Best Books I Read in 2025
As of the time of this post, I finished* 75 novels in 2025. It was very hard to pick my top ten but here they are!
Reflecting on what made me pick up a book, at the beginning of the year, I set a goal to read as many Oprah and Jenna book club picks along with Booker Prize-nominated novels. The main goal was to try to input as much beautiful writing as possible so it could seep into my subconscious and come out in my own work (hopefully!) I finished quite a few and these comprise most of my favorites. In addition to following book club and prizes, I read several for research or after hearing an author on a podcast or an in-person event, or after my sister recommended it to me. Book recommendations by others with a shared sense of taste are so wonderful. If you enjoy literary fiction/upmarket-book-club novels and are looking for recs, hopefully you will enjoy some of these (and check out my Books page with more of my all-time faves!)
1. FAMILIARIS by David Wroblewski
I read this book three times this year! Over 1,000 pages of stunning dog-centered storytelling set in rural Wisconsin. This prequel to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle follows John and Mary Sawtelle in 1919 as they embark on an adventure and buy a farm where they ultimately breed their uber-special Sawtelle dogs. This book is an ode to the profound, wordless language between humans and dogs and is a masterpiece, mixing magical realism with epic midwestern firestorms and WWII training programs and a love story and an examination of excellence in one’s work. Devastating and beautiful and magical and tragic and all the things - one of my fave books of all time. Read my full review here.
2. THE LONELINESS OF SONIA & SUNNY by Kiran Desai
This nearly 700-page family saga kept me company for a long time and I can’t stop thinking about it. An on-again, off-again romance between the title characters, immigrants from India caught between familial obligation and self-expression, is the throughline. Flitting between nations and generations from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Desai brews a cauldron of magical amulets, ghost hounds, unrequited loves and writerly solitude. Read my full review here.
3. DREAM STATE by Eric Puchner
This one has stayed with me, too: a multigenerational saga spanning 50 years and revolving around a Montana lake house. When doctor Charlie sends his college best friend Garrett to check on his bride-to-be Cece during wedding preparations, it sets off decades of consequences for all three friends. The novel’s masterful temporal shifts and circular narrative created a deeply satisfying reading experience and I found it funny and sweet despite the climate anxiety that loomed over this love letter to the American West. Read my full review here.
4. HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige
When an experienced hiker named Valerie goes missing on the Appalachian Trail, two other women — a veteran game warden and a lonely but lively former scientist stuck in a retirement community — must crack the case. I loved the multi-POV and structure of this novel, and the story was so absorbing even though I (a) do not, and will not, hike and (b) don’t usually read mystery-thrillers. The writing was gorgeous and I loved its exploration of mothers and daughters. Read my full review here.
5. THE COIN by Yasmin Zaher
This book is bonkers in the very best way. A wealthy Palestinian woman teaching at an all-boys school in New York becomes obsessed with cleanliness and purity while grappling with inherited trauma—AND gets caught up in a Birkin bag reselling scheme! It’s about the dirtiness of New York, materialism, identity, mental health and the impossibility of getting clean. Lots of excellent and specific fashion details mixed with bizarre behavior. It reminded me of All Fours with an unhinged, bold, unapologetic narrator and like All Fours, I re-read it as soon as I finished. My only criticism is it’s too short!
6. THE WEDDING PEOPLE by Alison Espach
The story starts dark: Phoebe checks into a grand Newport hotel planning to end her life after divorce, infertility, and her cat's death. Instead, she's mistaken for a wedding guest and recruited as maid of honor by bride(zilla) Lila. Over one chaotic wedding week, the novel explores the winding paths we take and the chance encounters that reroute us. If I had known the premise before reading, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up but this book was sweet and funny and sad and tender. And it made me want to go stay at a charming hotel by the sea, minus the suicide planning and such.
7. THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD by Claire Lombardo
My friend Andrea recommended this and I loved it so much. Set in a Chicago suburb (yay!), it’s a sweeping multigenerational family saga following the parents Marilyn and David, whose epic love story began in 1970s Iowa, and their four radically different daughters navigating sisterhood, secrets, and adulthood. When the oldest (and enjoyably naughty!) daughter unlatches a closed adoption, family secrets unravel. Nearly 600 pages of gorgeous, intimate character work that captures the funny, tender mystery of family and what it is to be a human being. I love this author so much.
8. BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall
This author reportedly took the same writing class I did at The Novelry (a London-based online writing program) so I picked up her book and, whoa! It’s so propulsive! A devastating love triangle set in the rural English countryside between a farmer’s wife and her first love, a rich and famous bestselling author. The book opens with a farmer's death and a trial, unspooling backwards to reveal how forbidden passion and impossible choices led to. . .murder! It was aching and suspenseful and made me want to move to English countryside minus the murder and such.
9. THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY by Kate Fagan
Another recommendation from my friend Andrea! I loved this one so much. It’s about a reclusive bestselling author behind a blockbuster dystopian trilogy who finally reveals her true identity in this novel-as-memoir. Told through multiple perspectives including her literary agent, an actress, and the friend she left behind, this propulsive story explores ambition, identity, and the cost of reinvention. AND, I learned after reading: the author is married to my most favorite yoga teacher of all time, Kathryn Budig!
10. NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason
This one was very trippy. When I first saw it at my local indie bookstore, I assumed it was about a cougar but it’s really about a yellow house in the Massachusetts woods and its succession of human, animal and ghostly inhabitants across four centuries and how nature and humans are interconnected. Starting with young Puritan lovers fleeing their colony, the house witnesses an English soldier obsessed with apples, spinster twins navigating desire and famine, a stalking catamount, a psychic, mothers and sons, even lustful bark beetles. Mason tells each story through different forms — letters, journal entries, case notes — with songs interspersed. The polyphonic voices and writing styles are amazing and inventive and often darkly funny.
That’s my wrap-up! Again, it was extremely hard to pick ten — there are so many other books I enjoyed! Making this list also made me realize there are definitely themes that draw me in (nature, animals, mothers and daughters) and forms (I LOVE a long long saga!)
What books did you read and love in 2025? Tell me your favorites in the comments!
* In case you’re curious, I also started but did not finish about 14 novels.
