Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Jan 02:54

My favourite books of 2025

DEBBIE JACOB I MEASURE a year by the good books I read. Thanks to Goodreads, where you can set reading goals and keep track of them, it’s easy to reflect on the most meaningful choices. Last year, I read or listened to 71 books. The ten books on this list are unforgettable and ones I turn to over and over again. Each book explores themes of hope, bravery and dedication. They are in no special order on this list. 1. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre – Everyone needs to read this book to understand how girls become victims of child sex offenders like Geoffrey Epstein, and why it is so difficult to escape once they are targeted. The author, one of the first and most outspoken Epstein victims, rallied women around the world to stand up against these crimes. Sadly, she committed suicide before this book was released. Giuffre’s brave battle is a warning and a lesson for all. 2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans – There’s something irresistible about reading private letters and diaries so it’s no wonder this epistolary novel became popular. The story of surly, retired professor Sybil Van Antwerp is funny, sad and touching. Her correspondence, mostly e-mails, written to her ex-husband, authors of books she read, her children, friends and a complete stranger, serves as a puzzle for readers to understand the story’s protagonist. 3. History Matters by David McCullough – Three years after McCullough’s death, this book of his speeches and some unpublished essays compiled by his daughter reminds us how history shapes our lives. I reread it to remember why I devoted so many years to writing two history books. 4. A House for Miss Pauline by Diana McCaulay – This brilliant novel shows how much cultural history affects personal history and literature, and places the history of slavery in the Caribbean in a whole new light. Written from the perspective of a Jamaican woman one month from her 100th birthday, McCaulay leaves the reader no room to wiggle out of important self-realisations. Pauline can’t escape the past. At her age, there’s no luxury of time. 5. Mixing Memory & Desire by Lee Johnson – Leave it to this Trinidadian writer to examine a history of the Caribbean through the food that defines each island and ethnic group. Good writers help us to see and feel history, but Johnson has us tasting history in a well-researched, light and humorous read that presents information you never thought of before. 6. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad – This well-deserved winner of the US-based National Book Award for non-fiction combines personal anecdotes of a journalist's life woven into a provocative discussion about how public opinion turns in situations like Gaza. The author shows how questionable views become entrenched, why it is so difficult to change these views, and how public sentiment turns in a new direction. 7. Look At You by Amanda Smyth – Set in Trinidad, Ireland and England, Smyth’s novel combines the author’s unique voice with her uncanny resemblance to that of famous Dominican writer Jean Rhys. Like Rhys, Smyth’s stories explore cultural identity and show how crossing cultural boundaries defines us. 8. My Beloved Monster by Caleb Carr – Best known for his historical thrillers, The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, Carr’s last book before he died in May, 2024 was this moving memoir about his secluded life with his cat Masha, who helped him deal with a life shaped by child abuse. This is the book that reminds us of how pets save us. 9. Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela by William Neuman – Written by a journalist who lived in Venezuela and reported on the country for the New York Times, this book, filled with personal anecdotes from Venezuelans, explores the volatile history and social complexities of a country spinning out of control. This is superb journalism. 10. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – This author’s literary legacy was his devotion to the subject of how colonialism robbed the colonised of their languages to establish control. Censored, Thiong'o work deserves a whole discussion, and that is coming soon. His work will always be a vital study of colonial control overlooked by other writers. Check local bookstores, including RIK, Metropolitan, and Paper Based, for most of these books. Here’s wishing you a year of memorable reading. The post My favourite books of 2025 appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.