Welcome back to another Let’s Talk Bookish post! This week, I’m doing last week’s topic as I swapped these. Last week I did my 2024 reading and blogging wrap up and now it’s time to talk about my first read of 2025 and how I chose this particular book.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted by Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Since April 2022, the meme moved to another host, Aria @ Book Nook Bits. Let’s Talk Bookish is a meme where participants discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and share their love by visiting each other’s posts.

Prompts: What is/was your first read of 2025? Was it a deliberate selection? Or did you just pick up the nearest book? Do you typically make sure to finish all your current reads by the 31st? Do you mind if some of your reads spill over into the New Year? Are you particular about when you read certain books, or do you read whatever, whenever?

What is/was your first read of 2025? Was it a deliberate selection? Or did you just pick up the nearest book?

My first read of 2025 was Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. I already did my 2024 recap posts, including the books in series I’ve read. So, even though I wanted to read this book for a while already, I also wanted to wait till the new year as I hate my wrap ups to be inconsistent LOL. So, it was quite chosen, but also quite random. I already had this in my “up next” queue on The Storygraph, which I find actually pretty helpful in curating my TBR and what books to pick.

Do you typically make sure to finish all your current reads by the 31st? Do you mind if some of your reads spill over into the New Year?

I ideally would love to have finished all my current reads before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. In the transition from 2023 to 2024 I just couldn’t finish my two current reads, so they had to be spilt over to the new year. This led me to finish on of them on January 1, so I already had finished 1 book towards my reading goal by then. It somehow felt a bit unfair, maybe that’s me? So, for 2024-2025, I made sure to finish everything before December 31 and I therefore didn’t want to start something new. I can tell you, that was difficult as I had the urge to read something!

Are you particular about when you read certain books, or do you read whatever, whenever?

I’m not quite particular in when I read certain books. I don’t like holiday themed books, so I definitely don’t have to read them before Christmas is here. I read whatever, whenever, but for Emily Wilde it felt best to read it at this time of year since Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries gives of such wintery vibes. I was unsure about the second book in the series, so I therefore picked it up. Last but not least, the final book in the series will be releasing this month! I already mentioned my “up next” queue on The Storygraph before and I find this particularly helpful. I can still let my mood reading self be my mood reading self, and simultaneously stick to a TBR. The fact you can only add 5 books to this queue definitely adds up to this.

So, tell me all about your first read of 2025. What book did you pick up? Was it planned or picked at random?