New to the wonderful world of Agatha Christie? Not sure where to start? Read on for some recommendations from across her canon, from creepy Marple novels and classic Poirot mystery…
The Bostonians by Henry James (1886)
Henry James is a genius of social dynamics, which is evident in this classic, yet lesser-appreciated, novel that looks at politics, social class, and the ever-evolving “Woman Question”. First coming…
Meurtre au Champagne (Sparkling Cyanide) by Agatha Christie (Book review)
It was really fun to read this Agatha Christie in French! And the title was also beautifully translated….. This book has one of my fave Agatha Christie tropes: murder in…
We Were There: How Black Culture, Community, and Resistance Shaped Modern Britain by Lanre Bakare (Book review)
A deep social history that goes beyond the archives and trad narratives to rescue the real stories behind multicultural Britain and rewrite dominant discourse on Britishness. The subject matter is…
The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag (Book review)
This is a really interesting and quietly powerful book set among the Tuvan people in Mongolia. It’s a memoir that explores the emotions and rites of passage of a childhood…
Debout les morts by Fred Vargas (Book review)
I have to say, I love Fred Vargas. She’s one of my favourite French crime writers because of how she blends history with crime and mystery so effortlessly. These books…
Lullaby by Leïla Slimani (Book review)
This had been on my tbr for a while: I remember it making quite a splash when it first came out. And part of the reading experience was finally seeing…
Otages by Nina Bouraoui (Book review)
Pictured: reading in Montmartre with an iconic black cat in the vicinity. I picked up this slim French novel a while ago. When I started reading, I realised it was…
Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard (Review)
This was a lovely, slim read that had been sitting on my bookshelf for a while. Beard is a highly respected classicist, and in this essay, she explores how ancient…
Flesh by David Szalay (Book review)
This book is really well written and I finished it quite quickly, but it also left me feeling a bit empty. There’s a bluntness to the narrative and a lack…
Et la joie de vivre by Gisèle Pelicot (Book review)
Really pleased I read this in French: this is such an important memoir and one that I think will stand the test of time. This book is a great testament…
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (Review)
I get the hype with this one: I read this pretty quickly & it’s not a short book! Set during the 1962-3 UK Big Freeze in a village outside Bristol,…
Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh (Book review)
This debut novel by Chukwuebuka Ibeh is a rewarding read; I devoured it and enjoyed discussing it at book club. It’s a layered queer/family story about a boy, Obiefuna, who…
I Want to Go Home But I’m Already There by Róisín Lanigan (Review)
This book is pitched as a millennial horror story about today’s bankrupt rental landscape. And I could definitely relate to much of the shit landlord and substandard housing chat in…
A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller (Review)
As a big fan of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, I had high hopes for A View from the Bridge, and it didn’t disappoint. The play is short,…
Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery by Anthony Wynne (Review)
I picked up this book because I’d recently visited the Scottish Highlands, and I was in the mood for a classic murder mystery set in that landscape. And indeed, some…
Up the Junction by Nell Dunn (Review)
This was an interesting little Virago book that lifts the lid on 1960s factory girls in London through a series of short stories. Expect trauma delivered staccato style and sleek characters…
1930s Literature: Reading Books from (& about) the Age of Anxiety
There’s something about the 1930s that keeps pulling me back as a reader, in a way that’s almost subconscious. It’s a dynamic decade: suspended between wars, thick with anxiety, experimentation,…
Queer Yearning in Books: Novels & Memoirs about Desire
If you’re looking for queer books that sit with yearning, identity, community, and the messiness of being human: here are some that have really stayed with me. Romance is present…
Festive Reads: Seasonal Reads for Christmas Time
If you’re after festive reads that go beyond pure cheer: books that sit somewhere between warmth and darkness, comfort and unease, here are some seasonal favourites that really worked for…
Scottish Literature: Books by Scottish Authors
If you’re looking to read more Scottish books or books by Scottish authors, here’s a small but mighty pile I’ve really enjoyed recently. There’s a lot of history here, a…
Under the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino
This collection of short stories has an interesting history: it was meant to be part of a larger collection of stories, The Five Senses, where each story was connected to…
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
A stunning debut from 2016, this vast multigenerational epic starts in the 18th century in the Asante kingdom, and follows the descendants of one woman. You have one family line…
Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
This aesthetic Penguin Archives edition was a really lovely read thanks to the beautiful prose of McCullers. This narrative was first published in 1941: it’s a classical tragedy set in…
Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor
