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.

23. Martha, Jack & Shanco by Caryl Lewis. 3 aging siblings living in a farm in Wales. Mainly set on the farm. Lots of conflicted feelings towards one another and their circumstances. Felt like a Mike Leigh film - small scale world, co-dependent relations, some humour, some cruelty...

29 Girls by Kirsty Capes. Got the idea from here thanks to a PP. I think I enjoed this more than Careless which I read last year. I was intrigued by the characters.

30 All The Lives We Never Lived - Anuradha Roy.
I think this may make one of my top reads this year. A beautifully written story of a family, responsibilty, choices we make in life . Set mostly in India pre-war/partition it tells the story of a young boy, his mother and their lives and how these times changed them. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Will check that one out. Thank you @Breathmiller

Fundamentally - Nussainah Younis - loved this so much, funny one liners but also a brilliant and deep story.

@LuaI’ve got The Sea, The Sea on my (very long) list of things to read. Is it very hard going?

I was really excited to read Rivers of London as I loved the concept but really hated the main character, found it all a bit blokey and sexist by the end.

@Breathmiller - Happy and sad to hear you liked All The Lives We Never Lived. I really like Anuradha Roy and she is in town to give a talk and promote the book, but I can't go......

@MargotMoon I have stuch with The Sea, the Sea and perhaps it will get more interesting? It is written as a memoir by someone that is not very likeable, and perhaps quite pompous.... So it is not difficult to read as such, it just hard to put up with sometimes, but some new characters have shown up, so I'll report back.... :-)

20 Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Wonderful story set in Nigeria. Seen through a teenage girls eyes through a military take over while she lives with her ultra religious and very abusive father. I read her later book half of a yellow sun years ago, this is just as good. Highly recommend!

21. Map of bones by Kate Mosse. Last in the quartet of the Joubert family telling the story of the wars of religion between catholics and the then displaced Huguenots. This was good but not to the same standard and the previous 3.

31 When The Cranes Fly South - Liza Ridźen

Well, this was a beautiful and very real account of the daily thoughts of an old man coming to the end of his life and I loved the writing and the diary style accounts from carers. But, oh boy, if like me you have cared for and been with someone as they died recently then beware, it is a raw and hard hitting read. It made me weep when it finished. I don't regret it though, it was fascinating to read these thoughts, memories and the daily lives of the person who is dying as they come to terms with their own losses.

I may need something cheery next.

In other news my lovely DH has ordered me a new Kindle for my upcoming birthday which I am very excited about. And free Kindle Unlimited for 3 months. I just noticed that Purple Hibiscus is on there so it may be on my list in the next 3 months

Oh what a shame that you can't go. I am going to look her up and hope maybe she is talking near me too

21 - Our Endless Numbered Days - Claire Fuller I picked this up in a charity shop this morning and finished it just now! I couldn’t stop reading it. Very well written book, but really quite sad.

11: There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak. There are three strands to this story, I really enjoyed it to about halfway and then largely lost interest in the main one and ended up skimming lots of it, the descriptive passages became way too long-winded. Unsatisfactory ending too.

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee.

Although I did enjoy this to a certain degree because the setting and the characters were familiar and much loved from reading To Kill a Mockingbird nearly 35 years ago, it wasn't what I expected. Having read up afterwards on the story of the writing and the publication my reaction made sense
I am glad I read it but its not what it became.

Oh, and I got a shiny new Kindle from DH for my birthday as mine was very old and on its last legs (the Kindle...not DH). It came with 3 months free Kindle Unlimited which is great but I am finding it hard to find books I want to read on it. I think I haven't worked out how to access the books I want on KU. I did get Purple Hibiscus though which I am very much looking forward to next on my list. Any suggestions or advice on how to get the most out of Unlimited much appreciated.

24. This Motherless Land.
Apparently this is a 'powerful de-colonial retelling of Mansfield Park", but that went over my head as I am not familiar with Mansfield Park. Just as well because I liked wondering what would happen next.
I was hooked from the off with this, it's pacy and some of the characters behave really appallingly, which I enjoy.

I also had a DNF - Colour of Magic by Terry Patchett. Never read one before and I could very much see the appeal but it's not for me.
I have The Carpet People to try with DD still, more her bag I think.

That's the only Terry Pratchett I've ever read and it was definitely not for me either. DH loves TP but I just don't get the appeal AT ALL.

12: Polo by Jilly Cooper. Despite growing up in the 80s I never read JC back in the day but watched Rivals last year and loved it, so I read Riders and Rivals and thoroughly enjoyed them. I didn't think Polo was a patch on them and struggled to finish it, found I really couldn't care less what happened to all the characters, a shame after enjoying the first two so much.

I was advised (when around page 100 and struggling) by a fan that the first 4 in the discworld series are rubbish and I should have started with book 5.

I mean, who on earth reads 4 books books thinking "these are rubbish, but I'll persevere on the off chance the 5th onwards are great"?? And I just can't bring myself to start what I know is a series of novels 5 books in.

I tried to listen to the rest but I got on with the audiobook even less well and DNF'd that too.

Yes, ome of my friends has said you need to start with a different one (can't remember which) - that seems silly to me. You get series where the first one is ok and the next one is beffer, or that you might think the 5th is the best out of all of them but not to the extent you'd start at fhe 5th surely.

18 The Ripping Tree by Nikki Gemmell
Never heard of the book or the author but apparently it's an international bestseller. Set in the 1800s about a sole survivor of a shipwreck, the home in which she finds herself and the need to escape...
3 stars out of 5

The disc world is not really a continuous series, they are in the same world but you can start in the 5th and not spoil anything.... :-)

I love terry Pratchett, especially the Bromeliads and Good Omens. But have not read many of the disc world. Going postal is a fun one.

The disc world is not really a continuous series, they are in the same world but you can start in the 5th and not spoil anything.... :-)

I love terry Pratchett, especially the Bromeliads and Good Omens. But have not read many of the disc world. Going postal is a fun one.

22 - The Last Murder at the end of the World- Stuart Turton. Another extremely complex yet highly original story from Stuart Turton. Not easy to read due to the complicated mystery but very compelling - a real intertwining of dystopia and murder mystery. I liked it but as murder mystery is not generally my cup of tea it’s not 5* but it was enjoyable

23: The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin
This felt like a complex little book, where a devastating family illness causes them to re-evaluate their past.

24: The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper
I was a little disappointed by this one which I thought would be right up my street. It is set in a brothel in Pompeii which is interesting but the ending was not very satisfactory to me.