PBS’s Best Books of 2025: Expert Picks You Can’t Miss

We are still going with end of year lists and today, we get a good mix of with PBS’s list of the best books of 2025. Keep reading to find out which famous people helped PBS choose their list for the best books of the year!

Most lists are curated by editors with help from the staff. But at PBS. they decided to spice things up and turned to two famous and well regarded people. One of them is Maureen Corrigan, a book critic at NPR’s Fresh Air and the other bestselling author Ann Patchett.

Both of them work together to share their picks of the best books of the year. What makes this format great is that they share their reasons why. That alone is going to get a lot more people interested instead of just a typical list. You can see the full list below!

PBS’s Best Books of 2025

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
• The Antidote by Karen Russell
• Heart the Lover by Lily King
• Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
• A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction by Elizabeth McCracken
• Last Seen by Judith Ann Giesberg
• Bread of Angels by Patti Smith
• If We Were Dogs by Sophie Blackall 
• The Norendy Tales Trilogy by Kate DiCamillo
• Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade
• Christmas on Jane Street: A True Story by Billy Romp and Wanda Urbanska
• Dog Show by Billy Collins
• Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
• Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis

This list is divided into sections by genres and it is a great way to make an end of year list for all ages. Corrigan and Patchett’s love for books shines throughout their commentary and I recommend you check the original article here.

I see a bunch of great books on this list that I am eager to read such as The Antidote by Karen Russell and Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. And if you like Christmas themed books, then this list has that too!

If you have been in a reading slump, then this is a great way to get back into reading. Nothing helps then a book that is impossible to put down. And this is a great list to find a book that that.

Conclusion

With that, we come an end to PBS’s best books of 2025 list. I am curious if PBS will release a list curated by their staff or if this is their end of year list. If it is, then it is a good one. Having two big names sharing their favorite books of 2025 is a great move.

What books were you excited to see make PBS’s end of year list? How many of these books have you read or plan to read? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time, happy reading!

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