I read a real mixture of books again last year, from fiction to non-fiction, romance, history, classics and more. Read on as I share 23 more books I read in 2025.
Let’s start off by going back to the beginning of the year when I listened to Throttled by Lauren Asher. Such a lovely romance novel to start the year off with.
Next I read Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, that wasn’t the only book I read by this author last year, I also read one of the little Penguin Modern Classics, Investigations of a Dog. I would say out of the three Franz Kafka books I read, Metamorphosis is probably my favourite.
During the year I really got back into classics in a big way, I’ve now got a whole shelf dedicated to classics under my desk (the only space I have left to create a new shelf of books right now).
I also finally figured out what I want to focus on academically as a self-learner; history, classics and literature. Of course I still have an interest in nature but history as a whole is where it’s at for me right now, it can encompass so many areas (including the natural world).
On that note, if you’re interested, in December I shared a video on my YouTube channel – A Personal Curriculum from someone whose self-studied for years where I talk about the courses I’ve been taking on FutureLearn and books I’m reading for self-study.
In April I managed to get a discounted KU subscription for a few months which is when my deep dive into history really took off. One of the books I read was English History by Ahoy Publications. I learnt so much about history in just one book, it was such an interesting read.
I also read The Landscape Painter’s Workbook by Mitchell Albala during that time.
Other non-fiction books I read last year…
A Sketch of English Legal History by Frederic William Maitland. What a wild ride through the centuries!
Crime, Clemency & Consequence in Britain 1821-1839 by Alison Eatwell this was another enlightening book about how crime was dealt with in that era.
Now let’s return to more fiction books I read.
Defy Me and Imagine Me were another two books I read from the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi.
Another Penguin Modern classic (the small blue editions) I read was Italo Calvino’s The Distance of The Moon. Such imaginative storytelling and more than a little bit bonkers but it did get a little dark at the end.
One of my absolute favourite series was Rachel Mclean’s Dorset Murder series. I actually started off with book 8 on KU because it was one I’d seen around online before, then I went back to the start and read book 1… and now I have a total of 7 of them on my shelves. Including book 8, I’ve read 5 from the series so far. I really enjoy ‘travelling around’ Dorset in my head when I’m reading these. I’m looking forward to getting started with the next book in the series soon.
Another two Freida McFadden books I read last year – Ward D and The Tenant.
Of course I got the latest book in the Adam Green series by Rob Rinder, The Protest, when it was released in June. It was great to revisit the world of Adam Green and read another book in the series.
I really wanted something spooky to read in October so I got a copy of Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu for my Kindle (it also gave me a Victorian book to read for a Victorian reading challenge I joined during the month). Another spooky book I read was We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
I started listening to the BBC Radio play of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on audiobook from the library, then I bought a Penguin edition for my shelf, so I could read along at the same time as listening to it. David Tennant in particular was absolutely brilliant, it generally has a really good cast though. Listening to/reading this play has definitely made me want to read more Shakespeare. I’m also taking a course on Shakespeare on FutureLearn right now (it’s one of the courses I mentioned in the video above).
I finally got round to finishing the second ACOTAR book A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas. Another one of those books where the length of time I took to read it doesn’t have any bearing on how much I actually enjoyed it! I just get distractible from long books sometimes when I’ve got *insert number* of books I want to read at any one time.
And finally, the last book I finished reading in 2025 was Gemma Morr’s Untamed Heart which I finished after Christmas. Am I in my Cowboy Romance era as people say? Most definitely after reading that one.
I included Frogs and Other Plays by Aristophanes in the photo because I read Frogs last year but I still need to read the other two plays in the book to count it towards my number of books read. Perhaps I’ll finish reading it this year, I’d like to. I really enjoyed reading Frogs.
Catch up on my posts from 2024, if you’ve not read them already – 14 Books I Read in the First Half of 2024 and 24 More Books I Read in 2024.
What was your favourite read of 2025?
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