Books of the Year 2025

The Gutter team

As a festive treat, here are a selection of books we here at Gutter have enjoyed over the last twelve months.

Happy end of the year, and slàinte mhath!

Cal Bannerman, Production Manager

 How to Inject by Kate O’Connor and Stag Do / fantasy horn by Anna Walsh

These two handmade pamphlets took my breath away and gave me hope for the future of queer Scottish writing.

Language seethes from every page in a foamy wash of defiance and lust, self-loathing and self-love, wry wit and raw honesty. Stag Do / fantasy horn gives a searingly funny, sensual life to the too-often-unrepresented transmasc experience, while How to Inject marries the author’s extraordinary intellect and academic prose style to a deeply personal narrative of transitioning. Both are an exciting reminder that Celtic literature is home to some of the most revolutionary writing out there.

Katy Hastie, Editor

I Sugar the Bones by Juana Adcock

A devastating act of suspended fury taking flight. Twisting fever dreams of lost voices. Intoxicating, hallucinatory, astonishing. Also the best book launch I’ve been to, featuring a soundtrack from Bell Lungs!

Polkadot Wounds by Anthony Vahni Capildeo

Unflinching commitment to a truthful flux of thought, moral and ethical rage; it is also endearingly playful, inventive and moving.

April Hill, Social Media Manager

 Quicksand by Nella Larsen

I found Nella Larsen’s prose to be perceptive and delicate, offering up a study of mixed-race femininity from the Harlem Renaissance that is compellingly relatable. This book arrived into my life at the right time; it both warns against and wholly surrenders to the erosive power of dissatisfaction.

Sean Wai Keung, Poetry Reviews Editor

Archivum by Theresa Muñoz

 This poetry collection centres often-overlooked historical Scottish narratives including women like Eliza Junor, Marie Battle Singer and Muriel Spark, all with Muñoz’s incredible attention to detail, language and form. A truly beautiful book.

Francesca Lorelei, Guest Reader for Issue #32

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

This collection of essays was fantastic, Didion’s voice feels familiar and the memories are vivid; these are love letters to living life in the unstable world of the 60’s. ‘I enter a revolving door at twenty and come out a good deal older, and on a different street.’

Rebecca Smith, Prose Reviews Editor

Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by Kristie De Garis

The bravest and brightest of memoirs to come out for some time. De Garis writes with strength on racism, trauma and addiction and leaves the reader feeling hopeful that, with compassion and persistence, anything is achievable.

Drifting North: Finding a Sustainable future in Scotland’s Past by Dominic Hinde 

A fascinating journey through Scotland’s past and into its future. From often overlooked areas, the book delves into our historic role in industrialism and looks to answer the question: can the lessons of the past help build a more sustainable future?

Zain Rishi, Guest Editor for #Issue 33

The Empire of Forgetting by John Burnside 

I love how Burnside navigates a landscape suffused with loss, but also warmth and a resounding joy which outlasts the cold mechanisms of time. Last year we lost one of Scotland’s best poets, and I’m sure I will be working my way through more of his work for years to come.

Malachy Tallack, Managing Editor

Summer Hours by Alessandra Thom and Looking Down at the Stars by Christina Riley

Two Scottish debuts really impressed me this year. First was Summer Hours, a novel about friendship and desire, work and wealth. It’s a propulsive story, set in Edinburgh, and Thom is a writer of rare talent. Second was Looking Down at the Stars, a short but startlingly vivid book about the world beneath the waves.

Ryan Vance, Designer

Bodily Fluids by Len Lukowski

This poetry collection is a game in which Lukowski attempts to knock you off-balance with soft touches, and often succeeds. Throughout, secret after secret is given away like its nothing, yet Lukowski still elevates the overshare into a dance of permissions and confrontations, all of which feels impossible to resist.

Cameron Wilson, Gaelic Editor

Animalia by Jean Baptiste Del Amo, trans. Frank Wynne

An incredibly visceral and disgusting novel about intensive pig farming. An incessant text that forces death, cruelty and familial trauma to the forefront of your mind. Not for the faint-hearted, but deeply impressive and captivating.

 Transcendence for Beginners by Clare Carlisle

A crystal clear, book length essay on life writing and the philosophy of Spinoza, Kierkegaard, George Eliot and Ramana Maharshi. Carlisle weaves her thoughts together seamlessly into a book that’s as readable as it is inspiring.