Photo of the cover of The War of the Ring, with a painting by John Howe of the Oliphaunt and the Ithilien rangers
The War of the Ring, book 8 of History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien. This covers the drafts of Lord of the Rings for about the last two-thirds of Two Towers, and the first half of Return of the King.
(photo dates from 17th April)
#Read2025 #Tolkien
Apologies I forgot the alt-text. (My laptop doesn’t remind me in the same way my phone does.)
Both screenshots show book covers. 59 in total, organised in six columns and five rows across two images. All can be found by searching for #read2025 and my account.
Short reflections can be found in my timeline with #read2025. My 2026 stack is invitingly waiting for me, but please also share your best books from 2025.
4/4
A short #read2025 thread.
After a late holiday surge, #read2025 is done! Fifty-nine books. 32 fiction to 27 non-fiction. A few recommendations in next posts.
1/4
iPad showing book cover “Last One Out” by Jane Harper
The reviews are mixed but I think this is my favourite of hers so far. A quiet and contemplative examination of grief — for people lost, for a town dying, and for relationships fractured. A mystery keeps this moving speedily along. #read2025
“The Eagle & The Crow” by JM Field
Field explains Gamilaraay kinship systems with generosity and mathematical insight, even as he reminds us: ‘This will be difficult to express in the language of my coloniser. I will fail. I will try.’ The work he asks of readers feels like the least we can offer in return. #read2025
The cover of my copy of Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls, by Jeremy Lachlan. The illustration shows a rickety bridge over a chasm filled with lava, with grotesque statues on the walls. A person in a tunic and flowing brown hair walks along the bridge away from us.
#read2025
Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls, by Jeremy Lachlan.
Continues where the previous book left off with heaps of action, filling in all the background lore along the way, and bringing it to a satisfying conclusion. Lachlan manages all of this very well without it ever feeling forced.
Illustrated with woodblock prints by Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi and Kunisada One Hundred Poems from Old Japan A New Translation of the Hyakunin Isshu Compiled by Fujiwara no Teika Translated by Michael Freiling
Meditative and calming. I wish I could read the originals, as the translations seem to vary wildly of the few I have looked up elsewhere. #read2025
Book cover “Eat that Frog!” by Brian Tracy.
I’d forgotten I’d read this in 2019. Back then I said “Somewhere along the way the general statements, made-up statistics, and focus on 'money, money, money' tipped me over the edge.” Still true in this revised edition. #read2025
iPad showing book cover “Black convicts: how slavery shapes Australia” by Santilla Chingaipe
A fascinating dig into the archives to reveal the history of Black convicts in Australia. The stories of individual people bring these archival findings to life. #read2025
a beach with a house, a gull and a seal. In one and and only rubber boot is blood.
Cover of Stane Jones "Schamanenpass" with montains, clouds and a lonely man on a pass height
17. of my #read2025 was another audiobook, again by Regine Kölpin was this the last of the Ingo-Tjarks-Mysteries with the title „Den Letzten beißen die Robben".
18. was def. the better Mystery. It was by Stan Jones namend in ger. „Schamanenpass“, a very cold alaska novel with an Iñupiat Detective 🔍
The cover of my copy of the Angel Tree, by Daphne Benedis-Grab. The illustration has a Christmas tree with coloured lights in the snow, surrounded by the silhouettes of four children, one holding the harness of a dog.
#read2025
The Angel Tree, by Daphne Benedis-Grab.
Four kids try to find the identity of the person who set up the Angel Tree where people post wishes and other people make them come true. Tween friendship and mystery as cute as expected. Community generosity that made me tear up several times.
“The 5 Types of Wealth” by Sahil Bloom
The opening feels familiar to the genre, but Bloom really hits his stride once he tackles each of the five types of wealth, with a mix of insight and actionable tips. I suspect different chapters will resonate differently depending on what you need at that time. #read2025
iPad showing book cover: “The Shortest History of Australia” by Mark McKenna
McKenna’s thematic organisation reveals fresh insights into Australian history that a traditional timeline might miss. An excellent read, with chapters that can easily stand alone as even shorter reads. #read2025
The cover of my copy of Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds. A young person crouches holding a lantern in a room with stone stairs and columns, with red cracks in the floor and plants climbing the columns.
