My Reading Recommendations for 2025 – Or the Best Things I’ve Read So Far This Year
Here’s everything I’ve read so far this year, rated – or my reading suggestions for 2025 (this post has affiliate links). Including the best things I’ve read, my five star read.
Last year I stopped wiping the mess and started reading again, so in order to keep my phone down, and try to encourage everyone to read more, here are my best reads for 2025. It’s a list of everything I’ve read in 2025, my rating, and what I thought.
How / What Am I Reading in 2025?
Last year I ‘rewarded’ myself by buying myself a new gift so I am reading a lot on (especially the book on giving you Deals).
I have also had a Kindle Unlimited subscription for part of the year. I will list these books that were available on Kindle Unlimited.
Library and library books online via the Libby App – I also bought a Kobo e-reader to read Libby’s books which has been a game changer (this one).
World of Books is also a favorite in our house for secondhand books, and they often have sales.
My Reading Recommendations for 2025
My Favorite Books of 2025
From January – Feb I saw all the books I read, then I changed from March onwards and I see here what I liked 4 and 5 stars instead. For a list of everything I read, follow me on Goodreads!
Here are my 5 star – and my favorite 4 star – rated books of 2025 (with affiliate links)
Books for September
By default it is Nussaibah Younis
Books for August
The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Raising Hell, Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicome
People Who Don’t Care: The Explosive Memoir That Meta Doesn’t Want You to Read, Sarah Wynn-Williams
Books for July
Trees, Percival Everett
Young Months: A Year of Food in Shanghai, Nina Mingya Powles
Conclave, Robert Harris
Books for June
Closed, My Years as a Nun, Catherine Coldstream
Books for May
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come – Year of the Introvert with a Dangerous Life, Jessica Pan
Gentlemen, Holly Grazamio
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
Real Americans, Rachel Khong
A Walk In The Woods, Bill Bryson
Realtor, Sayaka Murata
Big Swiss, Jen Beagin
Books for April
The Years, Annie Ernaux
Home, The Story of Everyone Who’s Been in Our House, Julie Myerson
Good Earth, Charmaine Wilkerson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (re-read since I was a teenager!)
Books for March
Married People, Alison Espach
February books
Happy Place, Emily Henry – 3/5
Beach Read, Emily Henry – 3/5
Yours Sincerely, Abby Jimnez – 1/5
Bright Young Women, Jessica Knoll – 3/5
Only One Thing, Michael Mosley – 4/5 (Kindle Unlimited) – Important but easy to follow health tips and advice
Sourdough, Robin Sloan – 3/5
Red, White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston – 2/5
If You Lived Here You’d Live Here: Why We Traded Life on the Little House on the Prairie, Christopher Ingraham – 3/5 (Kindle Unlimie)
‘Moms, What’s Wrong With You?’: 101 Things Mothers of Teens Know, Lorraine Candy, 3/5 (Kindle Unlimited) Practical, clear advice for parents of teenagers.
January books
Standard Deviation, Katherine Heiny – 5/5 (Kindle Unlimited) Rereading one of my favorite books of the past year. Love it the second time around, love the way it’s written, love the dialogue, love the ideas. All his other books are good.
Life’s Work, On Being a Mother, Rachel Kusk – 2/5
A Bit Of A Stretch, Chris Atkins – 3/5 – An entertaining look at the middle man’s time in prison
The Prison Doctor, Amanda Brown – 3/5 (Kindle Unlimited) – More prisons! We went to eat at the Wandsworth Clink restaurant, I had a lot of questions afterwards
We All Want Impossible Things, Katherine Newman – 3/5
To the River: An Underground Journey, Olivia Laing – 1/5 (not for me!) (Kindle Unlimited)
The Martian, Andy Weir, 4/5
I Jump Over the Wall, Monica Baldwin – 2/5 (Kindle Unlimited) A fun, mostly contemporary look at the lives of and ex-nuns.
Coasting: Running Around the British Coast – Life, Love and (Very) Loose Plans, Elise Downing – 2/5
A Class Act: Life as a Working Man Around the World, Rob Beckett – 4/5 – Not usually a fan of historical fiction but I loved this one, funny.
Catherine Walsh, One Night Only – 1/5 (Kindle Unlimited)
What Authors Read: 35 Authors on Their Favorite Books, Pandora Sykes – 4/5, Beautiful!
The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, Wendy McClure, 4/5 – Perfect Little House Childhood (me)
My Life, Claire Tomalin, 4/5 A very interesting biography from a historical writer.
Some Recommendations for People’s Books for 2025
I wrote about reading on my Instagram, asking what people read best recently – but it had to be the best books, 5/5, five stars. And there were loads!
Here are people’s top ideas for 2025:
Best regards, Ann Napolitano
Small Worlds, Caleb Azuma Nelson
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
Days at the Morisake Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa
You are here, David Nichols
The Blue Sisters, Coco Mellors
A List of Suspicious Things, Jennie Godfrey
Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes
Wayward, Emilia Hart
Wintering, Katharine May
Seven Men by Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rodham / American Woman, Curtis Sittenfeld
Shameful Creatures, Clare Chambers
After Reading My 2025 Reading Recommendations, Read:
Best home interior design books / IKEA Malm makeover / Find a photo booth at Coal Drops Yard
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