Reading Journey in 2025

 

 

*2025 Reading Journey:*

Friends, the year is coming to an end ☺️. What are your feelings when you look back on your reading journey this year? Was the year satisfactory? Did you read some stimulating books? Did you discover a new author or a book or a reading mode or a reading habit? How many books did you read? Did you have any target and did you achieve it? Do you have any regrets? Any errors and any determination to rectify them in the coming year? Any reading resolutions for the new year? Did this community help you in any way in your reading journey? Why don't we all share here? Happy New Year! 🥳🧚🏻🌿

 Have exceeded my target for this year though it is half that of last year, therefore am happy with my reading trajectory.  Read all twelve BOTM books, read many new authors,  books, people and places courtesy CBC...Loved the Sunday read at Mariane drive. Regret not being able to attent all the meets. Read 62 books and the target was 60. For the comming year would reduce the count still further and focus on few books and classics in hand before I buy many more. This community,  people here, the discussions ND suggestions were indeed a blessing,  love the monthly Journal. Thank you and wishing all A happy New Year, Happy Reading and Happiness Always 😊

Will miss this. One of my favourate Genre. Have read 7 of the 11 books in this pic. Correct me if I am wrong, but according to me this includes:

1. Autobiography 

2. Biography in fiction &

3. Biography which can further be sub classified as:

I. Biography of people
II. Biography of concepts
III.Biography of places and authors

1. The School of Life Dr. K. Vasuki

2. Memoir of Jane Austen ~ James Edward Austen -Leigh (62 0f 2025)

3. The Story of trap family Singers

4. Em and the big Hoom

5. Mother Mary Comes to Me

6. First Forever : Y. J. Yashaswi

7. T.N.Manoharan

8. Unstoppable- S.D. Bala

9. Salman Rushdee - Contemporary world writers

10. Elsewhereans ~ Jeet Thayil

This years read included 10 biography/Autobiography.

I have written 2 in the flying high series about Chartered accountants. There is something called https://www.spotlightindia.org/ If any of you are aware of anybody who's life  is inspiring and need to be recorded,  it can be done. This comes with a cost.

Interesting biography not about people are:

1. A Biography of the worlds Most Famous Equation’ by David Bodamis.

2. A Bank for the Buck by Tamal Bandyopadhyay

My first in this genre as a child was 'Sathya Khi Katha Athya Atmakatha' the hindi version of 'My experiments with truth' on M.K.Gandhi.

Me favourate is Mind Master by Viswanathan Anand and 'A Brief History of time' by Stephen Hawking.

Not sure if this book could be part of biography but an interesting one is by Mia Kankimaki - 'The women I think about at night' covering lives of:

i. Karen Blixen
ii. Isabella Bird - Mia's doppelganger
iii. Ida Pfeiffer
iv. Mary Kingsley
V. Alexandra David-Neel
Vi. Nellie Bly
Part 3: Artists: Italian female painters
Vii. Sofonisba Anguissola
Viii.Lavinia Fontana
ix Artemisia Gentileschi
X. Yayoi Kusama

Happy Meet. 🤝👍Waiting for the review.

My Reading Journey in 2025: A Year of Reflection, Place, and the Inner Life

My reading in 2025 felt less like ticking off titles and more like following a quiet inner compass. The books I gravitated towards shared a common thread: they asked me to pause, reflect, and look closely—at people, at societies, and at the self.

A strong undercurrent through the year was the exploration of the inner life. Works like Illusions by Richard Bach and The School of Life nudged me toward philosophical reflection rather than easy answers. These books were not about plot as much as they were about perspective—about how meaning is constructed, questioned, and sometimes dismantled. They invited stillness and introspection, asking uncomfortable but necessary questions about purpose, choice, and freedom.

At the same time, I found myself repeatedly returning to place-based writing and memory. Cochin: Fame and Fables stood out as a deeply resonant read—not merely a historical account, but a textured portrait of a city layered with myths, migrations, and lived experiences. It felt intimate and rooted, reminding me how geography shapes identity, and how local histories carry universal truths.

Fiction in 2025 often blurred boundaries—between the personal and the political, the real and the imagined. Novels such as The French Lieutenant’s Woman challenged conventional storytelling, playing with form, agency, and alternate possibilities. Others, like Ram C/o Anandhi, reflected contemporary Indian realities—aspirations, relationships, and quiet struggles—without sensationalism. These were stories that lingered not because of dramatic twists, but because of emotional honesty.

There was also a clear engagement with society and democracy. Reading How Democracies Die felt timely and sobering, offering a lens to understand how institutions weaken not overnight, but gradually, through complacency and erosion of norms. This non-fiction read complemented my fictional choices, grounding abstract anxieties in historical patterns and political realities.

