“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”

— Jhumpa Lahiri

The Reading List 2025

The Fall of the House of Usher

I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

Call for the Dead

He knew how intelligent men could be broken by the stupidity of their superiors, how weeks of patient work night and day could be cast aside by such a man

John le Carré

The Great Divorce

There have been some who were so preoccupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ

C.S Lewis

Twisted

I want to reach into your chest and hold your heart in my hands, making sure it only beats for me,” I rasp. “But I don’t want your firsts, Yasmin. I want your forever

Emily McIntire

The Glass Menagerie

She lives in a world of her own – a world of – little glass ornaments…

Tennessee Williams

The Man in the Brown Suit

I had the firm conviction that, if I went about looking for adventure, adventure would meet me halfway. It is a theory of mine that one always gets what one wants

Agatha Christie

Conversations with Friends

Everyone’s always going through something, aren’t they? That’s life, basically. It’s just more and more things to go through

Sally Rooney

The Ruin of all Witches

In this climate, the idea festered that adversaries, naturally powerless and forbidden to use violence, might resort to magic to get their own way

Malcolm Gaskil

King of Sloth

Love isn’t about perfection, Luna; it’s about imperfect people creating their own version of happily ever after

Ana Huang

Coriolanus

Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding

William Shakespeare

The Jungle Books

What is the Law of the Jungle? Strike first and then give tongue

Rudyard Kipling

Puccini - His Life and Works

Julian Budden