My Top Five Reads This Year

Introduction

I have read a lot this year, far more than I have written, and I feel that the literal soaking that has happened (pun wholly intended) has benefited me enormously as a writer. So, as writers do, I thought I would write about it for no real reason other than to share what I have read and loved, and why.

Now, I am no Annie Kapur or Rachel Deeming, but please find below a montage of thoughts on my top five reads.

(To Note: the numbers do not decree any hierarchy, I loved them all equally, but for very different reasons.)

1. All Fours by Miranda July

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, for Female Fiction 2025, All Fours is a literary story about a 45-year-old semi-famous artist, mother and wife who, instead of heading out on a lone road trip across the USA, stops on a whim a few miles from her house, and checks into a nondescript motel for a few weeks. Here, she transforms her environment and embarks on a wholly different journey - one of sexual possibility.

At the heart of the story is a tender, soul-searching exploration of what it means to be female and ageing. From the wretchedness of a complicated childbirth, to a deep consideration of the merits of marriage and monogamy, through an enlightened exploration of sexual identity, to the bewildering impact of libido-sucking menopause, this is a no-holes-barred story.

Miranda July is frank and explicit throughout. Her writing is honest, rummaging amongst the darkest corners of relationships, emotions, and biologies of womanhood with sticky, probing fingers. All Fours is a captivating coming-of-middle-age story steeped in heart, dissonance, nuance, possibility, and connection.

2. The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025, this feminist dystopian story explores how societal systems, set up to keep us all safe, can be frighteningly exploited.

We follow Sara, historian, wife, mother, daughter, as she finds herself detained for what an algorithm has deemed her "high risk score". The fact that she has never committed an actual crime does not matter because if her dreams are to be believed, it is highly likely that she will.

The story raises many philosophical questions about protecting freedoms and the role technology increasingly plays in helping keep us safe. It is a soul-disturbing story about distrust, corruption, duplicity, manipulation, and abuse of power, all veiled under the pretence of "for the greater good".

3. All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield

This is a memoir written by a man who has spent his life at the heart of the contemporary art world. It centres on his relationship with Inigo Philbrick, an art dealer who is simultaneously a genius, a rogue, a great friend, and an inscrutable player. He is a real-life person whose double-dealing, devil-may-care exploits prove enormously fascinating to follow.

This is a wonderful read for anybody hooked (as I am) by art and the power that drives the gallery scene.

4. Flesh by David Szalay

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, this is the story of a young Hungarian named Istvan as he makes his way through life. It is a book about chance, relationships, and connection. Throughout, Istvan is rarely the architect of his own life story. Most often, he is a bystander, dragged along by the guile or desire of others.

What is fascinating about the storytelling is how David Szalay downplays the events in Istvan's life. Each turning point is written with the emphasis not on what has happened, but on its consequences. This clever and subtle inversion of traditional storytelling superbly underscores how little bearing we have on our own lives beyond what physically compels us.

5. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

The 2023 Booker Prize winner is a masterpiece of raw, propulsive literary fiction.

Eilish is the mother of an everyday working-class Irish family. But, as Ireland crumbles into authoritarian rule, so do all the freedoms they and everyone around them hold dear. The question is, as nothing materially changes around them (same house, same street, same people), how long will it take the family to believe the life they had has gone forever, and what will their disbelief cost them?

Paul Lynch pens palpable anxiety into every paragraph. This is not a story; it is a warning, a call to arms, a work of earth-shunting brilliance.

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Author's Note: If you have read any of these books and have a view on them, please let me know. And/or, if you want to recommend a book you think I will love, I would be delighted to hear about it.

Thank you.

Love, CJ xx