The fiction book club I lead at One More Page Books kicks off the new year by talking about our favorite reads of the previous year. We call it a book club potluck: instead of food we bring book recommendations! This aren’t book club picks, but books we’ve read outside of book club that we’ve really enjoyed. Additionally, they don’t have to have been published recently, simply books we’ve read in the last year. This is my favorite meeting of the year; we always come up with quite the eclectic list of books!
Here are our favorite reads of 2025, in no particular order! It’s quite a long list! Click on the title to learn more, and to order your own copy!
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (this was one of my favorites of 2025 and was the book we discussed at our last meeting. Quite the discussion; unfortunately not everyone appreciated it as much as I did!)
Alchemised by SenLinYu
King Sorrow by Joe Hill
Widow’s Point by Richard Chizmar, W.H. Chizmar
Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Outlawed by Anna North
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson
The Gestapo’s Most Wanted – The White Mouse: The Life of SOE Agent Nancy Wake by Alice Sharman
A New Earth: Oprah’s Book Club: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence
The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams
North Woods by Daniel Mason
James by Percival Everett
The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
The Names by Florence Knapp
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir by Maggie Thrash
Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
All the Tomorrows After by Joanne Yi
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman by Nora Ephron
Sandwich by Catherine Newman (second year appearing on this list!)
