In 2025, I stepped outside my reading groove, reading more adventurously across genres that were unfamiliar to me. There were hits and misses and, upon reflection, definite gaps in my reading diet that I am hoping to plug this year.
The word that summarises my reading in 2025 is ‘history’. Lots of books were either written, set in, or about the past. I’ve highlighted some of my memorable ones of 2025—including one exception to this reading theme—and my reading intentions for 2026.
Non-fiction
Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age (Sarah Irving-Stonebraker)
I have written more fulsome thoughts on this book separately. In short, it changed the way I perceive the role and importance of understanding history in Christian formation.
A good pairing alongside this epiphany was the highly-acclaimed The Rest is History podcast. With it, I went down rabbit holes on the history of the French Revolution, the Titanic, Sherlock Holmes, American presidents, and chocolate (among other obscure topics).
This year, I am partway through Tom Holland’s excellent Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind (from The Rest is History fame) on the role of Christianity in shaping the Western imagination.
Everyone a Child Should Know (Clare Heath-Whyte and Jenny Brake)
This is a children’s book setting out 52 Christian men and women across history, one for each week of the year. Each caricature comes with a beautiful illustration and a one-page biography. Some were rich, some were poor. Some were extraordinary in their gifts, but many were just everyday Christians wanting to ‘live for their friend Jesus’. Everyone is perfect for independent readers, though it can also be read aloud to younger kids. I bought a stack of 10 for the kids in my life, and I’m looking forward to reading it to my daughter when she gets a little bit older.
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Jeremiah Burroughs)
This book is a compilation of Burroughs’ sermons preached in the 17th century. The Rare Jewel explores Christian contentment from every angle. Burroughs’ expositions are largely based on Paul’s boast of contentment from Philippians 4.
Contentment is indeed a rare jewel in this restless age. According to Burroughs, Christians can have it, and in abundance. It was refreshing to read an old book on a timeless subject, although of course some of his examples have become unrelatable with the passage of time.
Fiction
Homegoing (Yaa Gyasi)
This is a sweeping and heart-wrenching story about family, slavery, and perseverance. It begins in 18th century Ghana with two half-sisters Effia and Esi. Effia is married off to an English slave trader residing in Ghana whilst Esi is shipped off as a slave on the cruel boats headed for the plantations in America. Each chapter follows Effia and Esi’s next seven generations, ending in the present day.
Despite each generation’s story only having a few pages (this is a short book considering it canvasses 300 years of history), each character’s vignette is hard-hitting, lyrical, and memorable.
Having had my affections and imaginations stirred by the stories in Homegoing, I am intending to pick up Eric Metaxas’ biography of the Christian abolitionist William Wilberforce this year, which details the heroic campaign to end the transatlantic slave trade in the 18th century.
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
According to The Sunday Times, ‘the English-speaking world is divided into those who have read ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’, and those who are going to read them’. The pace, slow-burn plot development, and imaginative writing were perfect bed-time reading for me, as I adjusted to a newly hectic life with a newborn this year.
This old series will forever be a favourite, as it continues to resonate with its enduring themes of friendship, courage, and redemption.
Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
Whilst many of my hits in 2025 are about the past, this book is about the future. Ryland Grace is stuck in outer space with no memory of how he got there. As his memories return, he realises he has been sent by Earth’s international space community as a last effort to save the planet before the Sun dies out.
I am not usually a fan of science fiction, but I picked this up as I enjoyed The Martian, also by Weir. I found this book hilarious, insightful, and ultimately hopeful. You can tell Weir is a passionate space nerd, and this passion bleeds into the book’s plot and characters.
Weir’s fiction is famous for being as scientifically and mathematically accurate as fiction would allow. Through his whizz bang level of knowledge and nerdiness, I have grown in my wonder of just how awesome the world we live in is.
‘Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe’ says Galileo Galilei. Weir’s books help me understand and appreciate the universe, its language, and in turn, the God who created both of these things.
