My Reading Year 2025

I read a lot in 2025! My reading goal for 2025 was 35 books, which I surpassed reading 45 titles this year - over 15,500 pages! When planning for 2025, I had a stack of books on my to-be-read pile, and managed to read only a handful before I got distracted, as I always do, by other titles. 

So here's what I read in 2025:

Fiction

This was the year I finally immersed myself in the Elizabeth Strout universe. I began the year with Olive Kitteridge, Strout's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. I jumped ahead to her latest novel, Tell Me Everything, which was shortlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction. I then went back to the beginning and read her debut novel,  Amy and Isabelle. I am now fully converted to her genius and plan on exploring more of her work next year.

Another author that I have had on my radar for years but never conquered was Hilary Mantel. This year I read two-thirds of her Cromwell Trilogy with the Booker Prize winning Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies.  I have started the final novel in the series, a hefty hardback of The Mirror in the Light, but will not complete it this year. 

Literary award longists added many titles to my reading list. Among my favourite novels this year were by Australian authors - Melanie Cheng's The Burrow (Stella Prize), Emily Maguire's wonderful Rapture (Stella Prize) Fiona McFarlane's linked short stories in Highway 13 (Miles Franklin Award), and Evie Wyld's ghostly tale, The Echoes (Victorian Premier's Prize). The 2025 Women's Prize introduced me to two heartbreaking novels which I still think about: Yael Van Der Wouden's The Safekeep and Roisin O'Donnell's Nesting. Carys Davies' lovely novel Clear (RSL Ondaatje Prize) was also brilliant. 

I wanted to read Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead ever since it was published and won the Women's Prize (among other accolades) in 2023, but I felt compelled to re-read Charles Dickens' David Copperfield first. I am so glad I did, as it greatly enhanced my reading of Kingsolver's remarkable novel. Having recently tidied my bookshelves, I find that I already possess a number of her novels so I look forward to exploring her back catalogue.

Other titles that had been languishing unread on my shelves finally moved up the to-be-read pile. I loved Anne Enright's The Green Road and am slowly working my way through all of her books.  Alex Miller's A Brief Affair, Penelope Lively's Heat Wave, Sarah Waters' The Paying Guest and Kevin Wilson's Nothing to See Here were great reads in 2025. I also finally read Barbara Trapido's Brother of the More Famous Jack which I had heard about for years. 

Some of the series that I have been following had new novels published. I really enjoyed Suzanne Collins' Sunrise on the Reaping, Tara Moss' The Italian Secret and Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth. I have been saving Pullman's latest and last novel in the Lyra Bellaqua series - The Rose Field - but will read that next year. 

Taylor Jenkins Reid's Atmosphere, a novel I read without any expectations, was such a beautiful, heartbreaking story it left me sobbing. Another great standalone novel was Liz Moore's The God of the Woods.

I love a good crime thrillers, especially 'Aussie Noir'. This year I read Hayley Scrivenor's Girl Falling, Chris Hammer's  Legacy (another Martin Scarsden pageturner), Jane Harper's Last One Out and Garry Disher's Sanctuary. I read two Irish crime novels by Dervla McTiernan - The Scholar and  The Good Turn in the DS Cormac Reilly series. I enjoyed the latest in the Strike/Ellacott series by Robert Galbraith, The Hallmarked Man. I also started Mick Herron's Slow Horses series after being gifted a box set of his novels, and will undoubtedly work my way through these next year. 

Non-Fiction

This year I didn't read as much non-fiction as I had planned to and will need to rectify this in 2026.

I really enjoyed the Quarterly Essays this year. I have subscribed for the past decade and each year there are usually one or two on topics that I am not that interested in. This year I read George Megalogenis' Minority Report (QR96), Hugh White's Hard New World (QE98) and Sean Kelly's The Good Fight (QE100).

I read Anne Applebaum's Autocracy Inc when it was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.  Janet Malcolm's essay collection Nobody's Looking at You, had been lingering unfinished for a while so I was pleased to have completed that. 

I read two memoirs this year which I loved. I borrowed Kate Grenville's Unsettled from my mother after she raved about this personal journey of reconciliation. Hannah Kent's Always Home, Always Homesick was such a delight - transporting me to Iceland and making me long to read Burial Rites again. 

