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:
???
Nothing this week.
Currently Reading:
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare (trans John Hodgson) [2023]
The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch (narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) [2024]
The Two Doctors Górski by Isaac Fellman [2022]
I’ve not read a whole lot this week because I’ve been distracted by other hobbies, but also, I’ve reached a point in The Masquerades of Spring that I’m a bit nervous about. Aaronovitch has put the stakes up with threats against the gay couple, and I’ve read a few reviews to see if there is any hint at an HEA (Happy Ever After) for them. It seems there is but also I don’t think I could handle a ‘bury your gays’ trope popping up.
The Two Doctors Górski is giving me The Incandescent by Emily Tesh vibes, I wonder how dark it’s going to go? It’s been highly recommended, so no pressure on their taste.
DNF’d
???
Nothing this week.
Book-ish Things
The preorders are flowing in. This week I’ve recieved:
The Apple and the Pearl by Rym Kechacha
The Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin [Translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins]
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher
A good mix of potential reading joy I think you’d agree.
Non-Book-ish Things
One of my other major hobbies is video games, and last year I made a more concerted effort to put time into them, which partly helped me cope with the reading slump that dominated the first few months of 2025. At the moment, I’m playing Persona 5 Royal, a JRPG with over 100 hours of gameplay. The problem is, at 50 hours in, I’ve discovered I’ve been playing it wrong. This means I’ve started again, and this time I am paying attention to what the game is telling me and using tips that other players have shared to us.
So if you’re wondering why I’m not reading. That does have a lot to do with it.
I’ve also watched the first episode of Star Trek Academy, and I’m sold. Really keen to see what this young crew can do. If you liked Discovery or Voyager, I think you’ll like this.
Cover(s) of the Week
Outro
Hopefully, I’ll be able to report that I’ve finished reading something next weekend. Have a good reading week, all.
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:
???
Nothing this week.
Currently Reading:
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare (trans John Hodgson) [2023]
The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch (narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) [2024]
I’m going to be honest and say that I’m struggling with A Dectator Calls. I am going to keep going, but I feel I’m not well-versed enough in Starlin’s Russia to get the gravitas that is part of this novel.
I am having a great time with The Masquerades of Spring, where a younger Nightingale heads to New York to solve a mystery surrounding a saxophone with the help of an old friend. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is going an excellnt job as usual.
DNF’d
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling [2025]
I knew I was taking a chance on this, but the early buzz was positive, and the idea of nuns trapped in a castle going mad sounds horrific, but also an idea with a lot of potential.
I am not a fan of grimdark works in general, and this proves again that I don’t think they are for me. I asked for thoughts on Bluesky, and no one came back saying that I needed to push through. So, as predicted last week, DNF it is.
Book-ish Thoughts
Continuing with the topic of DNFs, it’s one of the reasons that I wanted a page count this year; the main reason is that I’m aiming to read 50 pages a day. I don’t count DNFs as read, so before, when I was only tracking books I’d completed, DNF’ing felt like a waste. Now, they are helping with my page count.
Books That Others Have Tempted Me With:
Cover(s) of the Week
Outro
I have no idea what I fancy picking up next – I’ll get both A Dictator Calls and The Masquerades of Spring read and then decide, I think.
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:
A Conventional Boy (A Laundry Files Novella) by Charles Stross [2025]
Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy [2024]
Two in one week? All thanks to a couple of long-ish plane rides. Both had me hooked. But both had different impacts.
A Conventional Boy is a side quest for two of the minor characters in the Laundry Files by Charles Stross. Derek and his dice leave Camp Sunshine and end up in a game of D&D that turns into a game of life and death.
1st 26 read: @cstross.bsky.social’s novella A Conventional Boy. The lore is loring, and I think I need to reread some other works from The Laundry in order to do a review justice. Even if you’re not acquainted with the series, it’s a brilliant tale of what happens when TTRPGs get a little too real.
What worked well for me was how quickly you care about the fate of Derek and his players. It’s also tempted me to go hunting down the links to the main series.
Sorcery and Small Magics centres around a frenemy trope, with the hint of lovers and I was 50/50 at one point if the main character was too annoying, I pushed through, and it turned into something that had me so invested, as I stated on Bluesky.
Thank you to everyone who recommended Sorcery and Small Magics. It was my read on a plane ride. The flight flew by, but I also cried. I mean, tears streaming down my face, crying. That f—ing ending!! I was agog. Highly recommend @orbitbooksuk.bsky.social @maigadoocy.bsky.social
SPOILER: It’s set up for a sequel that hasn’t got a release date yet.
