton

It feels a bit of a cheek adding this as it was so short but I really enjoyed it. I read two of his books last year and liked his style so I bought this today ready to hunker down and start another novel. I really should take more notice of the length of a book when buying. But, I'm glad I didn't or I might not have bought it and that would be a shame.

2. The Husband by Darren O'Sullivan - Rob Clarke and his wife Emma have recently moved from London back to Emma's small hometown to raise their young family. One night Rob returns home from a night shift to find his infant daughter crying alone in her crib. Emma is nowhere to be found, but did she leave or did something more sinister happen?

Not a fan of this one. The first half was quite boring and it was very obvious who the perpetrator was from their early scenes. The story would have benefitted from more characters to cast the net a bit wider, or at least fleshing out the characters it did have to give more of them motive. Some focus on Emma's childhood and her parents' perspective would have added depth as well. Overall very forgettable.

2. From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough.
I am an Elvis fan, despite being conflicted and aware of all his flaws, so the interest was already there for this book. I've been trying to weigh up if it would be of interest to a non fan. I think probably yes, if into memoirs and themes such as addiction, intergenerational trauma, parenting / motherhood and the damage done by celebrity/ fame.

Actually, Elvis doesn't feature much as he died when Lisa was 9 and it's a largely chronological memoir. The split narration works very well as Lisa and Riley have distinct voice and perspectives. It's hard not to have the odd "sorry, they did what now!?" moment. At times I wondered if it felt voyeuristic or exploitative but I think that's because their lifestyles, lives and some of their behaviour is so far removed from my world. I don't doubt Lisa wanted the memoir out there and Riley has done a sensitive job of rounding Lisa's contributions out and filling in gaps.
I didn't know anything much about Lisa or Riley before. I listened to some of Lisa's songs after reading this and that felt sad combined with knowing how her life panned out as the lyrics are quite personal.
There is very little on scientology btw, for anyone hoping for some insight into that.

@Scout2016 thank you for the recommendation, I will add it to my list!

@therewasafishinthepercolator I'm not loving How to kill your family either, I'll stick with it. I think I need to give it a good chunk of time. Its just not retiring me to read.

Great to see what others are reading.

I was initially going to aim for 1 a month but might increase that, we'll see!

1 - The Family Experiment - John Marrs I wanted something fairly easy and gripping to get the gear going and this didn't disappoint! Very clever in places and a fun read - will try more of his books as that was the first

Loving this thread...building up my TBR pile nicely!

#2 The Binding by Bridget Collins

set in a world where books are people’s memories bound inside them in order for them to forget them. I enjoyed the premise and setting (regency era?) and got caught up in the story but felt it was a little over written

#2 The Binding by Bridget Collins

set in a world where books are people’s memories bound inside them in order for them to forget them. I enjoyed the premise and setting (regency era?) and got caught up in the story but felt it was a little over written

@Titsywoo I loved The Kite Runner, (& A Thousand Splendid Suns is also one of my favourite reads) , The Handmaid's Tale and I was someone who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing but I know not everyone does.

I am looking forward to reading The Women and The Girl with The Louding Voice this year.

@Tinkhasflown
I loved The Paper Palace
Need to find if the author has written anything else.

I'm starting the new year by reading All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Absolutely brilliant. Can't recommend this enough. I enjoyed his previous book too, We Begin at the End.

@Titsywoo I second the recommendations for Crawdads and Kite Runner from your shelf. I'm currently reading and really enjoying the Girl with the Louding Voice, didn't like Lessons in Chemistry (although did enjoy the TV version which I saw recently).

2 The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey

How funny TinkHasFlown my second book was also set in Alaska and I was also absolutely enchanted by the beautiful descriptions of the land.
The whole story was beautifully told and I feel I stepped into a magical land even though this story is not fantasy. I would highly recommend.

Late to the thread but I do read about 1 every 10 days normally. Interested to see other people's choices. This year I have read lady Mary by Lucy Worsley which is for kids but I wanted to check it out. Currently on Esther Freud's 'I couldn't love you more' which took some getting into but I'm now enjoying.

The Cuckoo’s Calling would be my recommendation. Crawdads seems to divide opinions, mine would be take it straight to the charity shop but I think from other threads that more people love it than hate it.

Crawdads every time!

Looking to join you all. Finished the brilliant Frank and Red yesterday. Absolutely loved it.

Hi I'd love to join please! I have a pile of 20 books that I want to read next to my bed. For the last few years I've just been on my phone at bedtime and I am keen to break that crappy habit. I've always loved to read but just fell out of the habit. I finished a book last night that I started on Xmas Day and really enjoyed it - Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult. Now deciding what to read next - any recommendations from my stack below?

Finished no 4 I Know You - Claire McGowan.

Listening to Fern Brady's Strong Female Character on Audible. Love it and wish I'd read it or something like this when DC was much younger. The insight.

Reading with eyes The Echo Chamber- John Boyne.

Finished

The Lost Apothecary I simply cannot recommend enough it has different POVs to keep you interested. Even the modern day husband turned out to be interesting in the end

Thank you @MargotMoon and @drspouse I did think as I pressed send that I recall them saying something about it at the library when I signed my child up.

I shall have to investigate!