Top Ten Tuesday | Books On My Winter 2025 Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, you compile a list of ten books that coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining here!

This week’s theme is all about the books on our Winter TBR!

I haven’t been very successful at reading my autumn TBR this year. I read Glorious Exploits, All Creatures Great and Small, The Break, and I am in the middle of The Marriage Portrait, but overall, it’s been a slow couple of reading months.

I am not sure I’ll break that streak this winter, but here are some books I’d like to read.

1. The Famished Road by Ben Okri – I am really in a Booker mood this season, and a lot of my book selection is going to be from the Booker lists. This book is one of the more challenging reads on the list because it isn’t plot-driven and is heavily symbolic. If I do pick this up, this may just be my entire winter reading.
2. Brick Lane by Monica Ali – I got curious about this book after visiting the trendy hipster area of Brick Lane in London. I’m sure this book is quite dated now but I am curious about how this place was in the past.
3. The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica – I enjoy her books, even though I find the plots somewhat predictable. I think they work for me if I give a longish gap between each book.
4. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey – Another thriller for squeezing in a quick read between more serious/longer books.
5. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai – I was really gunning for this book to win the Booker prize this year. Even though it had so many glowing reviews, it lost to Flesh by David Szalay.
6. Flesh by David Szalay – Man Booker winner list of 2025. It’s got a lot of divisive reviews, and I am quite curious to read it and see what the fuss is all about.
7. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell – I started this book on my flight back home from work, but didn’t have the mindspace to enjoy the lush writing. I definitely want to pick it up again during the Christmas holidays.
8. The English Teacher by Lily King – A library book. I don’t know much about it, but my mom read it and disliked it. Usually, my tastes run diagonally opposite to my mom’s, so I am actually quite intrigued by this book about a single mom and her son.
9. The Sicilian by Mario Puzo – Another library book pick for my mom, but I may also end up reading it, as I have never read this sequel to The Godfather.
10. My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar – Advertised as a simple story about an ordinary man’s life. I like books set in post-Independence India, so I am pretty sure I’ll like this one.

What books do you have on your Winter TBR? Which books on my TBR would you recommend I read first? Any books you suggest I drop?