Everything I Read in 2025, Ranked by Genre

Every year, I like to look back, tally up how many books I read, and rank my favorites. 2025 was a really good year of reading. I read 100 books. 100 is pleasing to me as it’s a nice round number (I didn’t plan this, I do a mid-year count, but don’t set goals or track my reading until the very end), but it’s also exciting because it’s a lot of books. Last year, I read 102–it was my first time ever cracking the hundred book mark. While I try not to put pressure on myself to read a certain number of books, I am pretty happy to have kept up this little streak.

You can look back over the years. 102 books in 2024, 88 books in 2023, 87 books in 2022, 80 books in 2021. And don’t forget that every book I’ve read in the time I’ve had my blog is saved to this page. You can sort, filter, and rank by category or genre.

Also on Substack today, I’m sharing my top ten for the year. It was hard to choose!

EVERYTHING I READ IN 2025

PS – If you want longer reviews of any of these books, just search the title within The Library. They’re also each reviewed in my monthly reading lists. And if you are looking to read more this year, read this post: How to Read More Books.

PPS – My usual reminder! This is all subjective. There were books considered great works that I just didn’t enjoy. I am not a literary critic, just a person who likes to read and share my opinions.

My Favorite Non-Fiction from This Year.

(I read 18 non-fiction books last year)

1. Didion & Babitz, by Lili Anolik
2. The Friday Afternoon Club, by Griffin Dunne
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
4. Warhol’s Muses, by Laurence Leamer
5. We’ve Decided to go in a Different Direction, by Tess Sanchez Greenfield
6. Still Bobbi, by Bobbi Brown
7. The Tell, by Amy Griffin
8. The Let Them Theory, by Mel Robbins
9. Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams
10. Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey
11. Gwyneth, by Amy Odell
12. Eat, Drink, and Remarry, by Patricia Altschul
13. Born Lucky, by Leland Vittert
14. Then Again, by Diane Keaton
15. The Siren’s Call, by Chris Hayes
16. All the Cool Girls Get Fired, by Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill
17. Me, But Better, by Olga Kahzan
18. Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
19. If You Don’t Like This, I Will Die, by Lee Tilghman

Favorite Thrillers and Suspense from This Year.

I read 46 thrillers last year and 49 this year. My sometimes guilty pleasure. The ones that ranked at the top for me were either of the more literary nature or incorporated a historic fiction element (like Jo Piazza’s latest!).

1. Broken Country, by Clare Leslie Hall
2. What Kind of Paradise, by Janelle Brown
3. Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy
4. The Names, by Florence Knapp
5. Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell
6. Workhorse, by Caroline Palmer
7. The Parisian Heist, by Jo Piazza (out July 7th!)
8. Little One, by Olivia Muenter (out Feb 3!)
9. Everyone Is Lying to You, by Jo Piazza
10. The Safari, by Jaclyn Goldis 
11. The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark
12. Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham
13. Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier
14. Her One Regret, by Donna Freitas
15. The Locked Ward, by Sarah Pekkanen
16. The Tenant, by Freida McFadden
17. Don’t Open Your Eyes, by Liv Constantine
18. Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney
19. A Killing Cold, by Kate Alice Marshall
20. Mean Moms, by Emma Rosenblum
21. The First Gentleman, by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
22. Last Seen, by J.T. Ellison
23. The Intruder, by Freida McFadden
24. The Meadowbrook Murders, by Jessica Goodman
25. The Raise, by Ali Kriegsman
26. This Book Will Bury Me, by Ashley Winstead
27. We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry
28. Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben
29. The Break-In, by Katherine Faulkner
30. The Last Ferry Out, by Andrea Bartz
31. What Have You Done?, by Shari Lapena
32. Heartwood, by Amity Gaige
33. Sweet Fury, by Sash Bischoff
34. Park Avenue, by Renée Ahdieh
35. El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott
36. All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman
37. Parents Weekend, by Alex Finlay
38. Happy Wife, by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores
39. Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson
40. Next to Heaven, by James Frey
41. Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava
42. The Wrong Daughter, by Dandy Smith
43. Shell Games, by Bonnie Kistler
44. Tell Them You Lied, by Laura Leffler
45. A Girl Like Us, by Anna Sophia McLoughlin
46. The Manor of Dreams, by Christina Li
47. I Want You More, by Swan Huntley
48. Jill is Not Happy, by Kaira Roud
49. Every Sweet Thing is Bitter, by Samantha Crewson

My Favorite Light Reads from This Year.

I read 15 of these types of books last year. I love a light read, especially when I feel like I just want to turn off my brain and be happy.

1. Writers and Lovers, by Lily King
2. Heart the Lover, by Lily King
3. The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
4. Exit Lane, by Erika Veurink
5. Set Piece, by Lana Schwartz
6. Conform, by Ariel Sullivan
7. Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely, by Sarah McCoy
8. Sunny Side Up, by Katie Sturino
9. Alan Opts Out, by Courtney Maum (out June 2nd!)
10. Finding Grace, by Loretta Rothschild
11. The Academy, by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
12. Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
13. Square Waves, by Alexandra Romanaoff
14. The Three Lives of Cate Kay, by Kate Fagan
15. Great Big Beautiful Life, by Emily Henry
16. Comedic Timing, by Upasna Barath
17. The Love We Found, by Jill Santopolo
18. Bad Influence, by Claire Ahn

Serious, Literary, + Historical Fiction

I read 23 of these types of books last year. This is where my deficit was. I tend to enjoy think about these sorts of books for longer than I would say, a thriller, so a goal for 2025 is definitely to read more (non-romance, non-thriller) contemporary fiction!

1. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
2. The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
3. Isola, by Allegra Goodman
4. This is a Love Story, by Jessica Soffer
5. Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguri
6. Notes on Infinity, by Austin Taylor
7. The Hop, by Diana Clarke
8. Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan
9. Peggy, by Rebecca Godfrey with Leslie Jamison
10. The Compound, by Aisling Rawle
11. I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
12. The Rules of Fortune, by Danielle Prescod
13. Don’t Be a Stranger, by Susan Minot
14. The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami

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