Book by book, I was hoping to get through my 2025 purchases. As the year ends there are several top ten lists that appear online and in newspapers. I was curious about several titles that received rave reviews and were considered favourites and are now added to my ‘to read’ piles. Many of these books are 2025 publications so this posting gives attention to them. I wouldn’t consider all of these titles to be as great as others thought. That’s OK. I hibernated a little over the holiday weeks and am catching up with fiction titles. I’m not sure that any of these titles will be on my 2026 list of favourites. These books are mostly hardback, mostly published in the last year. I have a batch of some appealing nonfiction books to get to next.
The Ultimate Best Books of 2025 List
The following link presents a round-up of the most favourite book titles of 2025, by listing the number of times a book appeared on a top ten list from different reviewers.
Source: Literary Hub
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AUDITION by Katie Kitamura
The novel is presented through the voice of an unnamed narrator, an accomplished actress. The book is divided into two parts. in the first section , we learn about her life as a loving wife to Tomas and her dedication to bringing truth to a role she is rehearsing for a new play. We also meet Xavier, a young man who is old enough to be her son and even approaches the actress to find out if she is indeed his mother. She is not. In part two, a new narrative unfolds where Xavier is her son and he returns home to live with his parents. They welcome him, even though his living in the apartment is somewhat intrusive (especially when he brings a girlfriend to live with there too. Kitamura’s is a fine writer but I can’t say that this was ultimately a satisfying read for me. The narrative is more or less a monologue and there were some gaps in the storytelling, especially with the context of the play that is being performed and the transition from part one to part two. Lots of questions. Ultimately, this seems to be a book about relationships, about the roles we play in theatre and in life. Are we all putting on a performance for others? A mask? The actress/ narrator is ultimately her own therapist throughout observing and questioning the behaviours and actions of herself and others. She is her own audience looking at her performance of creating and performing of, living and loving. Audition was shortlisted for The Booker Prize 2025.
Excerpt
“You can be entranced by an idea, I said, and at a certain point you can no longer see the edges of it…. I’ve experienced it myself. I continued, it’s something that happens every time I prepare for a role. In some ways the part is only working if I lose sight of the shore. But by the same time, it’s important to be able to come to the toehr side, you have to be able to come u
BRING THE HOUSE DOWN by Charlotte Runcie
The setting is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Critic, Alex Lyon, son of a famous actress, is known for giving either one star or five star reviews attends an opening night performance of Hayley Sinclair’s show and Lyon ends up writing a scathing one-star review. But – there’s a always a but – on the night following the performance Alex picks Hayley up and they end up having sex. Hayley was unaware of what Alex had written by her and when she does she is of course furious. How could this guy be so evil, so unscrupulous? The actress then chooses to revamp her show critiquing Alex Lyons and inviting any woman who attend her performance to lay bare their souls about times that they’ve been jaded or harassed. Through her vindictiveness, Hayley becomes a festival and viral sensation. Lyons reputation is destroyed and he will not apologize. He himself claims: “I’m a massive sexist misogynist, terrible person.” Readers are bound to make judgments about which of these two ‘victims’ is in the right. . The story is told from the point of view Sophie of who works in cultural journalism (and dealing with her own issues of marriage and motherhood). She shares a flat with Alex and observe her colleague’s downfall, sometime intervening to console. Charlotte Runcie tells a dynamo story about being an artist, being a critic and the peril of being honest even at the expense of others. It is a story about ethics, gender power relations and the challenges and realities of artists whether they are performers or journalists. Bring the House Down is an electric “Me Too” story. Brutal and funny, this novel was a great read!
HEART THE LOVER by Lily King
This is a book that received several rave reviews. I did not read Lily King’s Writers and Lovers, a precursor to her new novel. This one is a stand-alone. The book is framed in three sections. First, we are introduced to the narrator a college senior who comes to be friends with Sam and Yash, two honour students in the English Department. Jordan (as she came to be called by the two men) serve as a guide to both her college and relationship experiences. The narrator loved Sam but now loves Yash. In the second part, we learn that ‘Jordan’ has had thriving writing career. She is now a wife and mother. In this section she is visited by Yash, a man she was deeply in love with until he abandoned her. This narrative is told in the 2nd person as Jordan addresses Yash, questioning who what became of his life and what it will become. Happily married, Jordan still has deep love for Yash and this love is deepened when Jordan, in the third section goes to visit Yash who is dying of cancer in the hospital. Her feelings are further complicated with the illness of her young son who is awaiting brain surgery. For me, the narrative got richer and deeper in the later part of the book, as the author explores the tangles of friendship and the journey of the heart. Four, not five stars, from me.