Currently Reading:
A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare (trans John Hodgson) [2023]
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling [2025]
FYI: The Starving Saints is on Kindle Unlimited
DNF’d
Love At First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi [2025]
It wasn’t that the antagonisms were forced exactly, but they are relentless, and as I’m not a fan of interpersonal conflicts in general, it didn’t make for comfortable reading. It might be a trope of enemies-to-lovers romances that is probably going to put me off reading too many like A Fate Inked in Blood. It’s there in Sorcery and Small Magics, and I accepted it was going to be a thing. The situation makes it more believable, but only due to the stoicism of one character, and not knowing what they actually believe, only what’s reported.
Book-ish Thoughts
The pre-orders are starting to land. And I’m not sure of past-me’s decision-making in taking a chance on a bunch of books just because Waterstones had either a discount or a points offer. Don’t get me wrong, I am interested in reading them, and the reissued paperback releases are more considered, but new books arriving aren’t really in the spirit of tackling my backlog.
I am loath to cancel them as I might feel differently in a couple of weeks, and they are interesting in their own ways.
Anyway, what’s arrived:
A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
Pagans by James Alistair Henry
As you’ll see further up, I am not having the best time reading Romantasy of the enemies-to-lovers variety, and I’ve not read A Fate Inked in Blood yet.
Books That Others Have Tempted Me With:
I am trying to avoid temptation, and so far I’m doing well… though I’m curious about The Murder at World’s End by Ross Montgomery
Cover(s) of the Week
Outro
I am reading more, and I’m more willing to DNF (even at 50% in). I think that’s helped by having both a page count and a books-read goal. I might still DNF The Starving Saints, not because it’s bad, but because I was expecting something different, and it might be too ‘real’ and too bleak for me.
In yesterday’s post, I confirmed that “I’ll be back” in 2026 and promised a look at what I plan to read this year. Before that, though, I want to share some standout books from 2025. These aren’t definitive “best of” lists—just the ones that really stuck with me.
What stood out in 2025?
I’m going to caveat this selection by giving some stats:
I read 34 books in total (you can see the full list here).
5 of those were Rivers of London related.
7 were published in 2025
4 were books in translation
I really like using The StoryGraph app (I’m @gavreads)to capture my reading. They also provide nice graphics:
This is my way of saying that 34 is a respectable number, but it’s not the biggest pool of work to make proclamations like this is the best book published in 2025, etc.
I also DNF’d 9 books. I want to retry three of them (Under the Eye of the Big Bird, Extremophile, & The Ministry of Time) to see if I can figure out what others liked in them that I missed.
If you’re looking for the best released in 2025, this not the blog post you are looking for.
Anyway, here are some idiosyncratic ‘best ofs’:
Best of Found Families:
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White
The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth
Best Slow-Burn Reveal:
The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
Best Ensemble of ‘Monsters’:
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Best Parent Fighting for Their Child:
The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis
Best use of humour to present a horrific things:
The Trees by Percival Everett
Best use of a family holiday:
Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne
Best Tales of Taxi Riders
Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida
Best Questioning of ‘If AI is alive’?
The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1 by Martha Wells
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Best Long Running Series that I’ve read in 2025:
Rivers of London (#6 to #9.5)
Best Time Spent in a Freezer
When the Museum Is Closed by Emi Yagi [tr.. Yuki Tejima]
Best Example of How We’ve Not Really Moved On as a Society:
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle [1957]
Best Example of How We Have Gone Backwards:
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto [tr. Megan Backus] [1988/1993]
Do you want to give out any more awards?
I’m sure I could think of more, but let’s stop here.
What are you planning on reading in 2026?
All the books I bought in 2025? Maybe not, as that’s physically impossible at this point. Perhaps the topic of why I keep buying books should be explored in a future post. For now, though, I want to get some ‘quick reading wins’ under my belt and read some of the shorter, standalone fiction.
The thene of 2026 is:
The year of the backlog (recent and extended).
This might not be the most up-to-date content for future blog posts, but I’m planning to make it the best reading experience I can. With that in mind, here are two lists of 10 books I want to read in 2026 (and if I remember, I’ll report back)
Selected from 2025 Releases:
The Book of Jonah by Luke Kennard
The Imagined Life by Andrew Porter
Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton
Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire
Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson
Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch
A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde
There are so many more… The Isle in the Silver Sea, The Everlasting,The Last Soul Among Wolves, It’s Not a Cult, Spread Me, Dead & Breakfast, Angel Down… I’d better stop.