I will read anything Helen Garner writes, including a book about footy - The Season. I also loved her book with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, The Mushroom Tapes, about the trial of Erin Patterson who bumped off her husband's family with a deadly beef wellington.

My last book for the year was Niki Savva's Earthquake on the 2025 federal election

Best of 2025

I read so many great books this year. If I had to whittle down the 45 into my absolute favourites for 2025, without any hesitation I would pick Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead and Hannah Kent's  Always Home, Always Homesick.  

I would give honourable mentions to:

• Carys Davies - Clear
• Anne Enright - The Green Road
• Robert Galbraith - The Hallmarked Man
• Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein - The Mushroom Tapes
• Kate Grenville - Unsettled
• Mick Herron - Slow Horses
• Emily Maguire - Rapture
• Fiona McFarlane - Highway 13
• Roisin O'Donnell - Nesting
• Taylor Jenkins Reid - Atmosphere
• Elizabeth Strout - Olive Kitteridge
• Yael Van Der Wouden - The Safekeep

Well, that's my year of reading! A new year starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to discover new books and rediscover old favourites. Happy New Reading Year!

Landslide

Acclaimed journalist Niki Savva has written three must-read books about the Australian government and the rise and fall of Prime Ministers. The Road to Ruin (2016) covered the working relationship between PM Tony Abbott and his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin (now Sky TV host), which led to his ousting as leader in September 2015. Her next book, Plots and Prayers (2019), charts the fall of Abbott's successor PM Malcolm Turnbull via the back room machinations of Scott Morrison. PM Morrison's brief leadership was covered in Bulldozed (2022), the inside story on how Morrison lost the 2022 election to Anthony Albanese. 

So it is no surprise that Savva's next expose would be on the first term of the Albanese government. She has just published Earthquake: the election that shock Australia (2025) which explores how Labor won a landslide this year and demolished the Liberal party. 

I preordered this book and when it arrived I was surprised by its heft. How could Savva write 424 pages on the May 2025 election, especially when the fall out from the event is still unfurling?  Part of the reason is that the first 215 pages are filled with Savva's columns The Age/SMH beginning in August 2021 when Morrison's government was unravelling. I enjoy Savva's columns but including them in this book created a disjointed reading experience. Especially since these columns tread over ground covered in Bulldozed. I would have much preferred her to condense these 215 pages into 50-60 pages of quality writing on Albanese's first term.

When the new content commences, Savva had mined many sources to get the inside scoop on what went wrong for the Coalition and right for Labor.  Dutton's campaign was plagued by own-goals: failing to have substantial policies; alienating women and minorities; not trusting his team; and playing the hard man when voters reject alignment with Trumpism. Savva explores the identity crisis within the Liberal party which has lost its sensible centre and moved to the fringes. They failed to learn the lessons from the 2022 election which saw a record number of independents elected in formerly blue-ribbon Liberal seats, and double down on irrelevant nonsense when Australians were facing cost-of-living pressures. Savva, who interviewed Dutton for this book, expresses concern that the softer, more human, side of Dutton never surfaced. His misguided loyalty meant that he did not reign in Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa-Price when she went full MAGA, and he didn't quash poisonous policy ideas like return to work. Nor did he engage with the media beyond Sky After Dark, in which he spoke to his own echo chamber.

Indeed, with all the problems in the Coalition, it is easy to think Albanese 'did a Bradbury' and skated to victory when his opponents fell over. However, Albanese ran a disciplined campaign and was surrounded by competent, diverse Ministers. Albanese had trusted advisers and listened to those around him. He stayed on message and was able to distinguish himself from Dutton. Where errors were made, they were quickly rectified and not left to fester. Albanese always had faith in himself, that he would win and come away with a majority. He was humble and kind to Dutton after what would have been a humiliating loss.

Overall, Earthquake is not up to the standard I expected from Niki Savva. I feel she was let down in the editing process (which would have removed the annoying typos and streamlined the content) and a rush to print before Christmas (which would have allowed more time for Savva to explore the post-mortem). However, I am glad that I read it and acknowledge that Savva is a gifted journalist. Her ability to tap into sources, gives readers a delicious room-where-it-happened insight into the political machinations at play. 

