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 The History of Sound

Moss Roberts ❤️ loved this book because...

Deep dives into the complex history and psychology of the characters

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Emotions 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Ben Shattuck ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The History of Sound as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major movie starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor

'Triumphant' The Times
'Stellar' Daily Mail
'Exceptionally accomplished' The Scotsman
'Sublime' Observer
'Exquisite' Sunday Post

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of 1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II

Moss Roberts ❤️ loved this book because...

A somewhat different view of the late 1930s that includes the Russian point of view, which is generally disparaged or ignored.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Teach 🥈 Originality
  • Writing style

    👍 Liked it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Michael Jabara Carley ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked 1939 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At a crucial point in the twentieth century, as Nazi Germany prepared for war, negotiations between Britain, France, and the Soviet Union became the last chance to halt Hitler's aggression. Incredibly, the French and British governments dallied, talks failed, and in August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Germany. Michael Carley's gripping account of these negotiations is not a pretty story. It is about the failures of appeasement and collective security in Europe. It is about moral depravity and blindness, about villains and cowards, and about heroes who stood against the intellectual and popular tides of their…


My 3rd favorite read in 2025

Book cover of The American Scene

Moss Roberts ❤️ loved this book because...

Contrasting Britain and America at the turn of the 20th century.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Thoughts 🥈 Outlook
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Henry James ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

After living abroad for 20 years, Henry James returned to his native America and travelled down the East Coast from Boston to Florida. This a journal describing his feelings on the rediscovery of the New York of his childhood, and the growth of modern commercial America. He muses on Thoreau, Hawthorne and Emerson; in Washington, he finds a cityscape devoid of spiritual symbols; in Richmond, thoughts of the civil war haunt him. Published in 1907, this journal also served as a farewell address to the country James would never live in again.


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Twilight of the Empires, Volume 1: A Century of War in Asia: Colonies become Nation-States

By Moss Roberts ,

Book cover of Twilight of the Empires, Volume 1: A Century of War in Asia: Colonies become Nation-States

What is my book about?

First of 4 volumes covering roughly 1885 end of Sino-French War to 1975 end of US war in Vietnam, marking key moments in the slow violent transition from colonial domination to liberation from colonial domination, with emphasis on India and China.

My book recommendation list

Book cover of The History of Sound
Book cover of 1939: The Alliance That Never Was and the Coming of World War II
Book cover of The American Scene

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