Time, again, to post an Annual Book List. So far, I’m not posting these, or my monthly book posts, on Substack. However, when I stop paying for the email subscription service here, I may find it more effective to post on Substack — either exclusively or with a link to send readers over here (as I’m planning to do with this list). Just a heads-up because I’d hate to lose any of you with the change, whenever it happens.
Here’s how I’ve been introducing my annual book lists for the last few years (this is the earliest I’ve managed to post it, ever, I believe! Woot-Woot!):
It’s taken me a bit to compile, and I’m going to send it out as is, no embellishments. I had thought I might try to organize by categories and/or to highlight favourites. But there are so many books I really loved this year that even that list of favourites would make this post even longer that its already ridiculous length.
So here, for your perusal, is my 2022 2023 2024 2025 Reading List — just enough tags in each entry to give you a sense of genre, subject, setting, other pertinent elements. If you’d like to know more about a title, just click on the Month link (at the top of each section) to see my brief review. (Many of you will have read this already, but you may want to check back to see if you’ve missed some of the wonderful reader comments.)
I’m curious to know which of these titles you’ve read — and I feel confident in suggesting that there are at least ten here that you could happily (and profitably!) spend time with. (First, I know, you need to find that time 😉
- The Examiner. Janice Hallett. Mystery; Epistolary novel; Art school; Grad school; Set in UK
- Paris in Winter. David Coggins. Memoir; Travel; Illustrated memoir; Paris.
- In France Profound: The Long History of a House, a Mountain Town, and a People. T.D. Allman. Memoir; French History; Cultural History; Papal History; Crusades.
- The Man Who Went up in Smoke. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. Trans. Joan Tate. Intro. Val McDermid. Crime Novel; Police Procedural; Nordic Noir; Martin Beck series; Books in Translation; Set in Sweden and Budapest; 1960s Cold War.
- Orbital. Samantha Harvey. Literary Fiction; 2024 Booker Prize; Space Travel; Eco-Fiction.
- The Lock-Up. John Banville. Mystery/Crime novel; Police procedural; Quirke & Strafford series. Ireland, mid-20th century.
- Woman Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay. Merilyn Simonds. Biography; Women’s Lives; Ornithology; Northern Ontario.
- The Dentist. Tim Sullivan. Mystery/crime novel; Police Procedural; Detective George Cross series; Autistic detective; Set in Bristol, England.
- Steal Like an Artist. Austin Kleon. Art/Creativity; Self-help.
- Light a Penny Candle. Maeve Binchy. Popular fiction; Domestic Fiction; Romance; Friendship; Historical Fiction; Irish history; mid-20th Century; Ireland; London; Feminist.
- The House of Doors. Tan Twan Eng.Literary fiction; Historical fiction; Colonial history; Malaysian history; Somerset Maugham; Sun Yat Sen; Domestic fiction.
- Jane Eyre. Charlotte Brontë. Literary novel; Victorian literature; Gothic novel; bildungsroman; coming-of-age; Feminist; Romance; early 19th-century Northern England; orphan.
- Who By Fire: A Dame Polara Mystery. Greg Rhyno. Mystery; Dame Polara series; Female detective; Canadian writer/Canadian detective; Set in Toronto.
- L’ultima Anguàna. Umberto Matino. Mystery/Giallo; Historical fiction; Read in Italian; Setting Trentino-Alto Aldige.
- Roman Year: A Memoir. André Aciman. Memoir; Coming-of-Age; Mid-20th-century Rome; Refugee memoir; Italian-American writer; Exodus from Egypt.
- Les Oubliés du Dimanche. Valérie Perrin. French novel; popular fiction; domestic fiction; coming-of-age; family secrets; cross-generational friendship; lives of the elderly.
- Mémoire de Fille. Annie Ernaux. French literature; Auto-fiction; Coming-of-Age; Women’s Sexuality; Abuse/Coercion/Shame; Nobel prize-winning writer; French writer; Feminist writer; Women’s History; How to Write our Younger Selves.
- Garden of Evening Mists. Tan Twan Eng. Literary fiction; historical fiction; Malaysia; Malaysian history; war crimes, Japanese gardens; tattoos; memory.
- Il Nuovo Venuto. Marco Vicchi. Giallo/mystery novel; Police procedural; Commissario Bordelli series; Set in mid-60s Florence and rural Sardinia; historical fiction; World War II; 60s.
- The Cyclist. Tim Sullivan. Mystery/crime novel; Police Procedural; Detective George Cross series; Autistic detective; Set in Bristol, England.
- Still Life. Louise Penny. Mystery/crime novel; police procedural; Chief Inspector Gamache series; Eastern Townships, Quebec; Art; Community; Archery.
- Christine Falls. Benjamin Black (aka John Banville). Mystery/Crime novel; literary fiction; Quirke series; Dublin, 1950s; sociological critique; Catholic Church in Ireland.
