The English Maximalista

The number one problem with being a fast and voracious reader is that it can quickly become an expensive hobby.

The number two problem with being a fast and voracious reader is that one quickly runs out of bookshelf space.

When the Top Banana was a little girl, she used to love going to the book shop (which is what she called Goodwill!), where she was allowed to pick out as many books as she liked, since their children’s books at that time cost only 25 cents.

To this day, I continue to refer to Goodwill as “the book shop”, because it’s a happy memory which warms my cold English heart.

And I still purchase the majority of my books from second hand sources. Not only do they cost substantially less than retail prices, but also because of the sheer variety available: one never knows what one will find. The Hunt satisfies my atavistic cave-woman urges to forage and gather!

Mr Maximalista also loves to read, although thankfully he’s not as fast as I am, otherwise our shelves would really be groaning. His tastes run to signed hardback first editions, whereas mine run to whatever is available that I’m in the mood to read.

I affectionately call his books “snoozers”, because he mostly reads 5” thick tomes about mathematics or stock trading… zzzzz.

Disclaimer: Mr M subscribes to the print edition of The Economist magazine, which I do rather enjoy reading as well. Please don’t tell him I said that, or he will be insufferable about it.

*****

Anyhoo, all of this brings me to the subject of today’s blog. Since the end of the year is rapidly approaching, I thought I would provide you with *drumroll, please*

The English MaximaLISTICLEs favourite books of 2025:

(Some of these are old-ish. Sorry about that — I’m often late to the party!)

Funniest (in that it literally made me LOL): (re)born in the USA by Roger Bennett

Saddest (in that it literally made me cry!): Good Spirits by BK Borison

Most interesting: Plunder by Menachem Kaiser

Most enjoyable: Never by Rick Astley 

Most surprisingly enjoyable: Disloyal by Michael Cohen

Longest: Truly by Lionel Ritchie

Shortest: Melania [not 100% sure who wrote this, as author/s are not actually listed…]

Best novels that I read this year:

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

The Names by Florence Knapp

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

I am not gonna mention the worst books I read, because I loathe it when people give negative or rotten reviews, so I’m not climbing on that bandwagon. Thankfully, this year, I only read a couple of stinkers. So, I’m keeping it nice — manners maketh man!

Lots of love,

M xo

PS a shoutout to Nicole Malone with Onyx Collection at Kentwood Real Estate in Denver, who listened when we told her we needed a house with lots of “book walls”, that is, windowless walls on which we could build lots of bookshelves for our thousands of books. Instead of gifting us with the standard bottle of champagne when we closed on our house, Nicole very thoughtfully gifted us with a subscription to Book of the Month. BEST GIFT EVER, from the BEST REALTOR EVER! Nicole Malone