my little escape

On different days I found that I appreciated the same book differently. Some books were impressive, but I didn’t like them personally at first. But as days passed, some part of those books remained in my mind, and I discovered only then how actually captivating those books turned out to be to me.

1. How many books did you read this year?
   29
2. Best book you read in 2025?
   There are more than one, but if I have to pick just one then it’s The Count of Monte Cristo.
3. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
   Yes, George Eliot. She definitely surprised me—I was completely in love with her writing and her Middlemarch.
Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t?
There are quite a few: Don Quixote, Moby-Dick, Kokoro, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Metamorphosis, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, and The Waves.
Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
Middlemarch and The Count of Monte Cristo greatly exceeded my expectation.
Did you re-read anything this year?
I re-read Murakami’s novels I had read once over ten years ago and remembered that I liked them, but forgot why I liked them, which were: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore, 1Q84, and Norwegian Wood (which I ended up disliking after this 2nd read).
Book you read in 2025 that you would be MOST likely to re-read next year?
I’m thinking The Brothers Karamazov because I feel like I could enjoy it more than I did if I had taken more time reading it.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2025?
Perhaps Wordsworth Classics’ edition of A Tale of Two Cities that I own.
Most memorable character of 2025?
There are quite a few: Nancy from Oliver Twist, Grushenka from The Brothers Karamazov, Sonya from Crime and Punishment, Aomame from 1Q84, May Kasahara from The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Miss Saeki from Kafka on the Shore, Margarita from The Master and Margarita; but standing above them all must be Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities!
Most beautifully written book read in 2025?
I was very impressed by the language written in Middlemarch by George Eliot.
Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2025?
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Such a powerful book it shook my soul.
Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2025?
“Living turned me into nothing. Weird... People are born in order to live, right? But the longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve lost what’s inside me—and ended up empty. And I bet the longer I live, the emptier, the more worthless, I’ll become. Something’s wrong with this picture. Life isn’t supposed to turn out like this! Isn’t it possible to shift direction, to change where I’m headed?”
—Hoshino from Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Shortest & longest book you read in 2025?
The Metamorphosis (61 pages) & Les Misérables (1456 pages).
Book that shocked you the most
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Raskolnikov x Sonya, and Count of Monte Cristo & Haydée—I can’t choose just one!
Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year
Dorothea Brooke and Rosamond Vincy.
Favorite book you read in 2025 from an author you’ve read previously
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting you read this year?
Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read?
I’ve read only serious books this year, but The Count of Monte Cristo was the most fun and several parts of it put several kinds of smiles on my face...
Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2025?
I cried at the end of Les Misérables, and I think I did near the end of Don Quixote as well.
Hidden gem of the year?
Middlemarch.
Book that crushed your soul?
Nineteen Eighty-Four. A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist and One Hundred Years of Solitude each had a part that killed me too.
Most unique book you read in 2025?
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Very hilarious but very depressing also. Virginia Woolf’s The Waves is also very unique with the writing style that she used, but for me Catch-22 is more original overall.
Book that made you the most mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes drove me frustratingly mad with all Don Quixote’s disillusions and nonsenses.
2026 reading priorities
More phenomenal classics, some award winners and a few non-fictions.