January reads
and a side of things I've watched: Flesh | The Narrow Road from the Deep North | Little World | The Campers | Addition | Industry
Over January, I had a wonderfully diverse stack of books. I’m consciously trying to step away from the influence of what others might be reading and instead spend time catching up on titles that have been sitting on my TBR for a while—along with a sprinkle of books that simply caught my eye.
As usual, my reading life is a mix of fiction and non-fiction, physical books and audiobooks. My eldest also gave me an e-reader for Christmas, so I’m dipping my toe into my very first ebook.
Books read
Flesh by David Szalay
I loved this is the 2025 Booker Prize winner. I don’t always fall for the Booker Prize winners, but this one, like last year’s, absolutely worked for me.
The novel follows István from his adolescence in a poor Hungarian housing estate, where an intense early sexual encounter sets the tone for a life marked by emotional detachment. From juvenile detention to military service, menial jobs, and eventually a move to London where he becomes a driver and later enters the orbit of the wealthy elite, István drifts through life shaped by trauma, instinct, and a strikingly minimalist emotional vocabulary.
Szalay explores masculinity, desire, class mobility and alienation with spare prose that leaves much unsaid but deeply felt.
I read a physical copy of this book
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
This is a book that’s been on my TBR for a very long time—often referenced as a great work of literature, and rightly so. The 2014 Man Booker Prize winner tells the story of Dorrigo Evans: a doctor haunted by memories of a love affair with his uncle’s wife, his experiences as a prisoner of war during the construction of the Burma Railway, and decades later, his grappling with fame in the face of failure and guilt.
The novel does not turn away from the atrocities of that time. There were moments when I was grateful to be listening to the audiobook, able to lift my eyes to the trees and breathe. Part love story, part war story, it unflinchingly shows the human side of life in a POW camp. We are given access to the inner thoughts of both Australians and Japanese, and through this, Flanagan brings a powerful humanism to the death railway.
I can’t believe it took me so long to read this, and I know it will stay with me for a very long time.
I borrowed this audiobook from the library and listened via the Bolinda app.
Little World by Josephine Rowe
I’ll start by saying I’ll read anything by Josephine Rowe. She is the queen of short fiction, and I have been known to press her work into the hands of short story and flash fiction writers saying, Read this. See how she tells an entire story in a paragraph.
Little World did not disappoint. Rowe weaves three linked stories across time and place, connected by the preserved, incorruptible body of a young girl who may—or may not—be a saint. The narrative shifts from 1950s outback Australia through later decades, ending around the onset of COVID-19.
This is a lyrical, meditative work—more reflection than plot—dense and evocative, posing questions rather than resolving them.
I borrowed this audiobook from the library and listened via the Bolinda app.
The Campers by Maryrose Cuskelly
I really enjoyed The Campers. I began reading it while camped by the river at the start of the year, which felt strangely fitting.
Cuskelly explores privilege, hypocrisy, justice, and what divides or unites those living with and without homes. She also examines ethics, humanity, love, relationships and blended families. The story follows Leah, who lives on the Drove, an inner-city cul-de-sac, with her husband Moses and their two children. The Drovers look out for one another; theirs is a safe, community-oriented enclave … until a group of homeless people set up camp in “their” park.
The arrival of the campers unsettles the Drovers, and they want them gone.
I read a physical copy of this book.
Current reads
A Disappearing Act by Jo Dixon
I met Jo Dixon through social media, later coached her, and hosted her at one of my retreats. It’s been a pleasure getting to know her and to read her work. I’ve now read all of her books, and I love seeing an author’s work deepen and strengthen with each release.
The premise of A Disappearing Act asks: How well do we really know our closest friends?
I’m reading a physical copy of the book
Unbranded by Herb Wharton
Unbranded is a First Nations classic, recently republished by UQP (originally published in 1992). Based on Wharton’s long years droving on inland Australian stock routes, it’s a novel of friendship and brotherhood, told with authenticity and quiet power.
Listening to it has taken me straight back to the year my family spent ten months camping around Australia, much of it in remote areas.
I borrowed this audiobook from the library and am listening via the Bolinda app.
This One Wild and Precious Life: A Hopeful Path Forward in a Fractured World by Sarah Wilson
This book has been on my radar for a long time. Sarah Wilson, of I Quit Sugar fame, also runs an enormously popular Substack. I’m not expecting this to be a light read, but perhaps I’m drawn to it because of the heaviness of the world right now.
We live in truly overwhelming times. The climate crisis, the pandemic, AI advances, conspiracy theories, political polarisation...and the rest...have left many of us in a state of ‘spiritual PTSD’, feeling disconnected from one another, from our values, from our joy.
In this radical spiritual guidebook, New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Wilson puts on her backpack and spends three years hiking around the world - in Jordan, Cornwall, the Lake District, the Australian Outback, Japan the Sierra Nevada and beyond - to find a path through it all.
She follows in the footsteps of Nietzsche, Wordsworth and other favourite poets and thinkers, venturing deeper into nature, going to ‘spiritual edges’ and meeting monks, lovers and renegades along the way. And she emerges with a blueprint for living a wilder, more connected life, and one that must just save our precious life on this planet.
I’ve reading this on my ereader
Why We Play by Joanna Fortune
The title says it all. Why We Play is a reminder of the importance of play, something I’m always looking to weave more consciously into my work and creativity. I’m only a chapter in and already loving it.
I am reading a physical copy of the book.
Watching
… because it is all a part of storytelling!
Addition
Toni Jordan’s Addition is one of my all-time favourite books, so when I heard it had been adapted for the screen, I was very keen to see it. Many books are optioned; very few make it to the screen.
Last week I attended an in-conversation with Toni and Cristina Pozzan, the film producer, at my local Sun Theatre, and it was excellent. Nothing was lost in translation. During the Q&A, one woman thanked Toni and Cristina for putting women like her at the centre of the story in such an honest way.
Grace, the protagonist, lives with crippling anxiety that she attempts to manage by counting everything. The story doesn’t shy away from the messy truth of anxiety or the complexity of living with it.
A wonderful film, and a wonderful book. Go and see it, and read it, if you can.
Industry
We’ve also been watching Industry on HBO. One of those shows you can’t look away from: excess in every form, set in the brutal world of high finance. Drugs, sex and money. What could possibly go wrong?
Over to you
What did you read or watch over January?
What’s up next for you to read or watch?
Until next time, happy reading
x Meg
I’ve had The Narrow Road to the Deep North on my bookshelf for years, unread! Maybe this year…
Will be interested to hear your thoughts on Sarah Wilson’s book too.
I’m currently reading The Outrun by Amy Liptrot and have a big stack of holds that came in from the library (all at once of course!)