Summer is the perfect time to slow down, find a patch of shade, and get lost in a good story. 

To inspire your own holiday reading stack, we’ve asked local booklovers to share their top picks from the past year and reveal where they’ll be curling up with a book this season.

Today, we are reading with Cromwell library assistant Jill Ogden.

1. What is a great read from 2025 you would recommend to others, and why?

Jill: North Bound: Four seasons of solitude on Te Araroa. This book is an account by Naomi Arnold of her experiences on the Te Araroa walking trail from Bluff to Cape Reinga, approximately a 3000-kilometre walk. Naomi spent a lot of the trip walking by herself as most of the other walkers started off in Cape Reinga. Naomi had many struggles to complete the walk - days of continuous rain, mud, lack of food, damaged shoes, cold weather, lack of comradery and the solitude. It was a very inspiring story.

2. What is on your summer reading list, and can you describe your perfect spot to read?

Jill: This is a small selection of the books I currently have on loan - no time for house work!

438 days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin

Actually, I'm A Murderer by Terry Deary

The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan

The Kidnapped Bride: A Patricia Fisher Mystery by Steve Higgs

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

1985: A novel by Dominic Hoey

Weyward by Emilia Hart

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

London, Dk Eyewitness guide

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Book one of The Book of Dust)

The Winter Killings by We Markin

3. Audiobook, paper, e-reader, or a mix of the three?

Jill: On the couch with a proper book and a glass of wine, and eBooks when I’m travelling!