As per tradition since I began this blog, I thought I’d share some stats in relation to my reading throughout 2025 and highlight some of my favourite reads.

2025 Reading Stats

I knew even before I counted my books for the year that it would be considerably lower than previous efforts. At the end of 2024 I had read 40 books, and I considered that a reading slump. 2023 and 2022 both had 52 books, so I suppose it was a bit less.

So it came as no surprise that I logged in with 31 books this year. I’m not going to describe it as a slump, because I don’t feel I missed out on anything. It’s not a reading crisis, god forbid. It just means that I read only when I wanted to read, and more importantly - what I wanted to read.

Some evenings/weekends I’m not in the mood for reading and can’t be bothered lifting a book. I have other interests, and if you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll have noticed I spend more time reading books that could be described as spiritual, for want of a better word. That means more time actually meditating, not just reading about it.

I’ve become very choosy about what I want to read. There are times when I’m not interested in disappearing into a book - I don’t always want to get lost in more concepts, more ideas, more towering word palaces.

And then there are times I do. I’m in the midst of an 800 page epic that I’ve been nibbling on for a month and probably will for another few weeks yet. Sometimes a couple of pages before I nod off, others I can lose myself in it for an hour at the weekend or an evening.

I still make time for reading, it’s just that I have other interests. And I don’t read in public places so much now, or listen to audiobooks on the move, preferring to rest in presence.

I digress. Lets look back at some trends and favourite reads.

Japan

Japan definately dominated my reading for a period this year. Pico Iyer’s ‘A beginners guide to Japan - observations and provocations’ was a travel book with a difference, that explored Japanese culture through silence, stillness and humour, detailing all of it’s contradictions and making it seem completely fascinating and unknowable. Appreciated this during some hazy jet lagged nights.

‘Convenience Store Woman’ by Sayaka Murata was a darkly humourous and quietly subversive social critique of the conformity of Japanese culture, whilst ‘Butter’ by Asako Yuzuki was a slow burning exploration of desire and shame. I also packed Murakami’s ‘The city and it’s uncertain walls’ into my luggage as I had some notions about reading him in a jazz cafe on a rainy Tokyo afternoon. Enjoyed it’s slow exploration of memory, love, and the walls we build inside ourselves, but wish I had took in on the e-reader to save luggage space.

Ireland

Loved Donal Ryan’s ‘Heart be at peace, as I knew I would, a tender portrait of rural Irish life, legacy, and full of quiet grace. I also really enjoyed ‘The Benefactors’ by Wendy Erskine, such a distinct book about real lives in the North of Ireland. My head was buzzing after this one, such a uniquely structured novel, unlike anything else I read this year.

‘Air’ by John Boyne was a fine end to his elements series, and though it took me a while to get to it, really glad that I read ‘The Grass Ceiling’ by Eimear Ryan a powerful memoir of what it means to be a women in Irish sport, via the prism of GAA and camogie.

Thriller

Still love a good thriller, and ‘The Proving Ground’ by Micheal Connelly was for me as good as anything he’s done in recent years, breathing new life into his Lincoln Lawyer series.

Non Fiction also provided the thrills, and ‘The Wager’ by David Grann was a scarcely believable account of mutiny, shipwreck, murder, and survival against all the odds.

‘Men in Love’ by Irvine Welsh was also a lot of fun, as he returned with his favourite Leith gang in the aftermath of Trainspotting. Gave me more laughs than any other book this year, though there were parts I wish I hadn’t read.

Memoir & Spiritual

I continue to enjoy memoirs, especially on audiobook, and Michelle Zauner’s ‘Crying in H-mart’ was a moving memoir of grief, identity and Korean food, whilst ‘A freewheelin time - a memoir of greenwich village in the sixties by Suze Rotola, an enjoyable account of her time with Bob Dylan and life during a particularly febrile time in cultural history.

I read quite a few books that I suppose you could describe spiritual. We have to label everything, even though that’s precisely what these books point beyond. Books about awakening, direct path to reality, silence beyond thought - those are a few more labels I could use.

Anyway,Collision with the Infinite by Suzanne Segal was a startling account of a young woman losing her sense of self at a bus stop in Paris, and the subsequent years of searching for answers.

Awareness by Anthony De Mello holds special memories for me, as I read most of it sitting on bench in Glendalough, at the foot of Brockagh mountain, during the hottest spell of weather of the year. Deeply insightful, funny and grounded, I spent as much time sitting in presence with the this book as I did reading it. A couple of sentences would bring me into a deep resonance that I’d have to sit it down. Not so much a beach read, more a chillin at the cillín read. (A cillín is the small stone cottage I stayed at). Due back there next week and I can’t wait.

Summary

So that’s 2025 in books. I feel that I read widely and deeply, and I didn’t abandon anything either, not that it matters. Mixture of borrowed libby and library books, a couple of hardbacks I couldn’t resist and some for the e-reader. Enjoyed some audiobooks as well. But I spent less on books than I have in many years, and I’d say that’s set to continue. Always support your local library and bookshop - we’ll miss them when they’re gone.

I hope you too had a fruitful reading year in 2025, and if you have a recommendation you think would chime with me, let me know below. Hope you get some reading done over the christmas, and some nice titles/vouchers as gifts.