- Raising Hare. Chloë Dalton. Memoir; creative non-fiction; nature writing; eco-crit.
- The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Amy Tan (writer and illustrator). Memoir; Bird-watching; Nature writing; Drawing and sketching.
- Those We Thought We Knew. David Joy. Mystery/crime novel; Police procedural; US history; US racism.
- Meet Me at the Museum.Anne Youngson. Literary fiction; epistolary novel; domestic fiction; romance; epistolary friendship; women’s lives; interesting 60+ characters.
- Fatal Grace. Louise Penny. Mystery/Crime; Police procedural; Detective-Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series; Eastern Townships, Quebec.
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont. Elizabeth Taylor. Literary fiction; Women’s lives; Old age; Social critique; Domestic fiction; Spring-Winter friendship-with-a-twist; Set in late 60s London.
- The Safekeep. Yael Van Der Wouden. Literary Fiction; Mystery/Thriller; Historical fiction; Domestic fiction; Psychological fiction; Netherlands, mid-20th century.
- The Bullet that Missed. Richard Osman. Mystery/Crime novel; Thursday Murder Club series; Elderly protagonists; amateur detectives.
- Long Island. Colm Tóibín. Literary fiction; domestic fiction; women’s lives; marriage; emigration; Ireland and Long Island 1970s.
- Il Commissario Bordelli. Marco Vichi. Read in Italian. Mystery/Crime. Police Procedural; Historical Fiction; Commissario Bordelli series; Mid-century Italy (Florence). Available in English translation (by Stephen Sartarelli) as Death in August.
- The Botanist. M.W. Craven. Mystery/Crime. Police procedural. Tilly and Poe series; locked-room mystery.
- The Vegetarian. Han Kang. trans. from Korean to English by Deborah Smith. Booker Prize, 2016; Literary Fiction; Literature in Translation.
- The Refiner’s Fire. Donna Leon. Mystery/crime; police procedural; Commissario Brunetti series; armchair travel; set in Venice.
- The Wizard of the Kremlin. Giuliano da Empoli. Trans. from French by Willard Wood. Literary fiction; political fiction; historical fiction; roman à clef; Russian history; contemporary history; literature in translation.
- Ink Ribbon Red. Alex Pavesi. Mystery/crime. Set in England; Country manor house.
- A Great Marriage. Frances Mayes. Romance; Domestic fiction; Marriage; Family life; Set in North Carolina, New York City, London.
- The Mystery of Yew Tree House. Lesley Thomson. Mystery; detective fiction; The Detective’s Daughter series; historical fiction; small-village English setting.
- Hourglass.Dani Shapiro. Memoir; literary non-fiction; marriage; time; memory.
- No Two Persons. Erica Baumeister. Contemporary fiction; psychological fiction; linked short stories; biblio-fiction.
- Lessico Famigliare. Natalia Ginzburg. Novel/Auto-fiction; Literary fiction; Literary memoir-ish; Italian history; Italy, fascist years/WWII; family life; coming-of-age; marriage. Read in Italian, but this is readily available in English, variously titled Family Lexicon, Family Sayings, andThings We Used to Say, depending on translation.
- The Mercy Chair. M.W Craven. Crime/Mystery; Police Procedural; Poe & Tilly series.
- Gliff. Ali Smith. Literary fiction; Dystopian fiction; near future, somewhere in England.
- Strange Sally Diamond. Liz Nugent. Mystery/Crime; Psychological Novel; Set in Ireland; Irish writer.
- The Art of Uncanny Prediction. Detective/Mystery novel; Female (Private) detective; Set in Japan; visits California; Historical fiction; Japan end of WWII to near-present.
- The Mill on the Floss. George Eliot. Literary novel; English Literature; Victorian Literature; female English writer. Coming-of-age novel. . . and so much more!
- Stone Yard Devotional. Charlotte Wood. Literary fiction; Women’s lives; Spirituality; Psychological fiction; Elegiac; Australian writer.
- The Margot Affair. Sanaë Lemoine. Literary fiction; Coming-of-age; Mother-Daughter; Set in Paris.
- Sweet After Death. Valentina Giambanco. Mystery/Thriller; Police Procedural; Alice Madison Series; Female Detective; Set in Seattle; Pacific Northwest.
- Wandering Through Life. Donna Leon. Memoir.
- In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss. Amy Bloom. Memoir; Love; Marriage; Dementia; Assisted Death.
- The Gift of Darkness. Valentina Giambanco. Mystery/Thriller; Police Procedural; Alice Madison Series; Female Detective; Pacific Northwest.
- Trust Her. Flynn Berry. Mystery/Thriller; Terrorism; Ireland; Sisters.
- The Dark. Valentina Giambanco. Mystery; police procedural; Alice Madison series; Pacific Northwest/Seattle; female detective.
