This is my book club, the space where I can tell you about the books I love and why I love them. I won’t be reviewing any of these books, only telling you why I love them and what the books mean to me, or how they have influenced my personal life, beyond the words on the page.
The Broker by John Grisham (September 2025)
John Grisham is the King of legal thrillers and I’ve read easily a dozen of his books, if not more, and this is my favourite. He is a master story teller and he has never let me down, not to mention the list of excellent movie adaptations from his works (including, surprisingly, one of my favourite Christmas films).
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (August 2025)
Inspired by the Wars of the Roses, it’s gritty and violent and driven by human greed and vanity, with tumultuous politics, backstabbing betrayals, and unexpected deaths. What more could you want from an epic fantasy story? But beyond that, the A Song of Ice and Fire series (of which this is the first book) is special to me because it connects me to my first great adventure with my wife.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (July 2025)
This is a true classic of childrens literature—though I would say literature full stop—which holds a special place in my heart because it is the book that made me fall in love with fantasy and is perhaps the book I am the most excited for my children to read when they grow up.
Writers of the Future Volume 41 (June 2025)
Yes, my story features in this book and this is a shameless book promotion post to coincide with its UK release. However, the stories in this anthology are awesome, the illustrations will blow your mind, and its received consistently great reviews (so don’t just take my word for it!).
Dune by Frank Herbert (May 2025)
This is the most epic of epic science fiction novels and was a winner of both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award (as the inaugural winner). For me, Dune is to science fiction what Lord of the Rings is to fantasy; the pinnacle of the genre.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson (April 2025)
Elantris is a city that was once home to god-like magic users, until the magic failed and turned those people into zombie-like wrecks. I was immediately hooked from the opening line and it’s a standalone novel, which is quite rare in fantasy these days. And read on to find how this book is connected to my own writing journey.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (March 2025)
This is a story that will break your heart, that will leave you cursing the cruelty of man, and make you wish you had never read it just so you could go back and read it again as if for the first time.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (February 2025)
I think of this as a dreamer’s book and for anyone who has a dream, read this and feel inspired. It’s about Santiago, a young shepherd who leaves his home behind in search of his personal calling. It is simply one of the most powerful, moving, and life-affirming stories I have read.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (January 2025)
What better place to start than with the original science fiction novel? And forget what you’ve seen in movie and television adaptations, nothing comes close to reflecting how great this book is or even accurately portraying Dr. Frankenstein’s “monster”.
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