Our Backlist Picks for 2025

01/29/25 • 48 min

This week we learn more about each other and get into the books on our backlist, including our recommendations for non-fiction and fiction reads. We also take a look at the longlist of the Dublin Literary Award and talk about surprises, omissions and favourites that you might want to add to your own TBR.

Recent reads

Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Histories by Diarmuid Hester

Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna

From the backlist/longlist

Hold Still: A Memoir by Sally Mann

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

King by Jonathan Eig

When the Clock Broke by John Ganz

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Safon

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks

Ducks by Kate Beaton

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

Audition by Pip Adam

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent reads

Nothing Ever Just Disappears: Seven Hidden Histories by Diarmuid Hester

Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna

From the backlist/longlist

Hold Still: A Memoir by Sally Mann

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

King by Jonathan Eig

When the Clock Broke by John Ganz

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Safon

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Maud Martha by Gwendolyn Brooks

Ducks by Kate Beaton

Boy Parts by Eliza Clark

Audition by Pip Adam

Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Our First Episode

Join us for our very first episode in which we quiz each other on how we read, talk all things holiday reading and deliver some great recommendations for new, contemporary and classic books you might want to read next.

Books mentioned in this episode:

What we’ve read:

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blanché

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan

My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr

The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş

She’s Always Hungry by Eliza Clark

Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village by Marit Kapla

What we’re looking forward to:

Playworld by Adam Ross

Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis

Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity and Finding Your Life's Purpose by Martha Beck

Love in Exile by Shon Faye

Also mentioned in this episode:

The Stand, Pet Semetary, 11.22.63 by Stephen King

The Storygraph

Harbour Books (@harbourbooks)

Silent BookClub Whitstable (@silentbookclubwhitstable)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Reading As an Act of Resistance

This week, we have a chat about why reading is an act of resistance and delve into the books we turn to during a crisis–whether climactic, sociological or existential. We also discuss our favourite reads for a complete escape.

Recent reads

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Reading for resistance

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The Young Team by Graeme Armstrong

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

For a crisis

Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie

On Freedom by Maggie Nelson