Ten Books I read in 2025

 We're here, finally! My reading round-up post is done. I read about fifty books last year, so instead of giving you my thoughts on each one, here are the most notable ten books I read in 2025.

1. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro

“What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.”

This was masterly, nostalgic, bittersweet - it evokes so many melancholic feelings. Who hasn't been sadden by the passing of something old and treasured? Personally, I find the passing of the old English order and hierarchy saddening, so this was especially powerful for me.

2. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

“It was cold and barren. It was no longer the view that I remembered. The sunshine of her presence was far from me. The charm of her voice no longer murmured in my ear.”

This was good fun. I didn't like it quite as much as I like Dickens - it felt a little less deep - but it was still a good, enjoyable, gripping read. Ever so slightly predictable. Also, one big thing I didn't like about it was that all the women in it are portrayed in a negative light. Either, they are weak and controlled by the men, or the one strong woman is shown as strong because she is "like a man" in her sensibilities and even a little how she looks. Personally, I think that truly strong female characters are strong by expressing their strength in a feminine way. Thus, a female character who spends the book saying that she wishes she were a man or saying things like '"Don't shrink under it like a woman. Tear it out; trample it under foot like a man!"' irritates me somewhat. She could still be strong and be a woman; the two things are not exclusive.

3. The Western Front, Nick Lloyd

This was my big read for this year, and was part of the reason why I read far fewer books at the end of the year as I was chipping away at this. Although it was a heavy read, I'm really glad I finished it; I now have a pretty comprehensive understanding of the First World War. Though I can't remember every last detail, it was one of those books that throw you such a lot of information that you end up with a lot of knowledge by virtue of the sheer amount given to you. 

It also inspired me to make time to read more non-fiction.

4. Memory Hold-the-Door, John Buchan

"This preoccupation with the classics was the happiest thing that could have befallen me. It gave me a standard of values. To live for a time close to great minds is the best kind of education."

John Buchan was a British writer (and many other things!) whose life spanned the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. This is his delightful, clever, witty and un-self-centered autobiography. I loved it. A glimpse into a vanished world, and highly nostalgic. (Also, one sees how small the Oxford world of the 1910s was - Buchan rubbed shoulders with many of the influential politicians and authors of the day. Parts of it were like "spot the famous writer" bingo.)

5. Death of a Bookseller, Bernard J. Farmer

“Some dealers and collectors have no conscience whatever. Do you know, Sergeant, there are men and even women who would cheerfully kill me to get what I have found today?"

Extremely well-written, very convincing... it's a sub-genre of crime fiction called "biblio-mystery" and I love it! It helps that the author was a policeman, so the technical detail is woven in very skillfully. It was fast-paced enough to keep one on one's toes, but not so fast that it was irritating...

6. All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

“But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?”

Powerful, well-written, depressing. (Am I the only one who assumes that anything published after about forty years ago will be badly-written even though I'm constantly proven wrong?) I wouldn't actively recommend this book as I felt it was unnecessarily gritty and dark. I'm all for realism, but this had an impact on my mood for the rest of the day if I read it... also it had a few needlessly graphic scenes that I skipped. They didn't add to the book and we could have done without them.

7. Breadsong, Kitty and Al Tait

Okay, so this one's a bit unexpected - I got it out of the library because I wanted a bread-y recipe book and this one had lots of writing too and I'm nosy about other people's lives. Basically. It's the story of how starting and running a bakery saved a young girl's mental health, and it's heart-warming. The one recipe I tried didn't work, though, but I think I used the wrong sort of flour.

8. A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson

“There are those who dance the notes, and those who dance the music.”

I can't get over how much I was annoyed by this book. The first part was so well-written, poetic, beautiful and evocative. The heroine was not perfect but she was lovable. It was about ballet. 

But the second half... 

The hero had led a reckless and dissolute life, but I minded that slightly less only because there was more of a reason for it. But then the plot's ruined and the heroine lowers herself enormously and does some very wrong things that are portrayed as being all right because she's in love with the hero. Disgusting.

Moving on to happier things...

My church has a little bookshelf at the back of the parish hall and I bought this book from it:

9. Crampton Hodnet, Barbara Pym

“Her chief work in life was interfering in other people's business and imposing her strong personality upon those who were weaker than herself.”

This was an enjoyable, ironic, amusing read. It was set in a lost world of rainy Oxford days, and was thus highly nostalgic.

10. The Wasteland, T.S. Eliot

“A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

I just want to memorize the entire thing and walk round saying it to myself. It is one of the most powerful things I read last year and I love it. I read it through about five times till I began to understand it but I could read it every day and not tire of it.

So there you have it! Ten books I read in 2025. What have you read? Have you enjoyed or not enjoyed any of these?