What I read in December 2025

December was a month of two halves: part super-busy, part Christmas hibernation (with added consecutive stomach bug and cold!). I read ten books, many of them featuring robots and/or the end of the world, and acquired, er, a number of books I’d been wanting.

The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace, by R.W.R. McDonald - 4*

Wise Children, by Angela Carter - 4.5*

ECO24: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction, edited by Marissa van Uden - 4.5*

In the Lives of Puppets, by TJ Klune - new favourite author? If this inventive, funny, and touching novel is anything to go by, absolutely. 5*

Desolation: The Same River Twice, by D. Harrigon - 3.5*

Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky - 5*

Larry’s Party, by Carol Shields - good, but a bit repetitive in places. 4*

The Whale at the End of the World - rather prescient pandemic novel from 2014, but what of the villagers with repeat prescriptions? 4*

The Race, by Nina Allan - I got the three available books of hers I hadn’t yet read as Christmas presents. 5*

Into The Dark by Ørjan Karlsson, translated by Ian Giles - 4*

Looking ahead…

With the exception of a couple of blog tours, I’m letting my mood determine which books I read this month (with maybe a slight bias towards ones I’ve recently bought!)

That and, as it’s the sixth already, I’ve already read a couple of the books that were particularly calling to me, so it’s a little late to make a collage.