Off the top of my head : my 2024 bests include Martyr! (I mean, so unique and just brilliant to me), Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress, Get The Picture by Bianca Bosker, Both of Coco Mellors books!, Model Home by Rivers Solomon, Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin, A Little Life by Hanya Yangihara (heartbreaking!), Emily Henry's novels for a fun quick light "clean your palate" read in between heavier ones (mine this year were Funny Story, Book Lovers, and Happy Place), and just read Ava Robinson's debut - Definitely Better Now!
Thanks for sharing- I have a Maeve Binchy on my Christmas reading pile, A Week Winter. Also saw Circle of Friends shared by India Knight and it’s on my 2025 list. I also have seen love in the time of cholera keep coming up so think I must read that! I think perhaps from enjoyment of watching Rivals, I’ve been loving older nostalgic books and have found rereading Rosamund Pilchers so comforting. But my favourite read of the year was Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
Have a wonderful Christmas. Also have Olive Kitteridge in my Christmas pile thanks to you. I have read other Elizabeth Stroud books but was confused where Olive came in. I went to an actual bookshop and the owner explained it to me, she was so lovely. Doing things in real life my goal for 2025 ☺️
Love your recs Pandora. Also love your commitment to the practice of reading, and total lack of snobbery. Comments are also top notch for recco-harvesting! Thanks all. I photograph covers of books I read and keep an album in my phone.
This year I loved AK Blakemore, (the Glutton felt totally unique) and Curtis Sittenfield (Romantic Comedy probs my fave book of the year); Prophet Song was utterly compelling and so chilling. I was underwhelmed by the Bee Sting - i got impatient for it to end.
I can’t not mention Miranda July - All Fours was like a punch in the face for me and I remain starry-eyed by her ideas and bravery. The weaving of mundanity and eroticism and working out how to be yourself in your 40s… whoah.
I have never not enjoyed a book recommended by you, Pandora. Years back, I picked up This Little Life after your review and it was the most a book has ever made me cry. And this year I guffawed, despite the stress of parenting a 4 and a 2 year old, at Piglettes which I absolutely adored and would have missed if not for your write up. Thank you, thank you, thank you and Merry Christmas! 🎄
I just finished a (year-long!) readalong of war and peace with the wonderful Simon Haisell (Footnotes and Tangents) on Substack and recommend. The downside was I didn’t read all that many books because I was focused on W&P and the Wolf Hall series (also with F&T), but it was an enriching and fun experience. He’s doing several books in 2025 in addition to W&P and also collated a big list of other Substack readalongs. Just a wonderful corner of Substack for readers in addition to Pandora’s excellent content! 📚💜
I also did this this year (the War and Peace one) and I got so much out of it. I think living with the characters for an extended period of time also helped me feel much more immersed in the book. Feel genuinely bereft now I’m at the end.
I m sure I m quoting Simon Haisell wrongly but he argues that there’s something for every stage of life in W and P. I m in my early 50s and tried and failed to read it as a student- the slow read has both very much played into my middle aged mindset as well as made me stick at it and enjoy it immensely. I did the Cromwell trilogy again with the slow group, and have also read far less than usual as a result!
Mention Garner and all the Aussies will chime in. I adore The Children’s Bach, if you’re so so about Monkey Grip. And I, too, added Circle of Friends to my summer list after seeing your post and Caroline’s recommendation x
Yes! Or The Spare Room - probably my favourite. And then any one of her essay collections. Her latest - The Season - is an ode to football (Aussie rules) but it’s actually a story about her grandson and it’s glorious; her observations are beautiful x
Thanks for the list! I love Laurie Colwin too. Next year, whatever else my reading involves, am going to finally, finally read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy! I've heard so many wonderful things.
My absolute fav this year was Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. I’ve always wanted to read a reflective, gripping novel about a secular woman joining a nunnery to get away from the world and this was beyond what I could have hoped for. Was thrilled it was shortlisted for the Booker.
I’m also going to tackle Anna Karenina next year but am going to do one of its 14 parts a month, so I guess I won’t finish it until 2026.
