Phoebe Robinson

My Rachel Cusk collection🐚🤍 This collection is one of my pride and joys, something that I’ve built over a fair few years. The first Cusks I read were the Outline Trilogy and I was instantly hooked, the way she tells life’s vignettes is just beautiful. Although she is a wonderful story teller, you should not sleep on her non-fiction, my favourite Cusk’s have been about her life and experiences with motherhood, she never sugar coats it, but it’s always told with such love and ferocity. Receiving Parade as a proof copy was one of my biggest honours last year, really solidified my love for Cusk and shot up to one of my favourite of her fictions. Second Place (also actually my second place fiction fave) is such a gorgeous story of art, really felt reminiscent of Ali Smith’s work but with a Cusk touch/twist. Finally my favourite fiction of her’s HAS to be The Country Life! Full of drama, made me laugh out loud, a brilliant telling of what life is like in the countryside and all round just absolutely fabulous! READ. MORE. CUSK✨

Still making my way through The City and it’s Uncertain Walls, and brought it with me to a country manor escape🍂 It’s not my favourite Murakami *yet* I will not be making any concrete opinions until I’ve finished completely! I’m still enjoying it, Murakami’s story telling is second to none, I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the story✨

Back in Murakami’s world and very happy about it🍵 (not photographed, me spilling my matcha all over myself)

This year I’m trying to read the books I own instead of buying lots of new ones, so here is my 25 books I want to read in 2025, and I already physically own all of these✨ do you see any favourites on here? Which ones shall I read first?

That’s a wrap on Gliff✨ amazing, amazing, amazing. As you all know Ali Smith can do no wrong in my eyes and this was no exception. The writing, the imagery, the intelligent word play, everything was just wonderful!

Snow day and Smith❄️ I had been holding off reading Gliff because I was so incredibly excited and I didn’t want it to be over immediately. New Ali Smith doesn’t happen very often so I wanted to take my time getting to this one, and it was so worth the wait!

Last read and my next read💛 kicking off the year with some EXCELLENT books!

First book of the year down and it was absolutely gorgeous✨ Tessa Hadley’s writing was wonderful, and it was the perfect easy breezy novella to kick off this year of reading!

Here are my favourite reads of 2024! Not all 5⭐️ but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them and some new favourites have without a doubt been found. Number one spot HAS to go to The Wall, I cannot express how much I loved this book and I’m so looking forward to my next read of it. So beautiful and serene, by far my best read of the year✨

The final book I picked up in 2024 was To the Lighthouse✨ I’m still not sure I’ve found my stride with Virginia Woolf yet? This is my second of hers and I’m just not clicking with it, what am I missing? The last one I read was The Waves, am I just choosing the wrong ones to start with? Any Woolf advice would be greatly appreciated because I really feel like she is a writer I should love!

Murder on the Orient Express was my Twixmas book of choice this year! My second Agatha Christie, and once again a 5/5! I don’t know why I don’t read more of her works? The stories are so nostalgic to me, I grew up watching Poirot and Miss Marple on tv, and I just love them, I really need to remind myself to pick more of them up!

I did manage to squeeze a few more tiny books in before the year ended! After I bought it in Bath, I felt like reading Lady Susan was the perfect little number to go for, and my final Austen to read. As always, impeccable dialogue and brilliant wit✨