Selected from The Backlog:
Running Close to the Wind by Alexandra Rowland
Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins
House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Nude Against a Rock by Robert Hamberger
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Great Granny Webster by Caroline Blackwood
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job. by Kikuko Tsumura [Tr. Polly Barton]
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
This is just the tip of an iceberg, but hopefully shows a selection of my backlog and the delights that I have to look forward to.
That’s my plan. What are yours? Any highlights from 2025, and what’s on your list for 2026?
Womble from Runalong The Shelves has been doing a weekly “Wombling Along” and highlighting reviews and other articles that caught their attention over the past week.
Sunday Summary is mostly going to be my personal log of books and bookish things that have caught my attention — and may also serve as a public memory prompt/bookmarking system.
Halloween is Not Far Away
And this means that both the British Fantasy Awards and the World Fantasy Awards are soon to be announced.
The British Fantasy Awardswill be presented on Saturday 1st November, in the evening, at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.
And
The World Fantasy Awards will be presented on Sunday 2nd November, in the afternoon following the banquet, also at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton.
I’ve just realised I have three weeks to finish reading my selected shortlists from each!
I’m confident I’ll manage the novellas — I’ve read three and have two to go. I’m about halfway through the anthology reading. I’m planning to read the novels as a group and continue reviewing the anthologies individually.
I am reading them in the order in which they are presented in the shortlists, and as a reminder, here they are:
British Fantasy Awards 2025: Best Anthology
Nova Scotia 2, edited by Neil Williamson and Andrew J Wilson – Luna Press Publishing
Fight Like A Girl 2, edited by Roz Clarke and Joanne Hall – Wizard’s Tower Press
Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, edited by Dan Coxon- PS Publishing
The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2023), edited by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Chinaza Eziaghighala – Caezik SF & Fantasy
Bury Your Gays – An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror, edited Sofia Ajram – Ghoulish Books
World Fantasy Awards 2025: Best Novella
Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud (Tor Nightfire/Titan Books)
In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael F. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark (Grimdark Magazine)
Yoke of Stars by R. B. Lemberg (Tachyon Publications)
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo (Tordotcom)
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom/Titan Books UK)
I’m taking longer to read Heartwood than I expected. The themes explore similar emotional and mythic territory, though from completely different angles. Despite their varied perspectives, they overlap in meaningful ways, which is slowing my reading pace. That might also be due to the weight of the stories — they demand attention.
I think it’s going to be my winner. Not because the other anthologies aren’t excellent, but because this is a unique collection, rooted in a powerful myth.
I thought Crypt of the Moon Spider was going to be my novella winner before reading Yoke of Stars, and now I’m not so sure. Let’s see what the two tree-related stories do for me, as Ryhope Wood has entrances everywhere.
Back to anthologies — they’ve put me in the mood to read more. I’ve already started The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread, and I’ll have read Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology. So, after the winner has been announced, do I read the other nominees in the World Fantasy Awards Best Anthology category? They are:
Heartwood: A Mythago Wood Anthology, ed. Dan Coxon (Drugstore Indian Press)
Discontinue If Death Ensues: Tales from the Tipping Point eds. Carol Gyzander & Anna Taborska (Flame Tree Press)
Northern Nights ed. Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications)
The Dagon Collection, ed. Nate Pedersen (PS Publishing)
The Crawling Moon: Queer Tales of Inescapable Dread ed. Dave Ring (Neon Hemlock Press)
Newsy Things
Ebooks – Now Available from Bookshop.org
There is more in the press release, but these are the highlights:
For the first time ever, UK indies will be able to sell ebooks to their customers
The launch marks Bookshop.org’s fifth anniversary
Bookshops will make 100% profit on every ebook they sell
A much-awaited alternative to Amazon to buy ebooks, at no extra cost
Bookshop.org to launch audiobook sales next year
I use an iPhone and a Boox Palma (which uses Google Play), and I’ve bought a couple of books to test it out. The whole process was slick and easy—especially with Apple Pay.
The app offers lots of control over the reading experience, but there are two things you should know. By default, it:
looks terrible
overrides the publisher’s settings
But don’t worry—there’s an easy fix if you have the patience. Try turning on the publisher settings or fiddling with the options until you get it looking the way you want. The initial appearance actually encourages you to change it, and once you do, the text looks stunning.
