We're celebrating the end of the year with a look back over our favourite reads of 2025, from new releases to backlist gems, best book club books, best non-fiction, best comfort reads and more. Between us we read over 350 books in 2025. Listen in to hear the ones we loved best. We've also got a radical new idea for a book club involving cold-water swimming and the works of Robert B. Parker, and how to embrace DNFing without guilt. Join us for recommendations to see you through the festive season and set your new reading year off in style.

With Phil Chaffee and Sarah Oliver

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Booklist

Mother Mary Come to Me by Arundhati Roy

The Silver Book by Olivia Laing

Crudo by Olivia Laing

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngoze Adiche

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Heart the Lover by Lily King

Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart

Lake Shore by Gary Shteyngart

Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm

The First Man by Albert Camus

Robert B. Parker novels

Question 7 by Richard Flanagan

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Muybridge by Guy Delisle

The Sense & Sensibility Diaries by Emma Thompson

The Lockwood & Co novels by Jonathan Stroud

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple

Maurice and Marilyn, or A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhurst

Agent Zo by Clare Mulley

The Devil Two Step by Jamie Quattro

Train Dreams by Denis Johnston

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnston

The Director by Daniel Kelman

We Do Not Part by Han Kang

How to End a Story by Helen Garner (3 volume diaries collection)

The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner

This House of Grief by Helen Garner

Eucalyptus by Murray Bail

Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux

Nonesuch by Francis Spufford

Pet Sematary 1983 cover

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