Gav Reads

Sunday Summary: 28 Dec 25

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Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.

Books Read & Reading This Week.

Finished:

  • Winter’s Gifts [Rivers of London #9.5] by Ben Aaronovitch [2023]

Aaronovitch broke my reader’s block in April this year, and I’m quite pleased that I’m leaving 2025 on a high. It’s a great side quest for a side character, and for Ben to spend time on the other side of the pond.

Currently Reading: 

  • ???

I do need to find something to read before midnight to reach 100 days of pages read on The StoryGraph app. I have no idea what it will be.

DNF’d:

  • ?

Nothing this week, and I’ve probably witched myself by typing that.

Book-ish Thoughts

Rosanna posed a question on Bluesky that I still don’t have an answer to:

Reviewer friend question – when is the best time to review a book? I don't mean for the book/author/publisher, but for you as a reviewer, or other reasons if they exist?

— Roseanna Pendlebury (@chloroformtea.bsky.social) 2025-12-24T17:38:06.052Z

I want to say that, based on my current experience of buying books, it’s whenever the reviewer has read it. But does that help the book? Should a reviewer be showing off the wares of publishers (whatever form they take) and act like a book merchant?

This circles back to what is a review for?

Books That Others Have Tempted Me With:

I got tempted by the guardian’s best poetry books of 2025 selection and then enabled by my Christmas book vouchers.

Rishi Dastidar’s The best poetry books of 2025 recommendations is:a) brilliantly written b) persuasive I try to buy some poetry with Christmas vouchers and this year, thanks to Rishi I’m picking up:That Broke into Shining Crystals by Richard ScottThe Book of Jonah by Luke KennardYou?

— @gavreads (@gavreads.co.uk) 2025-12-21T08:06:00.812Z

I did manage to get copies of The Broke into Shining Crystals and The Book of Jonah, but then went back to get Southern Sonnets by Leo Boix and The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor.

Two books rest side by side on a train table with a wooden-effect finish. On the left, Southernmost Sonnets by Leo Boix shows a vivid collage of birds, butterflies, flowers, a snake, and a leopard layered over a map, with a quote from Chloe Aridjis. On the right, The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor features a black-and-white photo of a smiling woman, softened by a pink title band. A black bag peeks out beneath them.

Have you spent your Christmas vouchers yet?

I also got another voucher that I turned into ebooks – as I got mostly poetry with my one voucher, I thought I’d pick up some ‘random’ SF (random as I’d not heard much, if anything, about them:

  • If the Stars Are Lit by Sara K Ellis
  • Galaxy Grifter (Blackjack Interstellar Book 1) by A. Zaykova
  • The Shattered Skies (The Cruel Stars Trilogy) by John Birmingham
  • The Cruel Stars (The Cruel Stars Trilogy) by John Birmingham
  • Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie (I have heard of Anne)

Cover(s) of the Week

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean
To Be Published in May 2026

Outro

My aim is to post my look back at 2025 (and a glance into 2026) before midnight on New Year’s Eve, but I haven’t started yet. I am going to try, as it would be a nice way to round off the year.

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