Since it’s #worldbookday, why not mark the occasion by picking up a copy of A Mid-Life Less Ordinary: From Ultramarathon Madness to Rowing the Atlantic at Fifty, available to buy now via Pitch Publishing www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/mid-lif...
2) The Kellerby Code, by Jonny Sweet. Wears its Talented Mr Ripley and Saltburn influences like a big bright blazer, but brings enough to the table in its own right, too. Shifts tones multiple times without feeling all over the place - a real comic farce.
Kicking off my list of reading for 2026:
1) Every Man For Himself And God Against All, by Werner Herzog. A fittingly understated memoir from one of cinema’s most stoic souls. Not much in their way of insight into his artistic inspirations, but the tales of matter-of-fact madness make up for it.
20) The Traitors Circle by Jonathan Freedland. There are a lot of layers to this tale of resistance and betrayal - one of the more somber stories to come out of the war in recent memory.
19) The Lamb by Lucy Rose. Fascinating and horrific, cannibalism has never been so compulsively readable.
18) Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst. A story of survival and unconventional love, this has ‘book club favourite’ written all over it.
17) Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson. Both fan service and an excellent book in its own right, this ticks all the right boxes.
16) A Kingston Lacy Childhood by Viola Bankes and Pamela Watkin. Another great local history book - one that simultaneously offers wonder, while making you glad you didn’t have the writer’s upbringing.
15) Exteminate/Regenerate by John Higgs. A concise history of Doctor Who, with the interesting bits left in. No other show like it, and few writers like Higgs.
14) Reading Lessons by Carol Atherton. A love letter to the books you read at school - and why you should revisit them.
13) The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. Funny, relatable and utterly heartbreaking. Can’t think of a lot of books like this.
12) Tales From The Stranger Times by CK McDonnell. Unleashed from the main plot and free to talk about whatever he wants, this is some of the best writing in the series.
11) So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan. Brief but brilliant, few writers can do what she does.
10) Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent. Goes one way or another, all in service of a uniquely horrible conclusion.
9) Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. Wanted to read this for a while, and it lived up to the hype and then some.
8) The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. A very weird - and brilliant - family drama.
7) Brownsea Islander by Jack Battrick. Don’t read many good Dorset history books - this one very much bucks the trend.
6) Middle England by Jonathan Coe. Looks like I’ll have to go back and read Rotters Club now.
5) Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince. Another great piece of writing from one of our most underrated personalities.
4) The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. Historical fiction with a magical realism edge.
3) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. What I thought would be an unnecessary prequel turned out to be the best book in the series.
2) Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. Compulsive, funny, and very memorable.
My favourite reads of the year, in no particular order…
1) Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Very readable dystopia in a very recognisable location.
The excellent Göran Buckhorn has included A Mid-Life Less Ordinary on his Christmas Gift Guide to Rowing Books - have a read here: heartheboatsing.com/2025/12/15/r...
43) The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole by Sue Townsend. Another re-read, this is probably the most jarring of the series (what with the addition of extra diarists), but it’s still a vital bridge in the Adrian Mole story.
42) Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince. I’ve seen him live a couple of times, and his on-stage energy is very much translated into his writing. A very enlightening spotlight on a subject that deserved this kind of book.
Need a stocking filler? A Mid-Life Less Ordinary: From Ultramarathon Insanity to Rowing the Atlantic at Fifty, is available to buy now: www.amazon.co.uk/Mid-Life-Les...
41) I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Been on my list for a while, and glad I finally got around to it. Taking the form of a number of linked short stories (nothing to do with the film), this is literature as penned by science: not exactly exciting, but plenty to ponder.
40) Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker. Starts with a horrible murder, then goes full horror. Compulsively readable and full of sharp edges.
39) Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Always look forward to catching up with her latest, and this doesn’t disappoint. Seems to be able to capture moods and places with a natural ease, and infuses that with characters who are so full of life that it they seem scarcely fictional.