I would love a Maeve Binchy yearlong(?) book club the same way different substacks are reading War & Peace/Jane Austen, etc - I think what the world needs in 2025 is more Maeve Binchy! Throwing it out there in case the Substack gods are listening.
Thank you for this list, Pandora! Added quite a few to my TBR - happy holidays!
Hello from a fellow non-list keeper. I’m a big reader but keeping a list of what I read would, I think, remove some of the pure joy I get from books and make it somehow feel like a form of work, or something I was beholden to. May 2025 be another year of unadultered pleasure from books (and GoodReads free!).
PS: Don’t know if you’ve read it but Victoria MacKenzie’s For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain was my surprise hit of the year. It’s really stuck with me - I loved it.
I’ve just finished reading Poorna Bell’s This is fine! But an older book that I picked up from my library a few months ago and still cannot stop thinking about was: 10 reasons to delete your social media account by Jaron Lanier.
And I’m really looking forward to reading Elizabeth Strout’s new book in 2025, which I think Santa has got for me.
Off the top of my head : my 2024 bests include Martyr! (I mean, so unique and just brilliant to me), Sirens & Muses by Antonia Angress, Get The Picture by Bianca Bosker, Both of Coco Mellors books!, Model Home by Rivers Solomon, Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin, A Little Life by Hanya Yangihara (heartbreaking!), Emily Henry's novels for a fun quick light "clean your palate" read in between heavier ones (mine this year were Funny Story, Book Lovers, and Happy Place), and just read Ava Robinson's debut - Definitely Better Now!
Thanks for sharing- I have a Maeve Binchy on my Christmas reading pile, A Week Winter. Also saw Circle of Friends shared by India Knight and it’s on my 2025 list. I also have seen love in the time of cholera keep coming up so think I must read that! I think perhaps from enjoyment of watching Rivals, I’ve been loving older nostalgic books and have found rereading Rosamund Pilchers so comforting. But my favourite read of the year was Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow.
Have a wonderful Christmas. Also have Olive Kitteridge in my Christmas pile thanks to you. I have read other Elizabeth Stroud books but was confused where Olive came in. I went to an actual bookshop and the owner explained it to me, she was so lovely. Doing things in real life my goal for 2025 ☺️
I love Tomorrow x3! And I love that bookseller explaining Olive to you 🥹 Proof right there of why irl bookshops are so important
I have TMW, TMW, and TMW on my 2025 TBR list!
Love your recs Pandora. Also love your commitment to the practice of reading, and total lack of snobbery. Comments are also top notch for recco-harvesting! Thanks all. I photograph covers of books I read and keep an album in my phone.
This year I loved AK Blakemore, (the Glutton felt totally unique) and Curtis Sittenfield (Romantic Comedy probs my fave book of the year); Prophet Song was utterly compelling and so chilling. I was underwhelmed by the Bee Sting - i got impatient for it to end.
I can’t not mention Miranda July - All Fours was like a punch in the face for me and I remain starry-eyed by her ideas and bravery. The weaving of mundanity and eroticism and working out how to be yourself in your 40s… whoah.
I have never not enjoyed a book recommended by you, Pandora. Years back, I picked up This Little Life after your review and it was the most a book has ever made me cry. And this year I guffawed, despite the stress of parenting a 4 and a 2 year old, at Piglettes which I absolutely adored and would have missed if not for your write up. Thank you, thank you, thank you and Merry Christmas! 🎄
I’m going to try this way of reading War and Peace as one of my New Year’s resolutions - makes it seem manageable and fun! https://open.substack.com/pub/footnotesandtangents/p/join-the-2025-war-and-peace-slow?r=iye0r&utm_medium=ios
I just finished a (year-long!) readalong of war and peace with the wonderful Simon Haisell (Footnotes and Tangents) on Substack and recommend. The downside was I didn’t read all that many books because I was focused on W&P and the Wolf Hall series (also with F&T), but it was an enriching and fun experience. He’s doing several books in 2025 in addition to W&P and also collated a big list of other Substack readalongs. Just a wonderful corner of Substack for readers in addition to Pandora’s excellent content! 📚💜
I also did this this year (the War and Peace one) and I got so much out of it. I think living with the characters for an extended period of time also helped me feel much more immersed in the book. Feel genuinely bereft now I’m at the end.
