The best books of 2025

This list is part of the best books of 2025.

Join 1,211 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Counting Backwards

Jennifer Dupree ❤️ loved this book because...

Kirshenbaum has the magical way of telling uncomfortable stories and this is no exception. It's a hard story, but it's so well done.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Writing 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Binnie Kirshenbaum ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

From the author of Rabbits for Food comes a profound and deeply moving new novel about a middle-aged couple's struggle with the husband's descent into early onset Lewy Body dementia, shot through with Kirshenbaum's signature lacerating humor.

“Gutsy, funny, heart-wrenching.”—The New York Times Book Review

It begins with hallucinations. From their living room window, Leo sees a man on stilts, an acting troupe, a pair of swans paddling on the Manhattan streets below. Then he's unable to perform simple tasks and experiences a host of other erratic disturbances, none of which his doctors can explain. Leo, fifty-three, a research scientist,…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Fruit of the Dead

Jennifer Dupree ❤️ loved this book because...

I love a complicated mother-daughter story and I love a camp-gone-wrong story and this has both. It's also a retelling of the myth of Persephone and Demeter, so it really ticked so many of my boxes.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Writing 🥈 Story/Plot
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Rachel Lyon ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fruit of the Dead as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An electric contemporary reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter set over the course of one summer on a lush private island, about addiction and sex, family and independence, and who holds the power in a modern underworld.

Camp counselor Cory Ansel, eighteen and aimless, afraid to face her high-strung single mother in New York, is no longer sure where home is when the father of one of her campers offers an alternative. The CEO of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, Rolo Picazo is middle-aged, divorced, magnetic. He is also intoxicated by Cory. When Rolo proffers a childcare job…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Cue the Sun!

Jennifer Dupree ❤️ loved this book because...

I don't listen to a ton of non-fiction, but this is a smart look at reality TV. Naussbaum goes way back to Candid Radio and all the way to The Apprentice. If you have even a passing interest in in Reality TV, you will not be disappointed in this peak behind the curtain!

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Thoughts 🥈 Teach
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Emily Nussbaum ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cue the Sun! as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The rollicking saga of reality television, a “sweeping” (The Washington Post) cultural history of America's most influential, most divisive artistic phenomenon, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning New Yorker writer—“a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture” (NPR)

“Passionate, exquisitely told . . . With muscular prose and an exacting eye for detail . . . [Nussbaum] knits her talents for sharp analysis and telling reportage well.”—The New York Times (Editors' Choice)

In development as a docuseries from the studio behind Spencer and Spotlight

ONE OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

What Do You Want From Me?

By Jennifer Dupree ,

Book cover of What Do You Want From Me?

What is my book about?

In this gripping, family drama, the past collides with the present in unpredictable ways. When her father's former lover falls down the stairs on Halloween, Maeve finds herself torn between protecting her mother and seeking the truth. As Maeve juggles caring for her aging, unpredictable mother while managing the demands of her own family, dark questions about the past arise. Did her mother really cause the accident, or is it just a tragic coincidence? And what will Maeve do with the truth when she finds it?

Rich with deeply intriguing characters, this novel explores the complexity of family loyalty, memory, and the haunting influence of long-buried secrets. In order to unravel the truth, Maeve must confront her own perceptions of the past, all the while trying to repair the fraught bond with her teenage daughter.

Suspenseful and emotionally charged, this is a story about the deep, unsettling rifts that can tear families apart. Perfect for readers who love darkly humorous, thought-provoking narratives that challenge notions of guilt, love, and the pull of the past.

Book cover of Counting Backwards
Book cover of Fruit of the Dead
Book cover of Cue the Sun!

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