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)
- Didion & Babitz, by Lili Anolik
- The Friday Afternoon Club, by Griffin Dunne
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
- Warhol’s Muses, by Laurence Leamer
- We’ve Decided to go in a Different Direction, by Tess Sanchez Greenfield
- Still Bobbi, by Bobbi Brown
- The Tell, by Amy Griffin
- The Let Them Theory, by Mel Robbins
- Careless People, by Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Greenlights, by Matthew McConaughey
- Gwyneth, by Amy Odell
- Eat, Drink, and Remarry, by Patricia Altschul
- Born Lucky, by Leland Vittert
- Then Again, by Diane Keaton
- The Siren’s Call, by Chris Hayes
- All the Cool Girls Get Fired, by Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill
- Me, But Better, by Olga Kahzan
- Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
- 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!).
- Broken Country, by Clare Leslie Hall
- What Kind of Paradise, by Janelle Brown
- Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy
- The Names, by Florence Knapp
- Don’t Let Him In, by Lisa Jewell
- Workhorse, by Caroline Palmer
- The Parisian Heist, by Jo Piazza (out July 7th!)
- Little One, by Olivia Muenter (out Feb 3!)
- Everyone Is Lying to You, by Jo Piazza
- The Safari, by Jaclyn Goldis
- The Ghostwriter, by Julie Clark
- Forget Me Not, by Stacy Willingham
- Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier
- Her One Regret, by Donna Freitas
- The Locked Ward, by Sarah Pekkanen
- The Tenant, by Freida McFadden
- Don’t Open Your Eyes, by Liv Constantine
- Beautiful Ugly, by Alice Feeney
- A Killing Cold, by Kate Alice Marshall
- Mean Moms, by Emma Rosenblum
- The First Gentleman, by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
- Last Seen, by J.T. Ellison
- The Intruder, by Freida McFadden
- The Meadowbrook Murders, by Jessica Goodman
- The Raise, by Ali Kriegsman
- This Book Will Bury Me, by Ashley Winstead
- We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry
- Gone Before Goodbye, by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben
- The Break-In, by Katherine Faulkner
- The Last Ferry Out, by Andrea Bartz
- What Have You Done?, by Shari Lapena
- Heartwood, by Amity Gaige
- Sweet Fury, by Sash Bischoff
- Park Avenue, by Renée Ahdieh
- El Dorado Drive, by Megan Abbott
- All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman
- Parents Weekend, by Alex Finlay
- Happy Wife, by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores
- Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson
- Next to Heaven, by James Frey
- Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava
- The Wrong Daughter, by Dandy Smith
- Shell Games, by Bonnie Kistler
- Tell Them You Lied, by Laura Leffler
- A Girl Like Us, by Anna Sophia McLoughlin
- The Manor of Dreams, by Christina Li
- I Want You More, by Swan Huntley
- Jill is Not Happy, by Kaira Roud
- 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.
- Writers and Lovers, by Lily King
- Heart the Lover, by Lily King
- The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
- Exit Lane, by Erika Veurink
- Set Piece, by Lana Schwartz
- Conform, by Ariel Sullivan
- Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely, by Sarah McCoy
- Sunny Side Up, by Katie Sturino
- Alan Opts Out, by Courtney Maum (out June 2nd!)
- Finding Grace, by Loretta Rothschild
- The Academy, by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham
- Atmosphere, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Square Waves, by Alexandra Romanaoff
- The Three Lives of Cate Kay, by Kate Fagan
- Great Big Beautiful Life, by Emily Henry
- Comedic Timing, by Upasna Barath
- The Love We Found, by Jill Santopolo
- 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!
- The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
- The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali
- Isola, by Allegra Goodman
- This is a Love Story, by Jessica Soffer
- Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguri
- Notes on Infinity, by Austin Taylor
- The Hop, by Diana Clarke
- Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan
- Peggy, by Rebecca Godfrey with Leslie Jamison
- The Compound, by Aisling Rawle
- I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman
- The Rules of Fortune, by Danielle Prescod
- Don’t Be a Stranger, by Susan Minot
- The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami
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