I love Everett. This one is darker with fewer jokes, but then it has dual strands of a married couple coping with the terminal diagnosis of their pre-teen only child, and modern slavery in modern America. Heart-breaking, devastating and tense, with enough humour to make it a joy to read. #BookSky

Terminally ill Tom agrees to meet penpal Oliver in out of the way seaside town that has seen better days. In a beautifully drawn shabby hotel, with shabbier staff and even worse clientele, a draw takes place with life-changing prize. Explores guilt, death, and the soul. #BookSky

Last and longest of the 2025 Booker list. Lovely if over-long tale of lovers and their missteps. There is humour, pathos, mysticism and gorgeous lyrical prose. Wouldn't be surprised if it lifted the big prize, but lack of judicious editing left it in 3rd place for me - but a wonderful book. #BookSky

My #Booker top 5 in order 1. The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller 2. Flesh - David Szalay 3. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny - Kiran Desai 4. Flashlight - Susan Choi 5. Seascraper - Benjamin Wood #BookSky

Book 12 of the Booker list. Emotional family epic sprawling across East Asia and the US. Full of loss and longing, hope and despair. A satisfying if sad denouement completing a broken circle of broken people made slightly more whole. Loved it. #BookSky

Wordle 1,576 2/6* 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 2 2s in 2 days

Wordle 1,575 2/6* 🟨⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Today is going to be a great day

Booker list 11. Certainly in the top 2 or 3 so far. Winter of ‘62/‘63. Neighbours with very different problems find their issues exposed in the claustrophobic atmosphere of cold, snow, blizzards. I liked it very much. #BookSky

Book 20 of the Booker list. Didn’t make the shortlist. An examination of late-stage capitalism and populism through the prism of journalism and the life of an anti-woke journalist. As irritating in fiction as in real life, the views expressed just make me want to hold my head in my hands. #BookSky

Booker list 9. Plays with structure enough to interest without diverting too much from narrative. War in Ukraine vividly brought to life through eyes of oddballs on edge of society. Topic alone may make it a contender. #BookSky

Business idea. Bib-shorts for tradesmen. Having endured a morning of the dreaded “crack” from the electrician in my house. I figured that some sort of bib-short would cover a multitude of sins.

Booker list 8. This one messed with my head. Part one pretty straightforward, then part 2 continues the narrative with different relationships and goes on to question each character’s role. Not sure what it was trying to tell me, but it told it beautifully. #BookSky

Booker list 7. Sort of coming of age tale of Jay as his family goes south to visit inherited farm and he meets Chuan. Little happens and maybe the subtlety was lost on me. Change of narration from 1st person to 3rd and back jarred a little. Sorry, not for me. #BookSky

Book 30 of '25 and Booker list 6. The life of a man told in sparse prose and sparser dialogue, "okay", "sure"! Yet fully realised and utterly compelling - definitely a contender for the big prize. #BookSky

Booker 5. 16 year old gets "ketch", goes to Venezuela and a group of kindly nuns. Begins a new life in England with the constant shadow of the daughter she left behind. Beautifully brings to life the contrast between UK and Trinidadian cultures and values,while exploring what it means to be a mother

Booker list 4 - 2 visits to Greece, 9 years apart, not always clear at first which visit we're witnessing. Same characters, different lives. Interesting technique switching from narration to narrator's notes worked well for me. Enjoyed till final chapter left me cold. Still worth the read.

Booker list 3. The Albanian/US culture clashes are better drawn than most of the characters. There's incident and drama and it feels like there's something great here trying to get out, but not getting beyond the ok. Not one for the shortlist.

What Sarah said 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇

And another one reaches the 90 landmark

No 2 of Booker list. A life of hopeless drudgery, a guitar, a film director, a girl and a song from a dying man's dream all wrapped in a beautifully evoked foggy gloom with the faintest hint of sun poking through. Even reading it in mid-summer you can feel the damp seeping into your bones. #BookSky

Wordle 1,505 6/6* 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Again “phew”

Wordle 1,504 2/6* ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Some days the random first word method works a treat

Booker Longlist 1. Middle-aged couple live in aftermath of affair till youngest goes to college. Dad drives her there, then keeps on driving, visiting friends and thereby revisiting his past, turning a blind eye to future. Tom is a reliably dry narrator honest with everyone but himself. #BookSky

