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First day of the new year, start of the new group read. We had a nomination from Part 4 in 2025 for first book in a series that @Hayley thought would be a good one for the new year. Are there any other nominations? As always, all are welcome to join in and all nominations considered and voted on. So, let’s start here.

Impossible to say, I loved them all

Wow, well done! Did you have a favourite?

Happy New Year everyone! I managed to finish a book (The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett) at 11pm last night, which, when I added it to my Goodreads list, took my total books read in 2025 to... 7. But it also presented me with a dilemma. I noticed that one of the books on my list was Winter Story by Jill Barklem. It's one of the books in the children's Brambly Hedge series and actually, only one of the books from that series I did read last year. When it came to the others, I didn't include them on my list because they're very short and I think I saw them as Olle's books, since I was reading them to him. But, when I thought about it, I'd definitely tell somebody else to include shorter books or children's books - they have to be on the list in order to review them anyway. So, that takes my total up to 11 books and I think is the start of my reading list looking a little bit different as I read and review more children's books. That takes us to a quick summary of my 2025 reads, before we get started reading in a whole new year: The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale Although I didn't love the ending of this one and wishes it was a little different, it was still a great book with beautiful descriptions. The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke Very short and not quite as satisfying as everything else I've read by this author, but she manages to make everything immersive and magical. Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee The book that will always remind me of the first weeks after having a baby. It is just a very gentle book with lovely imaginative descriptions about the world we visit when we sleep. Sometimes it's nice to have something purely relaxing to read and I am planning to get the next book in the series! The Book of Stolen Dreams by David Farr A children's book, but an older children's book, and definitely one of the ones that's written in a way that's still enjoyable for adults. I started reading this because I was using the opening page for tuition purposes and got hooked - which I think is a good sign! The Crow Garden by Alison Littlewood A book with a really compelling plot, surrounding the issues with nineteenth-century asylums, the definition of insanity and female autonomy in the Victorian era.... but it was also about quite a few other things and they made it feel oddly cluttered. Full review of this one will be in the group read thread, as this was my choice for the Natural World theme. The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett Another epistolary mystery from this author, but a short and more fun one. It was a quick read, partly because I didn't want to put it down. The Brambly Hedge books I'll review together and so far I've read: Spring Story Summer Story Autumn Story Winter Story Sea Story All of these have really beautiful illustrations of the tiny houses (and boats) the mice of brambly hedge live in. The level of detail would have been greatly appreciated by me as a child and I love it still as an adult. The plots themselves are simple but sweet, with some sort of simple problem for the mice to resolve - but honestly the main draw is the illustration! And those were my adventures in literature for 2025! The life adventures were far more packed and chaotic 😅. 8 months (nearly 9!) after having a baby, I still feel a little bit all over the place (and I know I should really have expected that). My attention is being pulled in a lot of different directions all the time and some days I'm better at balancing things than others. I can only assume it gets easier as we go... maybe... so 2026 will be full of discoveries, if nothing else! My hopes for myself for the new year include more reading, more time in nature (as with reading, I've been doing some walks, but I miss big walks!) and more writing time for the forum!

First review of the year Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon “Don't forget the real business of war is buying and selling. The murdering and violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways. It serves as spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War. It provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a stimulus to just ordinary folks, little fellows, to try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while they're still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of markets.” This isn’t my first Pynchon. I loved Mason and Dixon and The Crying of Lot 49 was ok. This one was published in 1973 and concerns the Second World War and it’s aftermath. Of course, he’s produced another novel in the last year, which I may one day read as well! Going into detail about the plot would take too long. Suffice to say that it focuses on (initially) the production and delivery of V2 rockets by the Germans towards the end of the war. It covers the period from late 1944 to September 1945. The plot is intricate and convoluted. There are many recurring characters, and Pynchon is quite inventive with names (one of the US navy’s ships is called the USS John E Badass: today that piece of satire is uncomfortably close to the truth). The novel goes into the science and engineering behind the rockets as well as their production and the search for the secrets behind them by the various allied powers after the war. Pynchon also uses low and high culture and there are lyrics to many popular songs, some of which are certainly made up. He captures the chaos on the continent after the collapse of Nazi Germany very well. Pynchon does endeavour to shock at times and manages it rather well, although he does have a point to make. Despite all the chaos the rocket and its technology is in the hands of the state-corporatist powers and capitalism has weathered the storm. Pynchon is also interested in ecology and the natural world and is also it seems, a bit of a pessimist as he describes the western economic system: “a system whose only aim is to violate the [natural] Cycle. Taking and not giving back, demanding that “productivity” and “earnings” keep on increasing with time, the System removing from the rest of the World these vast quantities of energy to keep its own tiny desperate fraction showing a profit: and not only most of humanity — most of the World, animal, vegetable and mineral, is laid waste in the process. The System may or may not understand that it’s only buying time. And that time is an artificial resource to begin with, of no value to anyone or anything but the System, which sooner or later must crash to its death, when its addiction to energy has become more than the rest of the World can supply, dragging with it innocent souls all along the chain of life.” The messiness of the novel just reflects that war is a messy business and the real losers are the ordinary citizens on both sides. It’s a magnificent novel, all 902 pages of it and it is worth the hard work it takes to read it. 9 out of 10 Starting JR by William Gaddis