Deserted

Jane Harper is known for writing gripping crime novels in which information is drip-fed to the reader. Her novels portray different aspects of the Australian landscape - outback towns, sleepy coastal hamlets, dense forests. Best known for her debut, The Dry (2016), the first in a trilogy featuring Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk, her books have been adapted in to feature films and a Netflix series. 

Harper's latest novel is Last One Out (2025) is set in the fictional town of Carralon Ridge, a small town in rural New South Wales that has been hollowed out over time by the Lentzer mining company which has bought up properties to expand operations. The buy outs have caused tension within the town between those who will fight to remain in their homes and those who have 'sold out' and sought to leave the town behind. The dusty main street is full of boarded up buildings and the pub opens infrequently. Those who stayed live with the distant thrum of the mine and the occasional heavy vehicle rattling past their doors. 

Rowena Crowley moved to the Ridge over twenty years ago, married a local man Griff, and raised two children - Sam and Della. Ro worked in the small medical practice and enjoyed her life. Five years ago, on her son's 21st birthday, he disappeared. Sam's rental car was found near some abandoned buildings along with his footprints. His absence caused the family to disintegrate with Ro and Della moving to Sydney and Griff staying behind, working for the mining company. 

It has been five years since Sam disappeared. Ro has returned to Carralon Ridge for her son's annual memorial service. She also wants answers about what happened to her child. With only a few families remaining, she starts to unravel the events of what happened to her son that day.

Unlike other crime novels, there is no gruesome murder, no police procedural. Last One Out is a novel about loss. The loss of a child, of a home. of a community, of a way of life. The impact of the large mining company looms large over this town, with those who remain in this dusty place grieving for the loss of their friends, family and heritage. 

Last One Out is a slowly paced novel which takes a while to get moving. In parts it felt a bit repetitive, as Ro tried to grab on to her memories of Sam's last day, but I understand what Harper was trying to achieve. I liked the depiction of Ro and her relationship with Griff, irrevocably altered by the loss of their son and her moving away. The only thing I struggled with was trying to get my head around the landscape of the town. I have grown used to the maps Chris Hammer includes in his novels and I wish there had been one here. 

The Last One Out is rather sombre but well worth a read. 

My reviews of other Jane Harper novels are also available on this blog:

• The Dry (2016)
• Force of Nature (2017)
• The Lost Man (2018)
• The Survivors (2020)
• Exiles (2022)

A Question of Belief

Quarterly Essay, the Australian journal about politics and culture, has just hit a major milestone with the publication of QE100 - its 100th issue. Each issue features a single essay (about 20,000-25,000 words in length) written by some of Australia's leading thinkers and writers including David Marr, Don Watson, Laura Tingle, Margaret Simons, George Megalogenis and many more. 

I have been a subscriber for over a decade and, while some topics at first glance seem uninteresting I have always learned something. While I don't always blog about them, some essays have lingered long in my mind and among my favourites are:

• QE51 The Prince (2013) by David Marr
• QE52 Found in Translation (2013) by Linda Jaivin
• QE57 Dear Life (2015) by Karen Hitchcock
• QE83 Top Blokes: The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power (2021) by Lech Blaine
• QE92 The Great Divide (2023) by Alan Kohler

I was excited when I heard Sean Kelly was going to be writing QE100 as his book The Game: A Portrait of Scott Morrison (2021), one of the best political books I have read and I enjoy his articles in The Age/SMH. Plus, the subject of QE100 is The Good Fight: What Does Labor Stand For? - a topic worth exploring. 

One would expect the Labor party - that established Medicare and the NDIS - would be working hard on social equity. A huge part of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese narrative is growing up in council housing, having been raised by a single mother on a disability pension. Throughout his 30 years in Parliament he has always championed the working class. Albo's 'father figure' was Tom Uren, who served in the Whitlam and Hawke governments, and was a champion for social justice, civil rights, indigenous land rights and protection of the environment.