I have done this this year and TOTALLY RECOMMEND ✅✅
So last week at the Substack reading thingy, Dan Jones said to read it when you are 40. So I thought I’d put it off till then?
I m sure I m quoting Simon Haisell wrongly but he argues that there’s something for every stage of life in W and P. I m in my early 50s and tried and failed to read it as a student- the slow read has both very much played into my middle aged mindset as well as made me stick at it and enjoy it immensely. I did the Cromwell trilogy again with the slow group, and have also read far less than usual as a result!
Okay, that can be my justification to myself for having left it until now (46 though so no more excuses)
Mention Garner and all the Aussies will chime in. I adore The Children’s Bach, if you’re so so about Monkey Grip. And I, too, added Circle of Friends to my summer list after seeing your post and Caroline’s recommendation x
Hahahha I know, I love it, is this the one I should try next?
Yes! Or The Spare Room - probably my favourite. And then any one of her essay collections. Her latest - The Season - is an ode to football (Aussie rules) but it’s actually a story about her grandson and it’s glorious; her observations are beautiful x
Greetings from lutruwita 👋 Yes to The Spare Room; it’s definitely Garner’s best novel. And all of her nonfiction.
Yes! Don’t let Annabelle Crabb and Leigh Sales get wind of this! 😂They are hard core Garner fans! (As am I)
Oh and James by Percival Everett!! Love.
Thanks for the list! I love Laurie Colwin too. Next year, whatever else my reading involves, am going to finally, finally read Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy! I've heard so many wonderful things.
You won’t regret it (I hope)! My favorite books of all time I think. Mantel was such a luminous presence.
Thank you, and she was! One friend said to me 'they're a thing of wonder' – so I really think it's about time I made the commitment!
My absolute fav this year was Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. I’ve always wanted to read a reflective, gripping novel about a secular woman joining a nunnery to get away from the world and this was beyond what I could have hoped for. Was thrilled it was shortlisted for the Booker.
I’m also going to tackle Anna Karenina next year but am going to do one of its 14 parts a month, so I guess I won’t finish it until 2026.
Oh I’ve got a proof of this! Very strange title? Intriguing concept tho, thank you for flagging!
I would love a Maeve Binchy yearlong(?) book club the same way different substacks are reading War & Peace/Jane Austen, etc - I think what the world needs in 2025 is more Maeve Binchy! Throwing it out there in case the Substack gods are listening.
Thank you for this list, Pandora! Added quite a few to my TBR - happy holidays!
❤️Piglettes❤️
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano was my favourite read of the whole year.
I love your newsletters, thank you! X
The Bee Sting - absolute fave of the year
Oh god yes it was marv. Again, could totally have been in the top 10 dammit
My favourite old book might be The Goldfinch & favourite new release is The Bee Sting!
Hello from a fellow non-list keeper. I’m a big reader but keeping a list of what I read would, I think, remove some of the pure joy I get from books and make it somehow feel like a form of work, or something I was beholden to. May 2025 be another year of unadultered pleasure from books (and GoodReads free!).
I think it would be useful just from an admin pov of compiling book stacks, but I agree, no goodreads for me! Like, ever
PS: Don’t know if you’ve read it but Victoria MacKenzie’s For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain was my surprise hit of the year. It’s really stuck with me - I loved it.
I’ve just finished reading Poorna Bell’s This is fine! But an older book that I picked up from my library a few months ago and still cannot stop thinking about was: 10 reasons to delete your social media account by Jaron Lanier.
And I’m really looking forward to reading Elizabeth Strout’s new book in 2025, which I think Santa has got for me.
I *loved* Jaron Lanier’s book - It’s so short but actually totally transformed my relationship with social media in a really positive way
Totally agree. So much of that book has stuck with me!