Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author or bookstagrammer – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Patrick O’Donoghue

Patrick O’Donoghue, aka @podsticles on Instagram is a bookstagrammer whose taste in books I admire hugely, and who I have followed since about 2019. We done one or two Read-Alongs together on Instagram, and Patrick’s love of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove was my inspiration to suggest it as the year’s read for my book club. Here’s what he has to say about himself:

I’m a primary school teacher who has been raving (and sometimes ranting) about books on Instagram since 2017. I’m a big fan of contemporary Irish fiction, and this year, @whatjohanneread and I created the hashtag #IrishAuthors2025 to encourage bookworms to read and share more Irish literature, including the novels that we all have languishing on our shelves.

I’m also a fan of novels set in America, and I’m forever harping on about Westerns as a much-maligned genre that deserves more attention! There are some incredible Westerns out there, including one of the books I’m sharing today.
You can find Patrick on Instagram as @podsticles

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Read This: Books under the Radar is a weekly post written by a guest author – often a friend of mine, someone I’ve met on my writerly travels, or an author I admire – who recommends three books they think deserve more recognition. If you’re interested in buying any of the books, please click on the covers and give these hidden gems some love. You can see the full list of books which have been selected, as well as the author’s latest book on Bookshop.org, where you can have a browse and buy any that take your fancy. Happy reading!

Read This: Tamsin Hope Thomson

Read This: Books Under the Radar will be coming to an end in a couple of months, and I had every Monday scheduled with a different author apart from one slot, so I asked my newsletter subscribers whether any of them would like to be a guest and I would pick a name out of a hat, and Tamsin Hope Thomson won. (Sign up here, if you’re interested.) And weirdly two of her choices would absolutely be contenders for my own list, which means we must have very similar tastes and I must read her third recommendation. Here’s what she has to say about herself:

Tamsin Hope Thomson is a gardening writer and editor and has written on all kinds of topics from Snowdrop societies to Mary Berry’s veg patch. She grew up in Scotland and now lives in Sussex with her husband and two children. Tamsin is currently editing her first novel, very slowly, and has started a substack for book recommendations.

You can find her on: https://tamsinht.substack.com/

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