A couple of years ago, I made a conscious effort to broaden my reading. Until then I had read almost exclusively about zombies, ghosts, and serial killers and it was all getting a bit samey. There are only so many ways you can rip someone’s head off. That said, I loved the Drift by CJ Tudor. Perfect winter reading. And one of the most memorable experiences of the year was hiring a mini-cinema with my book club to watch the movie adaptation of We Need to Talk About Kevin after we’d read the novel. We did a similar thing before with Silence of the Lambs, and it adds a completely new dimension.
The experiment to read more widely is ongoing, and has provided mixed results so far. I still can’t stomach romance or erotica, read into that what you will, but I enjoy books by writers who aren’t from the US or UK. In a lot of cases, it offers an alternative perspective, or at least a slightly skewed one. Life is all about growth. Probably the best book I read in 2025 was the Shadow of the Wind by Spanish writer Carlos Ruis Zafon about a young boy, a hidden library, and the secrets of his favourite writer. A modern classic. As always, my TBR list is growing quicker than my R list, but that’s nothing new.
Anyway, without further a-do, this is a list of every book I read cover-to-cover in 2025. For 2024’s list, go HERE.
The Drift by C.J. Tudor (2023)
Winter Horrorland by Various Authors (2024)
Welsh History: Strange but True by Geoff Brookes (2017)
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2003)
Last Night of Freedom by Dan Howarth (2024)
A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang (2025)
The Club House by Various Authors (2025)
Devil’s Fork by DL Winchester (2025)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon (2001, English translation 2004)
Night Birds by Christopher Golden (2025)
The Haunted Forest Tour by James A Moore & Jeff Strand (2007)
A Twist on Time by Various Authors (2025)
Holly by Stephen King (2023)
Mountain of the Dead by Jeremy Bates (2018)
The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed out of a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (2009, English translation 2012)
Headhunter by Tom Curran (2013)
Odd Jobs by Various Authors (2024)
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