We loved our books. And we’re ready to gush. We’ll just go for it. Keep in mind that not all of these were actually published in 2025; we just finally got to them!

First, the stats:

Reading By The NumbersJenniferLara
Total books read in 20257879
Female Authors30 (a few by same author)51
Authors of Color1124
LGBTQIA Authors68
SciFi/Fntsy/Mag. Realism/dystopian11? (Some of these are thrillers?)8
Suspense/Mystery/Thriller (realism)4? (I think the above and this one blend a little for me)14
Literary Fiction4941
Non-Fiction296
Memoir5 (some overlap with above)2
Romance/Chick-Lit05
Audiobooks3626
eReaders06
Physical Books3947

Best Bookish Experience of 2025

Lara: Can I brag one last time? Being selected to appear on Anne Bogel’s What Should I Read Next? podcast was a bucket-list-dream-come-true experience. I also attended my first Tucson Festival of Books where I got to hear and speak with my favorite poet, Billy Collins. 

Jennifer: I’d love to hear Billy Collins. Um, okay. I published my fifth book, Kids Without Horses. Thank you very much. Go here for fun stuff. 

Over-the-top hype . . . and it was well-deserved!

Jennifer: Lara, will you hate me if I skip this? I doubt I read books with over-the-top hype! I mean, The Great Gatsby? The Winter of Our Discontent? Frankenstein? 

Lara: You’re hilarious. Kind of like a reading recluse! Well, I read a few books with big hype before I read them and some with hype that kept growing after I read them that are really good books. These are books that kind of blew up on bookstagram or you just saw everywhere. Each of these were five-star reads for me:

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Longest Book Read

Jennifer: Okay. I read Tolstoy’s War and Peace, friends. 

Lara: I took a note from Annie B. Jones (owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, GA) and read Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize Winning Lonesome Dove with two groups (one online, one in person) this year. We paced ourselves, reading about 75 pages a month and it was, in a word, amazing. You can see my review on my Instagram or Goodreads accounts. We loved it so much that my in-person group is having two watch parties to view the miniseries.

Shortest Book Read

Lara: Kate Baer’s I Hope This Finds You Well is a powerful collection of poetry that packs a real punch by taking the trollish remarks to her blog posts and turning them into something worthy of contemplation.

Jennifer: I don’t know . . . Foster by Claire Keegan was under one-hundred pages.

Should be Required High School Reading

Lara: If curriculum is going to require reading the Classics, I would require students to read a modern retelling of at least one of the classics they read. This year, I read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible – which is the fourth or fifth retelling of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that I have read over the years and it was my favorite! It’s totally modernized, smart, and snarky. 

Jennifer: What do you mean, “if”? I’d require those Classics sans Tolstoy. I’m not for strictly bombarding high schoolers with old stuff. I’d pair them, but I think kids should read Classics.

Most-Read Authors

Jennifer: Yeah, I went all in with Elizabeth Strout. I did read two books by Bret Anthony Johnston. And I continued with going for newbies by reliably good writers!

Lara: Because of you, I got sucked into Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash Series, reading and loving I am Lucy Barton, Anything Is Possible, and Oh William! I aim to finish the last two in January (but it could be February). I also doubled up on Lily King, reading Heart the Lover, and Writers and Lovers in the last week of December. She’s a fabulous writer that warrants binge-reading.  

A Book that Made Me Laugh

Lara: I love when a book can make me laugh out loud, and the one that had me doing it the most was Jason Halprin’s I’m Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom. The only way to read this book is via audio so that you can hear Ari Fliakos’ expert narration. 

My runner up goes to: It’s a tie: I Hope this Finds You Well by Natalie Sue and The Wedding People by Allison Espach (a re-read). Both are chick-lit with a little more meat and depth than the usual fare. 

Jennifer: Yeah, I also was blown away by Jason Halprin’s I’m Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom. I did not expect to love it as much as I did–but I loved it. 

Best Audiobook

Jennifer: Jason Halprin’s I’m Starting to Worry about this Black Box of Doom, for sure. But Patti Smith’s Bread of Angels too. I love to listen to her. I always go for her audiobooks because she is, truly, a poet and an artist. 

Lara: I have auto-buy authors, and I am starting to have auto-listen audiobook narrators. Topping that list is Marin Ireland. She’s become a regular voice for Kevin Wilson books and I loved her performance of his newest book: Run for the Hills, a sweet and quirky book about what it can mean to be part of a family. 

