24. Farewell, 2025
The year in reading and writing
Dear reader,
I’ll spare you the ruminations on another year, another round-up of looking back and ahead, and jump straight to the actual recap (which will be on the longish side so you may want to read this in your browser).
What I read: December edition
No space for individual reviews today, but wanted to include this for continuity.
Storygraph 2025
A year of more novellas and short story collections than the year before, a year of reading more frontlist than backlist (something I want to balance out more in 2026) which was a natural side-effect of all the book reviews and author interviews I published in newspapers and magazines in India and abroad this year. There was also a fairly decent crossover between the books I wanted to read anyway and the ones I got commissioned to write about, but I discovered and loved some I otherwise wouldn’t have. My favourites a bit further down in this issue.
2025: A year of writing
This year was the first when I focused largely on the writing and book coverage side of my work, and it’s been one of learning, experimentation, equal parts frustration and joy (par for the writing, or any creative, course). It was also the year that saw my first professional story sale and the publication of the anthology it was selected to be in. I can’t wait to build on both of the above in 2026, even as I do return to the editorial fold.
Between Worlds
https://anushreenande.substack.com/i/175251402/my-first-professional-story-sale
Everything you need to know about my story, ‘Heartland’ is in the link above.
The most recent update I haven’t shared on the newsletter is this (very decent) mention it received in Locus Mag’s (!) review of the anthology.
The Call for Submissions for Volume 2 of the IF anthology of new Indian SFF is now live here: https://sites.google.com/pratilipi.com/editorsnote-if-anthology/home
HT Brunch
“So, what’s your family like?”
Fights, fall-outs, feuds, forgiveness. These 10 sagas will make you realise how normal your own peeps are (March 1 edition)
Link: Read here (pages 24-26)
Hindustan Times Books
Book review: My Friends by Fredrik Backman (July 10, 2025)
The Hindu Sunday Magazine
Author interview: In Conversation with Isabel Allende (August 10, 2025)
Book review: Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (November 8, 2025)
The New Sunday Express Magazine
Book review: Documenting a Mundane Life: Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (February 23, 2025 edition)
Book review: The Many Shades of Love: Hot Water by Bhavika Govil (June 1, 2025 edition)
Strange Horizons
Book review: Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino (May 19, 2025)
Book review: A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry (July 14, 2025)
The Rumpus
Author interview: Coming Out of Her Shell: A Conversation with Anelise Chen (July 29, 2025)
Write or Die
Author interview: Tashan Mehta: On the Circular Nature of Time, Moving Toward Multiplicity, Multiple Drafts, and Her New Novel ‘Mad Sisters of Esi’ (August 5, 2025)
Football Paradise
Make it Happen: Arsenal 5-1 Real Madrid (April 22, 2025)
Usawa Literary Review
Getting Lost in the Urban Wilderness: Reviewing Anisha Lalvani’s Debut Novel (April 30, 2025)
Anu Recommends: 2025 favourites
If you enjoy low-on-plot-but-high-on-comfort contemplative, existential-but-achingly-hopeful-and-life-affirming sci-fi novellas—The Monk and the Robot novellas by Becky Chambers (A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy)
Psalm*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
Prayer*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
For the cozy-humorous-with-substance murder mystery lovers—The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman and The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao
The Thursday Murder Club*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club*
Buy ebook
If fantasy or supernatural historical romance fiction about strong, capable, chaotic, stubborn yet soft women protagonists, with witty writing is your poison of choice—The Geographer’s Map to Romance by India Holton (stormy earth magic and madcap shenanigans in an alternate Victorian England) and the Madame Chalamet Ghost Mysteries by Byrd Nash (gaslamp, less whimsical, darker, but hits similar emotional and narrative notes in an alternate late-Victorian France)
The Geographer’s Map to Romance*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
Madame Chalamet Ghost Mysteries*
Book 1: Buy ebook | Book 2: Buy ebook | Book 3: Buy ebook | Book 4: Buy ebook | Book 5: Buy ebook | Book 6: Buy ebook
When portal fantasies are your jam—A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry (a standalone inspired by The Tale of Two Cities, with faeries and changelings), Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (the final installment in a trilogy of cozy-ish-grey-academia-historical-fantasy books), and the Wayward Children novellas by Seanan McGuire (almost fairytale-esque stories about portal travelling children between our world and the worlds they fall into).
A Far Better Thing*
Buy ebook
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
Wayward Children*
Every Heart a Doorway: Buy ebook | Down Among the Sticks and Bones: Buy ebook | Beneath the Sugar Sky: Buy ebook | Come Tumbling Down: Buy ebook | Skeleton Song (short story): Buy ebook | In Mercy, Rain (short story): Buy ebook | In an Absent Dream: Buy ebook
For when you want to be transported to a whole universe inside a cosmic whale, then escape it to journey across the black sea to magical, sentient islands in one of the most imaginative, intricate, fever-dream-ish stories you’ll ever read—Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
If you’re craving meditative, lyrical, impactful literary fiction or non-fiction under 200 pages—Seascraper by Benjamin Woods and How to Forget by Meera Ganapathi.
Seascraper*
Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
How to Forget*
Buy print (India)
For fans of slow-burn-friendship-that-turns-into-love and books unafraid to feel the Big Feelings—Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
Not sure whether sci-fi is for you? Here’s one on the cozier side of the spectrum (an ensemble space mission story with a diverse found family) that might be a good gateway book—The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook | Bookshop.org (US)
Are you hankering for a wrenchingly stunning multi-genre-spanning, time-travel-looping, mostly second-person POV-ing, star-crossed-loving historical fantasy about a mythical, legendary lady knight and the “cowardly” historian sent back in time to ensure she plays her part even if it breaks them both? I have just the thing for you in—The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
If you’re too saturated with cozy and are seeking something a little more uncertain and existential that’s still reassuring, in an old-school road-trip-style adventure format—Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
Special mentions
The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow (short story): In this dystopian fairytale, a small-town storyteller rushes to protect the local demon—and her own secrets—from the legendary knight hired to kill it. Dark, weird, wonderful, unflinching, yet hopeful.
Mammoth at the Gates by Nghi Vo (novella): This was a more melancholic and quieter addition to the Singing Hills Cycle, albeit with a few pacier, more action-oriented bits, but one that, for me, ranks up among the best for the way it balances the internal and external, despite being a tad rushed towards the end.
*Buy ebookReacher: The Stories Behind the Stories by Lee Child (non-fiction): If you’re a Reacher Creature in any shape or form, you’re going to love the forewords he wrote for special limited editions of his books that have now been collected together here—one for each of the 24 Reacher books he wrote. A “plain and quotidian record of the who, why, what, where, and when”. All the stuff that he, as a “reader, pedant, and geek” himself, likes to know about other authors’ work.
*Buy print (India) | Buy ebook
From the archives
Last year’s reading and writing wrap-up (and if you want to read a short festive story, might I recommend one of my favourites, Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory’? I’ve written about it here: https://anushreenande.substack.com/i/89939125/capotes-christmas).
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This time of year can be hard and overwhelming for many reasons, as much as it is also joyous, so I’m sending everyone restful wishes for the holidays and for the remainder of 2025. I hope you can find pockets of calm, of cheer, of good health, of community, of love, and of peace. Thank you to each and every one of you for your company and support this year, for your continued enthusiasm and encouragement; I cannot wait to share another year with you ❤️
I’m taking a bit of an extended break for the newsletter. Take care and I’ll see you next on January 18, 2026!
Anu
*the book buying links I share on here are affiliate links (barring the links for my own published work for which I will earn royalties instead), which means that if you make any purchases through those links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no additional cost to you.