As the new year begins, it's time for my annual round-up of my five favourite books from among all of those I read in 2024. I read 123 books last year — my highest total since the pre-pandemic times when I was still commuting regularly. Thrillers, mysteries and crime were my most-read genres, as usual. And I read almost of these on my Kindle, finally upgrading to the newest Paperwhite model after years of service from its predecessor.

In the second of my end-of-year round-up posts, I'm highlighting my five favourite books from among all of those I read in 2023. It was — for me — a relatively slow year for reading. I read 77 books in total, including a couple of re-reads, and I wasn't feeling very inspired for much of the year. This meant I defaulted to my usual reading favourites: crime and psychological thrillers and books set in New York City (where the photo below was taken). Sometimes both!

Today, I am sharing my five favourite books from among those I read during 2022. I ended up reading fewer than 100 books in both 2020 and 2021 and to hold myself accountable, at the start of 2022 I started blogging every other month about my favourite books. I tailed off towards the end of the year due to a hectic travel schedule and getting stuck for a while on a few books I wasn't enjoying, but I still achieved my target and read 102 books in 2022. Read on to find out which ones made my shortlist, as well as my full reading list for the year.

Another two months have passed (how?!), which means it's time for my bimonthly book recommendations. I read 19 books in July and August, taking my total for the year to date up to 78. I enjoyed so many of the books I read over the past two months and it was really hard to select just five favourites...but here they are.

It's time for the latest installment of my bimonthly series where I pick my favourite five books from among those I've read over the past two months. My tally for May and June was slightly down (mainly because there were a couple in there that — were I less of a completionist — may well have been DNFs), but I still read 17 books. I'm up to 59 at this mid-year point, which means I'm comfortably on track to meeting my goal of reading 100 books by the end of the year.

I've been living in London for 14 years and I've had a lot of brunches during that time. A guide to my favourite places to enjoy my favourite meal is, therefore, long overdue. I've been brunching at some of the venues on the list for more than a decade, while others are more recent discoveries. You'll probably notice that savoury dishes feature prominently in the photos below because it's fairly rare for me to order something sweet for brunch unless a) it sounds unmissably great or b) I am able to order a savoury main course followed by a smaller dessert. And if you're also into speciality coffee, fear not; most of these places will have you covered.

This year, I've been trying to get my for-fun reading back up to pre-pandemic levels and I've also been picking out and writing about my favourite five books every two months as a way to hold myself accountable. I read 20 books in March and April, taking my year-to-date tally to 42. Here are my five favourites from among the books I've read in the past two months.

Just like in 2020, the number of books I read last year dipped below the 100 mark. For most people, reading 74 books in a year is still a lot, but in 2022, I wanted to try to prioritise reading for fun again. And to hold myself accountable, I'm going to write a post every two months picking out my five favourite books from among those I've read. So far, this is working quite well, as it's the end of February and I've already read 22 books. Here are the five that I most enjoyed reading.

What with one thing and another, my 2021 end-of-year round-ups have been slightly delayed, such that it is now already 2022. In this post, I'm highlighting my five favourite novels that I read in 2021, as well as five more that almost made the shortlist. 

This is the last of my 2020 round-up posts, and highlights my favourite five books that I've read this year. My reading habits changed as much as my travel habits this year, and I've read far fewer books than last year: 94, in total. I used to read for pleasure mainly on my bus ride into the office and when travelling. I've technically had more time this year, but I've tended to use it for other hobbies, like writing (my own novel is now technically finished after I wrote the final 30,000 words this year) and doom-scrolling. I also got stuck on Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light for several weeks, which I did enjoy but felt it should have been 200 pages shorter. Il Decameron is a pretty hefty read too, even in English, rather than the Italian original I studied at university, but its Black Death setting and black humour felt apt for this year. 

Spotted in Rye, Sussex

Like many people, my prime time for reading was on my commute, which gave me a total of 90 minutes to two hours per day with a book or my Kindle. I read 135 books in 2019, most of them on the bus, but when lockdown was introduced, I found it hard to motivate myself to read. I had so much more time to myself but I couldn't tear myself away from the Sisyphean search for scintillating shows on streaming services, or random rabbit holes on the internet.

As 2019 comes to a close, and a new year begins, it’s time for my annual round-up of my favourite five photos of the year that feature me jumping for joy in various locations. Regular readers will know that I use this post as a way of looking back on my travels throughout the year. And this year, I visited nine countries, including three that were new to me — Estonia (new), USA, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia (new), Malaysia (new), Singapore, Spain and France. 

In this, the first and most delicious of my ninth annual end-of-year round-up posts, I highlight some of my favourite coffee shops, restaurants and dishes of the year, both in London and on my travels. This year, I visited nine countries (Estonia, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and France). From £4 chicken rice in Singapore to tempting tasting menus in Tallinn, as well as sublime speciality coffee, it's been quite a year. As usual, I've only included places I visited for the first time in 2019.

