Some Books I Enjoyed in 2025

2025 was a great reading year for non-fiction, older books and works in translation. I have to say I think it was a weak year for newly published English language fiction BUT this might be because I’ve been trying to read more non-fiction and translated work and also because I’ve been trying to save a bit of money, (and shelf space) by buying fewer hardback books. I’ll list my favourite books of the year below in no particular order aside from absolute stand outs which I’ll highlight in bold. As per always, please buy your books from independent bookstores if possible or borrow from the library. In the UK and Ireland, authors receive money every time you take a book out of the library, (unless, of course, you’re stealing it). Finally as I say every year, lists of favourite books are strange, arbitrary concepts reflecting nothing more than the scope and tastes of the person compiling the list. Read what you want to read at the pace you want to read and if you’ve enjoyed something shout about. Writers tend to appreciate genuine love from real readers way more than accolades from people who are paid to say things about books.

New(ish) Novels

  1. Yashin Zaher - The Coin

  2. Sarah Hall - Helm

  3. Elizabeth O’Connor - Whale Fall

  4. Gerardo Sámano Córdova - Monstrilio

  5. Caleb Klaces - Mr Outside

  6. Jeremy Cooper - Brian

  7. Sarah Manguso - Liars

  8. Lauren Groff - Matrix

  9. Wendy Erskine - The Benefactors

  10. Kate Riley — Ruth

  11. Benjamin Myers - Jesus Christ Kinski

  12. Benjamin Wood - Skyscraper

Short Story Collections

  1. Cynan Jones - Pulse

  2. Curtis Sittenfeld - Show Don’t Tell

  3. Liadan Ni Chuinn- Every One Still Here

  4. Margaret Drabble - A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman (The Collected Works)

  5. Will Wiles - The Anechoic Chamber

Older Novels

  1. Patrick White - Riders in the Chariot

  2. Tessa Hadley - Late in the Day

  3. Penelope Lively - Moon Tiger

  4. William Maxwell - So Long, See You Tomorrow

  5. Nell Dunn - Poor Cow

  6. John Williams - Stoner

  7. Ann Patchett - Bel Canto

  8. Barbara Pym - Quartet in Autumn

  9. Margaret Drabble - A Summer Bird-Cage

  10. John Wyndham - The Chrysalids

Work in Translation

  1. Vincenzo Latronico - Perfection (translated by Sophie Hughes)

  2. Samanta Schweblin - Good and Evil and Other Stories (translated by Megan McDowell)

  3. Georgi Gospodinov -Death and the Gardener (translated by Angela Rodel)

  4. Solvej Balle - On the Calculation of Volume 1-2 (translated by Barbara J Haveland)

  5. Socorro Acioli - The Head of the Saint (translated by Daniel Hahn)

  6. Vigdis Hjorth - Long Live the Post Horn (translated by Charlotte Barslund)

  7. Roque Larraquy - The National Telepathy (translated by Frank Wynne)

  8. Alejandro Zambra - My Documents (translated by Megan McDowell)

  9. Natalia Ginzburg - Happiness As Such (translated by Minna Zallman Proctor)

  10. Auòur Ava Ólafsdóttir - Hotel Silence (translated by Brian FitzGibbon)

Non-Fiction

  1. Hilary Mantel - Giving Up the Ghost

  2. Sarah Perry - Death of an Ordinary Man

  3. Helen Garner - This House of Grief

  4. Marina Abramović - Walk Through Walls

  5. Shirley Jackson - The Letters of Shirley Jackson

  6. Agatha Christie - Come Tell Me How You Live

  7. Claire Dederer - Monsters; What Do We Do With Great Art By Bad People?

  8. Lamorna Ash - Don’t Forget We’re Here

  9. Claire Lynch - Small; On Motherhoods

  10. Colm Tóibín - On James Baldwin

  11. Alexander Chee - How to Write an Autobiographical Essay

  12. John Gardner - On Becoming a Novelist

Julie Carson2025, reading, Books, book recommendations