Books to consider reading this January 2025

This is a jampacked January reading experience!

By CityLife Arts Writer

January is often about starting anew, on a fresh clean slate, a blank page as it were. But in the publishing world, there is simply such a profusion of new releases in December that we often need January to catch up on literary gems and bookish finds we may have missed in the festive mayhem.

Fiction

The Granddaughter, Bernard Schlink – From the author of the no.1 international bestseller The Reader, The Granddaughter is a gripping novel that transports us from the divided Germany of the 1960s to contemporary Australia, asking what might be found when it seems like all is lost.

Thirst, by Giles Folden – 2039, the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. 160,000 kilometres-square of ocean-crashed desert, littered with bones, shipwrecks and shattered dreams. Searching for her mother and a rumoured aquifer in northern Namibia, Chalice Conroy must contend with desert lions as well as rapacious humans…

Fire by John Boyne – In Fire, John Boyne takes the reader on a chilling, uncomfortable but utterly compelling psychological journey to the epicentre of the human condition, asking the age-old question: nurture – or nature?

Before We Forget Kindness, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi – In the fifth book in the sensational Before the Coffee Gets Cold series translated from Japanese, the mysterious café where customers arrive hoping to travel back in time welcomes four new guests. Soothing and warmhearted.

And then a superb debut, longlisted for the Booker Prize, Pearl, by Sian Hughes ia a haunting novel inspired by the medieval poem of the same name. At its heart it is a family story – the narrator’s mother disappeared when she was a small child and her younger brother was a baby, and the narrator becomes obsessed with her legacy and the local folklore she loved. Lyrical and poetic.

For non-fiction, stand out titles include:

Saturday Night Sunday Morning, by PJ Morton – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, keyboardist for the mega pop band Maroon 5, and founder of Morton Records, PJ Morton details the inspiring journey that led to his unique sound and urges readers to follow their own dreams.

And then, simply the perfect way to begin the new year: How to Let Things Go, by Shunmyo Masuno, Feeling overwhelmed? Step away from life’s mounting demands and free yourself up for what matters with this succinct and sensible guide by the Zen Buddhist author of the international bestsellers The Art of Simple Living and Don’t Worry.

Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish – First Atomic Habits transformed your behaviour. Now, Clear Thinking transforms your mind. From the most influential smart-thinking writer in America.

Words to Live By – a daily journal by Donna Ashworth – is the ideal companion to intentional living. Brimming with inspiration, comfort and encouragement, from the UK’s no.1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Wild Hope. January also sees the return of the supremely popular Reading is my Superpower campaign, reminding young and old how reading and words can be a powerful tool for learning and achieving. An indispensable book in your armory is a dictionary – so we have five of the most popular on special price promotion during January. And because we are all returning to our desks – no matter your age – we have launched a gorgeous range of stationery, bang on trend, in all its pastel prettiness.