Simone Reddington

It’s finally summer, we’re all dripping with sweat and terrified at the prospect of World War 3. It has also become apparent to me that 2025 is already half-over and I’ve achieved nothing this year, except reading some pretty good books.  I’ve read more books in this second quarter of the year that I did in the first (see), and here are my thoughts on them.  

Daisy Jones & the Six (Taylor Jenkins-Reid)

I know that I’m very late to the party with Taylor Jenkins-Reid, as her hugely popular novels have dominated fiction charts over the last few years.  I wasn’t sure if her 2019 novel Daisy Jones & the Six would live up to my expectations of it, but I absolutely adored everything about it.  The narrative takes the form of a transcript of a collection of interviews with various members and friends of a fictional 1970s rock band, heavily inspired by Fleetwood Mac.  Reading the book makes you feel as though you have been transported to the hedonistic LA party scene of the 1970s, and that is exactly what reading for pleasure should feel like.    

Me (Elton John)

For a celebrity to write a good autobiography, they need to have lived a remarkably interesting life and Sir Elton John certainly has done that.  With a career that has spanned over five decades that has made him recognised as a global superstar, he certainly has some stories to tell.  If you watched the 2019 film Rocketman, which Elton helped to produce, you’ll be aware of his long battle with addiction, and he writes about it with unflinching honesty in his memoir.  I also loved reading the inside gossip he shared about some of the most famous people in modern history such as Princess Diana and John Lennon.  Even if you’re not a fan of Elton John’s music, I would still highly recommend his autobiography.  

The Bullet that Missed (Richard Osman)

Over the last year, I’ve really been enjoying Richard Osman’s best-selling Thursday Murder Club series.  The novels centre around four friends who met in a retirement home and use their own individual skills to solve murders.  This third instalment begins when the gang appear on their local evening television news programme.  An aspiring young journalist from the programme mysteriously disappeared a decade ago, and the gang cannot resist the temptation to uncover exactly what happened to her. I absolutely love the characters that Osman has created in the series, and he continues to shock the reader with surprise twists and turns.  P.S I am also very excited to watch the film adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club, which starts streaming on Netflix next month.   

The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

First published in 1850, The Scarlet Letter is one of the most well-known American classic novels.  It tells the story of Hester Prynne, who was ostracised from the Puritan society and forced to wear a scarlet ‘A’ around her neck as a punishment for committing adultery.  I enjoyed the first couple of chapters of the book and was impressed by Hawthorne for feminist beliefs, which were very ahead of his time.  However, I later completely lost interest and struggled to find the motivation to finish reading it as the two male central characters were both dull as dishwater.  I’m aware that this is the most ‘highbrow’ book that I’ve read in the last couple of months, but if preferring to read contemporary fiction makes me a non-intellectual then so be it.