26ish books 2025

Has anyone read Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton? I'm reading it for book club and finding it very tedious, wondering if it gets any better.

12 - The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters short but beautifully executed character driven novel. Really enjoyed.

On holiday so finally has time to read, finished 11 - Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors enjoyed it a lot.

@breathmiller I totally agreee using this thread to get back into reading, it did the same for me

26. Berserker - Adrian Edmondson

A funny, insightful and honest book in to the man that is so much more than The Young Ones. I really enjoyed this book and found myself nodding and smiling and almost crying by the end.

9: My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand (audio, narrated by the author). 45 hours! It has taken weeks but I enjoyed it, what an interesting and inspiring life she has had. I knew some of her music and films but knew nothing of her early life or her life as a political activist, human rights and environmental campaigner, a very enjoyable listen (and she has a lovely speaking voice).

12 Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
A really good read. Had been on my list for a while and was definitely worth the wait :)
4 out of 5

@Lua im only on book 6 too. Life has taken over this year! I also tried been sting and couldn't get on with it at all.

18: Yellowface by R F Kuang
I wanted to love this book, but I just didn't. It started really well but I didn't really like any of the characters (maybe that was the point), but it feels a bit meaningless when you are rooting for nobody.

A few to catch up on from me though I finished three books yesterday!
15 The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner, I like her books and this was fun but a bit try hard.
16 Oranges are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterstone. I had read this before, it was a book group choice. My book group are all about 16 and very #bekind and totally unaware that anyone had any radical thoughts before 2015. I think it was good for them. I actually didn't quite finish before book group which was a couple of weeks ago and then finished it yesterday while I was waiting for DS guitar lesson.
Then DS wanted to play on the computers at the library so I read
17 The Baby is Mine by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It's about 100 pages long but a little glimpse into Lagos during lockdown.
I also got out
18 Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent which was so amazing I read it all yesterday too! The premise is one that seems to be quite common at the moment and I don't usually like this kind of book but it wasn't all about the crime before IYSWIM and there was also some interesting interplay between who is a victim and who is a perpetrator.

20. The Girls by John Bowen. This was one of those books where I never felt driven to go back to it between sittings, but when I did I enjoyed it. Strange feel to it, like a well written B movie. Set in the 1970s, the Girls are a couple who run a gift shop selling things they have made in twee village. One of them does something while the other is away and there's huge fallout. Goes a bit hammer horror / Hot Fuzz at times.

Trying not to give too much away!

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin is a great read

embarassed to be on book 6... but here it goes:

• Bee sting - Was very underwhelmed at the beginning, but got very invested up to the last chapter, when I got very mad! Did not like the ending! But with some reflection it was a very interesting ride.

• Miss Benson's beetle - Nice, good company, but didn't blow my mind.

Started: That are other things, which is quite weird but interesting to me due to the subject being close to my heart.
The Sea, the sea . I have always been curious about Iris murdoch - so here we go!

    Perhaps I should add a Colm Toibin to my to read list...... is another author I have always been curious, and I remeber being really moved by the movie Brooklyn.  Thanks for the tip <span class="mention">@Breathmiller</span>

25 The Heather Blazing - Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín is a new author for me this year but this is the 3rd I have read and I love his style of writing. Its beautifully written and as always evokes a real sense of living in that time. He has a real knack of almost writing about nothing big, as in not a big dramatic storyline that has a big reveal but big things do happen, in fact the huge things, within family relatiknships and a country and politically and its about how that is handled all in life. Highly recommend.

I have another one of his downloaded ready for my holidays. Although, I do try not to just go straight in to the same author as I prefer to mix it up with one or two of someone different in between.

I suppose thats me made the 25 for the year, which feels good but of course I will keep going. I'll say it again, but for anyone who has lost a love of reading or wants to start for the first time, these threads are a perfect way to do it. This is my 3rd year in and I am so grateful for the push to get back in to reading again.

17 The Trial - Rob Rinder
Very enjoyable holiday read, whizzed through it in a couple of days.

Now onto Murder on Lake Garda as that’s where I’m on holiday

17: Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle
Loved the setting, but that was about all. Fairly formulaic but an easy read for hot days.

11 Isaac and the egg by Bobby Palmer

Quirky, sad, funny, unique. A recommended read by a friend which Im glad I read. 3 out of 5

15. After you’d gone by Maggie O’Farrell…. What can I say, this is my 3rd O’Farrell book but this was her debut. I didn’t expect as much as it was her first but really it was brilliant. She’s swiftly becoming a favourite of mine.

16: The Wanderers by Tim Pears
My biggest mistake was reading this not realising it is number two in a trilogy. Hence why everything seemed a bit disjointed. I loved the rural descriptions of the South West (where I live) but that was about all.

It's a shame because I loved In a Land of Plenty by the same author.

19. brother. do. you. love. me. By Reuben and Manni Coe.
A memoir set around a difficult period in two brothers' lives. Reuben has Downs Syndrome and was stagnating then deteriorating in a care home. Things were exacerbated by Covid and lockdown. He became very withdrawn and nothing like his former self who loved performing arts. Manni "bronaps" him from the home but without a proper plan. The book details their time together, attempts to help Reuben, encounters with professionals, conflict about what is best for Reuben, carer's burnout...
I found it incredibly moving and it raised many interesting topics. I did wonder about so much of Reuben's personal detail beung shared and how consenting he was. His drawings illustrate the book and I have seen him in publicity videos to promote it, he seems genuinely proud.

14. City of Tears the 2nd book in the Languedoc quartet by Kate Mosse. Enjoyed this but similar in its story line to the first one.

Freckles- cecelia ahern. Found this very relatable, especially the rejection by others and the need for connection the main character was seeking. Not my usual read but really enjoyed.

Think this is the first time I’ve dipped my toes in this year so here goes with what I’ve read already:

1. A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon. I’ve read one of his novels before and enjoyed this collection of short stories set in Paris.

1. The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase. Loved this book. I kept waking in the night thinking I’ll just read a couple of pages and found I’d still be reading an hour later.

1. The Suspect by Rob Rinder. I think the machinations of the Chambers and the Court give a little interest but I won’t be reading anymore if his novels.

1. The Broken River by Chris Hammer. This is number 4 in a detective series set in Australia. They give a hint of what life might be like in Australia and it also let me think about the heat during our cold February.

1. The Birdcage by Eve Chase. I did enjoy this book but think that I should have left a longer gap after reading The Midnight Hour.

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. She has written so few novels but I understand why, this is a modern masterpiece.

1. There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. This one seems to be one of those books that is either absolutely adored or not. I think I’m in the not camp. I enjoyed parts of it but didn’t enjoy the writing style at all.

Only one DNF so far this year which was Piglet by Lottie Hazell. I stopped reading it when I realised that if all of the character jumped off a cliff on the next page I’d would have probably just felt relieved.

edited because of a typo.

Thanks MonkeyTennis34 for the recommendation. I hadn't heard of it.

24 Femlandia - Christina Dalcher
I really enjoyed this. Between this and My Friends I feel they got me out of my pause in reading

15: May We Be Forgiven by A M Homes
I loved this one, but I'm not sure why. It's a strange book about a guy stepping in to support his brother's family when he does a misdeed, and it ends up completely changing his life.