A new discovery for me, Trevor won the Whitbread three times and was shortlisted for the Booker prize five times, so I am clearly late to the game! He comes…
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
I’ve been on a bit of a Muriel Spark binge, and Memento Mori is a great classic one to read! It’s a thriller that examines death and ageing, but in…
Naiset joita ajattelen öisin by Mia Kankimäki, trans. Douglas Robinson
This book was a bit of a publishing sensation when it came out in Finland 2020, and it’s been translated as: The Women I Think about at Night: Traveling the…
Naiset joita ajattelen öisin, kir. Mia Kankimäki
Ajattelin kirjoittaa muutaman ajatuksen tästä kirjasta myös suomeksi! Kuuntelin tämän vasta nyt äänikirjana Otavalta, mutta kirjan maine ja aihe olivat tuttuja jo ennestään. Kirjaa oli helppo seurata, ja se toimi…
Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda
The premise of the book states that this is a story about two people, spending the night together (awake) in an empty apartment before they say goodbye, and both of…
Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh
This book is a bit of a head-fuck, and not necessarily in a bad way. It’s the kind of book that leaves you low-key thinking, what the actual fuck is…
A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup
I read this after finding out about it on the Swinging Christies podcast and it was fun to switch things up with this relatively scientific non-fiction read about potions! Arsenic,…
Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
A sultry book about first love, desire, and growing up in a small Irish community. What happens in your bones and your heart when you’re with a person? If there’s…
Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan
This was my first non-fiction read of 2026 and I really enjoyed starting the year with this breezy and opinionated perspective on the much mythologised and maligned Anne Boleyn. I’ve…
Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings, edited by Tanya Kirk
This was my final read of 2025, and it was a really enjoyable one. This collection brings together a superb selection of classic ghost stories from writers such as E….
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Never have read any of his books, this was maybe a weird way to start, but this honest take on a writer’s life is one that’s been on my shelves…
A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton
M.C. Beaton, aka Marion Chesney, is originally from Glasgow, so it was quite interesting to read her perspective on the Highlands, especially as I’m currently staying here myself. It added…
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
First coming out in 1960, I’ve enjoyed hearing about this short story collection on the 1960s Agatha Christie podcast The Swinging Christies, so it made for a great seasonal &…
Mrs. S by K.Patrick
This is a sultry summery novel, a weird one to read at the end of the year, but one that I found myself enjoying a lot! Good prose and premise…
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
What a fun Hercule Poirot story this was! From 1937, we have a “Victorian” lady who is being visited by younger relatives. They want her money, but she’s not going…
Transformations by Anne Sexton
The collection consists of retellings of fairy tales, and it’s hard not to think of something like Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber while reading it. There’s a similar sense of…
Ariel by Sylvia Plath
This is first time I’ve properly sat down and read Ariel as a complete collection, and I wasn’t surprised by how immediately it clicked for me and how much I…
Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark
This was such a great little book! My second Muriel Spark of recent times, this is the sort of book where you just sort of let the story and the…
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
This is a fun and engaging read. It feels very Victorian, very Collins, very seasonal sensation somehow! This is a fireside fright told by the flickering fire with a hot…
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Another November/December non-fiction book that I really, really enjoyed reading. I found this memoir deeply touching and raw. It’s a gritty memoir in the sense that it looks at grief…
Lady L by Romain Gary
Lady L was a really great little novella in the great Penguin Archive editions I love, and I’m surprised I hadn’t picked it up sooner. It begins as a seemingly…
Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials by Marion Gibson
This was a really fascinating non-fiction read. I started this in November and finished in early December, and it completely held my interest. Pictured: the book in Lancaster Castle, in…
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz
Honestly, I was surprised by how quiet and peaceful this novel felt to me. I think all the marketing around “women trapped in cages” and the dystopian label had led…
Muumilaakson marraskuu (Moominvalley in November) by Tove Jansson
A very apt final book from November, I loved reading in Finnish again. I started the year reading Tove’s childhood autobiography in Finland, so it felt apt to be ending…
Misunderstanding in Moscow by Simone de Beauvoir
This short novella by the brilliant Simone de Beauvoir was a bit of a strange one for me. On the one hand, I really enjoyed the depth of the story…
A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie
I read A Pocket Full of Rye during a pretty stressful time of year, and as always, Christie delivered as a comfort read. This Miss Marple novel has a particularly…