One of the problems with being a serial reader is that none of your friends and family understand when you lament that you 'only' read 111 books in a year. But compared to the 148 I read in 2017 and the 200 I read in 2016, it does sound like a lot less. I blame my incredibly busy year at work, and my hectic itinerary in Peru didn't give me much chance to catch up on my reading.

• Dead Letters — Caite Dolan-Leach
• The Break Down — B.A. Paris
• Pachinko — Min Jin Lee
• What Happened — Hillary Rodham Clinton
• Lullaby — Leïla Slimani
• The Girl in the Snow — Danya Kukafka
• Anatomy of a Scandal — Sarah Vaughan
• Fire and Fury — Michael Wolff
• The Thirst — Jo Nesbø
• The Wife Between Us — Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
• The Woman in the Window — A.J. Finn
• The Philosophy of Coffee — Brian Williams
• The Rooster Bar — John Grisham
• Death at La Fenice — Donna Leon
• The Monk of Mokha — Dave Eggers
• A Column of Fire — Ken Follett
• The Guilty Wife — Elle Croft
• The Perfect Stranger — Megan Miranda
• Now You See Her — Heidi Perks
• Macbeth — Jo Nesbø
• Ready Player One — Ernest Cline
• An American Marriage — Tayari Jones
• Friend Request — Laura Marshall
• The Late Show — Michael Connelly
• Call Me By Your Name — André Aciman
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles — Hiro Arikawa
• The Anonymous Venetian — Donna Leon
• Twins — Dirk Kurbjuweit
• A Little Life — Hanya Yanagihara
• Anything You Do Say — Gillian McAllister
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine — Gail Honeyman
•  Bring You Back — B.A. Paris 
• Death and the Virgin — Chris Skidmore
• Every Note Played — Lisa Genova
• Let Me Lie — Clare Mackintosh 
• Then She Was Gone — Lisa Jewell
• The Female Persuasion — Meg Wolitzer
• Crimson Lake — Candice Fox 
• Magpie Murders — Anthony Horowitz
• All the Beautiful Lies — Peter Swanson
• The Party — Elizabeth Day
• Everything I Know About Love — Dolly Alderton
• Clean — Juno Dawson
• Our Kind of Cruelty — Araminta Hall
• The Elizas — Sara Shepard
• The Good Liar — Catherine McKenzie
• The Perfect Mother — Aimee Molloy
• Sisters in Law — Linda Hirshman
• That Kind of Mother — Rumaan Alam
• Darling — Rachel Edwards 
• Paper Ghosts — Julia Heaberlin
• The Italian Teacher — Tom Rachman
• My Absolute Darling — Gabriel Tallent
• Fear — Dirk Kurbjuweit
• Social Creature — Tara Isabella Burton
• Last Seen Wearing — Hillary Waugh
• Pretty Girls — Karin Slaughter
• Providence — Caroline Kepnes
• The Favourite Sister — Jessica Knoll
• This Could Hurt — Jillian Medoff
• MEM — Bethany C. Morrow
• 1974 — David Peace
• Everyone Is Beautiful — Katherine Center
• The New Girl — Ingrid Alexandra
• Laura & Emma — Kate Greathead
• The Last Time I Lied — Riley Sager
• All We Ever Wanted — Emily Giffin
• Day of the Dead — Nicci French
• Last Breath — Karin Slaughter
• The Ensemble — Aja Gabel
• Girls Burn Brighter — Shobha Rao
• 1977 — David Peace
• The Last Enchantments — Charles Finch
• Warlight — Michael Ondaatje 
• 1980 — David Peace
• 1983 — David Peace
• Pieces of Her — Karin Slaughter
• Mean Streak — Sandra Brown
• All the Hidden Truths — Claire Askew
• The Surgeon — Tess Gerritsen
• If I Was Your Girl — Meredith Russo
• Fruit of the Drunken Tree — Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• The Mars Room — Rachel Kushner
• Friction — Sandra Brown
• Our House — Louise Candlish
• Educated — Tara Westover
• The Incendiaries — R. O. Kwon
• If You Leave Me — Crystal Hana Kim
• The Kiss Quotient — Helen Hoang
• A Spark of Life — Jodi Picoult
• China Rich Girlfriend — Kevin Kwan
• The Witch Elm — Tana French
• Rich People Problems — Kevin Kwan
• Number One Chinese Restaurant — Lillian Li
• The Immortalists — Chloe Benjamin
• Love Is Blind — William Boyd
• The Gunners — Rebecca Kauffman
• Sting — Sandra Brown
• The Death of Mrs Westaway — Ruth Ware
• Miss Ex-Yugoslavia — Sofija Stefanović
• The Anatomy of Dreams — Chloe Benjamin 
• Transcription — Kate Atkinson
• A Dark Time — Sophie Hannah 
• Home Fire — Kamila Shamsie
• Death and Judgement — Donna Leon
• Little Fires Everywhere — Celeste Ng
• The French Girl — Lexie Elliott
• The Flight Attendant — Chris Bohjalian
• Force of Nature — Jane Harper
• Give Me Your Hand — Megan Abbott
• Grist Mill Road — Christopher J. Yates

The bookshop featured in the photograph at the top is the wonderful Topping & Company in Bath.

