26ish books 2025

[Tinkhasflown]

A shiny new thread for 2025.

All welcome and note 26 is just a number. Everyone can set their own target and you are welcome here even if you only read 2 books a year.

I personally count the larger novel style books I read to my children and audio books I listen to. Others don't and there are no rules.

I look forward to all your suggestions again this year.

Been off MN for a while and can't quite remember where I updated! I think just these:

14, The Gluttton - AK Blakemore. This got quite hallunicatory which I enjoyed though missed the feeling of horror it kicked off with
15, Wavewalker - Suzanne Heywood. True memoir of a girl's childhood on the seas (brought by insatiably selfish parents), not an incredible well written book but interesting
16, Beasts of a Little Land - Juhea Kim, story of Japanese occupation of Korea up to and including WW2. Took me a while to get into it but kept coming back to it more frequently as the characters grew and developed

10: Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The third in the Cazalet chronicles series. I love these books and find something so comforting in reading them, despite the fact that the subject matter isn't.

11: Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel
Such a great writer. This book ties in some of the characters from Glass Hotel. One of those books that you feel you need to read again once you have finished.

Oh I loved Sea of Tranquility

@DiggoryVenn
You've just reminded me that I need to read the final Cazalet.
I too love these books and Sea of Tranquility. Keep meaning to read Station Eleven, the tv adaptation was exceptional.

5 The Familiars by Stacey Halls
Set in 1612 and based on the Pendle witch trials.
I really enjoyed it. 4 out of 5

11. The vanishing act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell.

I think someone on here recommended this to me after I had read and loved Hamnet. This did not disappoint. Such a sad story but so well written in its multi dimensional way!

Love a witch trial! Might add this to my TBR pile!

Just coming back to say they have said S5 will be broadcast this summer, exact date TBC. Can't wait!

@ExtraDisorganised
Yippee! Can’t wait.

9 Real Americans - Rachel Khong
readable but not particularly good. I couldn’t get into any of the characters and felt there was too much coincidence to be believable.

20 The Testament of Mary - Colm Tóibín
A short story but I wolfed it down. I have had it on my bedside table for a long time and had no idea what it was about. Dudn't wven realise I had another book by the author. Or what it was about. Seems apt for Easter Monday. Its a book in a few hours length and I would recommend it.

4. never let me go kazuo ishiguro. Really enjoyed reading this. Completely different to my normal!

1. Never let me go Kazuo Ishiguro. Really enjoyed this and the story beind it. Not my usual kind of read either.

Just starting all the colours of the dark

I also loved Never Let Me Go and thought the film adaptation was great too.

Think that was me. Glad you liked it. The Hand that First Held mine was good too.

I have tried Never Let Me Go and couldn't get through it, I wasn't enjoying it. But you have inspired me to try again. It maybe just wasn't the right time. My daughter loved it

21 Grace -A Novel. Paul Lynch.

It took just a little while to get in to the writing and realise what was going on, what was real and what was dreamt or imagined. But once I did get in to the swing of it I loved it. Would recommend if you liked The Prophet Song.

Book 8 Trespasses, Louise Kennedy I really enjoyed this booked. It's based where I grew up during the troubles and is historically accurate. There were lots of terms used and little references that brought me right back. This is her first novel, so I look forward to what she will write next. She has a collection of short stories and I am jumping into them now.

@Breathmiller I have Grace on my kindle, I must give it a go.

I'm still listening to Dream Count (another mammoth listen - 19hrs!)

I really enjoyed Trespasses too

Me too! Read Trespasses last year and loved it. Also love Maggie O’Farrell

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simison. easy read, kept me reasonably engaged, best bit about it was Don the protagonist as its unusual to have someone on the spectrum so well defined - I thought so anyway, I'm not autistic though my DS is, so probably not my place to say how true it was, but he was empathetically written without pity.

For anyone who listens to podcasts, Maggie O'Farrell just did an episode of This Cultural Life

14. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
I loved this. Mainly (interesting) female characters, strongly plotted and well written. Great dialogue and the right level of detail for me to set scenes in very different locations.

It's about twin sisters from childhood into late adulthood who are mixed race, one leaves to embark on a new life passing as white. Themes of race obviously, sister and motherhood, nuances of interpersonal relationships.
I did find it a challenging read for a few reasons, firstly the frank discussions around skin colour and race, then because many of the characters are keeping massive secrets and I felt tense about them being found out, and because it switches through a number of characters and jumps in time frames. So I got really immersed in the narrative of one then we left their plot hanging. I cared about them all so it worked OK once I was prepared for it.

22 My Own Story - Emmeline Pankhurst.

What a powerful book.

@Scout2016I really loved that book too

I finished 3 books in April:

Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
I wanted to love this and thought it was great a couple of chapters in, but decided it was rubbish by the end! It’s a great premise (new police constable recruited into a secret division of the Met Police when he discovers that he can see ghosts/supernatural stuff). But the plot was really saggy - things kept happening that didn’t seem to relate to anything else or weren’t explained properly. And the main character was pretty misogynistic, nearly every female character’s description was rooted in how fuckable he thought she was.

This Book May Save Your Life - Dr Karen Rajan
Informative and entertaining. I didn’t know until someone commented above that he has a social media presence!

The Stranger Diaries - Elly Griffiths
Recommended on the 50 Books thread (which I tried but failed to keep up with, as lovely as they are all - wow, that thing moves fast!) I thought this was a really good modern murder mystery, with multiple different voices and plot devices which worked well. I didn’t suss out the ending and would have liked a couple more hints to nudge me towards it but maybe I was just a bit slow on the uptake. Would read more of hers.