Kelly is clearly disappointed in the federal Labor party. They appear to be well positioned for success - a competent team in a majority government, without a viable opposition, and their party is in power in most states - but for whatever reason they seem tentative in their approach to governing. This should be a period for nation-building reform, so what is going on?

Rather than declaring a definitive stance of what it means to be Labor, the party have spent a long time defining themselves as what they are not.  They have positioned themselves in opposition to the Liberal/National Coalition. But the Coalition has lurched further to the right, and as the past few elections have shown, the Coalition appears to no longer have a defining ideology. How does Labor position themselves against something so ill-defined? 

Kelly points to the consensus making that has been a hallmark of Albanese's leadership. While it may seem like unity is a good way to govern, it can result in bad policy - aiming for safe rather than brave. Kelly writes (p17):

'how hard it can be to spot the distinction between cooperation and submission; between solidarity and insipid obedience. One might easily become the other, unnoticed until it is too late; one might even be both at once.' 

Albanese has had moments of political bravery. His efforts to establish a Voice to Parliament for our First Nations people was courageous, but ultimately unwise as there was not bipartisan support. He also backtracked on the Coalition's 'stage three tax cuts' which would have done little to help those struggling most with cost of living. But more often than not, Labor does not pursue policies that you would expect of them - on climate change, LGBTQIA+ discrimination, tax reform - preferring the 'path of least resistance' (p 33). Given Albanese's long-held desire for high speed rail, I figured that would be one of his nation-building projects but it is not on the agenda. It seems that Kelly reckons Jim Chalmers (like Paul Keating before him) may be the braver person on the front bench.

Kelly writes (p36)

'If you want the very best outcome - not simply the one which you can convince most people to support - then conflict is inevitable. You may not win, but that is not the same thing as deciding not to fight.'

I had expected Kelly to dig more into the behind-the-scenes of the modern Labor Party, especially given his past experience working in the Rudd/Gillard office. For example, the weird factions at play in the party room that led to the dumping of competent ministers (like Mark Dreyfus, Ed Husic) and of not making the most of talents like Tanya Plibersek.  

Ultimately, the picture painted of Albanese is one of beige blandness, playing it safe to stay in government as long as possible. You need an effective opposition to have a good government, and as the Coalition cannot decide on where they stand either, that currently seems a low prospect. I like Albo. He is a good bloke and means well. Here's hoping he reads QE100 and gives some thought to articulating a clear direction for our country, one beyond electoral cycles. Now's the chance to do something that makes a positive impact for generations to come. 

Mycology and Murder

 Last week I attended a Sydney Writers' Festival event at Sydney Town Hall called 'The Mushroom Tapes' - authors Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein in conversation with ABC journalist Fran Kelly. The session was to promote the authors' new book, The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder (2025).

The murders in question are the sensational 'Mushroom Murders' in which Erin Patterson served a lethal beef wellington laced wth death cap mushrooms to her in-laws on 29 July 2023. Erin invited Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband Simon, along with Gail's sister Heather and her husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson (Simon's aunt and uncle), to her new home for lunch. Within 24 hours, all four were in hospital with liver failure and all but Ian Wilkinson died in the next few days. By November, Erin was arrested and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder (four of these were for prior attempts at poisoning her husband). Ms Patterson's ten-week trial took place in mid-2025, with the jury convicting her on 7 July 2025. Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years. Erin Patterson is appealing her conviction. 

The case was sensational with media from around the world descending on the tiny town of Morwell in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. These authors are among my favourite writers, and each is known for their courtroom reportage of true crime. If any one of them had chosen to cover this case, it would have been brilliant, but bringing the three of them together was genius.

Instead of doing a podcast, the three chose to record and transcribe their thoughts about the case. As they drive to and from Morwell, about 150 kilometers from their homes in Melbourne, or sit in a local cafe or hotel room, they discuss the day's evidence, the vibe of the town, the court attendees, and their own discomfort with the matter. Written in conversation form, the women endeavour to try to understand this remarkable crime, while also contemplating the public fascination with the murders. 

In the Town Hall session, as in the book, they spoke about why this crime garnered such interest and the long history of women as poisoners. They dissected the ways in which Erin confounded them - presenting herself as a victim, then getting caught in her own web of lies, and becoming belligerent on the stand. They grapple with the ethics of the case, and the horror of what Patterson did. 