1. Lady Bird

• Molly's Game
• The Social Network
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
• The Shape of Water
• Darkest Hour
• The Post
• I, Tonya
• Get Out (free)
• Goodbye Christopher Robin (plane)
• Murder on the Orient Express (plane)
• Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (plane)
• Lady Bird
• Reasonable Doubt (Netflix)
• Me Before You (Netflix)
• Phantom Thread
• Snowden (Netflix)
• Notting Hill (Netflix)
• Julie & Julia (Netflix)
• Dazed and Confused (Netflix)
• Isle of Dogs
• A Quiet Place
• Ready Player One
• Roman J. Israel Esq. (plane)
• All the Money in the World (plane)
• Kramer vs Kramer (Netflix)
• Miss Sloane (Netflix)
• Vertigo
• Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
• The Children Act (free)
• Crazy Rich Asians
• American Animals (plane)
• Tully (plane)
• Game Night (plane)
• A Simple Favor
• Leave No Trace (plane)
• Ocean’s 8 (plane)
• First Man
• Widows
• Three Identical Strangers
• A Monster Calls (Netflix)

It's been another busy year of travel for me, with 11 overseas trips to seven different countries, three of them for the first time (Poland, Hungary and Peru). I've been back to Toulouse, Amsterdam and Berlin, which have all been on my return-visit list for many years. I also visited Kraków; Austin, TX; and Budapest for the first time, completing the Inca Trail during my stay in the latter. And, of course, I managed a few visits to New York, Washington DC and Cannes.

With its rich history, beautiful architecture and soothing thermal baths, Budapest comes high on many travel buckets list. And after the Specialty Coffee Association's 2017 World of Coffee event in the Hungarian capital, I realised the city's growing specialty coffee scene gave me another reason to visit.

During many of my first visits to New York in the 1990s and 2000s I stayed in Midtown Manhattan, and I still stay there sometimes when I'm travelling with my family, who like to be near Central Park. Back then, there wasn't much in the way of good coffee in the neighbourhood, and even after the speciality coffee scene began to develop further downtown (as my 2008 NYC coffee list suggests), Midtown seemed more resistant to this trend.


Gradually, though, spots like the Australian-influenced Culture Espresso on West 38th Street began to open up. Some didn't make it; others, like the wonderful Little Collins on Lexington Avenue, happily did. And now most of the best speciality mini-chains have Midtown branches. In fact, there are now more than enough speciality coffee shops for me to put together a guide.

I've included coffee shops located between 36th and 59th Street and because some areas still suffer from a coffee-shop dearth, I've included multiple locations for mini-chains even if I haven't visited every single branch. My favourites are marked below with an asterisk and in purple in the map (please also refer to my full NYC speciality coffee guide for more information).



* Birch Coffee
Birch Coffee has long been one of my favourite coffee shops in the Flatiron District and there are now ten branches across Manhattan. The Midtown branch — a few minutes' walk from Columbus Circle — is in a particularly useful location. The small coffee bar doesn't have much seating room but they do have fun trivia questions each day. Birch Coffee is roasted in Long Island City, and although there are no hand-brewed filter coffees on the menu, the espresso-based drinks are very well prepared.


884 Ninth Avenue bet. W. 57th & 58th St.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Blue Bottle Coffee
The Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee's first foray into Midtown Manhattan came with their Rockefeller coffee bar, located in the labyrinthine lower levels of Rockefeller Plaza. There's now another branch near Madison Avenue, a few blocks further east. Hand-brewed filter coffee brew bars are one of the signatures of Blue Bottle's cafés, so try to get a single-origin pourover if you have time. The espresso-based drinks are also very good, even when there's a long line of office workers waiting for their morning brew.


10 E. 53rd Street bet. Fifth & Madison Ave.
1 Rockefeller Center Concourse Level, Suite D (Midtown).
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* Culture Espresso
As I mentioned above, Culture Espresso was one of the first speciality coffee shops to open up in Midtown, way back in 2009. I first visited soon after they opened and although I didn't usually spend much time around West 38th Street, Culture was well worth the detour. With its Aussie-style stylings, laid-back atmosphere and top-notch coffee, the café — and its sister location two blocks south — is still a great spot for speciality coffee.


