I’ll be updating this page throughout the year, hoping to meet my reading challenge of 48 books (eligible books are numbered below) as well as a few other reading goals. You can follow me on Goodreads or Storygraph or read about what I read in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 & 2017.
As a reminder, I am no longer using Goodreads star ratings. My favourite reads are marked below with a single star. I’m also adding a note with where I got the book – if it doesn’t have one, it was a 99p/£1.99 offer on Amazon (I’m poor, leave me alone).
May
13. I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel
Very smart and darkly funny novel written almost as social media captions or blogging. The narrator is hard to like but there’s something fascinating about her obsessions with an emotionally-unavailable man and a love rival perfect influencer.
12. The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken by The Secret Barrister
I was under no illusions about the justice system in the UK but I still kind of wish I hadn’t read this. Basically a huge scream of frustration at everything that is wrong, unfair and unjust about the process, and how quickly your life can be ruined by any brush with the law. The author is still quite biased and conservative though – there’s a whole chapter arguing whether English or EU style trials are fairer, without considering maybe neither of them are? And if he’s able to compare those, I would have liked to see a little about Scottish process as well.
11. Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar
Very absorbing investigation into the unsolved mystery surrounding the bizarre deaths of a young Russian hiking group in the 1960s. It does a really good job of alternating between the 3 timelines – the hikers’ journey (including a diary they kept), the search party after they went missing and the author’s current-day research and retracing their journey. The latter helps him dismiss a lot of popular conspiracy theories and he instead comes up with a very plausible solution in discussion with scientists. I don’t want to spoil it as he uses this to write a short piece imagining how it all played out, which is so well written and yet horribly random and eerie. One to add to the nightmare scenarios folder.
April
10. Argylle by Elly Conway
I forget who recommended this to me but it’s a fun stupid James Bond/Mission Impossible-style spy novel that’s full of tropes and reads like an action movie set in locations around the world that would look cool on screen. So I was a bit miffed to discover after finishing that the movie they made is not an adaptation of this book but a completely different story about the author of this fake ghostwritten book and sounds atrocious. Insanely weird choice. Anyway, this is fun but not worth buying, especially after apparently boosting sales by spreading a rumour that Taylor Swift wrote it (she didn’t, obviously!).
9. Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss
A behind the scenes look at working on The Simpsons by one of the first writers and showrunners. Those parts are interesting and there’s some fun stuff but he’s nowhere near as funny as he thinks he is and it becomes increasingly about his personal life and career outside of the show which is pretty tedious. Also has a section where he pastes in his best tweets, every single one of which is a mean joke about a celebrity. Not worth full price for sure.
March
8. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
It’s always a little disappointing when you read an earlier book by an author and realise they are pretty much writing the same book. There was a lot I found annoying in this one but the author has an anniversary update essay at the end and points out every flaw and explains why they happened and how she would improve it now. That made me like it a lot more as what it is – authors have to start somewhere.
February
7. Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
I’ve watched most of her TV series so I thought it would be interesting to actually read one of her books that they’re based on. They are very similar in style but the book has a lot more detail. Not sure I really learned anything but it was a good read.
6. Love in our Time by Norman Collins
London Belongs to Me and Bond Street Story are 2 of my all time favourite books so I was excited to see this earlier book at an affordable price. It’s much less sprawling (and funny) than those 2 books, focusing on one young couple and their immediate family, and whether their marriage can survive. I wasn’t hugely invested in their relationship but there is a lot of fun stuff with a maritime-themed Freemasons type of organisation, plus various hapless side characters and awkward situations that give a hint of the greater novels he’s capable of writing.
5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Why did I do this to myself? I almost DNF-ed before even starting during the author’s introduction when she said she knew nothing about Scotland before writing it, and I regretted it once I saw the terrible attempts at Scottish dialect/accents. I was interested enough to see how the time travel part happened and then kept going mostly so I’d be fully capable of mocking and trashing it thoroughly to everyone who has recommended it to me in the past. My main issue is that you could remove the time travel part completely and make her cover story true and it would change virtually nothing – she adapts immediately with very little culture shock and barely even thinks about her former life – including her husband that she quickly replaces. The other is how there is zero plot – they just bounce around from location to location being hunted, captured, beaten, almost-raped, actually raped, managing to escape, repeat forever. Also constant rape for plot reasons that has no lasting effect on the characters. ALSO SHE INTERACTS WITH NESSIE!! Avoid, unless you can turn your brain off completely and have nothing else to read. Read Kidnapped, it does all the Scottish/Jacobite part so much better with actual drama and it’s even out of print!
January
4. Lesser Evil (Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy #3) by Timothy Zahn
From my unread folder. Last in the second new era Thrawn trilogy and a pretty satisfying end. Rather too many space battles but it’s not called Star Wars for nothing. I’m still not convinced he’s been used well in the TV shows but we shall see.
3. Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher
From my unread folder. This was exhausting to read, mainly written in a long run-on monologue of internal thoughts. At least partly based on her own experiences in Hollywood and rehab – the film set section had a lot of cool details. Very witty and fun overall but I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel.
2. The Secret Cyclist
Quick read from an anonymous rider in the peloton c2019. This is just before I got into cycling, which was also when the post-covid era began so it was mostly about riders and incidents I am only partly familiar with and I enjoyed learning more about some of that. A lot of fans/media really bang on about how much everything changed in 2020 but most things seem the same here. Not really essential but easy to read while sick.
1. Space: The Human Story by Tim Peake
Easy readable overview full of stories about the humans behind the space program, mainly astronauts and cosmonauts. As a space nerd there wasn’t a lot here that I hadn’t already read somewhere else but it’s nice to have it all in one book, and especially covering all nations and eras. Of course, there’s his own experiences too and those are interesting enough that I will look out for his memoir too.