- We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. Tsering Yangzom Lama. Literary fiction; Exiles/Refugees; Tibet, history; Canadian immigration.
- Consider Yourself Kissed. Jessica Stanley. Domestic fiction; Romance; Set in London, England; British politics (Brexit!).
- The Weekend. Charlotte Wood. Literary fiction; female friendship; women’s lives; senior women.
- A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism. Caroline Moorehead.
- Misty of Chincoteague. Marguerite Henry. Illustrations by Wesley Dennis. Children’s literature; American history; wild ponies of Chincoteague.
- An Elderly Lady Is up to No Good. Helene Tursten. Trans. Marlaine Delargy. Short stories; Crime; Octogenarian; Humour.
- How To Solve Your Own Murder. Kristen Perrin. Mystery; Amateur detective; Female detective; English village/Great House” mystery; Annie Adams series.
- La Carte Postale. Anne Berest. Literary fiction; auto-fiction; historical fiction; 20th-century European history; 20th-century French history; 20th-century Jewish history; Family History; Holocaust; Read it in French, but widely available in English translation by Tina Kover.
- Secret Scripture. Sebastian Barry. Literary fiction; Historical fiction; contemporary Irish literature; 20th-century Irish history; psychological fiction.
- Blood and Bone. Valentina Giambanco. Mystery/Crime. Police Procedural; Alice Madison series; Seattle setting.
- Chi dice e chi tace. Chiara Valerio. Literary fiction; psychological fiction; giallo/mystery novel; Setting: Small coastal town in province of Lazio, Italy; English translation (by Ailsa Wood) available, titled The Little I Knew.
- The Book of Records. Madeleine Thien. Literary fiction; historical fiction; speculative fiction; philosophy; biography (philosophers Baruch Spinoza and Hannah Arendt; Chinese poet Du Fu).
- Bad Juliet. Giles Blunt. Historical fiction (TB sanatorium, early 20th cent; Psychological fiction; Mystery; Romance.
- L’Accabadora, Michaela Murgia. Italian (Sardinian) Literature; Literary fiction: Award-winning; Coming-of-Age Story; Female Protagonist; Female writer; Mother-daughter; Adoption; Sardinian culture; Death.
- The Patient, Tim Sullivan. Mystery; Police procedural; George Cross series; autistic detective; Set in Bristol, England.
- La Daronne. Hannelore Cayre. Crime fiction; Thriller; Social Commentary; Dark humour; Paris, France; Paris noir; drug trade; strong female protagonist. Available in English (trans. Stephanie Smee) as Mama Weed.
- The Correspondent. Virginia Evans. Literary fiction; Epistolary novel; Elderly female protagonist.
- A Slowly Dying Cause. Elizabeth George. Mystery; Police Procedural; Inspector Lynley Series.
- How to Seal Your Own Fate. Kristen Perrin. Mystery; Castle Knoll Files #2; English village mystery; Young female detective.
- Tilt. Emma Pattee. Survival/thriller; Domestic fiction; Earthquake; Pregnancy; Marriage; Set in Portland, Oregon.
- The List of Suspicious Things. Jennie Godfrey. Mystery; Historical Fiction; Bildungsroman/Coming-of-Age; Yorkshire Ripper.
- And I’m going to have to add one more book to the year’s record, because when I decided last week that I wanted to read the next book in Louise Penny’s Three Pines series, I realized that I had already read The Cruellest Month, but I can’t see it listed in any month, either here or in my handwritten journal. I do remember reading it, darker than the first two (toys with the supernatural, with elemental evil) and also exposes the threat Gamache faces vis-à-vis politics of his workplace and the ethical choices he has made in the past.
As I wrote at the end of 2024’s book list, I understand if you’re tired of looking backwards, or if you’ve already forgotten much of your 2025 reading, but should you want to tell us about which, say, 1 to 5 books you’d choose to recommend to a good friend who has similar tastes to your own, we’d love to hear. Or if, instead, you have a suggestion for a book you’re quite sure anyone would love, that would be good to share as well (who doesn’t like to have a copy of an “everyone will love this” gift book on hand?!)? Or any recommendation you might like to make, offered with a suggestion of who would be its ideal reader. . . .
Comments are open and waiting for you
xo,
f
I shall look for some of these books on Libby. My lists are growing longer. Have you read Black Wolf by Louise Penny yet? I just finished it. There was a lot of thoughtful discussion last night at the Irish Consulate. Have you read other books by Sally Rooney? Apparently, this was her first with male protagonists. The next meeting will likely be in April. My favourite books were 2025 were The Correspondant and The Safekeep, I think, but reading really depends on your state of mind.
Author
I’m only four books into the Gamache series — I have a ways to go before I get to Black Wolf.
