Diary of a Happy Goth

As an English literature student and bookish baddie, I couldn’t resist but begin my 2026 blogging with a reading wrapped. According to GoodReads, I’ve read 19 books and 5,421 pages in 2025. Not a great score, and leaving the year quite far behind my reading challenge, which was 30 books. I’m setting myself the same 30 book goal this year, and I’m confident I’ll make it this time!

I’ll let you in on a little secret that English students tend to be ashamed to admit. Reading for pleasure is not something I prioritised in 2025, because after a full day of analysing articles in postcolonial queer theory and medieval Arabic travelogues, doing more reading is not exactly my go-to. 

For 2026 however, I have got ideas to make reading fun for myself again. Firstly, one of my new year’s resolutions is to get into audiobooks, and I’m just finishing listening to Laurie Gilmore’s The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. This novel leads me onto my next idea, which is, without causing offence to Gilmore, opting for easy-reading books that don’t require quite as much concentration as an Old Norse epic poem might. 

I also don’t have a genre I’m particularly drawn to when browsing the shelves, so my picks might appear random. If I get recommended a book, or the cover catches my eye, I’ll give it a try. Some of my selections here are books I read for my course, so some are more academic and literary than others. 

With all that being said, here are my 2025 reading highlights.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Ottessa Moshfegh

Contrary to the happy and optimistic wavelength I exist on, Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation is about an exhausted young woman who excessively uses prescription medications with the ultimate goal of hibernating for a year. It’s darkly comic and upsetting from the anonymous narrator’s perspective, but I was more struck by her college roommate Reva. 

Reva is a walking explosive about to detonate, one decorated with pink bows and insecurity. I felt for her so deeply I almost didn’t care what the protagonist had to say anymore. I felt the protagonist to be brilliantly frustrating, which is testament to Moshfegh’s characterisation skills. I disliked her and what made her annoying was her admittance of her flaws. She knew she was a bad friend, partner and overall person and, for the majority of the novel, didn’t seem to want to change. Only when the year of sleep did, in fact, help her inner turmoil, did she become likeable.

The Vegetarian – Han Kang

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian is frustrating and wonderful all at once. It’s sectioned into three parts, with the overall story being about a lady named Yeong-hye, who decides to stop eating meat after having a gory and unpleasant dream about the cruelty of humans. This decision destroys her entire life, as she is the victim of human cruelty, abuse and mental suffering. 

I found the story so unique and captivating. It must be one of my favourite novels of all time, thanks to the way it deals with themes of shame, desire and empathy in such a different way. It’s beautiful and violent, traumatic and comforting all at the same time. If you’re wanting to get more into world literature in 2026, this would be the best place to start.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Anne Brontë

I am a Brontë fanatic. How three Yorkshire sisters had the pinnacle of literary talent tucked away in their shared genes, I will never understand. With Wuthering Heights being my all-time favourite novel, 2025 saw me reaching for the underappreciated work of Emily’s sister, Anne. 

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is almost as intense and shocking for the time period as Wuthering Heights, in that it depicts domestic abuse in such a powerful and sad way. It somehow manages to frame Helen’s abusive and alcoholic husband, Arthur, in a deservedly terrible light, whilst emphasising Helen’s empathy towards him. He is considered a Byronic figure, but unlike Heathcliff, he has absolutely no positive attributes, besides his constructed guise of kindness and chivalry when he begins courting Helen at the very start. 

If you’re eager to get into classics but worry about being bored, unable to keep up, or horrified by the misogyny often lurking behind the words of classic authors, give this one a try.

The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman

According to GoodReads, Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club was shelved by over one million people in 2025, which I think is not testament to the author’s fame but how genuinely good this novel is! I’ve seen people label it a cringeworthy cosy murder mystery for the elderly to read in their book clubs, but I don’t see it like that at all. 

This novel sees a group of elderly people in a retirement village form the Thursday murder club, a weekly meeting where cold true crime cases are discussed. It remains that way until interconnected real-life murders start happening around them, and they must investigate. I loved the humour and emotional depth of this novel, I thought it was lovely and sad all at once. It was so well written and every subplot makes sense. I would definitely add this to your 2026 TBR if you haven’t already!

I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You – Miranda Hart

If you’re looking for a hearty memoir for 2026 that leaps beyond the boring ‘here is my life story’ of a typical autobiography, this one is for you. Miranda Hart’s I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest With You was a book I read at the beginning of 2025, and it opened my year with hope, warmth and optimism. This is about Hart’s personal health struggles throughout her career, dealing with undiagnosed lyme disease for many years. 

It’s devastating at parts, especially when she details flare-ups where she was completely bedbound, but really inspirational and useful as she explores the things she has learned along the journey. The memoir has helpful self-care and mental health tips peppered throughout. I’m very fortunate to say I am not chronically ill, but even so, many of the ideas and philosophies she explains are useful for anyone.

The Women of Troy – Pat Barker

If you’re also a retired Greek mythology enthusiast like me, Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy will be perfect for your reading list. It vitally gives voices to the women often silenced by Homer in the wake of Troy’s fall. The Greeks may have won the battle, but the fight is not over. The story centres Briseis, who is silenced in Homer’s Iliad, and features an array of other important women.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

This one is very different to the other works in this list, but The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano has stuck with me since I read it for a world literature module earlier in 2025. It’s an autobiography written by an enslaved Nigerian man named Olaudah Equiano, and details his devastating capture and voyage to the Americas and England. It is horrifying and heartbreaking, but somehow Equiano manages to include moments of warmth and kinship amidst unimaginable suffering. 

Of course this is a heavy and difficult to read autobiography, but so important if you’re interested in the history of the slave trade, Christianity amidst suffering or African literature more broadly.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – the Gawain poet

This entry taps into my nerdy interest in poetry from the Middle Ages. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric romance, incorporating aspects of Arthurian tradition, with some supernatural elements along the way. The titular Green Night is a mysterious being who challenges Sir Gawain to strike him with his axe if he will take a return blow in a year and a day. This tests Gawain’s loyalty, chivalry and honour. 

If you’re looking to explore Arthurian verse narrative, this is a really fun and important place to start.

The Christmas Tree Farm – Laurie Gilmore

Lastly, I’m ending on what I would consider a modern classic (sue me!). BookTok’s favourite steamy, fun and quite predictable romance made my December entertaining and relaxing. It’s an easy read, full of perfectly cliche small town references and warm humour. Don’t knock it until you try it, and don’t let pretentious bookworms ruin harmless fun!

Obviously it’s no Little Women. But why does it have to be? It was a sweet, smooth and calming companion guiding me through the chaos of December, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for wholesome easy reading. I actually preferred this to the book that began this viral series, The Pumpkin Spice Cafe! There’s something about romance at Christmas that I just can’t resist.