January 2025 Reads

Books I read in January 2025.

Easing into 2025.

1. Beware of Pity

— Stefan Zweig
My first by this author, and a slow starter but my book of the month.

Book cover: I Who Have never Known Men

2. Ethan Frome

— Edith Wharton
A bleak and beautifully written tale. I need to read more Wharton.

3. A Perfect Day to be Alone

— Nanae Aoyama
A tender, quirky, and sweet coming of age story. A great lazy-weekend read.

4. A Cage Went in Search of a Bird

— various
Short story anthologies are always a mixed bag. In this one, the only two stories that left an impression were ‘The Board’ by Elif Batuman and ‘God’s Doorbell’ by Naomi Alderman — the latter, a tale of AI building a tower of Babel.

5. Small Things Like These

— Claire Keegan
A novela that packs quite an emotional punch. My first Claire Keegan. Next up is Antarctica.

6. Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead

— Olga Tokarczuk
It didn’t hold my attention so well in the middle for a while, but it has a memorable main character in Janina Duszejko, and a good ending.

7. Picnic in the Storm

— Yukiko Motoya
Loosely connected collection of quirky and short stories with plenty of magical realism.

8. What the Dog Saw

— Malcom Gladwell
This month’s only work of non-fiction. Gladwell is a brilliant essayist. Particularly enjoyed ‘The Ketchup Conundrum’; learned the most from ‘John Rock’s Error,’ about the birth control pill.

9. Pietr the Latvian

— Georges Simenon
I’m typically not a fan of detective stories, although I’ve enjoyed the Detective Galileo stories by Keigo Higashino. The blurb for this one declares Simenon, ‘one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.’ — perhaps written by someone who has read little besides restaurant menus? This was just about okay enough and short enough to finish, but I doubt I will try another from this prolific author.

10. Leviathan Falls

— James S. A. Corey
The ninth and last installment of The Expanse series. I’ve spent a long time with these characters. Good bye. Jim, Naomi and Amos. An engaging and thoroughly entertaining space opera.

Read about my 10+ favorite books of 2025.

January 2025 reading stats

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