Mid-year wrap up

I found these questions @ Read with Stefani, to wrap-up my half year reading in 2025. They are from 2024, but will fit well into 2025 as well.

Best book you’ve read so far in 2025?

Trust by Hernan Diaz, a 2022 novel by Argentine‑American author Hernán Díaz. It won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (shared with Demon Copperhead). A book which is a little bit difficult to get into, but improves with the four short stories it contain. It is beautifully put together in the end.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2025?

I don't often read series, but I read a thriller, Stormvakt, by Kristina Ohlsson in 2022. I liked it so much and it was just by chance I found the following 2-5 in the series. I read them almost in one go, because they are so good and exciting. A perfect summer read as it takes place at the west coast of Sweden, by the sea.

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

I don't often look for new releases, since I have enough of books to read which are already out.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

See above

Biggest disappointment.

De kommer att drunkna i sina mödrars tårar by Johannes Anyuru. A much anticipated read, it has won a prestigious prize in Sweden, but I did not like it at all, or even understood it.

Biggest surprise.

Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman. A true story about people trying to flee from East Berling, when the wall was built. So exciting and touching, beats any fictional account.

Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you).

Hernan Diaz - looking forward to reading his first book In the Distance.

Newest fictional crush.

Must be Ray-Ray in Kristina Ohlsson's Strindberg series. He is a criminal investigator, never seen before. Totally charming.

Newest favourite character.

See above.

Book that made you cry.

I cry easily, but can't really remember. I probably did cry a little bit reading Dottern (The Daughter) by Sara Önnebo. It was a time wise sad story where a secret is kept to long, and there is no time to talk about it with the persons concerned.

Book that made you happy.

Shooting Butterflies by Marika Cobbold. I did certainly cry here as well. A beautiful, but sad, love story covering several generations. A wonderful book, highly recommended.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received).

See above. That is really a beautiful story. I found it in a small street library, and is one of the books I kept after reading it.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Reading about books from book bloggers there always pop up a lot of books I want to read. My idea is to plan my reading a little bit more this year. I am participating in 20 Books of Summer, Big Book Summer Challenge and Paris in July, so the reading for these three months is already planned. For the autumn, I would like to read the great Russian authors; Tolstoj and Dostoyevsky, possibly The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. In other words; classics. However, I don't need to read any special book.

That was a little bit of my mid-year wrap-up. I have read 56 books the first six months, of which 29 came from my TBR shelves. I am pleased with that. I hope you have also had a wonderful first half year of reading your favourite books, finding a new author, and possibly a new favourite character.