Write my new year's resolutions
And get £5 off your next book
Snap up a signed and personalised book
Signed & personalised by David McCloskey: The Persian (latest by ex-CIA author of Damascus Station)
Signed & personalised by poet Harry Baker: Tender
Signed & personalised by ‘Dr Alex’ George: Am I Normal? (deadline next week!)
Signed & personalised by Jeremy Pang: Chinese Kitchen (deadline next week!)
Signed & personalised by Emily English: So Good Express
Signed & personalised by Sathnam Sanghera: Tonight The Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael
On sale now: our Jan and Feb events
Another amazing line-up cooked up by Darby, including historian Janina Ramirez, New Statesman editor Tom McTague, Guardian sketch writer John Crace, sports writer Jonathan Wilson, psychologist Keon West on the science of racism, the brilliant Turkish writer Ece Temelkuran and The Economist’s deputy editor Tom Standage on his predictions for 2026.
Coming up: our 2026 reading challenge
Congratulations to those of you who completed our 2025 challenge. We’ll be sharing our 2026 challenge this time next week. Watch this space!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you had a great Christmas and managed to recharge the batteries a little bit.
I don’t particularly go in for the whole New Year, New You thing, but I do typically make a handful of resolutions.
Last year, I made one or two for Backstory, too.
This year, I thought it’d be fun to let you write my resolutions instead. I’d love it if as many of you as possible would be up for filling in this really quick survey. I promise you it will take less than five minutes and I hope you might even enjoy it.
As a little reward, everyone who fills in the survey will instantly get a code for £5 off your next online order, to click-and-collect in the bookshop or have delivered to your home. (Applies to your next order over £20.)
I’ll share the most interesting results — and therefore Backstory’s 2026 Resolutions — with you in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, thanks a lot. Wishing you and those you love a wonderful year of reading delights,
Tom