Books I Can't Wait to Read in 2025
New year, new (paperback) titles
I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t buy hardcover books. The reason is twofold: first is that I’m constantly on the move and paperback is easier to carry. I can toss it in my bag, throw it in my backpack, slide it into the center console in my car. The second, more cerebral reason has to do with library books.
Growing up, library books were always in hardcover (it seems, for the most part, they still are). I knew better than to deface a book by marking it, or dog-earing it’s pages. Yet, I love to read with a pencil in hand, to underline passages, write notes in the margins, flag pages to return to.
The books on my shelf (“the keepers”) are marked up from beginning to end. The pages are folded, stained with lunch splatters, warped from accidental water spills. Some of the spines have been cracked so many times, pages are hanging on for dear life. I love them this way. They’re like stuffed animals we’ve had since childhood, loved into softness.
Which is why my immediate reading list looks dated. I bet some of you read these titles months ago, while I’ve been diligently and patiently waiting for the paperback release.
No matter. I’m excited about them anyway. And even more thrilled that I will suffer no guilt in marking up their pages.
Mina’s Matchbox, by Yoko Ogawa, trans. by Stephen B. Snyder
Tell Me Everything, by Elizabeth Strout
Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner
I’d love to know what you’re reading now and in the new year. What do you recommend?