#read2025
Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds, by Jeremy Lachlan.
A very good book. A chase through the Manor, a labyrinthine world between worlds, to rescue Jane’s father and find her missing mother. A direct style, giving Jane a clear voice and making great use of short sentences.
Book cover: “The Right Hand” by Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks
A promising premise with mixed results. Saintilan-Stocks had access to chiefs of staff for some of the world’s most powerful leaders. Some conversations offered insight into how these partnerships work. Others didn’t make much of an impression despite having real potential. #read2025
Book cover: “Earthquake” by Niki Savva
It’s not Christmas without Savva providing her incisive political analysis, this time expertly dissecting Dutton and the LNP. I didn’t think it needed so many of her columns, but still a good read. #read2025
The cover of my copy of Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi.
#read2025
Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi.
Aru lights the forbidden lamp in her mother’s Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture and releases a demon, which launches her on a quest to prevent him ending time.
The cover of my daughter’s copy of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan.
#read2025
Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan.
(Listened to the audiobook with daughter C.)
Camp Half-Blood is in danger as the magical tree that helps to protect it has been poisoned, so Percy sets out to find the Golden Fleece to save it.
Book cover: “The Mushroom Tapes (Conversations on a triple murder trial)” by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, Sarah Krasnostein
I’m not that interested in the case itself, but I’m absolutely here for what these three think about it. I soon adapted to the conversation format and wanted the book to be much, much longer. #read2025
iPad showing book cover image: “Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work” by Sarah Wynn-Williams
A conflicting read. On the one hand, an absolute jawdropper about shenanigans at Facebook, and stories of the filthy rich. On the other hand, the author can hardly absolve herself of all responsibility in the way she seemingly does here. #read2025
iPad showing book cover image: “Uses for Obsession” by Ben Shewry.
Read this after hearing Shewry on a podcast. More than the typical chef memoir—honest, introspective personal essays with an insider’s view of the profession. Uneven and occasionally self-aggrandising, but I think that’s more a function of the form than Shewry himself. #read2025
Book cover: “Looking From the North” by Henry Reynolds
A truly illuminating read. Reynolds makes a compelling case that northern Australia’s colonisation was fundamentally different from the south—and could not have been achieved without Chinese, Japanese, Pacific Islander and First Nations people. Essential reframing of Aus history. #read2025
The cover of my father-in-law’s copy of Father Brown (the Wordsworth Classics edition) by GK Chesterton. It shows a painting of a London street in the fog.
#read2025
“Father Brown” (the Wordsworth Classics edition) by GK Chesterton.
A collection of Father Brown stories written between 1911 and 1936. Not *all* of the stories, but a decent number of them. I’d never read them before and asked my father in law if I could borrow his.
Book cover: “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng
I really enjoyed the deft interweaving of the story lines, and the examination of what makes a ‘good’ mother. #read2025
Book cover: “Shooting Balibo: Blood and Memory in East Timor” by Tony Maniaty
Two weeks out from the 50th anniversary of the execution of the ‘Balibo Five’, I thought it time to pull this from the shelves. Maniarty intersperses memories of 1975 with the shooting of the movie. A really useful read to understand what happened. #read2025
The Hobbit, by Tolkien, read aloud to Miss R (6).
#Read2025
Photo of the cover of the book Darkfall. The cover shows a fantastical ship with masts by no sails on a unsettled sea at the bottom of a cliff. The sky is orange.
Darkfall, by Isobelle Carmody
I first read this probably within a year of release, in the late 90s when I was in high school. I think it's amazingly written. Heartbreaking with ironic tragedy, tense with political intrigue.
On to read the next book...
#Read2025
The cover of the book Second First Impressions, by Sally Thorne. The cover is lavender with two stylised people viewed from above sitting on separate park benches reading.
#Read2025
Second First Impressions, by Sally Thorne
Ruthie Midona has various traumas and feels safe working in a retirement village, but her temp has a plan to get her a man, as long as it’s not Teddy Prescott, the big boss’s son, who has moved in to be the errand boy for a couple of residents.
Book cover “A Year of Marvellous Ways” by Sarah Winman
Dreamlike, folktale prose that’s genuinely beautiful at the sentence level. But I struggled to keep track of small moments, which made the ending less meaningful than it was meant to be. #read2025