I loved the form of this book, and felt as though I was on the journey with them. I particularly appreciated the depiction of the stoic Ian Wilkinson. While I followed the case from afar and knew about the orange plate, the dehydrator, and the true crime Facebook group Erin participated in, The Mushroom Tapes revealed many things I did not know and added to my understanding of this case. What I enjoyed most though was the camaraderie and banter between these three intelligent women as they bear witness and contemplate the complex issues and themes of the case.  

There are plenty of books about this case that have recently been published, including Greg Haddrick's The Mushroom Murders and Duncan McNab's Recipe for Murder. There were also several podcasts and documentaries about the case. I doubt I will engage in these others as I feel The Mushroom Tapes is enough for me.  

About the authors

Readers of this blog know that I adore Helen Garner.  Her coverage of the Farquharson case - in which a father drove his three young sons into a dam - was brilliantly captured in This House of Grief (2014). Likewise her book Joe Cinque's Consolation (2004) about a Canberra murder trial is a must read for those interested in true crime. Her novels, like The Spare Room (2008), capture her storytelling and her diaries showcase her humble insights on life.

I have long admired Chloe Hooper as a writer. Her Walkley Award winning coverage of the death of Cameron Doomadgee was captured in her non-fiction account The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008). More recently she investigated the Black Saturday bushfires in The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire (2018). I also enjoyed her debut novel A Child's Book of True Crime (2002), shortlisted for the Orange Prize (which I read long before I began blogging).

Sarah Krasnostein is best known for her award winning book The Trauma Cleaner (2018), the true story of Sandra Pankhurst a transgender woman who, after a lifetime of her own challenges, started her own business as a trauma cleaner - attending to crime scenes and hoarder homes. She also wrote The Believer (2021) about individuals and groups with deep-rooted beliefs in the paranormal or other phenomena. Krasnostein has a PhD in Criminal Law.

Spies Like Us

I recently watched season five of Slow Horses, the brilliant British spy thriller series based on Mick Herron's novels starring Gary Oldman. Saddened that it will be another year before the next season airs, I wondered how many books there are in the series and how long I may have to enjoy it. Herron has just published his ninth Slow Horses novel, Clown Town (2025), so there are thankfully a few seasons left. When my googling led me to a boxed set of Herron's novels, I ordered without hesitation, and started the first novel in the series, Slow Horses (2010) as soon as it arrived and finished it after a few magical hours of reading.

When you flunk out of the British spy service MI5, whether due to disgrace, dislike or incompetence, you may end up in Slough House - a ramshackle building near the Barbican where MI5 stores its unwanted agents. Here, Jackson Lamb, an intelligent, disheveled, cantankerous Cold War agent oversees this group of misfits. River Cartwright seemed to be a perfect fit for the agency and he is desperate to get back to 'the Park' as HQ is known. His grandfather was once at the helm, and River is a smart, creative agent who failed during his training. 

The plot of this cracking thriller centres on the abduction of a young Pakistani man by three white nationalists calling themselves the Voice of Albion. They have targeted him because of his race and plan to execute him live on the internet. The slow horses are on a different case, which may somehow be connected, and suddenly they need to solve the case or else get blamed for the young man's imminent beheading. But can this group of losers actually seize the day?

I really enjoyed Herron's writing style. The novel starts and ends with an almost cinematic voiceover introducing the reader to the scene. His dialogue was perfect, and I noticed Herron only ever used the word 'said' for dialogue. He paces the story well, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. For fans of spy thrillers there are plenty of spycraft tropes to fuel your enjoyment.

I have had the audiobook of this for sometime, so listened along while I read. Sean Barrett does a wonderful job of narrating this story. Of course, being such a fan of the show I was unable to quite form my own interpretation of the characters as in my mind they will forever be linked with the perfect cast of actors who play them: Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, with Jack Lowden as River Cartwright, Saskia Reeves as Standish and Kristin Scott-Thomas as Taverner and so on. If you are unable to read the books, I highly recommend the Apple TV series as it is a fantastic adaptation.

