Between book fairs, our 40th anniversary, and some lovely new additions to our team, it’s been a bustling, busy year over here at Turnaround! We’re all looking forward to a well-earned rest, plenty of festive food and some good quality time with our books over the holidays. For our last blog post before the big day, we’re sharing all of the excellent books that we’re excited to read over the break. Let us know what’s on your holiday TBR over on Blue Sky or Instagram!

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Julia

I’ve always thought of myself as a ‘Fiction Only: No Other Genre Authorised’ person, but as part of a New Years resolution this year I actually opened up to reading beyond my comforting and well-known fictional lands to the unfamiliar realm of non-fiction. A fantastic decision it turns out as it led me to discover the incredible memoir of Fern Brady – Strong Female Character (Octopus). An honest, funny and eye-opening account of Brady’s experience as an undiagnosed autistic woman until her mid-thirties, being raised in a working-class Catholic family and her very winding path to a career in comedy. Unflinching in speaking her truth in her struggles with doctors, outrageous misogyny in her workspaces, and navigating harsh social dynamics as a neurodivergent, Brady shoots from the hip in her fiercely intelligent and enlightening narrative. With plenty of footnotes that source her findings in autism in women for those wanting to read further, this memoir has certainly left a deep and meaningful imprint on me.

From non-fiction that explores the workings of the mind to exploring the outside world, I was totally enraptured by Hoxton Mini Press’s An Opinionated Guide to London Museums. A gorgeous little volume full of the weird and wonderful museums in London, from the huge Natural History Museum to smaller institutions like Queer Britain or the Foundling Museum, this exhibits the expanse of human curiosity and learning about almost all things that are or have been in existence. Even if I never get the time to visit them all, it still feels uplifting to know that places like the Vagina Museum are in existence!

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Sophie

For me, Christmas — the end of one year and the start of a new one — presents perfect opportunities for a bit of self-reflection. Be that existential quarter-life crisis levels or merely pondering on what New Year’s resolutions I will try – and inevitably give up – in 2025… maybe cold-water swimming finally…

In a similar vein of self-bettering through cooking, I’m also excited to read the fabulous Gateaux by Mori Yoshida (Tra publishing) which has step-by-step recipes for a whole range of delicious pastries.

My final recommendation is I Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Vintage), an eerie dystopian novella set in a women-only post-apocalyptic world. When I can only muster the energy to re-read my favourite books, this is one I return to – and it’s pretty short, so I can then get back to mince pies and Christmas TV!

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Dylan

As a lover of fantasy, I couldn’t wait for the release of Wind & Truth (Orion), the fifth instalment in Brandon Sanderson’s planned 10-book saga: The Stormlight Archive. It’s swords and sorcery at its most epic — with deep characters, a rich world, and magical mech suits — but at a mammoth 1344 pages, I’m being optimistic when I say I’ll finish it before 2025. But I’ve put it in writing now, so I guess I’m committed. 

Lastly, I know I’m being really optimistic, but I want to close out the year with The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin (Random House Canada). It’s a dark fantasy novel that takes inspiration from Jewish folklore and Eastern European history. With a diverse cast of LGBTQ characters, scheming, and a broody aesthetic, it’s giving Six of Crows vibes. My friend has been raving about it since it’s release in May, and with the culmination of the duology due next June, it feels like a good time to finally jump in.

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Em

This Christmas, as with almost Christmas, I find myself searching for some good old-fashioned escapism. It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, and I’m sooo ready to switch off and settle down with my parents’ cats for a few days. They live in pretty much the middle of nowhere, so of course I’m also going to need some juicy books to get me through the holidays.

I currently have my teeth sunk firmly into Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting (Penguin), an Irish epic about the Barnes family who go from running the biggest business in town to the brink of bankruptcy. It’s almost 650 pages long, so needless to say I won’t be bored anytime soon. Murray also does a wonderful job of writing each character’s unique voice, using their different perspectives to tell the story.

For me, winter is for nice long books. In summer, I’m too preoccupied with doing cartwheels and eating ice cream to read past 200 pages. But winter is when I can dive right in for hours on end. The other book I’ll be reading is Earlyfate by Nat Reeve (Cipher Press), the second book in Reeve’s Nettleblack series. I had the pleasure of going to the launch of Earlyfate at Gay’s The Word a few months ago, and it was a great time hearing about how Reeve researched and wrote the book. As a scholar of Victorian Studies, Reeve fills the series with so much rich historical detail, whilst having the levity of the queer romp! With a healthy 320 pages of Earlyfate and 432 pages of Nettleblack to re-read, there’s plenty for me to get lost in. What a treat! A small side note on the subject of queer historical fiction, I finally got my mitts on a new edition of Fingersmith (Little, Brown). Have you seen those new Sarah Waters covers??? They’re mouth-watering and I’m hoping 2025 will be the year I will make them all mine!