Before our closure next month, we wanted to provide the fourth and final edition of our Winter Reads from our staff team. Below we recommend the fiction and non-fiction reads which made an impact on us this year, for you to add to your reading lists for 2025 and beyond.
Sophie’s Recommendations
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. Open Water was lent to me by a colleague at the end of the summer and was a perfect return to reading fiction. The book follows the two protagonists through their lives as creatives, the journey of their relationship rooted in friendship and their experiences as young black people navigating life in the UK.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. A memoir about love, grief and cultural identity written by the lead singer of Japanese Breakfast. The audiobook kept me good company on a Eurostar trip to Amsterdam this autumn.
Losing Eden by Lucy Jones. If one of your 2025 goals is to get out into nature more often this book will definitely encourage you to take the leap. Losing Eden explores why nature is so important to us and shares scientific research demonstrating the positive impact of time outdoors on our mental health and wellbeing.
Fiona’s recommendations
It’s Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie. For people passionate about tackling climate change and the ‘wicked problems’ of our time, this was a fantastic book for putting into perspective how far we have come in tackling large scale issues and the power we have when we put the world’s resources towards making change. This is a hopeful read on climate and social action, whilst also emphasising the role an individual can play. Sim also recommends this read!
Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Inspired by a training session I attended (hosted by our funders, The Pears Foundation), this was a great read both for personal and professional conversations which you may find challenging. Stone, Patton and Heen break down the process of preparing for, having and following up from difficult conversations, including what flags to look out for which might signify a difficult conversation is needed. A really enlightening read on a topic we don’t talk nearly enough about.
The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks. This fiction read explores the lives of the passengers of the Trans-Siberian Express on what is meant to be a 15 day journey covering the supernatural and spooky Wastelands between Beijing and Moscow. But when an unexpected passenger joins the journey, things start to go wrong.
Saving Time by Jenny Odell. I expected this to be about productivity, but it’s actually about the intersection of our time, capitalism, climate change and how we live as human beings. A very deep thinking book which surprised (but delighted) me. Odell’s prose is beautifully written too: it’s very rare for me to highlight sections of a non-fiction book because the words stop me in my tracks.
Sim’s recommendations
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. If you’re looking for something a bit bigger to get stuck into, I recommend Project Hail Mary as a fun romp. Though grounded in realistic science, Weir isn’t afraid of being a bit silly and the result is a fun and quick read about the very human traits of innovation and tenacity in the face of almost certain doom.
Frontier by Grace Curtis. This was my favourite book of the year – a sci-fi western about The Stranger who crash lands into a dystopian Earth. Surviving a spaceship crash, The Stranger traverses this unknown land in order to complete her mission, and along the way, helps others to improve their lives, and the future of the planet. A fun read, with a heartfelt queer romance at the heart, which leaves you feeling optimistic about putting yourself out there to build community.
From Below by Darcy Coates. To me winter is for getting cosy with a horror book, and From Below was the best horror book I read this year. A tense and suffocating read focusing on a crew scuba-diving to the wreck of a recently discovered ship which disappeared on a routine voyage to find out what happened. Split between the present and the weeks leading up to the ship’s demise, there’s more than meets the eye to this one. You don’t know what lurks below.
The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll. For anyone thinking about new routines for the new year, this book is a great crash course in setting up a Bullet Journal to help you organise your thoughts, tasks, and daily to-do list management. Starting with the basics, this book also covers other habits and provides support for goal setting and future ideation which you might find helpful as you set those intentions for 2025.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I really appreciated reading Digital Minimalism this Summer – it’s easy to paint modern technology as a bad thing that drains us, and we’re at a point where we’re starting to question whether the benefits outweigh this. Digital Minimalism helps to re-contextualise technology and devices as tools which we can use to help us reach our goals, but to do so we need to break up with the habits which make us feel beholden to our devices. Again a good read before starting the new year if you’re thinking about habit setting and a less online life.