We’re counting down to Christmas with Team B’s books of the year. Each member of the Mr B’s team has narrowed down their choices to just their top 12 (or close enough!) Each week we will bring you different members of the team so you can compile a brilliant selection of new favourites to add to your Christmas list.
Laura K’s fave: Lowest Common Denominator by Pirkki Saisio
Laura K’s list of faves from 2025 is a typically anarchic, cool, and eclectic mix, featuring spiky non-fiction, great noir, and some truly excellent fiction.
Here’s what she had to say about her fave book, the newly translated Finnish classic Lowest Common Denominator by Pirkko Saisio: “Growing up in a communist home in post-war Helsinki, Pirkko is sure of two things: she’d prefer to be a boy and one day she’ll become an artist. These vivid impressions of childhood give us a scrappy cult author in the making. Originally published in Finnish in 1998, this incisive family portrait and intimate coming-of-age story playfully questions the very nature of memory, with echoes of Elena Ferrante.”
Kate’s fave: The Eights by Joanna Miller
Kate is the newest addition to the Mr B’s bookselling team, and her top reads of the year tend towards beautifully written fiction with great characters, with the odd classic thrown in for good measure!
Top of the bunch was The Eights by Joanna Miller, about which she said: “Oxford, 1920. Dora, Marianne, Otto, and Beatrice are part of the first class of women who are allowed to matriculate at Oxford University. This is a time when everything is changing — the shadow of WWI looms large, and the threat of the Spanish Flu hasn’t yet been chased away. In this powerful and moving story, Miller’s skill is in the distinctive voice she crafts for each character, which has you rooting for them through the adversity they face.”
Sue’s fave: Seacraper by Benjamin Wood
Sue’s list, as ever, is full of gorgeous writing, wonderful characters, and atmospheric settings… with a surprise or two thrown in for good measure. And there’s the small matter of her finally falling in love with Mr B’s classic, Lonesome Dove!
Here’s her review of her fave, Seascraper by Benjamin Wood: “Each day, like his grandfather before him, young Thomas scrapes the tideline for shrimp. Cold and wet, he dreams of warmth and success as a folk musician. When a chance encounter opens him up to the possibility of a different life, Thomas has a choice to make. But what is true and what is not? I loved it for its haunting sense of place and its poignant portrayal of a small life reaching for fulfilment. A perfect book for fans of The Offing.”