January 2025 Wrap Up -- BOOK THOUGHTS

BOOK THOUGHTS

January 2025 Wrap Up

How did your reading year start? Thanks to a lull in my law work while I wait for a ruling from the Court of Appeals, I had more time than usual to read. I finished 15 books in January and hope to maintain that pace through the year.

Are there any on my January list that you’ve enjoyed or would like to read? 

GROUP READS

I participated in several group and buddy reads on Instagram, which I enjoyed very much. 

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh with a group working our way through all his novels, one every other month. Scoop was a reread for me and I appreciated the satire much more this second time around than when I first read it about 20 years ago. 

The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes was the first book for a MacInnes readalong project I organized on Bookstagram. Our next is The Salzburg Connection in March. If you are on Instagram and want to join us, DM me there @gilioncdumas. I'll add you to the group. 

Daphne du Maurier: The Secret Life of the Renowned Storyteller by Margaret Forster. This wraps up the Du Maurier Deep Dive project I participated in for the past three or so years. We read all du Maurier's fiction and then finished with reading a biography of our choice. I thought Forster's was excellent. 

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Because this is the 250th anniversary of Austen's birth, I want to reread her six major novels. I joined a bookstagram group doing the same so we can chat about them as we go. 

IRISH AUTHORS

II joined an Instagram chat group focusing on reading books by Irish authors this year. I don't know how intensely I will participate because I have a lot of books and reading goals for the year, but it it did help me read a few books that have lingered on my TBR shelves for a while. 

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien knocked my socks off. It was definitely the highlight of the month and a book that will linger with me for a long time. Read my review here. 

Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan. This was my first go at one of his books. I thought it was interesting, but it didn’t wow me. I thought he packed things into this family story (a black husband, a lesbian affair, and more) to be intentionally provocative. And the pacing was so uneven, I was distracted by trying to sort the timeline.  

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods engendered lively discussion in my IRL book club. Overall, the group enjoyed the historical fiction side of it, with its braided narrative switching between the 1920s and present day. But the magical realism caught most of us by surprised and didn't go over well. 

The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell. This retelling of events during the 1857 Indian Rebellion won the 1973 Booker Prize. The events and the writing are serious, but the absurdities of the colonial class system also gave Farrell opportunity to poke fun.

JUST BECAUSE

Dragon’s Teeth by Upton Sinclair, the 1943 Pulitzer Prize winner and one of my Classics Club II picks. This was way more engaging than I anticipated and felt very current. 

The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen by Steve Sando. My husband gave me this for Christmas because I could eat beans every day. It is a fantastic cookbook and I've already made a few things from it that were delicious. 

Absolute Truths by Susan Howatch is the final book in her “Starbridge” series of Church of England novels that take place in the mid-20th Century. Now I plan to move on to the "St. Benet Trilogy" set in a London parish in the later part of the century.

AUDIOBOOKS (NOT PICTURED)

Slough House by Mick Herron. This is the seventh book in his Slow Horses series. I'm racing through all of them. So far, there are eight novels and four novellas. A new novel comes out this September. 

The Patriarch by Martin Walker, the eighth novel in his Bruno, Chief of Police, series set in a French village. This is another series I love and am trying to complete, but it will take me longer because there are 18 novels and several novellas and short stories.  

We Solve Murders by Richard Osmond, the first in a new series. It was hard for me to switch from Thursday Murder Club to this new group of characters, but I'm sure it will grow on me.

Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld, a thriller set in Oregon. This is my IRL book club's pick for our next get together. The story, inspired by true events, really grabbed me.

TBR 25 IN ‘25 & THE EUROPEAN READING CHALLENGE

Six of the books I read in January were from my TBR 25 in '25 list. These were the Waugh, Forster, Woods, Farrell, Sinclair, and Howatch. I wanted to start strong with that particular stack of books so they don't make me feel rushed later in the year.  

I traveled some for the European Reading Challenge, but not with any native speakers. I visited the UK, Italy, Ireland, Bosnia, and France. But none of the books I read were in translation and I have a goal to read more books by authors who do not write in English.  

There's still plenty of time to join both challenges if you want to. Click through to the main TBR 25 in '25 page and main European Reading Challenge page for details and to sign up.