Well aware I’m late on this, so let’s get into it.

I considered making some kind of ranking for the books I read in 2025, but came to believe it wouldn’t be possible to do so — nor particularly useful for readers — due to the breadth of genres and variety of books that made it onto the list. It’s hardly fair to try to compare classic novels to a book about trees, or poetry to Moneyball.

Throughout the year, I highlighted a few of the books that stood out to me, for their style, story or some other achievement. Looking back now, I decided it would be best to simply choose a few top recommendations.

So without further ado, here are my must-reads:

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude (listen to it if you can, and don’t get lost trying to make sense of every little thing. This book is like music. Experiencing each movement is more important than counting the notes)
2. Kavalier and Clay (I doubt I’ll ever find another book as simultaneously witty, enjoyable and profoundly important. Now more than ever, we need more stories of how people adapt to a changing world and seek to live well in strange and terrible times.)
3. The Mighty Red (Louise Erdrich strikes another bell at exactly the moment its ringing is most needed. The kind of book that makes me want to write.)
4. The Jungle (One of those classics that has to be read. It’s a story there’s no getting away from — intensely bound to a specific time and place, but also an unceasing reminder that though history doesn’t repeat, it certainly rhymes.)
5. Wild Dark Shore (My top contemporary fiction read of the year, which significantly restored my faith in writing of that ilk).
6. The Lotus Eaters (I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of this until Libby recommended me the audiobook. It’s important to the course of American literature not only for its perceptive interest in war, exploitation and ambition, but also for its courage as a piece of writing. Unafraid to ask more questions than it answers, it provides no guidance on how or if it’s possible to be exonerated.)