Books Read in 2025

Books are listed in the order I read them. The links in this list are to my reviews – some ‘reviews’ are mini reviews/notes or as parts of composite posts (not all books will be reviewed).

Key:

  • F = Fiction
  • K = Kindle
  • CF = Crime Fiction
  • HF = Historical Fiction
  • LB = library book
  • N = novella
  • S = short story/short stories
  • TBR = book acquired before 1 Jan 2025
  • PR = Prime Reading (borrowed books)
  • RB = a review book from author/publisher/NetGalley
  • RR = re-read
  • B = book borrowed from family/friends
  • NF = non-fiction
  • AB = Audiobook

January

  1. There’s a Reason for Everything by E R Punshon 4* CF, F, K, TBR
  2. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 5* F, RR
  3. Keir Starmer: the Biography by Tom Baldwin 3.5* K, NF, TBR
  4. Signal Moon by Kate Quinn 5* F, HF, K, S, TBR

February

  1. The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths 5* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  2. Only Murders in the Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine 5* CF, F, K, RB, TBR
  3. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd 4* CF, F, HF, K, RB
  4. The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen & David Shapard 5* F, K, RR

March

  1. Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn 5* NF, TBR
  2. The Likeness by Tana French 5* CF, F, K, TBR
  3. Resistance by Owen Sheers 4* F, HF, TBR
  4. My Beautiful Imperial by Rhiannon Lewis 5* F, HF, K, TBR

April

  1. Ted: a Pawtography:My Adventures in Gone Fishing by Ted the Dog as told to Lisa Clark 4* F, K, N
  2. The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey 4* CF, F, K, TBR
  3. Wintering by Katherine May 3.5 * NF, TBR
  4. Dead Man’s Time by Peter James 5* CF, F, K, TBR
  5. Five Have a Wonderful Time by Enid Blyton 3* F, TBR
  6. The One that Got Away by Mike Gayle 3* F, N

May

  1. Bleak House by Charles Dickens 4* F, RR
  2. The House of Lost Whispers by Jenni Keer 3* F, HR, K, RB
  3. The Curious Case of the Village in the Moonlight by Steve Wiley 5* F, HF, K, N
  4. The Chandelier Maker by Steve Maltz 1* F, K
  5. By Your Side by Ruth Jones 5* F, K, RB
  6. The Boy With No Shoes: a Memoir by William Horwood 5* NF, TBR

June

  1. Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd 5* F, HF, K, RB*
  2. The Elopement by Gill Hornby 3* F, HF, K, RB
  3. The Neighbour’s Secret by Sharon Bolton 3* CF, F, K
  4. The Librarian by Salley Vickers 3* F, HF, TBR
  5. The House of Seymour by Joanna Hickson 3.5* F, HF, K, RB
  6. The Yellow Dog by Georges Simenon 3* CF, F, K, N

July

  1. Precipice by Robert Harris 5* F, HF, K, RB
  2. One Dark Night by Hannah Richell 5* CF, F, K, RB
  3. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene 4* CF, F, K, RB
  4. The Death of Shame by Ambrose Parry 5* CF, F, K KB
  5. Small Wars by Sadie Jones 5* F, HF. TBR
  6. Black Coffee by Charles Osborne CF, F, K, N

August

  1. Abscond: A Short Story by Abraham Verghese 
  2. The Apple Falls Not Far (A Raven and Fisher Mystery) by Ambrose Parry – a short story
  3. The Toy Car by Rose Tremain – a short story
  4. Little Ern!: the Authorized Biography of Ernie Wise by Robert Sellers & James Hogg 5* LB, NF
  5. The Spy in the Archive by Gordon Corera 4* K, NF, RB
  6. The Predicament by William Boyd 3.5* CF, F, HF, K, RB
  7. Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon 5* CF, F, K, N

September

  1. Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell 5* F, K
  2. The Seeker of Lost Paintings by Sarah Freethy 5* F, HF, K, RB
  3. Christine Falls by Benjamin Black 5* CF, F, HF, TBR
  4. West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge 5* F, HF, K, TBR

October

  1. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift * F, K, TBR
  2. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak 5* F, HF, K
  3. Appointment in Arezzo: A Friendship with Muriel Spark by Alan Taylor 4* K, N, NF, TBR
  4. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark 4* F, K, N, TBR
  5. The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard 5* F, HF, K, N

November

  1. Ryan’s Christmas by L J Ross 3* CF, F, K, TBR
  2. The Black Loch by Peter May 4* CF, F, K, TBR
  3. Maigret’s Doubts by Georges Simenon 5* CF, F, K
  4. Persuasion by Jane Austen (a re-read) 5* F, RR
  5. The Library Cat by Alex Howard 4* F, K, N
  6. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson 3.5 * NF, K, TBR

December

  1. A Legacy of Secrets by Lulu Taylor 3* F, K, RB
  2. Circe by Madeleine Miller 5* F, HF, K, TBR
  3. The Crow’s Inn Tragedy by Annie Haynes 3* CF, F, K

3*