Happy June to the readers, writers, and everyone else! This book of the month for June 2025 is Dune by Frank Herbert. First publish in 1966, Dune is considered to be the Lord of the Rings of science fiction.

At the start of the book, we meet the fifteen-year-old Paul Atreides, who is about to move with his father, the Duke, to Arrakis, the desert planet that is mined for the most precious substance in the world: melange, the spice drug that allows for space travel. But Paul’s family is quickly struck by their archenemies, and he must go into hiding with the desert people, to build up an army and strike back. With this comes discussion of religion and philosophy.

I am like a person whose hands were kept numb, without sensation from the first moment of awareness – until one day the ability to feel is forced into them. And I say “Look! I have no hands!” But the people all around me say: “What are hands?

-Frank Herbert, Dune

Narrated from many points of view, the story is complex and interesting. Many interesting questions can be raised, such as “what is a hero?” and “what is true power?” which are amazing thoughts to discuss. The series continues to a trilogy, in which Herbert is able to expand further in some of these themes. The deep ideas of the story and wonderful struggles that we see some of the characters go through can engage the reader fully.

Dune is definitely a recommendable book for anyone who likes pondering logic and a bit of philosophy. The book does go through some politics and prose that can be difficult to get through, but I found it absolutely worth it, and have reread a number of times.

• Rating: 𝙿𝙶
• Author: Frank Herbert
• Published: 1965
• Review: ★★★★★

Salutions, second-breakfasters! The Book of the Month for May 2025 is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again. Published in 1937, it was originally a bedtime story Tolkien told his children, but he had to end up taking notes so it would stay accurate!

The books follows Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit living a comfortable life until he is dragged away to do some burgling for dwarven adventurers. Throughout the book, Bilbo encounters many new people (and animals), and learns more about the world outside Hobbiton.

“Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.”

-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Although it is a children’s novel, The Hobbit has a witty prose and some amusing conversations, like the riddles with Gollum. Not every chapter is action-packed, but they are all fun and interesting, with each chapter being split up well to be a good bedtime story for kids that are 8 and up. Tolkien’s style comes through with the rich descriptions – and no book of his would be complete without an epic battle! The fantastic worldbuilding that gave birth to The Lord Of The Rings is evident, though the book is far smaller by comparison.

Tolkien’s grasp of storytelling and words truly make for a wonderful reading experience. I loved reading not only the clever plot, but the fun quirks that come with any well-written childrens novel. However old they are, I’d never hesitate to reccomend this book to someone.

• Rating: 𝙶
• Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
• Published: 1937
• Review: ★★★★★

Let’s welcome April 2025 with a new book of the month: The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling. Originally published in 1984, the book is a collection of short stories, three of them following a boy called Mowgli, who was raised in the jungle by wolves.

Mowgli’s stories are called Mowgli’s Brothers, Kaa’s Hunting, and Tiger! Tiger!. The other short stories are as follows: The White Seal, in which a seal hunts for a place to be free of hunting humans, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which is the story of a mongoose that saves a family from two snakes, Toomai of the Elephants, which follows a boy who sees elephants dance, and His Majesty’s Servants, which is a conversation of different animals in the army it night. Each story tells about animals and how they work together or live around one another.

The Law of the Jungle, which never orders anything without a reason, forbids every beast to eat Man except when he is killing to show his children how to kill, and then he must hunt outside the hunting grounds of his pack or tribe.

-Rudyard Kipling, Mowgli’s Brothers

Each story starts with a poem and ends with a song, and contains a clear fable, which is traditional for some children’s stories of this era. The book is more well known for the movie it was made into, but the original stories are fun enough that adults will enjoy reading them to children.

The personification of animals is a classic trope in kid’s stories, but that just adds to the charm of these texts. The book doesn’t only serve as entertainment; with its fables, it can be a good learning oppourtunity for children about how to behave and trreat others. I would reccomend this book to anyone with young children, and I enjoyed reading it on my own as well.

• Rating: 𝙶
• Author: Rudyard Kipling
• Published: 1984
• Review: ★★★★t☆

Here it is: the very first book of the month! The book for March 2025 is Stephen King’s Fairy Tale. Published in 2022, King states in his foreword that he asked himself “What could he write that would make him happy?”.

The book follows Charlie Reade, a highschool student who is tasked by a dying man to descend into another world and save the life of the man’s dog, Radar. Throughout the book, we see a lot of Charlie’s deep thoughts, particuarly about good vs evil, and the influence of stories.

“He had been told the story of the sky-sisters as a child, and as you probably know for yourself, dear reader, it’s the stories of our childhood that make the deepest impressions and last the longest.”

-Stephen King, Fairy Tale

The story, as seen through Charlie’s eyes, has moments of both sarcasm and utter seriousness. Following him as he progresses through the fairy tale world, we can see how he learns not only more about the people and history there, he learns more about himself and his own world. King utterly suceeds with his take on the Chosen One trope, a difficult task to make so refreshing and unique. The rich description and mix of action and slower, more contemplative sections of the book are what make it come alive.

The complexity of the story, along with Charlie’s thoughts, immersed me and made me deeply care about the characters. Fairy Tale is a book that can be the centre for long and interesting discussions about many topics, and I’d highly recommend it to almost anyone I come across.