I'm not much of a "TBR-reader", nor a New-Year-goalsetter, but this is one trend I've gotten on the bandwagon with over the past few years. At the start of a new calendar-year, I set a list of "X books for 20X" aside that I'm excited to get to throughout the year. Obviously, there are more then just these 25, but I'm hoping to highlight and priorize the following few for various reasons.
You know the drill by now: 25 books, split between frontlist, backlist, and titles overdue for a reread. All with a small rationale as to why they're on my priority-list.
Backlist (published before 2025)
1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Genre: historical fantasy Reason: I traditionally open this list with the oldest book on my physical TBR, which happens to be this behemoth. I've heard almost nothing but great things about this one, but have been so intimidated by its size and apparent complexity, that I haven't gotten around to it. Hoping to change that this year.
2. The Will of the Many by James Islington
Genre: high fantasy
Reason: When this book released back in 2023, I didn't think it'd be one I'd be interested in. Since then, it's become pretty much the most hyped modern fantasy among my real-life friends ánd the bookish community at large, and I have FOMO. I'm hoping this lives up to all the hype it's received.
3. Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Genre: high fantasy
Reason: Simple; I started The Stormlight Archives in 2024 and I'm already hooked. Can't wait to see these where Sanderson takes these characters and this world.
4. Model Home by Rivers Solomon
Genre: literary haunted-house horror
Reason: I'm a fan of haunted-house stories, specifically as a metaphor for real-life grief, ánd I'm a fan of River Solomons writing. This was a match made in heaven.
5. Blindsight by Peter Watts
Genre: science fiction
Reason: one of the most famous and popular works of classic sci-fi to feature a first-contact scenario. This one just can't be omitted from my shelves.
6. Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Genre: contemporary/literary fiction
Reason: to be fair, I'm not a Sally Rooney-fan-girl, but I'm always at least interested in her novels. With Intermezzo being so many peoples literary favourite of 2024, I want to know what all the hype is about. Judging by its themes of family, grief and the turbulent life-phase of late 20's/early 30's, this might just become my new favourite by her.
7. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Genre: literary fiction
Reason: coming off the recommendations of so many reviewers that I trust, as well as a bunch of literary prize-nomination, I've been wanting to read this book since shortly after its 2024-release, but just didn't get around to it. I've sampled a few chapters and have been loving the prose, so I can't wait to sink my teeth into this fully this year.
8. An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth by Anna Moschovakis
Genre: literary fiction
Reason: I've had a fiction-debut by a poet on almost every single one of my favourite-lists for the past few years, and am trying to ride that wave with this one. With its subjectmatter (chronic illness, acting and literally learning to rebalance your life when the ground's been knocked from underneath you), I'm hoping for an impactful and resonant story, told in stunning, lyrical prose.
9. The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft
Genre: literary fiction
Reason: similarly to Stone Yard Devotional, this is a 2024-release I've been wanting to get to, but didn't. I love fiction that explores language, translation and the proces of changing a text by converting it into a different language. Therefore I'm especially interested to see what such a celebrated translator like Jennifer Croft (mostly known for her translations of the works of Olga Tokarczuk to English) does with it. Based on the reviews I've read, I'm just hoping it's not too weird to my taste...
10. Moving Mountains: Writing Nature through Illness and Disability by Louise Kenward
Genre: Non-fiction/Essays on disability and chronic illness
Reason:
Frontlist (2025-releases)
11. Three Wild Dogs and the Truth by Markus Zusak
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Reason: "There’s a madman dog beside me, and the hounds of memory ahead of us, It’s love and beasts and wild mistakes, and regret, but never to change things." Say no more: I'm sold. It's three of my favourite things combined: Markus Zusak's words, dogs and memoirs.
12. A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: high fantasy
Reason: The Tainted Cup made my top 10 of 2025, and I can't wait to see where Robert Jackson Bennett takes this series and its characters from here.
13. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Genre: literary fiction
Reason: 100% virtue of the authors name; I've loved her previous two books and hope that a third favourite by her will cement her as an all-time favourite author for me.
14. Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Genre: science fiction
Reason: again, an auto-buy fully based on the author's name. Shroud could be this man's grocery-list, but as long as he gives it the original sci-fi touch we got to know from him, I'm reading it.
