Fionnuala’s review of 2025 on Goodreads > Likes and Comments

I’ve enjoyed reading along with you this year, Fionnuala. You’re an inspiration to many readers, including this one. Thank you.

As always, Fionnuala, it’s been a delight to read your thoughts on your year in books. You’ve given me the urge to consider bingeing for a 2026 goal. Happy New Year to you!

I have much the same experience with my annual “Year in Review”, in that there is no consistent format. It seems that each reading year has unique qualities.

I”m also very grateful for your David Markson binge, because I would not otherwise have been exposed to his work, which really strikes a chord with me. I long to read more, but I also feel there are depths yet to plumb in the two I’ve read.

Happy reading in the new year, Fionnuala!

I didn't see you reading Virgil Fionnuala, did you write reviews? Or maybe that is something else that I have forgotten? In homage to Markson you have given us a fine collage of reading!

We dovetailed a bit, inspired by you or just happenstance, but I didn't binge, I don't think, since I'm not as thorough in my thought. Your year-enders are always a treat!

This fantastic review has prompted me to take a more critical look at my own 2024 reading patterns. I think it's worthwhile not necessarily to aim for predictability or replicability, but rather to be aware of where I am at and try to make more informed choices going forward, when possible. I really liked your noticing the reading binges as a pattern, I'm looking forward to seeing what 2026 brings for you!

Alison wrote: "I’ve enjoyed reading along with you this year, Fionnuala. You’re an inspiration to many readers, including this one. Thank you."

It was great to connect with you this year, Alison. I'm sure we will be comparing reading notes for many years to come.

David Markson touched your reading soul, how beautiful expressed, Fío

Stunning summary, Fionnuala, as always! I especially liked the bits about the ‘oddities’. May your reading gods smile on you in 2026…

Antoinette wrote: "As always, Fionnuala, it’s been a delight to read your thoughts on your year in books. You’ve given me the urge to consider bingeing for a 2026 goal. Happy New Year to you!"

May 2026 be a great reading year for you too, Antoinette. I'm already looking forward to finding a new crop of authors to binge on!

I'm always interested in what interests interesting people and your reviews always pay off, with interest. Happy New Year, Fionnuala. Your posts are always a joy to read..

very fun end of year comments!

Fascinating as always, Fionnuala. I really admire the way you review what you read as you read it and then take a longer view and look back over all the books you read during the year. This was also a reminder for me of the reviews I've read. I think I read all your reviews this year. I hope you write many more in 2026 and get as much pleasure from writing them as you give to those of us who read them.

Your final comment reminds me of a sign one of my physics professors had on his door: "Six months in the lab will save you four hours in the library."

I clearly remember your Markson and Moore binges, and remember them fondly.

Finally, I'll point out that, since I'm not a novelist, I would welcome fan mail from you.

You are so creative! I always read your reviews whether I have read the book or not. So, on we go. The more we read the more we want to read!

It is always such a pleasure, Fionnusla, to read about your reading experiences and thoughts about them!

Fionnuala you are so odd
In your choice of books to binge
You never follow the mode
And you certainly are no stinge
When it comes to telling us how
You read an author called Better Stopnow!

"Fionnuala" and "reviewing format" in my mind simply are mutually exclusive, Fionnuala - each and every one of your reviews, also those of the year, are unique pieces that delight and surprise, whether having read the book oneself (yet) or not. This delectable overview had as a bonus to send this reader once more to your shelves, curious about the books you hinted at or didn't mention, making me smile seeing that the book you read in French of a woman author translated from the German, was one that I read this year too, in Dutch :). Here's to the next ten years of reviews of the year, may 2026 include many hours of happy reading and writing for you!

Barbara K wrote: "I have much the same experience with my annual “Year in Review”, in that there is no consistent format. It seems that each reading year has unique qualities..."

Exactly, Barbara. We readers are such lucky people. In the course of any year we get to spend time in a range of different fictional/nonfictional spaces where we engage as much or as little as we choose—which makes no two reading years the same. I've made no plans for my 2026 reading but I'm curious already about the shape of it!

Lovely review, as always making me smile AND making me add to my tbr - in this case your first binged author, David Markson. Happy reading in 2026.

Fionnuala, what a grand binging year of reading you had in 2025! Thank you for sharing your reading adventures with us. There is method in your binges where one book leads logically to another. May 2026 be yet another remarkable year in reading and reviewing and all things that matter.

Count me in as a big fan of READER'S BLOCK. And that block party known as Fionnuala's reader reviews on GR, still holding strong despite all the attrition going on at the site. Happy New Year, and keep up the delightful work!

