January 2025: Books I Read Last Month

Written by Graeme

December wasn’t a great reading month for me, so this will be a quick update.

I had family visiting the first week of December so I didn’t get much time to read. Then I got stuck on a book that was tough to randomly pick up. So that sort of hurt things.

I also tried various audiobooks and couldn’t get into them. I hate those “thrillers” where nothing happens for a large part of the opening. It’s not too bad I guess if I am reading them and can go at my own pace – but when it’s listening to them, it’s frustrating dedicating an hour to it and there is zero hook.

Anyhoo here is what I read:

You by Caroline Kepnes: I listened to this one. All I can say is you NEED to listen to it. The narrator Santino Fontana is unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE. I’ve listened to maybe over 100 audiobooks in my life and none of them come close to this – and I’ve listened to some GREAT narrators.

The book itself? I don’t even know if it’s that good ha. But the narration is incredible and yeah – do yourself a favour and listen to this. I’ve started listening to the sequel.

The Marriage Experiment by John Marrs: I’m a big fan of John Marrs but I struggled with this one to be honest. It was from various different perspectives which is nothing new – but I just struggled with each character standing out.

Each new chapter / narrative I had to stop and think “who is this again?”.

I feel like if I had been able to sit and have a big reading session with it, things would have been better. As it is it took me a couple of weeks to finish it. I was going to start his next novel in that series, The Family Experiment, but after a few chapters I realized same deal. I’m going to wait until I have time to really sit down and read it in one or two sittings.

Normal People by Sally Rooney: Just started this one as my wife and daughter both read it. A bit different from what I usually read but I don’t mind that.

That’s sadly it. Yikes. January though – that’ll be a good month. I am feeling confident in that.