Favorite Books of 2025
happy new year everyone! as of writing this, 2026 is already going crazy, so instead of focusing on that, I’m going to choose to focus on something else—books!
2025 was important to me for a lot of reasons, but for one, I started reading for fun again for the first time in… over a decade, I think. it’s been a huge blessing though, since it gives me something more grounded and human to focus on, in such turbulent times. it’s a way for me to positively, genuinely, (and most importantly) slowly be connected with others. albeit, it’s a one way relationship, but the point still stands.
anyways, here are my favorite books of 2025!
Most technically life-changing
An Immense World
The word “technically” in this superlative is doing a lot here. This wasn’t my favorite book of 2025, but it was probably the most important one. It has some of the most mind-blowing subject matter I’ve ever read, and it completely changed how I perceive the world, literally, since it is all about how other animals perceive the world in their own unique ways. While it was one of the harder ones to get through for me, it is very approachable in its tone and presentation. Fantastic work!
Most unique and indulgent
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
This one I picked up on a whim off of my library’s front shelf, expecting a fun monster romance with maybe some carnage thrown in. Not only did Wiswell deliver in this aspect, he also portrayed a very wholesome asexual relationship in a very realistic-feeling way, despite one of the characters being an amorphous flesh monster. It was super refreshing, and a great twist on the “romantasy” genre (a term I only learned recently). Really unique title, and it’ll likely be one of my favorites in the years to come.
Most tears shed
The Other Wind
After reading Howls Moving Castle, I was craving more wizard content, so I picked up A Wizard of Earthsea, and got hooked. I read all Earthsea six books in 2 months. The Other Wind is the final entry in the series, and it perfectly wraps up the world and the story that Le Guin has built over three decades. It was the most beautiful ending to anything I have ever read, and I cried and cried throughout the last thirty or so pages. Incredible catharsis, immaculate prose. It’s just… *chef’s kiss!*
Most relatable prose
Death and Other Happy Endings
This one stands out to me because the prose, not the dialogue, does a great job at portraying what a character is feeling and thinking in a way that is fresh, unique, and relatable. The prose reads like someone’s text messages at times. The story itself is light yet substantive, fluffy yet dramatic. It’s one I’ll come back to if I ever decide to write again, since Cantor is very efficient and expressive at the sentence level. Great read!
Most important
Everything Is Tuberculosis
Full disclosure, I actually liked John Green’s previous nonfiction book, The Anthropocene Reviewed, more than this one. However, I do think that Everything Is Tuberculosis is and will be much more important and impactful. Because of this, I wanted to finish my list with it. John Green does an excellent job of addressing some of the assumptions that we in rich, western countries make about tuberculosis, and convinces the audience to care about it in this day and age. Great work is already happening due to Green’s efforts here, and there is much more that will be done.