In spite of your tendency to binge, you seem to have a very healthy and varied reading diet this year, Fionnuala:-)) I know for a fact that it applies to the past years as well. And it is wonderful that their uniting elements is “oddities”. You’ve defined them in a way that it is a very attractive attribute of reading life. I think I’ve shared your Markson’s reading “binge” this year without even realising it was a binge:-). I share your admiration for his craft. I would sign your fan letter. Thank you for your brilliant tour of Moor. I would not even know of his existence but in Paris this autumn I was thinking of him and you:-). I’ve read Aeneid a few years ago I think, but only in Ukrainian translation and more like a retelling. It was strangely funny and moving as well. A very memorable book but difficult to read was “Death of Virgil” by Broch I’ve read at the same time. Maybe it would constitute what you call “mini binge”.

Thank you very much for your towering inspiring presence on this site! And let’s hope the new year brings new wonderful reading journeys! Selfishly, I hope to share some of those with you:-)

I’ll allow updated oracle alerts this frozen morning: Moore and Markson make a list however windswept and overlooked. Cheers and best wishes for 2026!

Jan-Maat wrote: "I didn't see you reading Virgil Fionnuala, did you write reviews? Or maybe that is something else that I have forgotten? In homage to Markson you have given us a fine collage of reading!"

I haven't yet reviewed The Aeneid, Jan. George Moore exhausted my reviewing time completely, elbowing several authors out of the way in the process. But maybe in 2026, I'll look into Virgil again and find my favorite bits from Dryden—and the other translators too.

Tony wrote: "We dovetailed a bit, inspired by you or just happenstance, but I didn't binge, I don't think, since I'm not as thorough in my thought. Your year-enders are always a treat!"

I don't think either of us are good at group reads, Tony, but we are good at noting the rich stuff the other has read and tracking it down. Thank you for leading me to some fine writers this year with your always entertaining reviews.

Anna wrote: "This fantastic review has prompted me to take a more critical look at my own 2024 reading patterns. I think it's worthwhile not necessarily to aim for predictability or replicability, but rather to be aware of where I am at and try to make more informed choices going forward..."

Wise words, Anna, and not only for reading choices! I hope your 2026 reading will be full of well chosen books!

I wish I could “like” Ilse’s comment!

Fionnuala, having read this I am tempted to go and check out your previous eleven yearly summaries. So many interesting directions to pick just from this reading year of yours!
Recently I already added David Markson as a new author to try in 2026. Now I need to ask you for an advice on a good place to start. Reader's Block may appear more relatable than Wittgenstein's Mistress I originally set aside. Especially taking into account my own severe case of reading block earlier this year.

Fee, congratulations on another year of good reads and great reviews. Best wishes for 2026!

Greets, Insp. Fio~ me also, lover of D/Markson's unique stylized quote/anecdotal books - before that he wrote some fun "hard-boiled" detective novels of which I have a "two-fer" .. the "Epitaph" novels (read twice) - provide a shipping address and it will be mailed to you forthwith :)

Well Fionnuala, eleven years of thoughtful reflections is no small feat, and this one is as creative as ever. As someone somewhere said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.” Your reviews offer books just like that: always full of surprises!

Congrats on all your contributions here this last year.

Kansas wrote: "David Markson touched your reading soul, how beautiful expressed, Fío "

I know you've also been reading David Markson, Kansas, so you understand what I'm trying to say. I think he appeals to me in particular because I'm always looking for echoes from an author's own reading in their writing, and he offers an entire library of literary echoes. That's it really.

Peter wrote: "Stunning summary, Fionnuala, as always! I especially liked the bits about the ‘oddities’. May your reading gods smile on you in 2026…"

The reading gods may send me many oddities, Peter, but I'll never lose faith in them. Happy reading yourself in 2026

Fi, congratulations on another great deep dive year. it's a kind of amateur scholarship I enjoy. I'm always impressed by how far you'll go. It's been a great contribution. I must've been in a funk, though for months during the year. I hadn't seen a few of your reviews. While you were with Virgil, I was with Dante. And Han Kang, though I confess I had nothing much to say about Human Acts. Here's hoping we don't all lose touch with each other through this site's bumblings.

path wrote: "I'm always interested in what interests interesting people and your reviews always pay off, with interest. Happy New Year, Fionnuala. Your posts are always a joy to read.."

I'm glad we connected on Goodreads this year, path. Your own reading choices have introduced me to authors and subjects I don't see in my feed very often. Thank you.

jrendocrine at least reading is good wrote: "very fun end of year comments!"

I hadn't much time to write this year's review, j, and lighter always spills out easier;-)

John wrote: "Fascinating as always, Fionnuala. I really admire the way you review what you read as you read it and then take a longer view and look back over all the books you read during the year...."

