The 5 Best Books I Read in 2025

I have been reading a lot of books in 2025 and after reading so many books, I have decided to make a list of my five favorite books that I read in 2025. Keep reading to find out which books were my favorite reads!

I have read 87 books so far and I am well ahead of my goal of reading over a hundred books this year. My focus has been on finding books I want to read and making time for them. That is the secret in being able to read so many books.

With that many books, there have been a bunch that I enjoyed more than others. And by only choosing 5 books for this list, I will be leaving off a few that I feel guilty about leaving off this list. Maybe I will do another part to this list. For now, you can see the full list below!

The 5 Best Books I Read in 2025

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• James by Percival Everett
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)
• All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction. And after reading this novel, I think it should have won even more awards. Kingslover loosely adapts the classic novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens with a modern take.

The novel follows protagonist Demon Copperhead who lives in the south of the Appalachia with a single mother. Demon goes through a lot of hardships including going through foster care, abandonment issues, child labor and addiction. The story will break your heart, make you laugh, and make you question how something like this could happen in modern times and why.

The Women

The Women by Kristin Hannah has been topping charts since its release in early 2024 and for good reason. Ever since I read The Nightingale by Hannah, I became a lifelong fan of her work and I am happy that she is finally seeing the success that she deserves.

Her use of vocabulary is unmatched and she can make one sentence very powerful with her word choices. The Women is easily one of the best books of 2024 and everyone needs to read this fantastic novel!

James

James by Percival Everett is based loosely on the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and is told through the eyes of Jim. And I am glad that this novel went on to win the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It did get caught in some controversy and I will be covering that in the near future

We’ve all heard of or read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and wondered what Jim was thinking as everything happened. Everett amends the flaw of the novel and we get the point of view of Jim. I loved every second of this retelling and it is a story that needed to be told.

The Vegetarian

Most of the books selected have ended up receiving prestigious awards and it isn’t a coincidence. These novels are very popular for a reason and once you read them, you can see why everyone raves about them. The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith, is one of the most powerful works of fiction that I have come across.

In 2024, Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature and this novel was one of the reasons why. This is a novel you have to read if you love books because no words do justice in describing it. It isn’t often I have to go for a walk after finishing a novel but after reading this one, I had to because of all the emotions that the novel stirred up.

The Murderbot Diaries

A few months ago, I decided to finally get around to reading The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. I am a big sci-fi and heard good things about it and got around to reading it and I am very glad that I did. This seven book series which consists of mostly novellas is some the best sci-fi adventures that I have read.

It isn’t as heavy as something like Hyperion but instead, it is thought-provoking, entertaining, and full of amazing dialogue that will keep you laughing. Murderbot is by far the most memorable protagonist that I have read in 2025. Sci-fi novels have so much to offer and with books like these, people get to see just how high the potential can be when it’s in the hands of a talented writer.

Conclusion

I don’t know if choosing only five books was the best idea. But I know this article would have been too long otherwise. These are the 5 best books I read in 2025 and I will definitely be writing a part 2. Have you read any of these novels? Let us know in the comments below!

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