The first review of the year. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon “Don't forget the real business of war is buying and selling. The murdering and violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways. It serves as spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War. It provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death's a stimulus to just ordinary folks, little fellows, to try 'n' grab a piece of that Pie while they're still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of markets.” This isn’t my first Pynchon. I loved Mason and Dixon and The Crying of Lot 49 was ok. This one was published in 1973 and concerns the Second World War and it’s aftermath. Of course, he’s produced another novel in the last year, which I may one day read as well! Going into detail about the plot would take too long. Suffice to say that it focuses on (initially) the production and delivery of V2 rockets by the Germans towards the end of the war. It covers the period from late 1944 to September 1945. The plot is intricate and convoluted. There are many recurring characters, and Pynchon is quite inventive with names (one of the US navy’s ships is called the USS John E Badass: today that piece of satire is uncomfortably close to the truth). The novel goes into the science and engineering behind the rockets as well as their production and the search for the secrets behind them by the various allied powers after the war. Pynchon also uses low and high culture and there are lyrics to many popular songs, some of which are certainly made up. He captures the chaos on the continent after the collapse of Nazi Germany very well. Pynchon does endeavour to shock at times and manages it rather well, although he does have a point to make. Despite all the chaos the rocket and its technology is in the hands of the state-corporatist powers and capitalism has weathered the storm. Pynchon is also interested in ecology and the natural world and is also it seems, a bit of a pessimist as he describes the western economic system: “a system whose only aim is to violate the [natural] Cycle. Taking and not giving back, demanding that “productivity” and “earnings” keep on increasing with time, the System removing from the rest of the World these vast quantities of energy to keep its own tiny desperate fraction showing a profit: and not only most of humanity — most of the World, animal, vegetable and mineral, is laid waste in the process. The System may or may not understand that it’s only buying time. And that time is an artificial resource to begin with, of no value to anyone or anything but the System, which sooner or later must crash to its death, when its addiction to energy has become more than the rest of the World can supply, dragging with it innocent souls all along the chain of life.” The messiness of the novel just reflects that war is a messy business and the real losers are the ordinary citizens on both sides. It’s a magnificent novel, all 902 pages of it and it is worth the hard work it takes to read it. 9 out of 10 Starting JR by William Gaddis

Sounds good to me. I’m not experienced enough at knitting to try garments that are much more than a hat or a scarf - the last scarf was appalling and would keep me warm only by virtue of the fact that it’s real wool, to which I’m allergic, so unlikely to wear it (I was curious about the pattern and that was the easiest yarn to hand). I need more practice.

No books - I think the family reckons I have enough (not true of course) but my husband did give me Myrtle the dress form so I no longer have to try on half finished pieces of knitting to check it fits.

in a few miserable

I read a total of 80 books this year. It’s more than I’ve ever read and I’m very pleased.

Hooray!

I've bought myself three 😊 A secondhand recipe book ( published 1978) to replace my worn out one which has pages missing and a bit stuck together in places, containing recipes I still often use. A very funny book written by a local chappie who we know. And The Country Commonplace Book by Miranda Mills.

his tumultuous stomach contents

Hand Me Down That Can of Beans ~ Paint Your Wagon

Something's Got a Hold on Me - Etta James

Hold me now - The Thompson Twins

I have a Kindle too so an Amazon voucher is ideal (and I am grateful)

I would rather get an Amazon voucher than an actual book because all my reading nowadays is on a Kindle. My eyesight isn't the best, and I can adjust the print size on kindle and it makes my reading more enjoyable.

I did get an Amazon voucher, though

I Want to Hold Your Hand - The Beatles

Me too. I can always find room for more ……

Me neither, but then I've got so many.....

Don't you want me - The Human League

Neither did I.

Just because I’m nosy, did anybody get any books for Christmas? I did not, sadly.