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 Culpability

❤️ loved this book because...

A family is involved in an auto accident in their AI driven vehicle while the 17-year-old son is at the wheel. Some of the family members are injured, but all survive. Not the case for the other car in the collision occupied by a retired couple who both die.
Each member of the family feels culpable even with the AI actually in control.
This is a smart book presenting concerns many of us have about the ethics of artificial intelligence.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Story/Plot 🥈 Writing
  • 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…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of My Friends

❤️ loved this book because...

I highlighted so many lines both witty and profound. I teared up so many times - beginning to end. This man can write - makes me think either I should just put down my pen and forget ever writing anything or putting more effort into my own work.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Writing 🥈 Character(s)
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Fredrik Backman ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked My Friends as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Goodreads •USA TODAY • Marie Claire • BookPage • Literary Lifestyle •Book Riot •Sunset Magazine • Totally Booked with Zibby Owens * A Fallon Book Club Pick

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anxious People returns with an unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger's life twenty-five years later.

Most people don't even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of Paper Girl

❤️ loved this book because...

This book is about the town I live in. I moved here 30 years ago. The author grew up here and left about the time I arrived. On visits "home" she realizes the town is a lot different from when she lived here. She interviewed people in officials in both government and the school district as well as young people who have challenges about trying to get out of the poverty hole.
I learned a lot about my town.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Teach
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Beth Macy ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An Instant National Bestseller • Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award • One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025 • Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and Vanity Fair

"There couldn't be a timelier book . . . searingly poignant, essential . . . Macy follows closely in the footsteps of . . . Barbara Ehrenreich and Tracy Kidder, combining memoir with reportage, a raft of sobering statistics and, most uniquely in our era, a willingness to engage in uncomfortable conversations." —The Washington Post

From one of our most acclaimed chroniclers of…


Book cover of Culpability
Book cover of My Friends
Book cover of Paper Girl

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