Hi all, and welcome back to rumblewrites. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a restful break. Weāre just over a week into the New Year now, but before we move on entirely, Iād like to take one last look at 2025. I hope you enjoy, and I wish you all a happy and healthy 2026 āŗ
Favourite discoveries
Iāve decided to write some dedicated posts on my favourite books and films of 2025, so instead of giving you my top picks of the year, I thought Iād talk about my favourite discoveries instead. These are the books, authors, films, genres, bands, etc I found and loved in 2025.
Books
Haruki Murakami. Best known for Kafka on the Shore, Murakami is a Japenese author with international acclaim. This year, I read his A Wild Sheep Chase and it was so delightfully insane, I knew I had to read more of his books. In fact, several were already on my TBR and I didnāt even realise! This also made me realise that I quite enjoy magical realism (I also read Alasdair Greyās Lanark this year), so thatās something Iāll be looking out for in 2026 too!
Claire Keegan. An Irish writer known for her short stories, Keegan is someone Iād only recently heard of in connection to the film adaptation of her Small Things Like These last year. I decided to try her work and ended up reading Small Things Like These and So Late in the Day back to back! They were both so beautiful. She has a real talent to pack so much history and emotion into such a short narrative. Iāll be checking out Foster next.
Translated fiction. Iāve already mentioned Murakami, but a few other of my favourite reads this year were actually translated works. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, and The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Bouvoir were all 5 star reads for me.
Obviously Iāve never been opposed to reading translated fiction, I suppose itās also never been something Iāve actively sought out. But that changes now!
Films
Horror. My boyfriend is really into horror films, so I watched a lot more than I usually would. Standout new releases are of course Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Weapons, and Sinners, but I also enjoyed discovering Alien: Romulus, Renfield, The Thing, The Conjuring, and more. Iām still figuring out what sub-genres I do / donāt get on with, but itās been a really fun experience overall!
So bad theyāre good. Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense are 2 of my all time favourite films, but unfortunately the rest of M Night Shyamalanās filmography doesnāt exactly live up to these guysā¦ Knock at the Cabin, The Happening, and Old were definitely down there with some of the worst films I watched last year. Along with Troll 2, The Wicker Man (Nick Cage version), The Fog, The Mist, War of the Worldsā¦ the list goes on. But I will say: watching these with someone else makes for a hilarious few hours.
Easy comedies. A Minecraft Movie was genuinely one of the best films I watched last year. Novocaine, Tag, and The Naked Gun were also very fun. Re-watching light-hearted comedies is always a go-to for me, for itāll be nice to add these into the fold.
Also, shout out to the French crime films I watched last year: Anatomy of a Fall of Le Samourai were both great, so Iām hoping to check out some more French noir this year too.
Music
Bush. I know Bush is a pretty big band to have missed if youāre into UK rock, but what can I say: I have a very specific taste and limited desire to stray from it. With that being said, I really enjoyed discovering their discography last year! Especially their 1994 Sixteen Stone album. And songs like Machinehead and Comedown have already wormed their way onto my permanent playlist.
DeathbyRomy. Her album Hollywood Forever came out this year, with one song (Pray to Me) featuring the lead singer of Palaye Royale, a band I really love. An ecclectic mix of pop, indusrial, rock, trap, and cinematic styles, itās been cool to dive into her ever-evolving discography.
Nightmare of You. I came across this indie rock band randomly on Spotify, and their self-titled 2005 album Nightmare of You ended up being my top-listened to album last year! Genuinely devastated they only released 2 albums for their āindefinite hiaitusā but hey, we take what we can get.
Looking back
Iāve already written quite extensively about my struggles in the past year, as well as the trips I went on and hobbies Iāve picked up. So I wonāt be repeating myself here. Instead, I thought Iād reflect on my Year in Review: 2024 post, in which I set myself one goal: To be secure in myself. Have I achieved that?
Well, thatās difficult to quantify. Would I say I am utterly, completely sure of myself and who I am? No. But would I say that I am more secure of who I am now than who I was last year? Absolutely. And thatās not because I myself have changed (although Iām sure I have), but because my attitude towards myself has.
I donāt know if Iāll ever be fully secure in myself, but Iām proud to say Iāve at least made some headway into discovering who that person is, and liking her for it.
Looking ahead
So what goal am I going to set for myself this year? Do more things for me.
Iāve spent so much of 2025 worrying about what others think of me, trying to optimise my time, plan everything for everyone, and take on a thousand responsibilities both at work and in my personal life that I left it feeling quite burnt out. 2026 will be my year of zen. Of self-care, relaxation, and love. At least, thatās the plan.
Feel free to share your own resolutions for this year down below. And I hope you all have a wonderful 2026.