📚 10 Interesting Books I Read in 2025
by lisaashley · 56 things on Twos
- The Divine Farce
- The Divine Farce by Michael S.A. Graziano, 128 pages, 2009
- Fiction, Horror, Philosophy
- This novella starts with three strangers crushed together in a concrete stall for all eternity so cramped they can't even sit down. And yet, there is worse to come.
- A very weird story with philosophical themes exploring heaven, hell, and what it means to be human. It can be quite gross at times, but hey humans are gross.
- If you like this one, also check out A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck
- The Long Walk
- The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King's penname), 370 pages, 1978
- Fiction, Horror, Dystopian, Speculative Fiction
- In this book a hundred teenage boys compete in a competition to see who can walk the longest. If you slow down or stop, you will be given three warnings after which you will be executed.
- This book is brutal. There's definitely some gross parts in terms of gore and weird gross Stephen King stuff. But mostly it's watching these boys make friends with each other, be confident and determined to win, and then watch as the hope goes out of their eyes and they become shells of people.
- I loved it. It was like a trainwreck I couldn't look away from and it still haunts me when I think about it.
- The movie adaptation came out this year I believe it's on DVD or you can rent it from streaming services.
- Comfort Me With Apples
- Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente, 103 pages, 2021
- Fiction, Horror, Thriller
- Sophia believes her life in Acadia Gardens is perfect and so is her husband. But he's away so often and doesn't answer her questions. Questions like... what's it the locked basement she's not allowed to enter?
- This book is easily devoured and one sitting and I won't tell you too much about it so that you can discover for yourself.
- Hairpin Bridge
- Hairpin Bridge by Taylor Adams, 306 pages, 2021
- Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
- Three months ago, Lena's estranged twin sister jumped from a bridge in a remote small town to her death. At least, that's the official police story. But Lena believes there is more to it and she is determined to figure it out and prove it.
- Very suspenseful and hard to put it down to go do something else. If you like thrillers I recommend you check it out.
- Crawlspace
- Crawlspace by Herbert Lieberman, 278 pages, 1971
- Fiction, Horror, Thriller
- After a heart attack, Albert goes into early retirement which he spends with his wife Alice living a monotonous domestic life. They never had children and sometimes they get lonely. So one day Alice invites the boy who came to check their furnace for dinner. Next thing they know, Richard is living in their crawlspace.
- This one is a tense psychological thriller. The characters are flawed and all the more realistic for that. It's stressful and delves into the darker parts of the psyche and human relationships.
- Crush by Richard Siken
- Crush by Richard Siken, 80 pages, 2005
- Poetry, LGBT
- A short collection of poetry that's not short on impact.
- My favourite poem from this collection is You Are Jeff
- If you like this, you might also like Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
- A Flicker in the Dark
- A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham, 357 pages, 2022
- Fiction, Thriller
- Twenty years after the anniversary of her father going to prison for killing six girls, psychologist Chloe Davis starts to see similarities between the crimes and girls going missing today. The problem is this isn't the first time Chloe has been paranoid about this.
- A well crafted thriller that I got through quickly because I wanted to know what happened. I was interested in Chloe's perspective on things even if she wasn't necessarily the most reliable narrator.
- Snapshot
- Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson, 123 pages, 2017
- Fiction, Science Fiction
- A scifi novella about a cop on "snapshot duty" which involves going to the past to gather evidence to prosecute crimes.
- It's a lot more in depth than that even though I read the whole thing in one sitting that took about 2 hours.
- My first Brandon Sanderson book! It won't be my last.
- Julie Chan is Dead
- Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang, 320 pages, 2025
- Fiction, Thriller, Horror
- When Julie Chan's identical twin sister dies of an overdose, Julie decides to take over Chloe's life as a successful influencer and pretend it was Julie who died.
- Weird shit happens in this book, I'm not going to lie. And the weird part is that it kind of shifts genres partway through the book. But it was a lot of fun and easy to read.
- Novel With Cocaine
- Novel With Cocaine by M. Agueev, 204 pages, 1934
- Fiction, Literary, Classics
- Vadim is a Russian teenager who is also pretty much a jerk. This novel follows his descent into cocaine addiction.
- It's kind of hard to explain why this one was so captivating. Maybe because Vadim is such an awful person?
- If you like sad classic Russian literature, this one is for you!