Q1-Wrap Up: The best and worst of January through March 2025

The start of April brings Q1 of my reading-year to a close, making it time for a little check-in. My quarterly wrap-ups have taken many shapes over the past few years, but this year I’m trying to keep them a little more concise and structured, for both my- and your ease. Out of a beautifully rounded 30 books in 3 months: here are my highlights.

Reading-goal-check-in

At the start of the year, I made the resolution to use my Goodreads Reading Challenge as a maximum rather than a minimum of books I wanted to read. The idea behind this, was that I wanted to be more mindful about the books I picked up and spent my time on. Hopefully, this will lead to a reduction in the number of “mediocre” books by the end of the year, leaving only the ones that I am very passionate about (either in love or disappointment). As I’m currently making my way through my 30th book of the year, I’m a little bit ahead of schedule, but this “arbitrary number” was a great reminder to slow down once in a while, which was the entire point behind it. Going over the list of 30, all but a handful were ones that I was extremely excited for, so I’m happily continuing  this approach.

Books I loved (and will recommend to anyone)

“Best read of the year so far” goes to Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. It’s a contemplative literary fiction about an atheistic woman who abandons her city life and marriage to hole up in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Monaro. Grief, religion, forgiveness, meaning, and some light elements of pandemic-fiction all harmonize perfectly and created a deeply emotionally resonant experience for me.

On the very opposite end of the emotional spectrum is The Will of the Many by James Islington, which was a favourite just because I had so much escapist-fun reading it. This is a very traditional high-fantasy chosen-one-story set at a magical academy in a Roman-inspired fantasy nation. It follows all of the tropes and beats you’ll be familiar with, but executes incredibly well. Sometimes that’s enough to make for an amazing reading experience…

Books I loved (but I think I might be very niche to me)

I’ve basically invented this category to shoehorn in two books that I really loved, but am fairly sure that I’m going to be in the minority for. Both these books have low average ratings, and for both I can understand why others found them difficult to connect to. Yet both are in that subgenre of literary-weird-eco-fiction with a very inward and personal perspective, written in stunning prose, that is basically my reading-catnip. And I absolutely adored them both, in all their oddity. I’m talking about Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias and State of Paradise by Laura van den Berg. In the first, a coastal city has been all but abandoned after a toxic algal bloom made living conditions unsafe. The only people left are those without the means to evacuate. Among them is our protagonist: a woman working as a care-giver for a rich family’s disabled child. In the second, a female ghostwriter returns to her Floridian childhood home, where she finds herself disorientated by the wildness of the landscape, strange (un)natural weather-events and old family-dynamics that take on new forms.

Another very much “me-book” has to be Three Wild Dogs and the Truth, a memoir by Markus Zusak. Upon its announcement, I summed this up as “a combination of three things I love most in the world: books, dogs and Markus Zusaks writing”. That description couldn’t have been more accurate, so of course I loved this to pieces. In his signature disarming prose he relays experiences of his own (family-)life and writing career by the “problem-fosterdogs” he took in over the years. Witty, poignant, heartwarming and utterly emotionally devastating; just as you might expect from Zusak.  

Books I wanted to love (but didn’t)

Most disappointing has to go to Moving Mountains, a collection of essays on nature and disability edited by Louise Kenward. I love this topic and was hoping to find new voices to check out in the future. Unfortunately, the individual stories, as well as the collection as a whole were incredibly underwhelming. I wrote a full review on my reasons here. Worst of my reads was Nameless Things by Ernest Jensen, a first-contact horror novel that I read as an ARC. As mentioned in my review: I don’t say this likely, but this genuinely is in a state where you cannot justify asking money for it.

Other Media 

As you know, I’m not much of a TV- or film-watcher, but I did have my eye on a few films, series and games releasing in Q1.Unfortunately didn’t get around to any, except for one. One of my “nostalgia games” I played as a kid/teen was Pillars of Eternity, and I’ll admit that I had a bit of an obsession with the lore of that game. Because of that, there was no way I could pass up Avowed, Obsidian’s new game in that same universe. Although the game itself had its flaws, I was happy to immerse myself in that world for a couple of hours again, and recommend it if you’re in the market for a fantasy action-RPG.

Currently Reading: 

I’m fairly confident that my current read is going to be an impactful one, if only because of the time I’ve spent with it. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is one of the “longest books on my TBR”, both in page count, as in time that it’s been in my possession unread. Its almost 1000-pages bulk, as well as its hyped reputation had me beyond intimidated, but I’ve finally gathered the courage to delve in. (The new stunning 20th anniversary covers might have helped a little in that motivation…) So far, it’s different than what I’d been expecting. A bit less gothic and a lot more English… Time will tell about my final rating, but I’m really enjoying it so far.  

Anticipating:

Q2 has a packed line-up of books coming our way, many of which I’m eagerly anticipating. You can find my full list, including descriptions and relevant links here, but I’d like to shout out these ones in particular.  

-            A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett the sequel to one of my favourite books of 2024: I’ve been waiting for this for over a year now.

-            Overgrowth by Mira Grant because “Annihilation meets the Day of the Triffids” by Seanan McGuire can’t be anything other than fantastic right…?

-            Helm by Sarah Hall

A novel by an author I’ve loved in the past, told from the perspective of a personified version of the Wind… If anything, this will be a unique and interesting read.

Have I missed any great (upcoming or recently released) titles? Or do you have any other recommendations that I might love: feel free to sent me a message here or on Goodreads. Until then, happy reading and have an amazing Q2 and beyond.