Dublin Literary Award 2026 Nominations

The nominees the 2026 Dublin Literary Award have just been announced. Sixty-nine books have been nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries. The nominees are:

• 1985: A Novel - Dominic Hoey
• 
  A Thousand Times Before - Asha Thanki 
• Back in the Day - Oliver Loverenski
• Blurred - Iris Wolff
• Brightly Shining - Ingvild Rishoi
• Camarade - Theo Dorgan
• Casualties of Truth - Lauren Francis-Sharma
• Coloured Television - Danzy Senna
• Creation Lake - Rachel Kushner
• Darkenbloom - Eva Menasse
• Dear Dickhead - Virginie Despentes
• Delirious - Damien Wilkins
• Diablo's Boys - Yang Hao
• Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Dust in the Gale - Joao Morgado
• Endling - Maria Reva
• First Name Second Name - Steve MinOn
• 
  Gliff - Ali Smith
• Good Girl - Aria Aber
• Great Eastern Hotel - Ruchir Joshi
• Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert - Bob the Drag Queen
• Highway 13 - Fiona McFarlane
• I Will Live - Lale Gul
• In Late Summer - Magdalena Blazevic
• Intermezzo - Sally Rooney
• Katarina - Becky Manawatu
• Leading Ledang - Fadlishah Johanabas
• Live Fast - Brigitte Giraud
• Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser-Akner
• Luminous - Silvia Park
• Model Home - Rivers Solomon
• 
  Murder at the Castle: A Miss Merkel Mystery - David Safier
• My Kingdom is Dying - Evald Flisar
• Napalm in the Heart - Pol Guasch
• Ordinary Saints - Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin
• Our Evenings - Alan Hollinghurst
• Our London Lives - Christine Dwyer Hickey
• Perfection - Vincenzo Latronico
• Perspective(s) - Laurent Binet
• Red Water - Jurica Pavicic
• Small Ceremonies - Kyle Edwards
• The Antidote - Karen Russell
• The Boy From the Sea - Garrett Carr
• The Burrow - Melanie Chung
• 
  The City and Its Uncertain Walls - Haruki Murakami
• The Clues in the Fjord - Satu Ramo
• The Creation of Half-Broken People - Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu
• The Dissenters - Youssef Rakha
• The Echoes - Evie Wyld
• The Edges - Angelo Tijssens
• The Emperor of Gladness - Ocean Vuong
• The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk
• The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin - Alison Goodman
• The Mires - Tina Makereti
• The Names - Florence Knapp
• The Night Guest - Hildur Knutsdottir
• 
  The Original Daughter - Jemimah Wei
• The Tokyo Suite - Giovana Madalosso
• The Voices of Adriana - Elvira Navarro
• The Wager and the Bear - John Ironmonger
• The Weather Diviner - Elizabeth Murphy
• There are Rivers in the Sky: A Novel - Elif Shafak
• Time of the Flies - Claudia Pineiro
• Under the Eye of the Big Bird - Hiromi Kawakami
• Vanishing World - Sayaka Murata
• Voracious - Malgorazata Lebda
• We are Green and Trembling - Gabriela Cabezon Camara
• What I Know About You - Eric Chacour

Of these titles I have read and loved: Fiona McFarlane's Highway 13, Melanie Cheng's The Burrow, along with Evie Wyld's The Echoes. On my 'to be read' list are the novels by Alan Hollinghurst, Sally Rooney, and Ali Smith

Some of these books are familiar to me from awards this year but most I am unfamiliar with. 

In a change from previous years, this list of nominations will be reduced to a longlist of up to 20 titles on 17 February 2026. The shortlist of 6 titles will be announced on 7 April 2026. In the past, the extended nomination list was the longlist.

The winner of the 100,000 Euro prize declared on 21 May 2025. Happy Reading!

National Book Award Winner 2025

The 2025 National Book Awards has been announced. These annual American literary awards have been presented since 1936. The Longlist of ten titles per category, was reduced to a shortlist of five. 

The 2025 Winners, who each received $10,000 and a bronze sculpture, are:

• Fiction - Rabih Alameddine, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)
• Non-Fiction - Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
• Poetry - Patricia Smith, The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems
• Translated Literature - Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, We Are Green and Trembling (Translated from Spanish by Robin Myers)
• Young People's Literature -  Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Stor

This is an interesting selection. For the most part, these winners have not even been on my radar. The non-fiction choice of Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is the only one I have had any interest in reading. Nevertheless, it is always good to be introduced to new writers.