Thanks for reading so many of my reviews this year, John. Your own have been a welcome addition in my feed since we connected here.
I do genuinely enjoy reviewing what I read, and sometimes find that my understanding of what I've read increases a lot in the process, and especially while discussing the book in the comment thread. The only challenge is finding time to write the kind of reviews I like to compose. This year I ran out of time, and several recent reads have remained unreviewed. Maybe in the new year, I'll get to them.
Wishing you books you love in 2026.

Left Coast Justin wrote: "Your final comment reminds me of a sign one of my physics professors had on his door: "Six months in the lab will save you four hours in the library."
I clearly remember your Markson and Moore ..."

A practical approach, Justin;-)
It has happened on a few occasions that I've accumulated so many notes towards a review that I lost heart to make anything of them! That was nearly the case with George Moore's books but he was such a forceful personality that I had to get my act together. Virgil mustn't have been so forceful. All I have is a wood full of notes and no way through it.

Judy wrote: "You are so creative! I always read your reviews whether I have read the book or not. So, on we go. The more we read the more we want to read!"

Isn't it wonderful, Judy, this appetite we have for more and more books. It's the best kind of addiction, and we can do it for free if we live near a good library or can borrow ebooks. But of course some of us are also addicted to buying books, and stacking them in our homes, and living our lives around them and for them and through them and in them…serious addiction, that!

Jeremy wrote: "It is always such a pleasure, Fionnuala, to read about your reading experiences and thoughts about them!"

Thanks as always, Jeremy. May 2026 be good to you.

What a wonderfully textured mind. Best in the upcoming year, Fionnuala.

Ulysse wrote: "Fionnuala you are so odd
In your choice of books to binge
You never follow the mode
And you certainly are no stinge
When it comes to telling us how
You read an author called Better Stopnow!"

Ulysse, you always make us smile. It's a gift of yours many readers treasure here. We look forward to more of your verses in 2026!

Ilse wrote: ""Fionnuala" and "reviewing format" in my mind simply are mutually exclusive, Fionnuala - each and every one of your reviews, also those of the year, are unique pieces that delight and surprise..."

Thank you from the top of my heart, Ilse.
How curious that the one German book I read this year, in French, was one you'd read in Dutch! An overlap with variations! Let's keep overlapping in multiple variations for many years to come!

Lyn wrote: "Lovely review, as always making me smile AND making me add to my tbr - in this case your first binged author, David Markson. Happy reading in 2026."

I hope you take to David Markson, Lyn. He doesn't waste time on plot, just goes straight into sharing a lifetime of reading notes. That's why I love him!

Laysee wrote: "Fionnuala, what a grand binging year of reading you had in 2025! Thank you for sharing your reading adventures with us. There is method in your binges where one book leads logically to another..."

That's it, Laysee, bingeing suits my one-book-leads-to-another shelf perfectly—and saves me a lot of angst about what to read next. Im very happy at the moment bingeing on Mark Twain—and may continue in his company into the new year!

Ken wrote: "Count me in as a big fan of READER'S BLOCK. And that block party known as Fionnuala's reader reviews on GR, still holding strong despite all the attrition going on at the site. Happy New Year, and keep up the delightful work!.."

Thank You, Ken! Great that you are also a Markson Method man. You know how people say that they are such avid readers, they'd read a laundry list? Well, I think we Markson Method readers are far better rewarded. Instead of a list of laundry items, we get to read lists and lists of the most pithy items in great writers' wordrobes!
Here's to us—and to the survival of our goodreads community.

Fionnuala wrote: "I know you've also been reading David Markson, Kansas, so you understand what I'm trying to say. I think he appeals to me in particular because I'm always looking for echoes from an author's own reading in their writing, and he offers an entire library of literary echoes. That's it really."

Yes, Fio, my love story with Markson began with "Wittgenstein's Mistress", but it wasn't until I came across the Quartet that I was completely in love. Especially since these texts lend themselves so well to rereading, above all because of what you said Markson offering an entire library of literary echoes.

Happy new year!

Katia wrote: "In spite of your tendency to binge, you seem to have a very healthy and varied reading diet this year, Fionnuala:-)) I know for a fact that it applies to the past years as well. And it is wonderful that their uniting elements is “oddities”. You’ve defined them in a way that it is a very attractive attribute of reading life..."

Yes, yes, Katia, here's to more oddities and variety of all sorts for both of us in our 2026 reading, and to sharing our thoughts about them while this platform allows us. And thank you so much for the 'Moore thought' in Paris:-) Happy new year, good friend!