Staff picks: The Waterford News & Star team pick the best books read in 2025
The Waterford News & Star staff pick their favourite books. Stock image
We at the Waterford News & Star are the bookish type, as you can imagine. We are lovers of words and these were our favourites over the past twelve months.
During a grocery run to her local shopping center, Shell Pine sees a ‘HELP NEEDED’ sign in a flower shop window. She’s just left her fiancé, lost her job, and moved home to her parents’ house. She has to make a change and bring some good into her life, so she goes inside and takes a chance.
Shannon described the book as “gay Little Shop of Horrors set in Dublin.” She said it’s “perfect for horror readers” especially because that genre is usually dominated by male writers so its interesting to get an Irish woman’s perspective.
This non-fiction book explores the history of American expansionism in the American West in the late nineteenth century and its devastating effects on the Indigenous peoples living there.
Brendan said: “You’ll be really annoyed at the end of it.” He likes the book because it, “brought home the reality of their mistreatment from day one.”
This memoir is a collection of anecdotes, recipes, text message threads and hilarious misadventures. Dolly Alderton takes you with her on a journey through her early twenties and all of the uncertainty that goes along with it.
Ava liked the book because it highlighted for her “the importance of female friendships.” She said its “such a good book, perfect for any girls in their 20s who don’t know what they’re doing with their lives.”
This book is about the pilots engaged in US postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first astronauts selected for the NASA's Project Mercury program.
Alex liked is because of the “very punchy, enthralling writing, with a lot of character. It delves into the mindset of pilots who came from a military background and how crazy they were”.
It is a travelogue written during the author's sojourn in his ancestral land of India. Mary Frances said it was “a book I'd on the shelf for years that I finally read, while travelling in the Greek Islands in September. A brilliant book by a brilliant author, who passed away some years ago. When I take the time, I love to dive into a challenging read that immerses me in other countries and cultures”.
