Books of 2025

Book list for 2025 is up¹, and a few things stick out:

• Not a lot of non-fiction this year, aside from Bowie and trains
• I did indeed power through the entire Parker series somewhat quickly
• There was a lot of crime. And book series…
• The Woman Who Laughed had an odd surprise in the acknowledgments section
• Love for Lydia was probably the most horrific read of the year, and yes, that includes Black Flame and the Derek Raymond books. Which is not exactly what I expected from the writer of The Darling Buds of May
• I really enjoy how Tessa Hadley writes, but it means I will likely finish everything she’s written early in 2026…
• It is important to re-read the Red Riding Quartet as December breaks
• People are right about GBH, but Ted Lewis also wrote Boldt and I can’t quite bridge the quality gap between them
• (I’m running out of Joel Lane too)
• Mr. Lonely was…not entirely what I was expecting from Eric Morecambe.
• Finally, I run hot and cold on Mick Herron. I think Slow Horses is a slightly more irony-pilled version of Tom Clancy, but I do appreciate the lengths he goes in his writing to misdirect the reader. Also, the Zoë Boehm books are basically set in my Oxford, so when he writes “she got off the bus at Borders”, I know exactly where she is…and that it’s not quite there anymore (but you can get a sandwich at Sainsbury’s instead).

One thing not reflected above is that almost everything is digital. I have a pile of physical books that I need to get through, but making time for those is a trifle harder.