Book Break

With the year coming to an end, I find myself looking back at the books I spent time with over the past months. While 2024 was strongly focused on reading connected to the course I was taking, 2025 leaned much more toward fiction and adventure.

I enjoyed all the books I read. I’m at the stage where I’m slowly making my way through the final volumes of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and I hesitate each time before picking up the next one — I’m not quite ready for it to end. Do you know that feeling?

I devoured the entire Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, curious to understand what all the excitement was about. I couldn’t not return to Stephen King and Charles Bukowski, as I’m continually drawn to their writing styles. Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes in the Wood made me laugh and feel deeply connected. The Invention of Wings left me speechless, and I already know I’ll reread it someday. I was also pleasantly surprised by Sapkowski’s new Witcher book — expecting a familiar tune, and boy, was I wrong!

I think I may share more detailed thoughts on the books I read in the future. For now, though, I’d like to focus on three of them.

“Throne of Glass” by Sarah J. Maas

This might be cheating a little, as I really want to talk about the whole series — but I think I finally understand what all the fuss is about.

Throne of Glass follows a young assassin drawn into a deadly competition, only to discover that the world around her is far larger, darker, and more interconnected than she ever imagined. What begins as a story of survival slowly unfolds into an epic of magic, power, loyalty, and choice.

What drew me in the most were perhaps the most cliché elements of all: friends showing up for each other no matter what, the fight for a better world, the laughter along the way, and a main character who truly evolves throughout the series. I also loved witnessing how Sarah J. Maas’s writing changed from book one to book seven.

I was hooked from the very first book, but I fell in love with the story around book four. Book six has some of the lowest ratings on Goodreads (I think I know why — but I won’t spoil it for you), and yet, surprisingly, I enjoyed it just as much as the others.

Verdict: A rewarding series for anyone willing to commit to a long journey — especially if you love character growth, loyalty, magic and epic stakes.

“Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan is a quiet, powerful story set in a small Irish town, following a man whose ordinary life is unsettled by a moment of moral reckoning. Through subtle observation and restraint, the novel explores conscience, kindness, and the cost of choosing to see — and act — when silence would be easier.

Although it is a rather short read, there are passages in the book that stayed with me long after I finished it. One quote in particular is something I’ve been discussing lately with a dear friend of mine:

“What was it all for? Furlong wondered. The work and the constant worry. Getting up in the dark and going to the yard, making the deliveries, one after another, the whole day long, then coming home in the dark and trying to wash the black off himself and sitting into a dinner at the table and falling asleep before waking in the dark to meet a version of the same thing, yet again.”

That simple, weighty question — what is it all for? — has lingered with me. I’m still sitting with it, and I’m not entirely sure I’ve figured out the answer yet.

Verdict: A quietly powerful book for readers who appreciate subtlety, moral reflection, and stories that ask simple questions with lasting weight.

“We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a quietly unsettling novel about two sisters living in near isolation after a devastating family tragedy. The story slowly reveals a world shaped by fear, superstition, and fragile routines. Through subtle tension and restraint, Jackson explores themes of otherness, control, and the thin line between safety and menace.

What captivated me completely was the narration from the worldview of the younger sister and the depiction of everyday life. While reading, I felt as though I was truly inside the book — part of the story itself. The language subtly mirrors the mind of a child, which I found especially compelling, even if it isn’t immediately obvious at the very beginning.

As soon as I finished the book, I went searching for everything else Shirley Jackson has written, and several of her works are now on my reading list for 2026. I love making discoveries like this — and sometimes I find myself wondering how it’s possible to come across such books so late in life.

Verdict: A must-read for anyone drawn to psychological depth and atmosphere — unsettling, quietly brilliant, and impossible to forget.

If you read or plan to read any of these, please share your opinions!