What We've Been Reading: October 2025

Welcome to our (very belated) monthly reading round-up of everything we read in October 2025! We ask the team to tell us what they've been reading once a month - you can peek at previous round-ups among our book lists.

We thought October would be a low-book month due to the prep required for our fantastic 2025 Radical Book Fair, which wrapped up last weekend, however the team surprised us by still reading through the organised chaos. The team read widely - from poetry to fiction, we have recommendations galore.

Pao

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary - According to my StoryGraph, I've re-read this book every October for the past three years. Despite being set mainly over the summer, to me, it feels like a winter read because it's so cosy and comforting. O'Leary does such a great job at looking after her characters. Read it if you love good romcoms about Difficult Things!

Palaver by Bryan Washington - I Love Bryan Washington SO MUCH. I don't want to spoil this one for anybody, but if you like books about Japan, the queer experience, families and food - you're going to love this one. It's out on 1 January, pre-order it now for the perfect New Year's Day read!

We Are Hungry for Androgyny by Leilah King - I read this one for our poetry subscription service, Hope Is The Thing. Fantastic musings on butch and queer identity, football and mental health.

Christina

Devotion by Hannah Kent - It is basically impossible to talk about this book without spoilers BUT what I can say is that I really enjoyed it and it made me feel so grateful to be alive. Kent's sentences are brilliant! It is about a Prussian Old Lutheran congregation who escape persecution by relocating to Australia. It is about sapphic love and faith and pain.

Noor

The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K Le Guin

Mairi

The Feminist Art of Walking by Morag Rose, Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley, and With Stars In Her Eyes by Andie Burke

Mohamed

Listening to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas on Libro