The Lodgers

The Paying Guests (2014) by Sarah Waters is set in South London in 1922. Frances Wray lives in a large, crumbling house with her mother. Her brothers were lost in the First World War, and her father died with large debts.  Having let go of their maid, Frances now cooks, cleans and cares for her mother. While Mrs Wray sees their reduced circumstances as a step down for this respectable family, Frances feels her world getting smaller. The women are forced to take on lodgers, the paying guests, to pay their bills.

Lillian and Leonard Barber move into their home. Leonard is loud and brash. While Len is off to work each day, Lillian has little to do but make herself attractive and decorate their rooms with bohemian aplomb. Initially, Frances is wary, seemingly having little in common with Lillian. But over time, the women form a bond, first over Anna Karenina, and then a more intimate relationship develops. Frances wants a life with Lillian, but a terrible event takes place which tests the strengths of their feelings and may pull them apart forever.  

To say more of the plot would spoil the story for readers. Waters has somehow crafted a tale in which the reader thinks it is going one direction and it suddenly turns into another. It begins as a domestic historical fiction and, after a gruesome segue, becomes a crime novel, a tense courtroom drama.  

I really enjoyed The Paying Guests. During the first third of the novel, I wasn't sure whether the domesticity and quaintness would hold my attention. From the plot twist, I was gripped and wanted to see where the novel would go. The emerging love affair, tenderness between the women, and then sharp change as face a moral choice, was beautifully done. Waters has an eye for detail - whether describing someone's attire or the tedious chores needed to maintain the house - which she uses to great effect. 

The Paying Guests was shortlisted for the 2015 Women's Prize, and named Fiction Book of the Year by The Sunday Times. 

This is the first novel I have read by Sarah Waters (although I have seen adaptations of her other books), and I am certain it will not be the last. As I read I listened to the audio version, skilfully narrated by acclaimed British actor Juliette Stevenson. She was brilliant, and gave life to the characters through accents and pacing. Highly recommend.

Booker Prize Winner 2025

The winner of the 2025 Booker Prize for fiction was announced today, with Hungarian British author David Szalay receiving the £50,000 prize for the novel, Flesh. 

Flesh follows Istvan's life from his lonely teenage years to his isolated middle age. Along the way he has an affair with a much older woman. A violent act impacts the course of his life. Istvan goes on to serve in the military, he then moves from Hungary to London where he works in security, interacting with the super wealthy. Istvan struggles with events outside his control. When longlisted, the judges praised Szalay's writing, saying 'using only the sparest of prose, this hypnotically tense and compelling book becomes an astonishingly moving portrait of a man’s life.'  

David Szalay was born in Montreal Canada to a Hungarian father and Canadian mother. He has lived in Lebanon, the UK, Hungary and Vienna. Flesh is Szalay's fifth novel. His debut novel, London and the South-East won the Betty Trask and Geoffrey Faber Memorial prizes in 2008. He was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2016 for All That Man Is. 

Chair of the Judging panel, Roddy Doyle, said of Flesh:

The judges discussed the six books on the shortlist for more than five hours. The book we kept coming back to, the one that stood out from the other great novels, was Flesh – because of its singularity. We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read.

‘At the end of the novel, we don’t know what the protagonist, István, looks like but this never feels like a lack; quite the opposite. Somehow, it’s the absence of words – or the absence of István’s words – that allow us to know István. Early in the book, we know that he cries because the person he’s with tells him not to; later in life, we know he’s balding because he envies another man’s hair; we know he grieves because, for several pages, there are no words at all.

‘I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author, David Szalay, is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him. The writing is spare and that is its great strength. Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading – experiencing – this extraordinary, singular novel.’

I am delighted that Szalay was selected as winner. While I have not read Flesh, it is on my list! I had expected the prize to go to Kiran Desai for The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, although she is a previous Booker winner. 

If you missed it, here is the video of the announcement of David Szalay as winner and his acceptance speech.