My reading list for 2025.
All books link back to the original review.
Key to Abbreviations.
- O = Own copy – I bought / swapped / was given / inherited it
- RC = Print review copy / freebie from publisher / Amazon Vine etc
- B or (S)L = borrowed from someone or the (School)Library resp.
- NG = Review copy via Netgalley
- NF = Non Fiction; P = Poetry; Gr = Graphic novel; Ch – Children’s
- Tr = Translated
- DNF= Did not finish. CGS = Couldn’t get started (first chapters only)
- And finally, an asterisk * = from the TBR (acquired by any of the above routes before 1.1.23)
Finished in 2024, reviewed in 2025
- Human Being: Reclaim 12 Vital Skills We’re Losing to Technology by Graham Lee – RC NF (8/10) Review
- The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez – O F (10/10) Review
- Nightingale & Co by Charlotte Printz – RC FTr (8.5/10) Review
- Shakespeare: The Man who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench – O* NF (10/10) Review
- Abandonment by Erminio Dell’Oro – RC FTr (8/10) Shiny review
- The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe RC F (9/10) Review
JANUARY
1. An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris – RC F (8/10) Review
2. The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey – RC F (9/10) Review
3. The Less Unkind by Rosaria Giorgi – RC F (8/10) Review
4. One Billion Years to the End of the World by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – O* FTr (8.5/10) Review
5. The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada – O FTr (9/10) Review
6. Into Thin Air by Ørjan Karlsson – RC FTr (8/10) Review
7. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah – O F (6/10) Review
DNF: The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller – O NF (14pp + good skim) Thoughts
FEBRUARY
8. Baumgartner by Paul Auster – O* (9/10) Review
9. The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster – O* (9.5/10) Review
10. Black woods blue sky by Eowyn Ivey – RC (10/10) Review
11. The Knowing by Madeleine Ryan – RC (8.5/10) Review
12. Eurotrash by Christian Kracht – O FTr (8/10) Review
13. Runaway Horses by Carlo Frutteri Franco Lucentini – RC FTr (9/10) Review
14. Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito – O (10/10) Review
15. Pagans by James Alistair Henry – RC F (9/10) Review
DNF: The Leopard by Lampedusa (20pp) – O*
MARCH
16. Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass – RC F (10/10) Review
17. Madame Matisse by Sophie Haydock – RC F (10/10) Review
18. After the Silence by Louise O’Neill – RC F (9/10) Review
19. Luminous by Silvia Park – RC F (10/10) Review
20. Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen – O* F (8.5/10) Review
21. Paperboy by Callum McSorley – O F (9/10) Review
DNF: Troutstream by Gerald Lynch – O* (50pp) Comments
APRIL
22. The Cure by Eve Smith – RC (8.5/10) Review
23. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd – RC
24. Bright Fear by Mary Jean Chan – O P (10/10) Review
25. Bowieland by Peter Carpenter – RC (10/10) Review
26. All Fours by Miranda July – O* (6/10) Review
27. Campbell’s Kingdom by Hammond Innes – O* (9/10) Review
28. Maigret’s Revolver by Georges Simenon – O FTr (8/10) Review
29. The Anechoic Chamber by Will Wiles – RC (7.5/10) Review
30. Alive by Gabriel Weston – O NF (8.5/10) Review
31. Under the Eye of the Big Bird – O FTr (6.5/10) Review
32. Universality by Natasha Brown – O F
MAY
33. The Future of Gardens by Mark Lane – RC (8/10) Review
34. The Wolves of Staro Selo by Zdravka Evtimova – RC (8/10) Review
35. Heatwave: The Summer of 1976 by John L Williams – RC (8.5/10) Review
36. Hattie Steals the Show by Patrick Gleeson – RC (9/10) Review
37. The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli – RC FTr (9/10) Review
38. Red Water by Jurica Pavičić – RC FTr (9/10) Review
PART: Mythos by Stephen Fry (approx 220 pages)
JUNE
39. The Dinner Party by Sarah Gilmartin – O (20B#1) (9/10) Review
40. Oleander, Jacaranda by Penelope Lively – O (20B#2) (7.5/10) Review
41. The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw – O* (20B#3) (9/10) Review
42. Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson – RC FTr (8.5/10) Review
43. Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo – O* FTr (8.5/10) (20B#4) Review
44. This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – O* (20B#5) (9/10) Review
45. Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey – RC* (20B#6) (9/10) Review
46. Slough House by Mick Herron – O* (20B#7) (10/10) Review
47. Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist – RC FTr (9/10) Review
48. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman – O* (20B#8) (9/10) Review
49. A Sting in her Tail by Mark Ezra – RC (9.5/10) Review
JULY
50. Lost in the Garden by Adam Leslie – O* F (20B#9) (8.5/10) Review
51. Divinity Games by Lou Gilmond – RC F (8/10) Review
52. Bad Actors by Mick Herron – O* (20B#10) (10/10) Review
53. Sandwich by Catherine Newman – O* (20B#11) (9/10) Review
54. Barbara isn’t dying by Alina Bronsky – RC FTr (10/10) Review
55. Maigret’s Holiday by Georges Simenon – O* FTr (20B#12) (8/10) Review
56. The Serial Killer’s Party by Amy Cunningham – RC (8/10) Review
57. Lay Your Armour Down by Michael Farris-Smith – RC (9/10) Review
58. Maigret’s Pickpocket by Georges Simenon – O* FTr (20B#13) (10/10) Review
59. The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry – O* F (20B#14) (10/10) Review
60. Making it so by Patrick Stewart – O* NF (20B#15) (9/10) Review
DNF. The Appeal by Janice Hallett – O* (55 pages)
AUGUST
61. A Deadly Inheritance by Charlotte Vassell – RC (7/10) Review
62. All that Remains by Virginie Grimaldi – RC (8.5/10) Review
63. Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien – RC* FTr (20B#16) (9.5/10) Review
64. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin – O* FTr (20B#17) (6/10) Review
65. The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili – O* FTr (20B#18) (8.5/10) Review
66. Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen – O (10/10) Review
67. The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W E Bowman – O* (20B#19) (10/10) Review
68. Moscow Underground by Catherine Merridale – RC
69. Rabbits by Hugo Rifkind – O (9/10) Review
70. The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig – RC FTr (20B#20) (7/10) Review
71. The Cut by Richard Armitage – RC (7.5/10) Review
72. Strange Pictures by Uketsu – O FTr (7.5/10) Review
73. TonyInterruptor by Nicola Barker – O
SEPTEMBER
74. Everything Will Swallow You by Tom Cox – RC
75. A Lethal Legacy by Guðrún Guðlaugsdóttir – RC FTr (8/10) Review
76. The Winter Warriors by Olivier Norek – RC FTr (8.5/10) Review
77. A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever by Rob Reiner et al – O NF
78. Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann – O FTr
79.
80.
OCTOBER
91.
NOVEMBER
102.
DECEMBER
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
GOODREADS CHALLENGE (120) FINISHED
121.
Reading the World 2025
- Author origin: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA,
- Language: Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, English, French, Georgian, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish
- Notable settings: Alaska, Athens, Barcelona, Bahamas, Bødo, Bologna, Cairo, Cape Cod, Central Otago (NZ), Copenhagen, Corfu, Dungeness, Edinburgh, Egypt, Finland, Florence, Glasgow, Korea, Leipzig, London, Miami, Montana, Moscow, New Mexico, New York, Nice, Paris, Princeton, Rockies, Scottish Highlands, Shetland Islands, Split, St Petersburg (Leningrad), Tbilisi, Tokyo, Zurich