Best Futuristic Fiction

Lara: Culpability by Bruce Holsinger is a wild ride about the impacts of AI, self-driving cars, and the role each passenger can play when everything goes wrong. 

Jennifer: You got me to read Culpability by Bruce Holsinger, and it was good–as was Hum by Helen Phillips. I read others too. I’m kinda seduced by dystopian visions. These probably were my faves. 

Most Surprising Book

Jennifer: I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin. I freakin’ loved it. It’s a cat-and-mouse caper, a travelogue across America, a conspiracy theory-haunted mystery involving social media and nukes and bald guys with tattoos. The writing is smart and funny. It could maybe be made into a movie, though it would need very talented people and Quentin Tarantino to direct it with a Pulp Fiction vibe to it.

Lara: This is a true book nerd answer: Ann Patchett’s annotated version of Bel Canto. You have to read the original before reading this version where she annotates, edits, and critiques her remarkable novel. It surprised me how balanced she could be in reflecting on her own work. I couldn’t believe that no one caught in the original publication that one of the lead characters was an INTERPRETER and not a translator. His character and role are significant to the story. When she shared that revelation, I was low-key blown away. 

A Cilantro Book (you know, a polarizing read)…

Lara: Sky Daddy by Kate Folk has to be the weirdest book I read that folks will either love or hate. I lean into the love category. But it’s not for everyone. Maybe not even most. I mean, it’s about a woman who believes her soulmate is an airplane. 

Jennifer: I don’t want to keep mentioning it, but . . . War and Peace. I loved Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. I still think about Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. I don’t believe this book fully touched me, and I’m sad about that. 

A Disappointing Read

Jennifer: Must I confess? I’ll say this. At the old age of fifty-six, I’m firmly committed to reading stuff I want to keep reading and quitting books that aren’t hitting me in some critical way. This means I quit a ton. So many. Where do I even begin? I quit North Woods by Daniel Mason. I quit the new Patricia Lockwood book–and I’ve loved her other stuff. (That one hurts.) I quit Orbital by Samantha Harvey, which people raved about. Too many, Lara!

Lara: I couldn’t finish Karen Russell’s The Antidote and it was on so many best lists! I also don’t understand the big love for Daniel Mason’s North Woods. But good for him and the readers who loved it. 

Books That Came Out this Year That You Mean to Get to…

Lara: So many…

Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Wreck by Catherine Newman

Jennifer: I’m starting it today: Adam Johnson’s The Wayfinder.

Okay, now to our favorites of the year!

Lara’s Top 10 (or 13 if you’re counting) – In alpha (not rank) order

  1. Amgash Series (Books 1-3) by Elizabeth Strout: This is probably cheating, but I don’t care. 
  2. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall: A great genre mashup with competing love stories, a murder, a trial, and literary fiction. I ate it up. 
  3. Buckeye by Patrick Ryan: Dysfunctional family drama in the Vietnam-era midwest. Yes, please. 
  4. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawson: Historical fiction centered around a midwife called to solve the murder of a much-disliked man about the community. 
  5. Heart the Lover by Lily King: The hype brought me (even after I didn’t love one of her previous books). The storytelling kept me riveted.
  6. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry: Who’dda thunk I’d like a Western? Well, I dern loved it. 
  7. Tie: So Far Gone by Jess Walter/Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson: There have been a lot of road trip-themed books centered around finding your family. These were both great. 
  8. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: She’s the master at drawing you in with compelling characters and story and keeping you guessing until the final page.
  9. Writers and Lovers by Lily King: I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Casey Peabody when I finished Heart the Lover. Thankfully, I could devour this one. Be sure to read it first, though. My bad, Lily.
  10. You Are Here by David Nichols: This was the right book at the right time for me. Witty and delightful. 

Lara’s Honorable Mentions 

  1. Air by John Boyne: The final in Boyne’s excellent Elements series.* 
  2. Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson: Lyrical coming of age novel where girls navigate growing up in a city that nurtured their belief in each other, their dreams, and their ability to achieve them. Yet also where danger lurked and innocence was quickly lost.
  3. Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong: This is a complicated and important story by one of the best writers of his generation. 
  4. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld: One of the best retelling’s of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
  5. Good Dirt by Charlaine Wilkerson: A compelling multigenerational story that delves into themes of family secrets, cultural identity, and the search for belonging.
  6. The Names by Florence Knapp: Shockingly good debut. Don’t be fooled by the marketing. This is a very difficult read centered on the tolls of domestic violence on a family. 
  7. My Friends by Fredrik Backman: He’s so good and this is likely his best.
  8. This Is a Love Story by Julie Sofer: A great addition to the literary marriage canon. 