MAZELTOV by Eli Zozovksy
The cover of this debut novel captured my attention on a recent visit to a book store. The title intrigued. The book blurb motivated me into buying this book about Jewish boy confronting his sexuality as about to have his bar mitzvah. The jacket description suggested that this would be a novel i’d enjoy: An adolescent character, a Jewish family, a chorus of different voices, the threat of war, ‘queer lust’ and a book less than 200 pages. I only got to 100 pages. In recent years I’ve given myself permission to abandon books and I though 100 pages would be a fair chance. We are told about Adam Weismann’s life from different perspectives but even at reaching half the book presented in short story manner, I didn’t get to know this young adolescent and found only glimpses of the narrative promised in the book blurb. A disappointment. Oh well!
THE SAFEKEEP by Yael Van Der Wouden
This story set in takes place in the Dutch countryside fifteen years after World War II. Isabel lives a rigid life in her late mother’s country home. She is disciplined, cantankerous following a strict routine where everything needs to be in its place. All is disturbed, when Isabel’s older brother arrives demanding that his newest girlfriend, Eva, come to stay in the home until he returns from a work mission that takes him far away. Isabel and Eve’s relationship is tenuous at best but eventually the two women connect and find love for each other. Hidden secrets about Eva’s past offer a stark revelation about struggles, displacement and trauma of wartime. This debut novel, shortlisted for The Booker Prize, 2024 and was the 2025, Women’s Prize Winner for fiction is an extraordinary love story. I knew (from a friend) that a twist was coming and about 2/3 of the way through I was growing impatient but in the end Van Der Wouden’s novel is suspenseful, dramatic and passionate love story.
SNAP by Susin Nielsen
Canadian autyhor, Susin Nielsen has written seven terrific middle grade novels about young teenagers facing some problems large and small (i.e., We Are All Made of Molecules; The Reluctant Journal of Henry K , Larsen, No Fixed Address) Words on the cover of the book lets readers know that they are in for a story about “Three Good People/ Three Big Mistakes.” Frances Partridge is a beloved childrens author who gets in trouble for presumingly assaulting a student during one of her book talk visits. Geraint Blevins, an auto mechanic whose life is upturned when he attacks his boss for having an affair with his wife. Parker Poplawski, is just staring her career as a wardrobe assistant and is guilty of attacking an elderly actor who tried to seduce her. The three characters lives intertwine when they are forced to enrol in court-mandated anger management class. How will this trio each other? Each seek justice and revenge? Learn to cope with being pushed to edge with life’s unfortunate turn of events? Susin Nielsen is a great storyteller whose books are filled with humour and insight into the foibles and adventures of getting through each day as best we can.. Snap is the author’s first ‘grown-up’ novel and is told with the verve, quirkiness and yes, snap. his was a fast-paced, funny read about anger and redemption.
THE SLIP by Lucas Schaeffer
On the first page of this novel, we learn hat Nathaniel Rothstein, a sixteen year old boy who had been living with his aunt and uncle in Austin for the summer had disappeared. You’d think that at 484 pages readers would come to eventually would learn about how this mysterious vanishing but the novel unfolds in spirals within spirals and a cast of somewhat wonky characters and wonky events that involve a sex hotline, a transgender love relationship, fake passport, an illegal immigrant, a rookie cop, working at senior’s residence, stolen pills, a guy’s quest to transform his skin colour, an arrest, a wayward coyote, a police course in crime attended by Jewish ladies and a boxing match. Lots of boxing. Much of the setting takes place in Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym where we meet a rather bizarre cast of intriguing characters, all shapes and sizes and ages. One review I read called The Slip ‘whackadoodle’ which I think is an apt choice of words to describe this audacious, non-linear, adventure-packed novel where both character and setting create a strong picture of America in the early decades of the 21st century. A friend recommended this novel to me, declaring that it was his #1 favourite of the year, but even though I found the writing to be quite original and funny stuff, I can’t say that this was a five star read for me. The spiral within a spiral unspiraled for me in the last 1/4 of the book which was a bit of a slog for me. There are lots of fans for this novel and applause goes to Lucas Schaeffer for this fascinating outrageous debut.. The Slip was the Kirkus fiction prize 2025 winner.
