Open Thread: What book are you most excited to read in 2025?
Plus: A few titles I'm looking forward to this year
Ah the promise of a new year, filled with lists of books to refresh and nourish our minds and enlarge our souls! For the first time this year, I am planning my reading life in (some) detail. I have chosen several categories (Gothic, Victorian, Educational Philosophy, etc) and between 4-6 books in each category. So it isn’t exactly the Schole Sisters 5x5 Reading Challenge but it is loosely similar to it.
I won’t share all of the books I’m planning to read in 2025 because those lists can get a bit lengthy, but I do want to share a handful of titles that I am excited about reading. But more than that, I would love to know: what are you looking forward to reading this year? Please share, because I am always looking for (even more) books to add to my (eternally growing) to-be-read list. And I’m certain that many of you lovely readers would also love to glean reading ideas from each other, too.
2025 Books I’m excited to Read:
Gothic/Gothic Satire
Northanger Abbey & Mysteries of Udolpho
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is a re-read for me, but it has been so long (close to 20 years) that it will feel more like my first time through. Because Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho is referenced frequently in Northanger Abbey, I’m looking forward to enjoying Austen’s riffing on the Gothic genre.
George Eliot
Middlemarch & The Mill on the Floss
I am relatively new to George Eliot, and only read my first book by her (Silas Marner) just last year. I am hoping to read through Middlemarch with a group via The Catherine Project this spring. If I had to pick the book I am most looking forward to reading in 2025, it’s Middlemarch.
Brontë Sisters
Wuthering Heights & The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Does anyone love both Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights? I adore the former and detested the latter when I read it some 20+ years ago. So this year I am giving Wuthering Heights another chance (why do so many people love it??) and trying out my first novel by the least read of the three sisters.
Charles Dickens
Pickwick Papers & Our Mutual Friend
I have read a lot of Dickens, so I am fascinated to compare Pickwick Papers (1837) with Our Mutual Friend (1865) because they span his career as a writer from beginning to end: these are his first and his last completed novels.
C. S. Lewis
The Four Loves, Experiment in Criticism, The Medieval Mind of C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy
While I won’t be reading everything by Lewis this year like Sarah Coogan did in 2024, I own several books by Lewis that I haven’t yet read; 2025 is the year to remedy that (so I can promptly buy even more of his books).
Looking back to what I read in 2023:
Tell me, readers: what’s got you excited to read this year?
Keep seeking the virtuous and the lovely,
Shannon
How dare you not like Wuthering Heights??? JK, I get that book is not for everyone but I hope you enjoy it more the second time! The Mysteries of Udolpho is great too; it's pretty long and tedious but I ended up loving it and have since been wanting to read some of the "horrid novels" in Northanger Abbey though I haven't done any yet. I am currently reading Wives and Daughters which will probably become a new favourite and I would like to finally get into reading Charles Dickens this year as I never have before. Any suggestions for which of his books I should start with?
I'm looking forward to reading Jane Austen's Persuasion, The Mass of Brother Michel (a recommendation from a friend), Far From the Madding Crowd, and Diary of a Country Priest (idea taken from your photo). I will also probably re-read Jane Eyre. It has taken me a long time to return to it, since I'm not very much into the Gothic genre. Thank you for the recommendations! Would you consider writing a short article about each book after you've read it? Sort of like a book review?