Even the classics I revisited or discovered—such as A Christmas Carol—felt newly relevant. Familiar stories revealed fresh meanings when read through the lens of compassion, accountability, and transformation. They served as reminders that moral imagination is timeless.

Overall, my 2025 reading was not eclectic for its own sake; it was intentional and inward-looking. The books I chose reflected a year spent thinking deeply about belonging, ethics, memory, and the fragile structures—personal and societal—that hold our lives together. Rather than escapism, reading became a form of quiet inquiry, a companion to reflection.

For 2026 it would be lesser number of books read and purchased.

The books I’ll read  broadly fall into five categories:

“Me” books

Dream / TBR / catch-up reading

Professional reading

Milestone reading

Flexi reading

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‘Me’ Books

These are books tied to your personal interests – something you are really passionate about. 

“Me” books can also include a re-read or two. Re-read a book that you have read years back. It makes for a faster read and you can also examine how you see the story/ideas differently now.

Dream reading / TBR / catch-up

These are books that I’ve wanted to read for a while, but haven’t been able to. For this list, you don’t have to go too far – simply look through the unread books you have bought with noble intentions at some point in time. They are waiting on a bookshelf near you.

Professional reading

This is reading for work. 

Milestone reading

Milestone reading is made up of books which will get acclaim and attention throughout the year – partly popular and partly critical. The critical milestones I look at each year are the following:

Pulitzer winners in two or three categories that interest me (in May each year)

International Booker Prize – winner and one or two shortlisted books (in May each year)

Booker Prize – winner and one or two shortlisted books (October/November)

Nobel Prize for Literature – one or two books by the newest laureate (October)

With the JCB Prize for Literature gone, I’ll also be looking at the winners of the Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi and possibly the Godrej Lit Live awards. I’ve been unimpressed by the Crossword Book Award – and most voting-based awards – so I will skip those books.

Awards based on voting are a popularity contest for authors, which don’t always translate to literary talent. Influencers who have written books are more likely to win these awards than authors who focus on writing but ignore social media. I find awards selected by erudite juries more to my taste.

Voting-based awards are the lazy and cheaper way out for the award organiser. Many use them to get more social media action. If you look at awards as a criterion for selecting books, please look closely at how the winners are picked. If the names of the jury members are public information, even better.

Flexi reading

Any plan which is too rigid will likely fail. The flexi reading is to rubberise the reading plan and allow room for improvisation, impromptu additions and also a buffer if you’re not keeping pace. Some works, like Arundhathi Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me are hard to ignore. Friends may all start talking up a particular book, and that may make you curious. Salman Rushdie’s new book, The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories, and Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, are great examples of recent releases I definitely want to read, which I did not know of at the start of 2025.

How to read more

You may think that’s a lot of books. Here are some of the ways to get that amount of reading done.

Stealing time: When you have a few minutes of waiting – we have these moments many times every day – pull out your book and read a few pages. Replace the default of the phone with the default of a book (stick it to the man). Whether it be an airport, or when you’re out shopping with the family, or waiting for an order at a café, a lot of time is spent hanging around. Use it to read, not scroll.

Use audio: In my view, audiobooks are a legit way of consuming text. For many books, I go back and forth between the text and the audio. That does mean buying both, but it has made walks and ironing clothes quite pleasurable.

Book clubs are a great way to commit to reading. You know many others are reading the same book, and that a deep discussion of the book will happen on a specific date. That gives you a deadline, which may help you stay on track and read.

A physical book club in your neighbourhood may be even better. The downside is that you may not get to choose what you read, but the upside is that you may discover new books.

Mix it up: I will lap up any book on the Second World War in a day or three. On the other hand, some books are hard work, for example, books with dense and heavy ideas. It is good to mix these up, and reward yourself with a favoured read after a heavy one.

Read on paper / non-distracting device: Reading on a mobile or a laptop is fraught with risk because distractions live on those devices. A Kindle is better, and paper is the best format for reading.

Reading retreats are a new thing. We host them some three to four times a year. Debdatta Dasgupta, who is an avid reader, leads this retreat. It has very little by way of teaching – it is simply going on holiday to read. You hang out with a group of like-minded people to read, discuss what you read, and discover great new books and perspectives. You can learn more about the upcoming Himalayan Reading Retreat here.

Keep the phone in the other room: When trying to read, leave your phone in the other room. If it’s out of sight and out of reach, chances are you’ll focus more on your reading. Leaving it outside the room when you get into bed, and taking a book instead, will also mean better sleep.

Phone lock – you can actually buy a physical lock for your phone. It is clunky and large, and makes the phone harder to get to. You can take calls, but scrolling is hard. Yes, you have the key (The plastic thing sticking out to one side), and you can open it, but even having such a barrier makes a big difference.

If there was one defining feature of my reading year, it was this:

I read to understand, not to consume.