15. Owning It: Tales from our disabled childhoods by Jen Campbell
Genre: non-fiction, essays/short-stories about disability and illness in childhood
Reason: I'm a huge fan of Jen, not only of her work as an author, but as a bookish creator and reviewer as well. I've pre-ordered every single book she's published so far and haven't been disappointed yet. Here, she collected essays and short-stories by fellow authors who navigated childhood with a disability. I'm hoping to find a lot of recognition and hopefully a bunch of new author whom solo-work I'd like to check out too.
16. The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa
Genre: literary fiction, magical realism
Reason: in contrast to the previous few: this is a book I picked up purely based of the premise. Magical realism, Japan, grief and climate-disasters... I'm interested in what it does with all of that in such a short amount of pages (160).
Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner
Genre: horror
Reason: this is a bit of a wildcard, but if you're going to write a horror-novel and blurb it as "for fans of T. Kingfisher and Jeff VanderMeer’s cli-fi cosmic horror"... You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention...
18. Sunbirth by An Yu
Genre: magical realism
Reason: similar to Charlotte McConaghy's new novel, this too is a third novel by an author that has written two favourites in the past. Hopefully, this third book cements their spot as an all-time favourite author for me.
19. Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch
Genre: literary fiction
Reason: these final two new releases are both ARC's I've received for review and technically have to cover, but am just as excited for nonetheless. This has themes of chronic illness, coming of age and the music-scene of the 1990's, and has my name written all over it's blurb. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes hoping the disability-representation is on point, so I can love and recommend this one.
20. The Unmapping by Denise S. Robbins
Genre: magical realism, climate fiction
Reason: another ARC I'm hoping to get to sooner than later. The Unmapping is a contemporary speculative fiction novel in the vein of "quiet apocalypses" like Emily St. John Mandels novels. It's the debut publication by an imprint by a bookish-creator on Youtube who I enjoy watching. Extra motivation for me to support them and their efforts.
Rereads
21. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: high fantasy
Reason: there is absolutely no reasoning behind this one. Book 3 is not coming out (probably ever), and it's not like I lack in large fantasy series to read... I still somehow find myself drifting back to The Name of The Wind, at times sampling chapters of it when I'm in need of a bit of "comfort-reading". Rather than sample just loose chapters, I thought I might as well plan a full reread, perhaps including book 2 as well.
22. Borne by Jeff Vandermeer
Genre: fantasy/sci-fi
Reason: I've accepted the fact that there's no reading-year without Vandermeer for me. Since he has no new books scheduled to release in 2025, and I've only just completed my reread of the Souther Reach Series, I plan to return to one of my other bizarre favourites by him.
23. This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko
Genre: middle-grade horror, contemporary
Reason: this book has had a special place in my heart ever since I first read it, as a middle-grade experience that spoke very personally to an experience I had and know that only very few people in the world will share. Because it's such me-book, I've had the goal to write a dedicated review/disection of it, so that I can properly sings its praises and hope that those other few people with this experience get their hands on it. I still haven't gotten around to that, as I haven't found the words yet. 2025 is the year I'm rereading this and trying again.
24. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Genre: haunted-house horror
Reason:
25. Everything Under by Daisy Johnson
Genre: literary magical realism
Reason: last but not least; I'm returning to one of the very first ARC's I ever reviewed for this page, and one I adored at the time. Although the atmosphere of this book was so memorable that I can almost "smell" it whenever I think back on it, I've forgotten some of the story itself and am eager to give this a reread.
A few bookish goals...
Read more mindful and slow down. As a challenge to myself, I'm attempting to use my Goodreads reading-goal not as a minimum, but a maximum instead. I'm aiming for a maximum of 100 books to read in 2025, hopefully therefore being more selective about the titles I pick up, more willing to DNF-something I'm not enjoying, and eventually ending up with fewer mediocre books on my list at the end of the year.
Keep up with this blog, despite some big changes to come in my own life. I've come to love my time here, and am really trying to schedule that "me-time" into next year too. Maybe I'll even branch out a little by starting a Bookstagram, but I'm frankly not decided on that yet...
Make an effort do some writing of my own again. I love writing fiction, mostly for myself as a creative outlet, and haven't allowed myself enough time for that in the past few years. I'm hoping to prioritise this in my free-time too this year.
