My Best/Favourite Reads of 2025

I shared the worst (which weren’t that bad!), and now it’s time for the best!

2025 was a great year in reading for me – I rated 40 books with 4 stars and 7 with 5 stars! The ones on this list are those that stood out to me the most. A portion of those 40 books were actually trade paperback collections of comic books, so I am not including those in this list (but the Chris Claremont era of X-Men/Uncanny X-Men is great, highly recommend).

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

It took me years to get around to reading this, and oh my gosh did I love it. I will not be for all readers, but it’s grimy, grotesque, dark, weird and funny… exactly my vibe with my favourite themes. Hands down my favourite Moshfegh. I am getting hyped just recalling reading it! I just wish I’d been in my note-taking phase when I did – but I will definitely re-read this book in the future!

My Husband by Maud Ventura

I rated this 4 stars originally, but I’m upping it to 5 because I cannot stop thinking about this book! It is a masterpiece in slowly building tension, an interesting new flavour of unreliable narrator for me, a fascinating character study, and I was gripped!

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

This book is gorgeous. It is speculative fiction set in a dystopic America where society has collapsed (for all but the wealthy) after pandemics, it has vibes of Fallout/The Outer Worlds that I enjoy, and I found the Lake Superior setting fascinating. This is a meandering and quiet story about hope when the world feels hopeless and afraid, and finding those pockets of community.

I cannot wait to read more from Leif Enger.

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

I am including this because I am not normally one for short stories, and yet these made an impression on me. I also read her novel Earthlings this year, and I think the two go hand in hand, as that is an extension of ideas explored in Life Ceremony. The two stories Hatchling and A Clean Marriage are the ones that particularly resonated with me.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

This is a short (175 pages) novella runs through Kim Jiyoung’s life from childhood to motherhood, simply cataloguing the many instances of misogyny she experiences and the sacrifices bit and small, that she must make, never being allowed to live to her intellectual or economic potential, simply for being a woman. It’s a matter of fact style is impactful… and the ending had me throw my Kindle across the bed.

It is a particularly pertinent read now that South Korea is passing the point of being able to reverse its population decline. Reading Kim Jiyoung’s experience (everything about her is average, including her name) gives an illuminating context on what society is like, and why people are choosing to have fewer children.

Kala by Colin Walsh

I didn’t know Literary Thrillers were a thing, and now I need more of them. While it wasn’t perfect (4 stars, not 5), this struck a delicious balance between literary character study with themes of childhood, friendship and memory, and a tasty murder mystery. I was gripped.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

I have been meaning to read this for years, and I finally did it! I will admit it took a bit of perseverance at the start (the Male Gaze in the POV of the Doctor is hard to read, but intentionally so), but once it clicked for me, I could hardly put it down. The real-life case this is based on is fascinating, and the story that Atwood chose to tell is equally so. Memory, truth and unreliable narrators are some of my favourite things!

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

I was surprised by how good this was! I was expecting a bit of retro horror fun, which it was, but it also had a depth in social commentary on the experience of unwed teenage mothers in the 1970s I’d not expected, especially from a male author. The birth scenes were also very harrowing and have stuck with me!

The Sweetpea series by C. J. Skuse

This series of 5 novels was an unexpected delight this year! I had low expectations for the first book (I got it on a 99p ebook deal), but I enjoyed it well enough. I then switched to audiobooks through my library, and it was a game-changer. Georgia Maguire does an amazing job at bringing Rhiannon to life, but I also realised the author is writing a character study, not just a campy thriller about a female serial killer. My complaint about the first book was that I didn’t understand Rhiannon, and that is absolutely explored in the following (including my faves – memory and unreliable narrators!) – each one has her grow in a new and satisfying way, and all that leads to a satisfying conclusion to a series that knew the right point to end.

The references could be tough in the earlier books if you’re not British or haven’t spent a lot of time living in the UK, but if that works for you, these books are a great time.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

I’ve really enjoyed the Discworld Witches books, and this is hands down my favourite one. It’s very funny, it is clever and layered features the origin of the coven (and “lawks!” the hopeless old lady act), and I loved the Shakespeare references.

Honourable mentions

A lot of my five-star rated books this year were silly books… I love silly books, but I know humour is subjective, so these might not tickle everyone the same way they did me:

• I re/read all the Alan Partridge books this year (I, Partridge, Nomad, and Big Beacon) and I listened through all of his audio podcasts “From the Oasthouse,” which I think is the best Partridge since the first “memoir” (I, Partridge). I love Alan; he always makes me laugh (and I often forget that he is not real, and that it is just Steve Coogan playing a character). I think Nomad is my favourite of the books, and it is Alan very self-consciously trying to write to a genre.
• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows was a huge amount of fun on audio. The narrator (Katherine Kellgren) is incredible, and it is my exact type of humour.
• Ayoade On Top by Richard Ayoade is such a ridiculous book I don’t know how to describe it, but it tickles me endlessly.
• I also had a bit of a rollercoaster relationship with The Rivers of London series of books on audio. I found I alternated between loving them and awarding 4 stars or having a struggle and going for 2 or 3 stars, so none of those made this list. I also lost interest at book 8 and realised the series was never going to be what I wanted it to be, so that has sullied my memories of the earlier books somewhat… but when they were good, they were tonnes of fun!