2025 Year In Books

 Having begun the year with best intentions ("...you were saying something about best intentions?") the full-dress documentation of what I've been reading fell by the wayside a bit. OK, by "a bit" I mean "entirely". Life is what happens, as any fule kno. 

However, I was doing what passes for meticulous documentary process here in the big 25, by taking a picture of every book as I read it. So here, with a slightly starey eye on the calendar and a bit of hasty last-minute tidying up, I present Blogocentric's Pictorial Guide to the Year's Reading:

As a selection, it looks quite appealing stitched like a patchwork quilt. 

There are a few titles missing from the gallery, now I come to peruse it. I definitely read a copy of Grant Morrison/Sean Murphy's Joe the Barbarian from the library, for example - I'm fairly sure I snapped it at the same time as the Dredd volume, but... *shrug*... And there are of course books I pick up off the shelves and scan a few sections from now and then when I feel like reconnecting, but they're not for inclusion here.

Henceforth (part of a general drive, etc) I intend to devote time to writing up at least brief notes for all the titles, with more detailed responses for some. And I'll italicise that best intention in anticipation of whatever metaphorical Tyson-esque punch in the face might occur to nudge a rethink.

Looking at the stack, certain themes dominate. Walking/travel-related books and lots of chess study, mainly. Along with that there was a Marlowe trifecta, a few shelf-clearance completions, some fascinating music bio, and weightier tomes that added challenge for someone who discovers they have put on a few pounds around the middle in reading terms. 

Maybe the biggest single reading-related shift occurred earlier this year, when we finally acted on a notion of forbidding phones from the bedroom. I am not as fond of graphs as, say, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal or XKCD, but if I was, I'd insert one right here demonstrating a dramatic relationship between falling scrolling times and rising attention to books. 

Hope all was as intended for your new year celebrations, and see you here for book-related stuff in 2026.

 

Sudden scale shift at Collier Street almost causes a pile-up

Much poring over the map of North London and much wheeling of the bike up sudden one-way streets in Islington, Barnbury, Holloway, King's Cross and the adjacent areas reveals that the fabric of North London, like space-time, can be deeply incomprehensible even given intense study. How do the roads bend back on themselves, like Romanian gymnast children? Possibly emigré trainers. Probably misreading the maps.

Easily in my top ten favourite books ever, and certainly this week:
The London A-Z.
I've been using the spiral bound AA version from 2006 since I arrived in The Village... it's looking a little dog-eared, it has to be said. I may replace it with something from Geographers' A-Z Map Company, in tribute to the originator of the concept, the magnificent Phyllis Pearsall, may her name be sung by all bemused mid-century party-goers and lost cyclists, getting honked at the lights as they stand in the road frowning and thumbing between pages 75 and 9.