72 W. 38th Street nr Sixth Ave. Website
247 W. 36th Street bet. Seventh & Eighth Ave.
Website. Twitter.

FIKA
If you like your coffee with a cinnamon bun on the side, Swedish mini-chain FIKA is probably your cup of tea. I often visited when Midtown had a dearth of good coffee options, and still return now for the sweet treats. Note: the photo below is of their Financial District location.


41 W. 58th Street nr Sixth Ave.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Gregorys Coffee
I often describe Gregorys Coffee as having the look and feel of Starbucks but with reliably good coffee. Most branches feature an Aeropress brew bar and offer various well-chosen single-origin coffees. They often run talks and classes for customers too. There are currently 23 Manhattan coffee bars, including several useful Midtown locations. I haven't listed them all below, but you can find a full list on their website.


551 Madison Avenue nr E. 55th St.
762 Seventh Avenue nr W. 50th St.
58 W. 44th Street nr. Sixth Ave.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* Irving Farm Coffee Roasters
Although my favourite branch of Hudson Valley coffee roaster Irving Farm is the bright, laid-back café on the Lower East Side, you can't fault their circular Grand Central Station coffee bar for grandness. The coffee is high quality, with Kalita Wave pourovers produced as readily as espresso-based drinks, all served promptly despite the constant stream of under-caffeinated commuters. Like many spots in Grand Central, it's a great place for people-watching.


135 E. 50th Street nr Lexington Ave.
89 E. 42nd Street nr Park Ave. [NB: this Grand Central station branch is temporarily closed] 
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Joe Coffee
Joe was my second New York speciality coffee discovery, back in 2007, and although the original Waverly Place branch in Greenwich Village is still my favourite, I often visit the Grand Central coffee bar on account of its handy location. According to their website, Joe were the first speciality coffee company to open up in Midtown, in 2008, so they have plenty of experience in the high-quality, high-volume coffee game. And at the time of writing, the Joe empire numbers 15 shops, so you will never be too far from a great cup of Joe while in Manhattan.


44 Grand Central Terminal nr E. 42nd St.
55 W. 40th Street nr Sixth Ave.

Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* The Jolly Goat
I'd had this Hell's Kitchen coffee shop on my list for a while but it took me some time to venture those extra few blocks west to Tenth Avenue. With coffee from Stumptown, bagels from H&H and a very warm welcome, The Jolly Goat is a lovely neighbourhood spot. There are only three seats but if you time it right, you might just nab a window seat.


515 W. 47th Street bet. Tenth & Eleventh Ave.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.
La Colombe Coffee Roasters
I love the crockery at the Philadelphia-based roastery almost as much as the coffee. They've been in the speciality coffee game for some time, and currently have eight coffee shops in New York. Their Sixth Avenue café is particularly convenient for Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. Both the espresso-based drinks and the pourovers are brewed very well indeed.


Seven Bryant Park Building, 1045 Sixth Avenue nr W. 40th St.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* Little Collins
I was delighted to come across Australian-influenced Little Collins on Lexington Avenue one day in 2013. That first visit involved a particularly well-brewed Ethiopian pourover that opened my eyes to the fact that coffee could have such powerful tea-like notes. I've been returning at least once every trip ever since. In fact, when I went to Melbourne last year, my visit to Little Collins Street almost felt like a pilgrimage. They serve cracking coffee — including proper flat whites and piccolos — and brilliant brekkie.


667 Lexington Avenue bet. E. 55th & 56th St.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Milk Bar
I added Milk Bar — whose chef Christina Tosi features in the first episode of Netflix's Chef's Table: Pastry — to my Midtown list when coffee choices in the neighbourhood were limited. But although you might come for the (famous) crack pie or birthday cake, you might well stay for the coffee, which is from Stumptown.


15 W. 56th Street bet. Fifth & Sixth Ave.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* Ninth Street Espresso
Forty-seven blocks north of the original Ninth Street Espresso in the East Village, there's another location inside the Lombardy Hotel. The sleek, monochrome café serves excellent coffee, and I often stop by for my morning coffee when I'm staying in Midtown. If you're a Ninth Street fan, you can also visit their roasting space near Chelsea Market.


109 E. 56th Street nr Park Ave.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

* Rex
A short walk from Columbus Circle, Hell's Kitchen coffee bar Rex is often busy but the staff are friendly — even when you ask them to brew three pourovers during the morning rush (#badcustomer). The coffee, from Counter Culture, is great.


864 10th Avenue nr W. 57th St.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.

Zibetto
I've stayed within a block or two of Zibetto on various occasions and the Italian-style espresso bar always used to be my go-to for coffee after a morning run. It remains a handy choice for fuelling a walk in Central Park or up Museum Mile.

1385 Sixth Avenue nr W. 56th St.
Website. Twitter. Instagram.