As expected, I read fewer books this year (73 books at an average of 263 pages)fewer than previous years for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons, I have to admit, is that I’ve been spending far too much time doomscrolling, as the world seems to be falling apart around us.
My annual marathon reading twenty books from the same nationality, Greece this year. I was somewhat disappointed to find though were relatively few Greek novels published in the 21st-century available in English translation. However, I was glad to find one new one from Istros Books –Call Me Stratos, which was a very interesting book.
As a result, Greece comes out top with twenty-one books read followed by France with seven, Norway with three. No other nationality topped two so it seems I am spreading my reading widely this year. Less common countries represented include.Angola, Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Comoros, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Sudan and Uzbekistan. Around thirty percent were by by women.
I do not normally do a best of list, not least because this is a fairly random selection. However, I will mention Pandelis Prevelakis‘ Ο Κρητικός (The Cretan), not least because I own copies of this novel in English, French, and Greek.(don’t ask)). I continue to enjoySolvej Balle’s ‘s Om udregning af rumfang 3 (On The Calculation Of Volume , which despite the very unappetising title, is a fascinating series of novels about a woman who every morning wakes up to find it is the 18th of November and while she remembers what happened on the previous 18th of Novembers no-one else of course does.
I have very much enjoyed Hamid Ismailov‘s previous work and his latest work – (We Computers, which managers mix in poetry, including French, Persian and Sufi and computers to produce a clever and quirky novel.
Iida Turpeinen‘s lolliset (Beasts of the Sea) takes an unusual subject for a novel, namely extinction primarily animal plant species and goes back into history to look at the disappearance of certain animals,for which in nearly all cases of humans are to blame.
The Dream of the Red Chamber/aka The Story of the Stone is a classic of Chinese literature. Wu Jianren updated it in 1908 and this updating was now appeared in English as well was reading, whether you have read the original or not.
I could actually do very many summaries of all the books I read last year, all tof which have something to recommend them but I think I will leave it at that.
The following authors on my website died this year: Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Peter Bichsel, Sonallah Ibrahim, Roy Jacobsen, van Klíma, David Lodge, Hassouna Mosbahi, Meja Mwangi, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Geoff Nicholson, Dag Solstad and Mario Vargas Llosa.
This has not been a particularly good year for publishers as sadly, a few disappeared though there have been one or two new ones as well. There are a variety of reasons. One is paper supply which h has got more expensive, primarily because much of the paper used in the past came from Ukraine.
You will well be aware that the Trump administration has cut grants for the arts, including for books and this has obviously affected US publishers.
There have been a variety of discussions about whether the book sales are dropping whether people read fiction or non-fiction and whether overall people are reading less as they spend their time on social media. We can only hope hope for the best for publishers out there. – and I am thinking primarily of the small publishers as most of the books on this site come from small publishers – will continue to thrive and prosper.
And next year? Will I be reviewing my first AI novel?
I wish you all a happy 2026, but I am not optimistic that it will be any better than 2025.