The best books of 2025

This list is part of the best books of 2025.

Join 1,210 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2025

Book cover of James

Cynthia Reeves ❤️ loved this book because...

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Percival Everett ,

Why should I read it?

102 authors picked James as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024


'Truly extraordinary books are rare, and this is one of them' - Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha

James by Percival Everett is a profound and ferociously funny meditation on identity, belonging and the sacrifices we make to protect the ones we love, which reimagines The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. From the author of The Trees, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Erasure, adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.

The Mississippi River, 1861. When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Culpability

Cynthia Reeves ❤️ loved this book because...

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Outlook
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Bruce Holsinger ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Culpability as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Compelling." Literary Review

"An irresistibly anxious book." The Washington Post

"A family drama with a shocking twist." The New York Times

"I was riveted until the very last shocking sentence!" Oprah Winfrey

When the Cassidy-Shaws' driverless minivan fatally collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver's seat. His father, Noah, is beside him, and in the back with his younger siblings is his mother, Lorelei-a renowned AI researcher-who is lost in her work.

During a weeklong retreat on the Chesapeake Bay, the Cassidy-Shaws wrestle with the moral fallout of the crash as a routine police enquiry starts…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The Expedition

Cynthia Reeves ❤️ loved this book because...

Centers on the tragic flight of S. A. Andree and the Eagle, a hot air balloon that attempted to be the first to pass over the North Pole.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Originality 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Bea Uusma ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Expedition as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

11 July, 1897. Three men set out in a hydrogen balloon bound for the North Pole. They never return. Two days into their journey they make a crash landing then disappear into a white nightmare.

33 years later. The men's bodies are found, perfectly preserved under the snow and ice. They had enough food, clothing and ammunition to survive. Why did they die?

66 years later. Bea Uusma is at a party. Bored, she pulls a books off the shelf. It is about the expedition. For the next fifteen years, Bea will think of nothing else...

Can she solve the…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

The Last Whaler

By Cynthia Reeves ,

Book cover of The Last Whaler

What is my book about?

Set against the haunting beauty and brutal extremes of the Arctic, THE LAST WHALER follows Tor Handeland,
a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, who are stranded during the
dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station on Svalbard when they misjudge ice conditions and fail
to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them home. Beyond enduring the Arctic winter’s eternal night, the
couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold—and Astrid’s unexpected
pregnancy. THE LAST WHALER is an elegiac meditation on the resilience of the human spirit, the enduring
power of love and remembrance, and the fragile threads that connect us to each other and to our environment.

Book cover of James
Book cover of Culpability
Book cover of The Expedition

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