I know it is 2026. But the good thing about a year ago is that you can buy your books in paperback now.
So I thought I’d give you a list of the 10 Best Books of 2025.
This is brought to you by The New York Times. I did not pick these.
So. The envelope, please. After a full year spent reading hundreds of books and meeting regularly to bicker about those books’ merits and flaws, the editors of the Book Review chose the 10 Best Books of 2025.
And here are thy NYTs best picks.
Fiction
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Nonfiction
A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst
Mother Emanuel by Kevin Sack
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone
Wild Thing by Sue Prideaux
And here are Amazon’s Editors’ Picks for the best books of 2025.
Fiction
Buckeye — Patrick Ryan
The Correspondent — Virginia Evans
The Emperor of Gladness — Ocean Vuong
Wild Dark Shore — Charlotte McConaghy
Atmosphere — Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny — Kiran Desai
Katabasis — R. F. Kuang
Cursed Daughters — Oyinkan Braithwaite
Nonfiction
The Boys in the Light — Nina Willner
Replaceable You — Mary Roach
Awake — Jen Hatmaker
Next of Kin — Hannah Matthews
Baldwin: A Love Story — Nicholas Boggs
They don’t match.
Happy Reading.
It’s the reader’s choice, after all.
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“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” — Mark Twain
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“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero
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“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
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“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” — Jim Rohn
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“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.” — Henry David Thoreau
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“No two persons ever read the same book.” — Edmund Wilson
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