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Given how many “best of 2025 so far” book lists have dropped, what books are emerging as among the most popular books picked for these lists? Are these titles different from or aligned with the “best books of 2025 so far” lists? Are they titles which got plenty of splashy promotion and thus, were most likely to rise to the top of TBRs from editors? Are these just damn good books that more people need to pick up? What the hell does “best” even mean, anyway? The only way to really know is to take an inventory of as many as possible.
Every year, former President Barack Obama shared his favorite reads of the year, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as his favorite movies and music. This year’s list includes award-winning literary fiction, popular nonfiction, and some less well-known choices. As for how he selects these titles, he says that these are the “books that have stuck with me long after I finished reading them.”
Now that we’re closing out the year, I took a look over the books that the popular book clubs picked in 2025 to put together a new reading list. After scouring the lists, analyzing them, and making a spreadsheet, I created several categories with a few picks for each. There are six books picked by multiple book clubs, three interesting picks, three highly rated picks, three selections that felt like they met the moment of 2025, three books with adaptations, and three under-the-radar books that deserve more attention.
If you’re putting together a stocking for a reader this year, I have the gift guide for you. Consider this not just a list of ten items you should get, but ten categories of gifts for readers. For example, maybe your reader doesn’t want the Rainy Day Reading candle, but they’d love a Lord of the Rings candle. Take these as a jumping off point, and customize for your reader.
This isn’t just for January, but for the whole of 2026 (thinking about Fall 2026 is a little dizzying right now). For this particular reader, seems a little on the lukewarm side, though any year with George Saunders and Emily St. John Mandel publishing news books has a pretty high floor. My only real observation is we need to figure out how to group non-genre fiction differently. Saunders’ Vigil, which has ghosts, is listed under Fiction & Historical Fiction. Mandel’s book, which vaguely refers to being about stuff happening “across time and space” is in Fantasy. Both of these books are Literary Fiction. You know it. I know it. It is ok to say it.
