Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Best Books I Read in 2025
I read so many good books in 2025, it was so hard to choose! It’s a blessing though, I think, and I’d rather have too many good books than not enough to choose from. I also reread several favorite books that may or may not have a higher standing than some of the books I’ve listed here, but I didn’t think I should add them to this list in order to be fair to first time reads. The one exception is Dungeon Crawler Carl – I read the first two books the year before, but reread them, and the rest of the five books for the first time in 2025.
Top Ten Best Books I Read in 2025
- Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman – This is hands down my favorite books read in 2025. I know I’m cheating because it’s a whole series but it’s technically one story, and all seven books (so far) are so good! If I didn’t give the series a spot, it would be all seven books in seven spots on this list, and we gotta give the other books a chance!
- Lady Astronaut Universe series by Mary Robinette Kowal – Another cheat because it’s also a series. There are four books so far, and they are tangentially related but I really loved them and had to include them. I didn’t realize they were alternate historical fiction and initially expected something more sci-fi, but I loved what I got! I especially love how much attention to detail Kowal gave the story, and how nuanced the issues with societal and cultural prejudices were presented. It was very well-written.
- Perdido Street Station by China Miéville – This book is incredible and lives rent free in my head. There is so much to it; the worldbuilding, the characters, the emotions! OMG, the emotions! It was difficult to read at times because of how intense it got. It’s one book I know I want to reread because I know I’ll get more out of it, but not any time soon because I need to recover from the first time I read it!
- Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – I tend to not remember much of the details of books I read, especially if it was a while ago, but I remember impressions, and this book really packed a punch. It’s especially painful for me to see small and vulnerable people getting hurt by big, authoritarian people, and this book made me rage and cry.
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann – Another story that highlights racism, genocide, oppression, and the injustice of powerful people towards vulnerable people. Except that this is a true story and I hate that it happened and is still happening in less obvious ways. It hurts to see the evil that people are capable of, and especially with the current political climate we live in, that they get away with because other people allow them to, and even condone their actions. It frightens me and I really hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – This was a beautiful book about found family, which everyone knows I have a soft spot for. I can understand the despair and loneliness Ove initially felt and why he was so curmudgeonly at first, but I love seeing the journey of how things changed for him. It was such an emotional read for me.
- A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher – I love Kingfisher’s books because I love fairytale retellings and the kind of stories she writes in particular, but some are better than others and I think this is one of them. I’m not very familiar with the original fairytale it’s based on (Goose Girl) but I love this story on its own. I especially loved the characters because they were all so different but so strong in their own ways.
- Christine by Stephen King – I was good and only put one Stephen King book on my list. I was so surprised by how much I loved this one. I never prioritized this book from his vast catalog because I was not very interested in cars, but of course, it’s not about the car, it’s about the story and the way he tells it. King is a master at creating the most interesting characters; I love how even the side characters stand out and reminds us of real people in our lives. I love the way he writes the relationships between the different characters in the book and how relatable they are in different ways. The characters are always the best part of any King book.
- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer – I don’t know where to start with this. The fact that it’s a true story and such a tragedy made it really hard to read, but also so hard to put down. It doesn’t matter that it happened years ago, Krakauer wrote it when it was relatively fresh for him and even though he tried to be objective, his emotions are obvious on the page. I had so many thoughts and feelings while reading this that I write about more in the review, but oof, I’m still processing even now.
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng – I love this book because of how subtle and nuanced the issues with classism and racism are. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also pretty blatant, but there are so many little details; the micro-aggressions, that you don’t see and don’t realize unless you’re living it or it’s pointed out to you. The topic of motherhood and what makes a good mother is also explored deeply here, and it’s emotional. I’m both traumatized and healed by this book.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