All Dolly wants, without being able to name it at the turn of the 20th century in rural Australia, is equality of opportunity. Seeking her own place in a changing world through 2 global wars, she sacrifices love and family in a constant search of the next thing. Engaging. #BookSky

Book 23 of '25. Excellent cast of beautifully drawn characters, focusing on Bob the "sin-eater'. The conversations are real, inner-lives exposed. There are more life lessons than a whole season of Ted Lasso. Excellent. #BookSky

Golf injury

Book 22 of '25. Siblings held together by desperate need for paternal approval, ripped apart by tragedy as each attempts to cope in ways that emphasise their differences. Joyce dares you to jump to obvious conclusions and throws them back in your face. #BookSky

Wordle 1,482 6/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Phew indeed

Just me and my bestie sharing a moment

An important book. Uses simple prose to tell a remarkable story. A complex character who manages to somehow hold on to his humanity in the most inhumane of circumstances. The contradictions in his character are explored and the horror around him not shied away from. A must read. #BookSky

Full of love and hope but with a background of incredible brutality, which 40 years on from publication is hard to stomach. It's hard not to root for Kerewin, harder not to love Simon, but Joe is too hard to love and understand. The writing is beautifully lyrical, but the ending too neat. #BookSky

Loveliest saddest most beautiful song ever open.spotify.com/track/2H4cWs...

If they can’t run a party of 5 MPs how are they going to run a country… 🤯

My top 5 reads so far in 2025 1 The Magician - Colm Toibin 2 The Glutton - AK Blakemore 3 Saville - David Storey 4 In Memoriam - Alice Winn 5 The Weekend - Charlotte Wood #BookSky

Book 19 0f '25. School friends and lovers navigate youth, war, the horror of the trenches, the attitudes of Edwardian England, loss and more. At times I wanted to skip the grim familiar descriptions of Loos and the Somme, but sticking with it paid ultimate dividends. Wonderful book. #BookSky

The “Normal People” comparison put me off and it’s very wide of the mark. But this is a lovely tale of new love and friendship late in life. Deftly delves into how 2 set in their ways individuals navigate their differences and find a common path to an uncommon conclusion. #BookSky

Book 17 of '25. Moctezuma and Cortes meet, take drugs, and T-Rex's "Monolith" is heard. Mad as it sounds, but also deeply insightful and disturbing. There is cannibalism, summary execution and sodomy. Wild and quite wonderful. #BookSky

Book 16 of '25. Fascinating compilation of short stories with recurring themes. The Asian-American experience, loss, grief, re-invention. I bought it assuming a novel and glad I made the mistake. Loved it. #BookSky

Wordle 1,426 6/6* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 🟨⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Thought it was going to be one of those days.

Paris

Book 15 of '25. Fascinating characters linked by love and loss and war, with their stories revealed backwards from 1947 to 1941. The reverse unfolding of the narrative worked really well and I will certainly seek out more by Sarah Waters. #BookSky

And the football commentator said “it’s the veteran, the pensioner, the 37 year old!” Well f**k you, football commentator!

A year is a long time in golf

Book 14 of '25. Once I got over the population of stereotypes I was in. A young person's attempt at finding their true self through the prisms of work, relationships and family history, all shining a different light. Ultimately a satisfying read. #BookSky

Book 13 of '25. Felt a little like I was being provoked rather than challenged, and yet found myself finally rooting for the narrator, who frankly made her own mess with little thought of the consequences for others. #booksky

3 friends gather at the house of deceased 4th's to clear contents. Inner lives are explored and contrasted with how they are seen from outside. Lovely, not without tragedy. A kernel of love and hope, and warning that however we see ourselves, we mustn't be fooled that that is how the world sees us.

1976 Booker winner. Son of a coal miner goes to grammar school and spends years searching for his place in the world. If Ken Loach wrote novels, it would probably be something like this - in a good way. #BookSky

Breaking news. It’s official. I really can’t organise a piss up in a pub. Wife’s big 60th birthday family lunch will now be attended by only 5 people (originally 13). I am so shit at this- though to be fair the Heathrow debacle was not down to me.

Ahh that’s more like it

A masterpiece. Thomas Mann's life. War, literature, music, fame, populism, family, sexuality, nationality, identity, and yet at the heart of it a flawed, vulnerable, confused, relatable genius. Essential reading.