2025 Reading Recommendations
My 2025 Reading Recommendations – Or The Best Things I’ve Read So Far This Year
Here’s everything I’ve read so far this year, rated – or my 2025 reading recommendations (this post contains affiliate links). Including the best things I’ve read, my five star reads.
Last year I finally stopped doom scrolling and started reading again, so in the interests of keeping my phone down, and in an attempt to inspire everyone to read more, here are my good reads for 2025. It’s a list of everything I’ve read in 2025, my rating, and what I thought.
How / What Am I Reading In 2025?
Last year I ‘rewarded’ myself by buying myself with a new Kindle so I’m reading a lot on that (especially book on offer from Kindle Deals).
I’ve also had a Kindle Unlimited subscription for part of the year. I’ll mark which of these books were available on Kindle Unlimited.
The library and library books online via the Libby App – I’ve also bought a Kobo e-reader to read Libby books on which has been a gamechanger (this one).
World of Books is also a fave in our house for second hand books, and they often have deals on.
My 2025 Reading Recommendations
My Favourite Books Of 2025
From Jan – Feb I noted all the books I read, then switched from March onwards to noting here my favourite 4 and 5 star ones instead. For list of absolutely everything I read, follow me on Goodreads!
Here are my 5 star – and favourite 4 star – rated books of 2025 (contains affiliate links)
September Books
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
August Books
The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Parenting Hell, Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicome
Careless People: The explosive memoir that Meta doesn’t want you to read, Sarah Wynn-Williams
July Books
The Trees, Percival Everett
Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai, Nina Mingya Powles
Conclave, Robert Harris
June Books
Cloistered, My Years As A Nun, Catherine Coldstream
May Books
Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come – An Introvert’s Year of Living Dangerously, Jessica Pan
The Husbands, Holly Grazamio
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
Real Americans, Rachel Khong
A Walk In The Woods, Bill Bryson
Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata
Big Swiss, Jen Beagin
April Books
The Years, Annie Ernaux
Home, The Story Of Everyone Who Ever Lived In Our House, Julie Myerson
Good Dirt, Charmaine Wilkerson
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith
The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (a re-read from when I was a teenager!)
March Books
The Wedding People, Alison Espach
February Books
Happy Place, Emily Henry – 3/5
Beach Read, Emily Henry – 3/5
Yours Truly, Abby Jimnez – 1/5
Bright Young Women, Jessica Knoll – 3/5
Just One Thing, Michael Mosley – 4/5 (Kindle Unlimited) – Basic but easy to follow health tips and advice
Sourdough, Robin Sloan – 3/5
Red, White and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston – 2/5
If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now: Why We Traded the Commuting Life for a Little House on the Prairie, Christopher Ingraham – 3/5 (Kindle Unlimited)
‘Mum, What’s Wrong with You?’: 101 Things Only Mothers of Teenage Girls Know, Lorraine Candy, 3/5 (Kindle Unlimited) Useful, common sense advice for parents of teenagers
January Books
Standard Deviation, Katherine Heiny – 5/5 (Kindle Unlimited) A re-read of one of my favourite books of last year. Love it just as much the second time round, love how it’s written, love the conversations, love the thoughts. All her other books are good too.
A Life’s Work, On Becoming A Mother, Rachel Kusk – 2/5
A Bit Of A Stretch, Chris Atkins – 3/5 – Interesting look at a very middle class man’s time in prison
The Prison Doctor, Amanda Brown – 3/5 (Kindle Unlimited) – More prison! We went for a meal at the Wandsworth Clink prison restaurant, I had a lot of questions after
We All Want Impossible Things, Katherine Newman – 3/5
To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface, Olivia Laing – 1/5 (not for me!) (Kindle Unlimited)
The Martian, Andy Weir, 4/5
I Leap Over The Wall, Monica Baldwin – 2/5 (Kindle Unlimited) Fascinating, very much of-its-time look at the life of and ex-nun.
Coasting: Running Around the Coast of Britain – Life, Love and (Very) Loose Plans, Elise Downing – 2/5
A Class Act: Life as a Working-Class Man in a Middle-Class World, Rob Beckett – 4/5 – Not usually a huge fan of celeb biographies but I absolutely loved this, so funny
Catherine Walsh, One Night Only – 1/5 (Kindle Unlimited)
What Writers Read: 35 Writers On Their Favourite Books, Pandora Sykes – 4/5, Charming!
The Wilder Life: My Adventures In The Lost World Of Little House On The Prairie, Wendy McClure, 4/5 – Perfect for childhood Little House obsessives (me)
A Life Of My Own, Claire Tomalin, 4/5 absolutely fascinating literary biography from the literary biographer.
Other People’s Book Recommendations For 2025
I posted about reading on my Instagram, and asked for the best thing people had read recently – but they had to be the best, absolute 5/5, five star books. And there were loads!
Here are people’s top reading recommendations for 2025:
Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano
Small Worlds, Caleb Azuma Nelson
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
Days at the Morisake Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa
You Are Here, David Nichols
The Blue Sisters, Coco Mellors
The List of Suspicious Things, Jennie Godfrey
Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes
Wayward, Emilia Hart
Wintering, Katharine May
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rodham / American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld
Shy Creatures, Clare Chambers
Once You’ve Read My 2025 Reading Recommendations, Read:
The best interior design books for families / IKEA Malm makeover / Find the photo booth in Coal Drops Yard
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