In an effort to read more in 2025, this series is dedicated to a monthly recap of what we at TGP have been reading each month. Feel free to add what’s on your TBR below!
September Home Runs
Title: The Last House on Needless
Street Author: Catriona Ward TGP Contributor: Allie Synopsis: In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three. A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time. A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory. And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible. An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all. Review: Those of you who have been following along our reading journey so far this year know that I am primarily a horror/thriller reader. For those of you just joining us for the first time… drop your favorite thrillers in the comments for me to read. With that being said, this is the best thriller I’ve read in recent memory. It’s so different from the standard mystery/thriller novel and just when you think you have everything figured out, things change. This sparked a lot of conversation between me and the friend who recommended it and it was really interesting seeing how we interpreted some of the storylines and characters differently. This is one of my best books of 2025.
Title: The Pine Barrens
Author: John McPhee
TGP Contributor: Jared
Synopsis: The Pine Barrens– a massive forest in the heart of New Jersey– is home to water of incredible purity, extraordinary wildlife, residents who have forged their own unique culture, cranberry bogs, and endless tall tales. John McPhee enters the Barrens himself and reports on its history and people.
Review: Despite living all but four years of my life in the Northeast, I had never heard of the Pine Barrens before reading this book. Perhaps that’s because I hadn’t spent as much time in New Jersey as I might’ve. This book ensured that the Pine Barrens won’t leave my memory anytime soon. McPhee creates an extraordinarily vivid picture of the Barrens and the people who live there. His approach is rambling–in a good way. Rather than take a lecture-style approach, going beat by beat through the area’s history, he wanders from story to story, from person to person, and by the time he’s finished he’s filled in the borders of the Barrens with marvelous detail. McPhee could make an empty lot seem fascinating; give him a subject as rich as the Pine Barrens and the result is marvelous.
On Deck for October
Title: 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster
Author: Mirinae Lee
TGP Contributor: Allie
Synopsis: Life near the North Korean border is a zero-sum game, an ongoing battle in which you either win or you lose. This dangerous, shadowed netherworld is home to an unforgettable woman known only as the “trickster.” Inspired by the story of Lee’s great aunt, one of the oldest women to escape alone from North Korea, this novel contains eight dark and spellbinding chapters that follow this remarkable character and her family as they struggle to survive during the most turbulent times of modern Korean history.
Preview: I’ve been getting into historical fiction this year and I always love a good story about a badass woman, so this combines two of my favorite things. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction lately about Vietnam and World War II and I’m looking forward to reading about a different era.
Title: Kafka on the Shore
Author: Haruki Murakami
TGP Contributor: Jared
Synopsis: A teenage boy runs away from home and a dreadful prophecy he can’t get out of his head. Meanwhile, an elderly man sets out to find a lost cat and finds himself on a journey that he can’t explain but can’t turn away from.
Preview: I’m a big fan of Murakami, and of this book, which I read a decade ago and loved. I’ve forgotten most of the details, so I’m going back to it to see if I like it as much now as I did then. From what I’ve read so far, it’s a happy reunion.
