Four of my favourite reads in 2025

Not a comprehensive list from the year, but a list all the same

Hello!

For most of this newsletter’s life, I have posted on a Wednesday, but I am trialling a few changes to TBOI. And one of which is playing around with the publication day. Watch out - I might go crazy next week and post on Monday!

Anyway, seeing as we are already halfway through the year, I thought that I’d share some of my favourite reads so far from 2025.

My bookshelf resembles a mythical hydra where as soon as I read something, two other books magically appear. That’s not terrible, right? Magically appearing books? Although my credit card statement suggests otherwise. That said, I am always on the look out for recommendations. If there is anything that you have enjoyed reading recently, please let me know in the comments 😀

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Conversations on Love: Natasha Lunn

Image: Penguin Books (Australia)

Love has obviously on my brain in 2025 in some form or another because in January, I picked up a copy of bell hooks: All About Love (another favourite read). And then I was gifted Conversations on Love at a recent dinner and books event. Here, Lunn pairs interviews and personal essays to explore how different relationships work and change.

Groundskeeping: Lee Cole

Image: Faber

I picked this up from my local library after I saw it recommended in Pandora Syke’s Substack newsletter (unfortunately, I cannot recall the particular post where she shared this). I have not read many books that manage to weave some tricky US politics into a love-story before, and certainly not in a way that feels effortless? Cole manages to do this in Groundskeeping, and I enjoyed the dialogue and motivations for the central characters. It felt authentic. I did not enjoy the absence of speech-marks. Not sure what my issue is with this, but it bugs me.

Noble House: James Clavell

Okay, I have misled you with this image of Noble House. This is the cover of the DVD of the 1988 TV series of the same name. This was because Pierce Brosnan was clearly auditioning for James Bond, which he would not become until 1995 with Goldeneye. I mean, look at that marketing! The furrowed brows! The fire on the floating restaurant! The lightening! Even the Chinese coin behind Brosnan is reminiscent of the gun barrel sequence that is synonymous with Bond films.

Noble House tells the story of Ian Dunross (Brosnan in the TV series) who is the tai-pan of the Struan empire—a conglomerate containing many interests that are too complex for me to summarise here. The book is enormous in terms of scope, but remarkably, it is set over the course of just one hot and sweaty week in Hong Kong. There is horse-racing, typhoons, land-slides, triads, submarines, and a fascinating glimpse into 1960s colonial Hong Kong. Thank you to my husband for encouraging me to read this. Now, I just need to buy a DVD player so that we can watch the TV series.

The Examiner: Janice Hallett

Image: Simon & Schuster

I was a little uncertain about this when I first picked it up, but I was in the mood for a mystery and this did not disappoint. The Examiner tells the story of an ‘examiner’ who tries to learn more about a possible murder that takes place involving a group of university students.

The story is told entirely through exchanges of text messages, emails, and essays, leaving you with a fragmented version of events, and the sense that each of the characters is an unreliable narrator. Once I finished it, I was reminded of how bloody smart some writers are in how they are able to manage different threads for a story, and provide you with just enough information to paint a picture of what is happening but without giving too much away. An useful quality for all writers I would assume, but essential for mystery writers.

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Hi, I’m Sarah! The Best of Intentions is an independent publication about Hong Kong, travel, work, culture, health/fitness, along with a sprinkle of psychology. It’s a blog, basically. If you like this post, consider liking, sharing it, or subscribing to receive updates and support my writing.