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.

No 14 The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods.
A bit too soppy for me - but a bit of escapism never did any harm - I liked some of the magical realism. Was chosen by the book group I'm in (which is full of 20-somethings who have no children and seem to live in each others' pockets and were weeping and wailing over the Supreme Court judgement - let's just say I'm looking for another book group but it's hard to find one).

8 Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
'A bittersweet tale of family, heartbreak and hope'.
Loved it and did not what to put it down!
This is my first Ann Patchett book but I don't think it will be my last. 4 out of 5

23. My Friends- Hisham Matar

Although this took me an age to read, that was due to me being busy and distracted with other things, not an indictment of the book which I very much enjoyed.

A story of 3 Libyan friends living in London in the years of unrest in their home country. It gave a real sense of the love of home whilst trying to live a life away from it. Beautifully written.

8. Femlandia by Christina Dalcher
Another dystopian future novel from Dalcher.
The premise is of an all-female community where procreation is generated by sinister means.
I enjoyed it, a page turner but won’t end up on my Keepers Shelf.

Just started reading Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers and listening to The Names by Florence Knapp. Both shaping up well.

Love Clare Chambers

8: Jojo Finally Home by Johannes Radebe. I love Strictly, love Jojo so it was really interesting to read his life story, it hasn't been easy for him to get where he is today, an inspiring read.

21 - A Small Person Far Away, Judith Kerr
Been slowly reading this to DD once a week, rounding off our trilogy, I just adore these books and it's been lovely to share them with her

22 - The Cliffs, J Courtney Sullivan
Frustrating. She's good at prose and dialogue but awful with structure. Just a mess of an overthought, overwritten, under edited book. I did manage to finish but there are a lot of long boring essays/soapbox speeches throughout that felt almost written by someone else. Shame really, if she'd stuck to one theme I think it could have been really good

Needed a really easy read which actually turned out to be that but also well written and structured - if you need something to just relax with It Should Have been you by Andrea Mara is it

9 The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada
Surreal Japanese novella.
Im not sure I quite 'got it' though it is very much open to interpretation. Only 92 pages so a super quick read which I got through in a day.
2 out of 5

I have had 4 DNF's! Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves, John Boyne's The Echo Chamber, Bewilderment by Richard Powers and Verify by Colleen Hoover.

Books I did actually finish:the

1. Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Not as good as her previous books. I hated the characters who were all about wealth and the importance of being a CEO. It was also a monster of a book that could have been halved without losing the story....

10. Soldier Sailor - Claire Kilroy 5* So poignant in parts. I have lived every feeling which was so eloquently described.

11. We All Live Here - Jojo Moyes Audio, this was a great easy listen. Jenna Coleman was a great narrator. Really enjoyed this.

12. The Testament of Mary - Colm Toibin this was short. I listened to audio read by Meryl Streep. It just didn't live up to the hype for me.

ooof @Tinkhasflown you beat my 3 back to back DNF, so frustrating isn't it! But life is too short....

@Citygirlrurallife I feel there are too many good books out there to waste time on ones that I don't like. In saying that I'm hanging in there with my current audio book "A girl is a half formed thing"...

@Tinkhasflown
I feel exactly the same….life is short and there are so many good books out there!
I’ve just abandoned Suite Française and I really tried but it just wasn’t for me.

10 The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Dare

What an amazing book, I couldn't put it down. Set in Nigeria, around 14 year old Adunni. How she was forced into a marriage... and what happened from there. All she wants is an education and to use her 'louding voice' to speak up for herself and other girls in her situation.

Powerful, heartbreaking, memorable. 4 out of 5

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.