New year, new intentions – but if you're in the northern hemisphere, January can feel less like renewal and more like the darkest, coldest stretch of endless winter. Maybe what you need isn't another resolution. Maybe you just need the right book.

Ella Berthoud is an writer and an artist, but most importantly from our point of view a bibliotherapist. She has been prescribing fiction for life's ailments for over a decade. She co-wrote The Novel Cure, a brilliant guide that matches books to every psychological state and is packed with sound recommendations.

Who better then to give me some great suggestions for avoiding the January blues. Join Kate and Ella as they talk about the questions that vex every reader: how do we find more time for reading? How do we escape reading slumps? And how can we read more deeply without it feeling like homework?

Plus of course we're swapping lots of great book recommendations for January and the year ahead. Listen in for a shot of literary inspiration that might be just what you need.

Booklist

The Novel Cure by Ella Berthoud

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reed

Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale

Metamorphoses by Ovid

Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell

The Golden Ass by Apuleius

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter (Jane Degras)

Dálvi by Laura Galloway

The Artist by Lucy Steeds

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis

Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo

Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico

Things: A Story of the Sixties by Georges Perec

Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Robin Buss)

Find out more about Ella at ellaberthoud.com

Find all the books mentioned in this episode in the Book Club Review Bookshop, on Bookshop UK, the online retailer that supports independent bookshops.

Patreon

Head to Patreon.com/thebookclubreview to join The Book Club Review community for book recommendations, readalongs, book club and, new for 2026, Kate’s Reading Diaries. You can also buy someone gift membership at https://www.patreon.com/thebookclubreview/gift

Serious Readers

Take advantage of the Serious Readers offer. Head to seriousreaders.com/bcr and use the code BCR at checkout for £150 off any HD light.

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A woman in the polar night

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