Reflecting on another year of brilliant reading and bookselling also brings with it a reminder of the changes we see as part of bookshop life. For every flurry of boxes delivered, marking autumn’s big releases destined for the bookshop window, or an upcoming bookstall at a venue in the wild, I see time passing with our customers too. This summer a young man came in who I recall as a very junior browser. Home from university he ordered a new novel that he and his new university friends were all reading together while they were apart.

This year has also seen two regular customers pass away and it is hard to think they will not be seen in the shop again with their handwritten requests or wry humour. We have these unique relationships, intense brief encounters, with readers who become our friends, as we vicariously enjoy the wealth of reading they discover, always leading conversations in unexpected directions, and we see both their pains and joys. It is a privilege that bookselling allows this kind of connection.

One of our customers in the village has again tasked us with choosing paperback books as Christmas presents for their extended family so that gives me even more reason to highlight the top 10 paperbacks that have stood out for me from this year’s previews, all perfect for giving to your nearest and dearest.

December’s paperback offering is short and sweet and provides some reassuring reading ahead of the pressures and stresses of the festive period. My Book of the Month is Leena Norms’ Half-Arse Human, published by John Murray, an approachable guide to conserving your energy and spending it wisely. I am sure it will function perfectly for those looking for changes come the new year too. A good selection of self-help titles steal a march on the January market, with standouts being Helen Sanderson’s The Secret Life of Clutter (Piatkus) and Gemma Styles’ Why Am I Like This?: My Brain Isn’t Broken (and Neither Is Yours) from Transworld.

Literary and commercial fiction selections are much reduced, but crime thrillers arrive with some strong new entries ranging from Robert Rutherford’s The Missing Hour (Hodder) to KL Slater’s The Lucky Winners (Penguin Michael Joseph) and Harlan Coben’s Nobody’s Fool (Penguin). Fantasy titles also offer new chapters in popular series from Lyra Selene’s A Crown So Silver (Orbit) to RJ Barker’s concluding Heart of the Wyrdwood (Orbit).

Non-fiction highlights include naturalist and conservationist Gerald Durrell’s posthumous memoir, Myself and Other Animals (Viking), which shines a light on his wide-ranging career and well-travelled life, Karen Bloom Gevirtz’s fascinating research into the history of domestic medical care, The Apothecary’s Wife: The Hidden History of Medicine and How It Became a Commodity (Apollo), and Vincent Bevins’ reflections on a decade of global political turmoil in If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution (Wildfire).

Reissues are plentiful, with new cover looks and seasonally appropriate returns to print. MW Craven’s third entry in the Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw mysteries, The Curator (Constable), gets a bloody, wintry new cover, which emphasises the Christmas elements in the story, and is also reflected in newly reworded jacket copy. Classic crime fans will love the appearance of a new ECR Lorac mystery, Still Waters: A Lake District Mystery (British Library Crime Classics). For all those preparing for their annual board game fix, and for out-and-out gamers alike, a timely reissue of Bernard De Koven’s The Well-Played Game: A Player’s Philosophy (The MIT Press) will get readers thinking about what is at stake in their gameplay.

December 2025: Paperback Previews