Excerpts
“At Terry Tucker’s’Boxing Gym, the after-work influx had begun. Now other sounds subsumed the staccato smack of the speed bag, the pa! pa! pa!s Felix Barrowmen let loose inthe ring. The rowdy salaams of bros reunited, the slightly unhinged chatter of the deskbound finally unleashed.” (p. 50)
“She’d grown up in West Texas endowed with sparkle and skepticism and, though they wouldn’t bloom unil her late teens, two breast so perfectly round that more than one man would compare them to the map theyd seen in their grade school geographyprimers of the western and eastern hemispheres side by side.” (p. 163)
THE TIGER AND THE COSMONAUT by Eddy Boudel Tan
Casper and Sam Han are the twin sons of Chinese immigrants who grew up in a remote town in British Columbia.Casper, now an adult is in a loving gay relationship returns home when he learn as that his father had gone missing. Memories from the past haunt Casper, especially since his twin brother went missing twenty years ago and the mystery of his disappearance has never been solved. Casper is also tortured by the quiet, obedient ways his parents chose to live without confronting the Anti-Asian racism and homophobia that they encountered. The Tiger and the Cosmonaut is a compelling, heartbreaking account of the secrets and dreams of each of the members of an immigrant family. It is also as a suspenseful narrative that unravels with unexpected twists. Eddy Boudel Tan is a beautiful storyteller guiding readers into the heart and strength, love and anger of of each character. The book was shortlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize.
TRAIN DREAMS by Denis Johnson / Novella / 2002 / 2011
The movie, Train Dreams was on many top ten lists and it certainly was one of my favourites of 2025. The movie is based on the novella by Denis Johnson which first appeared in 2002 (Paris Review) but was then published in 2011, It is the start of the twentieth century and Robert Grainier is a day laborer in the American West. His job entails felling trees helping to build bridges and railroads that will stretch across the country. Grainier is committed to his work but when tragedy strikes and he loses his wife and daughter he is haunted by his past. Grainier is not defeated and carries on to contribute to help build the landscape of America. The book is 116 pages and Johnson writes rather spare passages that are indeed cinematic capturing the both the reality of the logger’s life and the inner turmoil of an unsung hero, living the life of a hermit, coping with sadness and fate. Episodes of supernaturalism and hallucinations (e.g., the appearance of wolf-boy, train dreams) are filtered throughout. I look forward to seeing the movie once again. The book – and the film – are highly recommended.
Excerpt
“By most Januaries, when the snow had deepened, the valley seemed stopped with perpetual silence, but as a matter of fact it was often filled with the rumble of trains and the choirs of distant wolves and he nearer mad jabbering of coyotes. Also his own howling, as he’d taken it up as a kind of sport.” (p. 81)
WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy
A woman named Rowan is washed up on the shores of Shearswater, a tiny islnad far from Antarctica, an island, home of the world’s largest seed bank. Many researchers lived there but threats of rising sea levels forced them to leave. The soul remaining inhabitants are Dominic Salt and his children Fen, Raff and Orly each with their strong attachment to the island. Rowan is rescued by the family and secrets of why she set out for Shearwater slowly unfold. The precious seeds need extreme protection. Otherwise, all life is ‘drowned, burned or starved.’ The novel is presented in different voices, Rowan and Dominic passages told in the first person, Fen, Raff, Orly’s narratives are in the third person. Charlotte McConaghy’s research is astonishing as she presents precise knowledge of the Arctic environment and its wildlife. The book reads as nonfiction, even though here is a gripping mystery that unfolds. The exotic setting and an extraordinary tale of climate change makes this a fascinating read. I bought this book because it was on many top ten lists. Reading Goodreads reviews gave much praise that Wild Dark Shore was absolutely the ‘best read of the year. And of course several comments argued otherwise. It was not my favourite read of 2025. I guess I’m somewhere in the middle. No doubt McConaghy’s writing is remarkable and the relationships amongst the three characters was intriguing. The quest to survive the brutal conditions was so stark and the scientific facts so precise, I sometimes found the narrative hard to grasp and ultimately this wasn’t the gripping thriller that many felt it was.
Excerpts
“These seeds given a chance, would all be able to work out how to coexist across the globe, how to feed and help and sustain each other, and there is something truly wonderful about that.” (p.118)
“It is the storm again. The churn of the sea dragging me under. My body battered. My lungs exploding. I am tumbled head over tail and have no sense of up or down, it takes an eternity for me to grasp any stillness, any hgint of calm among the maelstrom, enough to right myself and kick, reach, gasp the air of the roaring surface?” (p. 172)