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 2025, reviewed in 2026
- The Cat by Georges Simenon – RC FTr (9/10) Review
- Here, and Only Here by Christelle Dabos – RC FTr (7/10) Review
- Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince – O (9/10) Review
- Sounds Like a Plan by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith – RC (8.5/10) Review
- The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson – O (10/10) Review
- The Suspect by Rob Rinder – O* (8/10) Review
- The Artist by Lucy Steeds – O F (10/10) Review
JANUARY
1. Into the Dark by Ørjan Karlsson – RC FTr (9/10) Review
2. Persuasion by Jane Austen – O* (9.5/10) Review
3. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine – O* F (9/10) Review
4. Heaven by Meiko Kawakami – O* FTr (10/10) Review
5. Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce – O* F (9/10) Review
6. The Vipers by Katy Hays – O – F (8/10) Review
7. Homework by Geoff Dyer – O* NF (10/10) Review
FEBRUARY
8. The Cut Up by Louise Welsh – RC F (9.5/10) Review
9. Kindred by Octavia Butler – O F (8.5/10) Review
10. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame – O F (10/10) Re-read Review
11. Sharks by Simone Buchholz – RC FTr (9/10) Review
12. David Bowie: The Artist, The Albums, The Music by Philippe Margotin – RC NF (7.5/10) Review
13. Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise – RC F (9/10) Review
14. Sycorax by Nydia Hetherington – O* F (9/10) Review
15. Venice Requiem by Khalid Lyamlahy – O F (8/10) Review
16. The Names by Florence Knapp – O* F (10/10) Review
17. Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash – RC F (10/10) Review
DNF: An Enigma by the Sea by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini (215/414 pages) Comments
MARCH
18. Murder Pool by Stella Blomkvist – RC FTr (9/10) Review
19. The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien – O* F re-read (8.5/10) Comments
20. The Reaper by Vanda Symon – RC F (9/10) Review
21. How High We Go in the Dark – Sequoia Nagamatsu – B F (7/10) Review
22. Lucien by J R Thornton – RC F (9/10) Review
23. Borderline fiction by Derek Owusu – RC F (9/10) Review
24. To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage – RC F (8/10) Review
25. Wilderness of Mirrors by Olufemi Terry – RC F (8/10) Review
26. The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley – RC F (8/10) Review
APRIL
27. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers – O F (7/10) Review
28. The Delusions by Jenni Fagan – O F (10/10) Review
29. Paradise by Ben Tufnell – RC F (10/10) Review
30. Marnie by Winston Graham – O* F (9/10) Review
31. Bad Asians by Lilian Li – RC F (7/10) Review
32. The Future of Fraud by Becky Holmes – RC NF (9/10) Review
33. The Rose and the Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) – O F (9.5/10) Review
34. An Unlasting Home by Mai Al-Nakib – RC F
35. The Fury by Alex Michaelides – O* F (9/10) Review
36. Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester – O F (10/10) Review
Short: Five Different Stories About One Thing by Elizabeth Baines – RC (8.5/10) Review
MAY
37. The Sauna Elf by Aki Mäkiaho- RC FTr (8/10) Review
38. Ghost Stories by Siri Hustvedt – O NF (10/10)
39. The Wrong Son by Neil Griffiths – RC NF (9/10) Review
40. Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean – O* F (8/10) Review
41. The Westward Hours by Dennison Smith – RC F (7/10) Review
42. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – O* F (8/10) Review
43. Stop Dead by Katrín Júlíusdóttir – RC FTr (9/10) Review
Skim: A Kid’s Guide to Italy (Lonely Planet) – RC NF C (9/10) Review
JUNE
44. Adrift: The Curious Tale of the Lego Lost at Sea by Tracey Williams – O NF (9/10) Review (20B#1)
45. The Expansion Project by Ben Pester – RC F (9/10) Review (20B#2)
46. The Cauliflower by Nicola Barker – O* F (7/10) Review (20B#3) –
47. The Interpreter’s Secret by Andrew Rosenheim – RC F (8.5/10) Review
48. The Franklin Mews by Mat Guy – RC F (7.5/10) Review
49. The Portrait Artist by Dani Heywood-Lonsdale – B F (9.5/10) Review (20B#4)
50. Fair Play by Louise Hegarty – O* F (8.5/10) Review (20B#5)
51. The End of the Vodka by Oscar de Muriel – RC F (9/10) Review (20B#6)
52. The Future of Bananas by John Dale – RC NF Shiny Review (20B#7)
JULY
53. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke – O F (8/10) Review (20B#8)
54. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle – O* FTr (9/10) Review (20B#9)
55. Just a Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili – O FTr (9/10) Review
56. With Drive Opportunity by Pete Grugeon – RC F (7/10) Review (250/408 + skim of rest)
57. The Garden Square by Marguerite Duras – O FTr (6/10) Review (20B#10)
58. Gratitude by Delphine de Vigan – O* FTr (10/10) Review (20B#11)
59. Holy F*ck by Joseph Incardona – RC FTr (9./10) Review
60. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist – O* Gr (8.5/10) Review (20B#12)
61. Reversed Forecast by Nicola Barker – O* F (8.5/10) Review (20B#13)
62. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett – RC F (9/10) Review (10B#14)
63. Best Served Cold: A Beyond & Within anthology – RC F (8/10) Review
64. Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite – O* F (20B#15)
65. On the Calculation of Volume II by Solvej Balle – O* FTr (20B#16)
66. A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot – O FTr (20B#17)
AUGUST
67. Spanish Beauty by Esther Garcia Llovet – O FTr
68. Where are the Kings by Donal Ryan – RC F
69. All Yours by Claudia Piñeiro – O* FTr (20B#19)
70. On the Calculation of Volume III by Solvej Balle – O* FTr (20B#20)
71.
72.
73.
74.
Pamphlets – Queenhood & The Cryosphere by Simon Armitage – O P (9.5/10) Review (20B#18)
SEPTEMBER
74.
OCTOBER
81.
NOVEMBER
91.
DECEMBER
103.
120.
GOODREADS CHALLENGE (120) FINISHED
Reading the World 2026
- Author origin: Argentina, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Sierra Leone, Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA
- Language: English, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish.
- Notable settings: Arctic, Auckland, Bath, Belfast, Benidorm, Bødo, Bremen, Brooklyn, Buenos Aires, Capri, Cheltenham, Devon, Donegal, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Georgia (US), Glasgow, Harvard, Idaho, Kolkata, Kuwait City, Las Vegas, London, Lyme Regis, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, Oxford, Paris, Poona, Reykjavik, Stockholm, Vatican, Venice