So don’t let that put you off. It’s great to have more big-company options for buying ebooks, and I’m sure they’ll improve the app to make it a better out-of-the-box experience.
Kickstarter #1: I want to see Welsh Heroes Return
They are Still Here (Maen Nhw Yma O Hyd) will be an anthology of contemporary fantasy tales of resistance and resilience. The threats will be very modern, but the resolution will contain a hint or more of the fantastic.
This one is live but the all or nothing deadline is:
Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM GMT (UK local time)
This one is coming in 2026. I loved A Market of Dreams and Destiny, and while I’m waiting on a sequel —which Trip has just confirmed is written and likely out in 2027—I’m excited to get a new novel‑length work in 2026 to fill the gap!
The Fall of the House of Valenziaga is a high-stakes, science-fantasy family epic. If you love lushly imagined settings, strange magics and impossible sciences, and queer characters that are both smart and sexy, you’ll live for this latest tale from Trip Galey!
The Ignytes seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre.
Hot off the presss is the winners to this year’s awards:
OUTSTANDING NOVEL: ADULT – For novel-length work (40,000+ words) intended for an adult audience Winner:The Sentence – Gautam Bhatia
OUTSTANDING NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT – For novel-length (40,000+ words) works intended for the young adult audience Winner:Heir – Sabaa Tahir
OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE – For works intended for the middle grade audience Winner:The Last Rhee Witch – Jenna Lee-Yun
OUTSTANDING NOVELLA – For speculative works ranging from 17,500–39,999 words Winner:Lost Ark Dreaming – Suyi Okungbowa Davies
OUTSTANDING NOVELETTE – For speculative works ranging from 7,500–17,499 words Winner:We Who Will Not Die – Shingai Njeri Kagunda
OUTSTANDING SHORT STORY – For speculative works ranging from 2,000–7,499 words Winner:We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read – Caroline M. Yoachim
OUTSTANDING SPECULATIVE POETRY – For excellence in speculative poetry Winner:Reliving: Post Trauma of the Lekki Tollgate Massacre – Fasasi Ridwan
CRITICS AWARD – For reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature Winner: Maya Gittelman
OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST – For excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction Winner: Podcastle
OUTSTANDING ARTIST – For contributions in visual speculative storytelling Winner: Tran Nguyen
OUTSTANDING COMICS TEAM – For comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling Winner:Lunar Boy – Jes and Cin Wibowo
OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS – For excellence in curated speculative fiction collections Winner:Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction – Sonia Sulaiman
OUTSTANDING CREATIVE NONFICTION – For works related to the field of speculative fiction Winner:Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction – Eugen Bacon, ed.
THE EMBER AWARD – For unsung contributions to genre Winner: Sonia Sulaiman
THE COMMUNITY AWARD – For outstanding efforts in service of inclusion and equitable practice in genre Winner: Authors Against Book Bans
Out This Week in the UK – ish
(I need to do better at this as this is a last minute list category)
Big Kiss, Bye-Bye by Claire-Louis Benett via Jeff VanderMeer (but not really as I bought it before I saw this BlueSky post)
I List My Favourites Reads Since 2022
Do you ever get the feeling that you don’t read enough? I had that earlier in the week, so I wrote up a list of my favourites going back to 2022. It turned out to be a longer list than I expected:
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis trans. by Anne Milano Appel
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
‘salem’s Lot by Stephen King
The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo trans. Chi-Young Kim –
The Salvagers Trilogy by Alex White
Magic For Liars by Sarah Gailey
Alien: The Cold Forge by Alex White
Siblings by Brigitte Reimann trans. Lucy Jones
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater
Broken Light by Joanne Harris
What Abigail Did That Summer (Rivers of London #5.3) by Ben Aaronovitch
The Indranan War by K.B. Wagers
What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier #1) by T. Kingfisher
What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier #2) by T. Kingfisher
The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey
The Colony by Audrey Magee
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Calypso by Oliver K.
Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Rubicon by J.S. Dewes
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto tr. Megan Backus
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space (The Starmetal Symphony #1) by Alex White
The Undetectables (The Undetectables Series #1) by Courtney Smyth –
The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton
Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida tr. Haydn Trowell –
Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne –
The Last Hour Between Worlds (The Echo Archives #1) by Melissa Caruso
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis
Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells
Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells
I feel better about myself after seeing this, I’m not gonna lie.
Outro
Well, that turned out to be a much longer post than I expected.
Gav Reads 