I don’t cope well without books.

If I don’t have a book on the go, it makes me nervous. I carry one in my bag every day even if I know I’ll be listening to podcasts on the bus or walking to work. You never know when you might need one, just in case.

And since I decided social media is a waste of time and I’d rather be reading, I’ve read quite a lot. Big props to my local library for supplying 90% of the books on this list.

Here are some of the good ones I’ve read over the last year.

1. Ordinary Human Failings – Megan Nolan
   Really enjoyed this, found the ordinaryness of the characters really compelling and liked the story and the writing style.
   
2. Wasteland – Oliver Franklin Wallis
   Brilliant, compelling, interesting, really engaging book about waste and where it goes. Genuinely changed what I throw away and buy.
   
3. Our Evenings – Alan Hollinghurst
   Loved this brilliantly written, beautiful long book from one of my favourite authors (Line of Beauty, Swimming Pool Library).
   
4. So Late In The Day – Claire Keegan
   Great short story, just 39 pages giving a snapshot of misogyny – just wished it was longer.
   
5. Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart
   Intense and bleak, but completely absorbing story of a young boy growing up in 1980s Glasgow with an alcoholic mother – loved it.
   
6. The Safekeep – Yael van der Wouden
   Good book, great twist, enjoyed it a lot.
   
7. In Memorium – Alice Winn
   Found this in the ‘new books’ bit of my library and grabbed it thinking the blurb sounded interesting. Turned out to be a brilliant book set in the brutal, brutal trenches during World War 1. Pretty unflinching fiction. A proper page turner.
   
8. The Haves and the Have Yachts, Dispatches on the Ultra Rich – Evan Osnos
   Another impromptu library pickup. Collection of essays written by journalist Evan Osnos from the New Yorker about the mega rich oligarchs ruining the world. I’d say 90% of them were very revealing and interesting; some a little too American-focused for my British brain. Still, enjoyed.
   
9. Heart the Lover – Lily King
   What a book! Brilliant. Excellent. Love story, farewell to youth, mortality, humans, oof. Sped through it, cried at the end. Didn’t even clock that it was a sequel? – Prequel? – to Writers and Lovers. If I ever write something half as good as this, I’ll be happy.
   
10. All That Glitters – Orlando Whitfield
    Really enjoyed this memoir about a guy whose best mate was committing art fraud. Good little peek into the London (and worldwide) art world. Which is ridiculous.
    
11. The Bee Sting – Paul Murray
    Pretty chunky (600+ pages), which made it difficult to get pulled into but then… it hooked me into the ins and outs of a dysfunctional Irish family, laughed out loud in places.

And remember the golden rule of books buying: if you can, buy local, and use your library, and if you liked it, tell me what you’ve read.