{"id":855,"date":"2026-03-23T15:59:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/?p=855"},"modified":"2026-03-23T15:59:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T22:59:04","slug":"final-reads-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/final-reads-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Reads of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Final reads of 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read on Kindle:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dynasty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tom Holland.<\/h3>\n

The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar <\/em><\/p>\n

I was so taken with Pax<\/strong> that I decided to read the entire trilogy.\u00a0 This one takes us through Caesar and his murder, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero, the better known Emperors, but he is always fascinating and I could not stop.<\/p>\n

Rubicon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tom Holland<\/h3>\n

The Last Years of the Roman Empire<\/em><\/p>\n

I followed up with the finale of his trilogy which completes the tale of Rome.\u00a0\u00a0 So that\u2019s over a thousand years of Roman history by this very fine writer, which I enjoyed immensely.\u00a0 I have several more by him waiting in the wings, which is the great advantage of Kindle when you travel.<\/p>\n

On Human Nature\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Edward O. Wilson<\/h3>\n

The 25th<\/sup> Anniversary edition of this lovely book by this fine writer which tells us all about ourselves and how we came to be here, and let some of the chapter headings inform you of what we are learning:\u00a0\u00a0 Heredity, Development, Aggression, Sex, Altruism, Religion and Hope.<\/p>\n

1929 \u00a0\u00a0 Andrew Ross Sorkin<\/h3>\n

A highly readable account of the stock market crash of 1929 with lots of obvious and scary connections with our own time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also the Carl Hiaasen craze in our family has continued with<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Native Tongue<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sick Puppy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Skinny Dip<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Star Island<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Squeeze Me<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Razor Girl<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Strip Tease<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

All of which continue to amuse and pass long journeys agreeably, with many giggles.<\/p>\n

Books.<\/h2>\n

I re-read a couple of Don Winslow books while awaiting delivery of his next one.<\/p>\n

A Cool Breeze on The Underground.\u00a0\u00a0 Don Winslow<\/h3>\n

The Trail to Buddha\u2019s Mirror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don Winslow<\/h3>\n

Which I found fascinating as I think they are early books of his, and also set in England.<\/p>\n

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh\u00a0 \u00a0 Michael Chabon<\/h3>\n

And I re read this because I found a nice first edition of his first novel and very much enjoyed it again.<\/p>\n

The Eleventh Hour\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Salman Rushdie<\/h3>\n

A Quintet of Stories<\/u><\/p>\n

But I finished the year off with a magnificent and wonderful read by Salman at his finest, which reminded me of just how enjoyable and inspiring great writing can be.\u00a0\u00a0 And this is really great writing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m already re-reading it!<\/p>\n

Happy New Books everyone.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

2026<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

January thru March<\/h1>\n

House of Meetings\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Martin Amis<\/h2>\n

A signed edition with a compliments slip from Mike Nichols.\u00a0 2006.\u00a0 Nice to read again.<\/p>\n

The New York Stories of Elizabeth Hardwick<\/h2>\n

Born in Kentucky in 1906 I had not read any of her stories before.\u00a0 A very fine writer.<\/p>\n

Captain Alatriste\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Arturo P\u00e9rez-Reverte<\/h2>\n

Translated from the Spanish.\u00a0 About a 17th<\/sup> Century swordsman. He is the \u201cmaster of the intellectual thriller.\u201d<\/p>\n

Departure (s).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A Novel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Julian Barnes.<\/h2>\n

Written at 80.\u00a0 Is it a novel?\u00a0\u00a0 Or a memoir?\u00a0 Or a bit of both.<\/p>\n

The Little Sister\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Raymond Chandler<\/h2>\n

I read my First edition from 1949 and enjoyed it but have to say at times I didn\u2019t quite follow it.\u00a0 It\u2019s not his best but it\u2019s still him.<\/p>\n

Kindle Reads<\/u><\/em><\/h1>\n

The Cold Cold Ground. 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Adrian McKinty<\/h2>\n

I started to re-read The Sean Duffy Series<\/em> again.\u00a0 This is the first of a totally gripping series.\u00a0\u00a0 He grew up in Carrickfergus in Ulster and the central idea follows a young police detective trying to do his job in the midst of all the chaos of Northern Ireland.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s a bright Catholic cop in a primarily Protestant Police force and in this one the homicide he\u2019s investigating is not the gay serial killer that at first it appears to be\u2026.<\/p>\n

Double Whammy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carl Hiaasen<\/h2>\n

Also the first in a series, this is Skink Book 1.\u00a0 Macabre, comedic, this is set around a Bass Fishing set who compete and cheat to win, money and cars and cash in Florida.\u00a0\u00a0 I have read some of the other ones, but not in the correct order.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it really matters.\u00a0 Hiassen gets funnier and funnier.<\/p>\n

The Woman in White\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wilkie Collins<\/h2>\n

I can\u2019t believe I never read this.\u00a0 It\u2019s wonderful.\u00a0 A brilliant thriller from a contemporary of Dickens.<\/p>\n

The Final Score\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don Winslow<\/h2>\n

Six short novels from the thriller writer who never disappoints.<\/p>\n

The Island \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Adrian McKinty<\/h2>\n

I thought I\u2019d give his best sellers a chance since I am so enamoured of his earlier books.\u00a0 Fairly gripping story of a family threatened by a wild Australian family who live on an island near Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Half His Age\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jeanette McCurdy<\/h2>\n

I found her very readable.\u00a0 And frequently very funny.\u00a0 For instance this is how she opens this book:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s bad form to groan when a guy\u2019s going down on you, I know that, but right now it\u2019s hard not to\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n

How can you resist such an opening\u2026?<\/p>\n

March Violets\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Philip Kerr<\/h2>\n

I must be in a sentimental mood, for this is the third first book of a series I re-read. Bernie Gunther is a Policeman in Berlin in Nazi Germany.\u00a0\u00a0 I loved the whole series.<\/p>\n

The Most of Nora Ephron<\/h2>\n

She was so brilliant and writes with so much wit and style, one can only miss her a little more.<\/p>\n

Why the Neanderthals ( and the Others) are Gone.\u00a0\u00a0 Lonnie Goff<\/h2>\n

About African migrations.\u00a0 The Neanderthals evolved in Europe some 430,000 years ago and remained there 170,000 years.\u00a0\u00a0 Fascinating stuff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Final reads of 2025 Read on Kindle: Dynasty\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tom Holland. The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar I was so taken with Pax that I decided to read the entire trilogy.\u00a0 This one takes us through Caesar and his murder, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Nero, the better known Emperors, but he is always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ericidle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}