I would have loved to be at that discussion of Intermezzo. I haven’t read her other books yet, but I did see the series for Normal People
I’d probably include those two books among my favourites for 2025 as well.
The extent and breadth of your reading is phenomenal. I’m sure it gives you much pleasure and you share that pleasure with us by publishing such amazing records of what you read – thank you, Frances.
My reading has suffered from the deleterious effects of too much time spent on screens over the last several years. And I no longer persist with books that I fail to connect with, which is a big change for me. However, I’m pleased to say that the end of 2025 saw an increase in my reading, mostly in the form of old fashioned, printed books. I’m sure I’ve mentioned each of these here before but I particularly enjoyed several non-fiction books all written by women, and all sharing themes of food and cooking. They are Virginia Trioli’s A Bit on the Side, Julie Goodwin’s Your Time Starts Now, and Ina Garten’s Be Ready When the Luck Happens. All autobiographical, all hugely entertaining and with very personal reflections on meeting life’s challenges.
Author
I do love to read, it’s true! 😉
I’m going to get to some of these books you’re recommending, for sure — that focus on food, cooking, and women’s memoir appeals.
Just finished a novel by one of your country’s (many good) writers: Emiily Maguire’s Rapture. Will say more about it soon.
I really enjoyed Jacinda Ardern’s biography “A Different Kind of Power”. She comes across as an average woman from a middle class family (her father was a policeman) who went into politics to make a positive difference and not for glory. Whether or not you agree with her political views, her story is an interesting one.
I liked Valérie Perrin’s “Ls oubliés du dimanche”, but I liked even more her novel “Changer l’eau des fleurs” (translated in English as “Fresh Water for Flowers”) about a woman who is the groundskeeper in a cemetery. Her observations about the living who come to visit the graves as well as her own story that is slowly revealed as the novel progresses kept me reading well past bedtime.
My daughter recommended “La Vie devant soi” by Romain Gary as one of her favourite French novels. It was translated into English as “The Life Before Us.” Written 50 years ago, it’s about an aging prostitute and Holocaust survivor who takes care of other prostitutes’ children; in turn, as she becomes demented she is cared for by a 10 year old Arab boy. I laughed, though, when I read the blurb at the back of the book which describes the main character as “très vieille” – she was 65!
It’s also a movie on Netflix “The Life Ahead” with Sophia Loren. I invariably find that watching the movie after reading the book is disappointing, but I enjoyed this movie, partly because 86 year-old Sophia Loren plays the main character. The movie is set in Italy vs France and the boy is Senegalese instead of Arab, but apart from some minor changes to the beginning, the story is pretty faithful to the book.
Author
Ardern’s memoir sounds compelling, thanks for the recommendation.
I think Changer l’eau des fleurs is my favourite of Perrin’s books as well, although I also really enjoyed Trois and, more recently, Tata. Making note of your daughter’s recommendation — I watched that movie on Netflix (La vita divanti a sé) a couple of years ago — Sophia Loren at 86, wow!
A very multifarious list, Frances
We have overlap of 21 books
I’ve just been thinking for a while about my favourite book of 2025.-can’t decide
So,to name a few (a lot :)) that made me think about them:
Janice Hallett,Annie Ernaux and Sally Rooney are masters in their own way,Claire Kilroy’s Soldier,Sailor and Eva Baltasar’s Boulder are so intense descriptions how the toll of early motherhood can be,first one from the mother’s,second from the partner’s side (in this case LGBT,but one can imagine a father as well),Safekeep was excellent, Sayako Murata’s Convenience Store Woman,Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition,Jurica Pavicic’s Mouth Full of Sea,A. Miller’s The Land in Winter,K. Kitamura’s Audition…..then all of my favourite authors (mostly mysteries, but so much more than that ) with their new books. I wish them a long life and a lot of new books.
And I’m happy to have heard of Simon Mason and both of his series,such a pleasure.
Dottoressa
Author
Madly jotting down titles here — thanks K! (I don’t know of Simon Mason, must check that out).
I need to see whether I can find a translation of Pavicic’s book (I enjoyed reading the first one, but in French, a few years ago — pretty sure it’s available in English translation now. Might try to find the second in French (Mater Dolorosa, I think it’s called). . .
As always an impressive list! I have an overlap of 11 of these books, although not read this year. Elizabeth George, Louise Penny and Donna Leon will usually be on my list in any given year if they come out with new novels. I am ahead of my usual reading pace this month as it has been so cold here in New York. Nothing like a good mystery on a frosty and snowy day.
Author
I hope you’re safe and cozy, curled up with a book, able to enjoy a picturesque snow scene from the comfort of the fireside! Take care in this big storm!
I love your book posts andHave discovered many loved reads from you. Thank you so much for taking the time to compile them.
Author
You’re very welcome, Nancy! And thank you for taking the time to let me know you find these posts worthwhile. Happy Reading!