2025 · Annual selections
Welcome to my annual reading round-up. 2025 has been another banner year for books, with 56 read to-date, and still counting. Fiction dominates, with a ratio of around 9 novels for every other work. Interestingly, this year’s top reads were almost exclusively penned by female authors. This was despite my male-female split of works read being roughly 50:50. Whether women are more empathetic or simply just better storytellers is a discussion best enjoyed over a glass of wine. I hope your year of reading has been as pleasurable as mine.
The Story of the Forest by Linda Grant (2023): The prose is beautiful and enchanting throughout this account of a single existence from pre-War Latvia through to 21st-century England. Grant’s point is that all lives comprise constantly changing narratives, where fact and fiction ultimately end up merging, whether through intent, convenience or just plain inertia.
Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St John Mandel (2022): That pandemics can change history, and art can transcend calamity are hallmarks of this author’s work. Here, St John Mandel expands on the themes of “Station Eleven” (my 2020 novel of the year) but adds in a deft science fiction touch and an ending that is utterly surprising.
Pet by Catherine Chidgey (2023): A superb novel about the unreliability of memory and the power of manipulation, set in a Catholic school and bringing to the fore sensitivities around religion, narcissism and misogyny.
Earthlings by Sakaya Murata (2018): Utterly original and very disturbing. There are few taboos in this novel: think incest, sexual abuse and cannibalism. The premise of the work is ‘have you ever felt different’ – and what are you going to do about it?
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan (2013): A masterpiece in dialogue, all about how to survive in a changing world that the unfortunate narrator fails fully to understand. Ryan’s novel is profound in its tragedy as well as capturing superbly Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ hubris.
You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South (2021): Every now and then a work comes along that just wows you with both its originality and its audacity. This is one. South’s short stories are somewhat reminiscent of George Saunders. Both authors capture the zeitgeist of dysfunctional America in their time. South adds technology – definitively not a panacea, in her view – into the mix superbly.
Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh (2021): An original and haunting piece of prose about choice and knowledge, set in a future dystopia and discussing the fundamental question of motherhood. Imagine if David Lynch were an author, and you get a sense of this novel.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey (2023): A short yet quite beautiful meditation on the fragility of human life on this unique planet we call Earth. This is far from a religious or spiritual read, but it glows with luminosity. The quotidian merges with the beautiful. Not a word feels out of place. Readers (should) feel humbled and awed. A deserved Booker Prize winner.
Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo (2013): A wonderful and uplifting, yet also a subtly subversive read The novel traverses geography, history, culture, race and sex. Few authors can quote Shakespeare and Shabba Ranks so effortlessly in almost adjacent sentences.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2014): As the title suggests, this book is about the secrets we keep – whether inadvertently or deliberately – and the corrosive impact of such decisions. Add in the dynamics of a mixed-race family in rural Ohio for a powerful cocktail.
A brief note on the joy of re-reading: I derive immense pleasure from revisiting much-loved novels. The notion is to remind myself just why they were so good in the first place. Clearly, my impression of a book now as opposed to then (or the first time around) will differ massively. Successful revisits in 2025 were “Small World” by David Lodge (RIP) and “Cat’s Eye” by Margaret Atwood.
A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain (2001): A compelling travelogue of extreme eating moments that appear almost Proustian in their intensity. Bourdain’s flame burned briefly but brightly. Reading this, you can see that he always wanted more.
Shadow State by Luke Harding (2020): A must-read account of how the Russian state is increasingly influencing the course of western politics. The premise is not surprising, but the extent of it is. This is what Harding shockingly brings to life.
Meltdown by Duncan Mavin (2024): All alumni of Credit Suisse should read this eye-opening account of its decline, written by a former Bloomberg and Washington Post journalist. The impact on Swiss pride for its banking industry is also fascinating.
Making an Elephant: Writing from Within by Graham Swift (2009): I have consistently rated Swift’s prose. This collection comprises his non-fiction and demonstrates what a humane and thoughtful person he is. Swift discusses openly his pre-occupation with death but interlaces this with touching vignettes of humour including incidents with other author friends including Salman Rushdie and Ted Hughes.