* I’ve followed this series from the start, and finishing it brought some conflict. Boyne’s public stance on trans issues has been deeply disappointing, and it’s something I wrestled with in choosing to finish the series.Reading doesn’t have to equal endorsement, but it should come with awareness. For me, it’s about holding space for both truths: that this story moved me, and that I don’t stand with the harm behind the voice that wrote it.

Jennifer’s Top 10 (Not in Order . . . I’m Just Listing Them)

  1. John Boyne’s Air: So, this is the fourth and final short novel in Boyne’s series (Water, Earth, Fire, Air). If you’re interested, just read the collection: The Elements. He’s a great writer. For some reason, I can’t put these four books down. Addictive, lovely.
  2. Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything: This is Book #5 in her Amgash series. Lordy. Will there be more? Tell me no, because this one ends perfectly. You did it, Elizabeth. You did it. 
  3. Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy By The Sea: Book #4. Loved it. The series is great. Human. Rich.
  4. Elizabeth Strout’s Olive, Again: I finally watched the 2014 limited series starring Frances McDormand, having read Olive Kitteridge in 2015. I was compelled to go back and read the sequel. Blown away. Blown away.
  5. Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness: Poet. Complexity. I think I liked it more than two of my good bookish friends.
  6. Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore: Edge-of-your seat literary fiction! She’s reliably good.
  7. Jason Pargin’s I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom: Listen to the audio. 
  8. Claire Keegan’s Foster: I may have a thing for contemporary Irish lit. I really like Keegan.
  9. Patti Smith’s Bread of Angels: Her audiobooks are gold. What to say? Listening to her will make you a fan.
  10. Gish Jen’s Bad Bad Girl: Autofiction, the blending of autobiography and fiction? Basically, I love it. It’s brave, vulnerable, truth and fiction, and a writer’s gotta do what a writer’s gotta do. I admire this book a lot. 

Jennifer’s Honorable Mentions: Not in Order  

  1. Helen Phillips’ Hum
  2. Steve Turner’s The Man Called CASH: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend. I’m very pro-Johnny.
  3. Annie Hartnett’s The Road to Tender Hearts 
  4. Bret Anthony Johnston’s We Burn Daylight
  5. Jessica Sofer’s This Is a Love Story

I know I’m not mentioning some other very good books that likely appear on Lara’s list. These are just my faves.

Okay, I should mention these: Buckeye by Patrick Ryan, the entire Amgash series by Elizabeth Strout, If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, and Maya & Natasha by Elyse Durham. I might imagine someone is shaking his or her head, asking, “Where is Jess Walter?” It was pretty good. 

Oh, and Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping? No regrets. I’ll read more, of course. 

That was long. Read my best books and Suzanne Collins, and you’ll be happy.

Books I’m Really Excited to Read

Lara: The book I am most excited to read is Ann Patchett’s Whistler. The cover is stunning. I am also looking forward to You with the Sad Eyes. 

Jennifer: I’m excited to read Christina Applegate’s You with the Sad Eyes–which might surprise some people. I like her! I’m excited for your favorite: George Saunders, with his newbie, Vigil. Colm Tóibín and Louise Erdrich have short story collections coming out. I’m also going to read Adam Johnson’s The Wayfinder this year! David Sedaris, my secret friend, has a collection coming out but it’s frightfully short. 

Film or Television That Still Sits With You: You’re Still Thinking About It

Jennifer: Of course I only saw one movie in the theater! The Bruce Springsteen movie: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Jeremy Allen White was great. I really liked the film. It was no Bob Dylan flick, though. 

Steve with Cillian Murphy was excellent. Probably my favorite film I saw this year. Cillian and Idris and Bono need to meet me for lunch.

I’m still thinking about the following shows streaming on television: The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga, Adolescence, Olive Kitteridge, and, yes, The Handmaid’s Tale. My faves.

I mean, I love The Bear. And Stranger Things. Death By Lightning was good too. 

Every new season of Only Murders in the Building results in me asking, “Why am I still watching this?” And yet, I’m still watching it. 

Lara: I don’t watch even a tenth of what you watch. I loved Shrinking and The Pitt (and can’t wait for their new seasons this month!). I am a game show lover and loved The Floor hosted by Rob Lowe.

I saw a few movies in the theater this year and loved: One Battle After Another, The Accountant 2, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, and Hamnet (I did not read the book). 

Next Up! 

In the new year, we will talk about Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash Series which features five books. Stay tuned.

Until then, happy reading!