Stats and Favorites of 2025

Hi Bookworms. How was your week? Did you have a New Year’s to remember? I hope you received some books for Christmas. I received a couple books off my list from Santa. And now it’s time to read, read, read, right? It’s sort of good weather for it as we’ve had several days of heavy fog here, which combined with cold temps makes hoar frost appear on the trees and bushes. It has an interesting snow-frost effect, which I tried to capture in the pictures. 

Meanwhile, it’s that time of year again to take a deep dive into my reading from 2025 and see what I liked. As usual, it was difficult to decide which books made my favorites list. I chose 12 novels (not all from 2025) and 10 nonfiction books since I only read 10 of those, uh-oh. I can always make some adjustments to my reading this year based on my stats … like reading more nonfiction or male authors or diverse ones or translated ones … which would make my numbers even out more. 

Though I don’t have big plans to change my reading in 2026. I like mixing new releases with backlist books and faster popular reads with more challenging ones. I like reading literary and contemporary fiction best and historical fiction too, but I’m a bit all over the place as well picking up whatever interests me. And I think my reading might be freer this coming year since I’ve decided to take a break from reviewing for Publishers Weekly. I’ve done that the past five years and it was a good gig but not always easy reading for both here and there. It was time-consuming, so now with the break I’ll have a bit more freedom perhaps with my reading and reviewing here, yay. So we’ll see how it goes. 

And now without further ado here are my stats and favorite books of 2025. 

Stats: 63 Books completed
33 Audiobooks
30 Print Books
50 Female Authors
13 Male Authors
53 Fiction
10 Nonfiction
48 White Authors
15 Non-White Authors
20 Debut novels
8 Memoirs
3 Translated novels
28 American authors
12 British authors
5 Canadian authors
4 Australian authors
2 Italian authors
2 Irish authors
2 Japanese authors
1 Dutch author
1 French author
1 German author
1 Hungarian author
1 Nigerian author
1 South African author
1 South Korean author
1 Ecuadorian author

Favorite Novels Completed in 2025:

1) Flesh by David Szalay (2025) — The 2025 Booker Prize winner was my last read of the year and proved to make a strong impact … about a man’s life that returns full circle.
2) Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (2025) — This slim novel on the Booker longlist was atmospheric set along the Irish Sea and a winner for me. I gave it 5 stars.
3) The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024) — This post-WWII novel won the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction and blew the lid off the early part of my reading year.
4) The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (2012) — Book 2 in the Neapolitan series is a modern classic that kept me glued to the two friends’ lives from ages 16 to 23.
5) Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) — A bit odd and mysterious, this Booker shortlist novel unfolds like a puzzle. And where Kitamura goes, I continue to follow.
6) Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (2024) — An actress in London travels to  Israel and gets involved in a Palestinian production of Hamlet … and much ensues that hooked me.
7) Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell (2023) — The Bronte sisters lives unfold in this biographical tale from Emily’s perspective that immersed me completely.
8) Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell (2025) — A scary unsettling tale of an Irish woman trying to escape with her children an abusive situation … had me gripped till the end.
9) Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) an intense love triangle in the English countryside set in 1968 and the past that had me twisted till the end.
10) Trust Her by Flynn Berry (2025) — A squirm-worthy sequel about two Irish sisters trying to get out of being caught up with the IRA — was riveting stuff.
11) The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (2023) — The real life midwife Martha Ballard’s story from 1789 Maine captured me thoroughly as she gets caught up in a murder trial.
12) The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) — The surprise hit of the year moved me in the ways I came to see what writing meant to the elderly retired protagonist.

Honorable Mentions: The Scrapbook by Heather Clark; A Family Matter by Claire Lynch; Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid; Tilt by Emma Pattee; The Death of Us by Abigail Dean; The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali; A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman; Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh; Heartwood by Amity Gaige; Heart the Lover by Lily King; Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy.

Favorite Nonfiction Completed in 2025

1) A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (2025) — an eye-opening survival tale of a couple lost at sea in the early 1970s.
2) Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks (2025) — A moving and raw true story about the sudden loss of the author’s husband in the immediate days and years after.
3) The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne (2024) — An actor looks back at his life … and the trial over his sister’s murder comes on strong near the end.
4) The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance That Won the War by Giles Milton (2024) — An incredible look at how three very dissimilar leaders came together and won WWII.
5) H Is for Hawk: A Memoir by Helen Macdonald (2015) — A moving story about how the taming of a wild goshawk helped the grieving author after the loss of her father.
6) Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir by Beth Nguyen (2023) — An eye-opening and moving account of a Vietnam refugee’s story growing up in Michigan.
7) The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines by Pippa LaTour (2025) — Pippa’s scary mission that parachuted her into France during WWII was an eye-opener.
8) A Country Year: Living the Questions by Sue Hubbell (1986) — The informative chronicles of a beekeeper in the Ozarks in the 1980s – gave me much to think about.
9) Shepherd’s Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean (2024) — I learned much as well from the story of a sheep farmer’s life in Canada of over 50 years.
10) The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession (2023) — A crazy true story of how a couple went on an art stealing rampage in Europe from 1995 to 2001.

My 2025 Reading in Categories (in no particular order)

Translated Lit
Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Cespedes (1952)
Swallows by Natsuo Kirino (2025)
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa (2023)

Debut Novels
The Leavers by Lisa Ko (2017)
Good Girl by Aria Aber (2025)
The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr (2025)
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024)
The Riveter by Jack Wang (2025)
Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham (2024)
The Scrapbook by Heather Clark (2025)
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (2025)
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (2024)
Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell (2025)
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025)
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight (2025)
Tilt by Emma Pattee (2025)
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski (2025)
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (2024)
Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler (2025)
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025)
The Fact Checker by Austin Kelley (2025)
I am Agatha by Nancy Foley (2025)
Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa (2025)

Historical Fiction
Fifteen Wild Decembers by Karen Powell (2023)
Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin (2023)
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (2024)
Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (2023)
The Riveter by Jack Wang (2025)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (2023)
We Do Not Part by Han Kang (2025)
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (2023)
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025)
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (2025)

Memoirs and Biographies
Owner of a Lonely Heart by Beth Nguyen (2023)
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne (2024)
The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines by Pippa LaTour (2025)
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (2025)
H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2014)
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (2025)
A Country Year: Living the Questions by Sue Hubbell (1986)
Shepherd’s Sight: A Farming Life by Barbara McLean (2024)

Crime / Mystery / Action Tales
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (2016)
Beartooth by Callan Wink (2025)
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025)
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (2024)
Trust Her by Flynn Berry (2024)
So Far Gone by Jess Walter (2025)
Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025)
Tilt by Emma Pattee
The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025)
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (2025)

Family / Friends / Relationship / Community Sagas
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr (2025)
Good Material by Dolly Alderton (2023)
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (2025)
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (2023)
Where the Forest Meets the River by Shannon Bowring (2024)
Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell (2025)
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025)
Wreck by Catherine Newman (2025)
Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025)
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski (2025)
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025)
More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen (2026)
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2025)
A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman (2026)
Heart the Lover by Lily King (2025)

Coming of Age Tales
Good Girl by Aria Aber (2025)
Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham (2024)
The Scrapbook by Heather Clark (2025)
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight (2025)
Rabbit Moon by Jennifer Haigh (2025)
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (2024)
Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler (2025)
The Fact Checker by Austin Kelley (2025)
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (2025)
Flesh by David Szalay
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (2012)

History
The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance That Won the War by Giles Milton (2024)

Short Stories
Something to Look Forward to: Stories by Fannie Flagg (2025)

True Crime
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and Dangerous Obsession (2023)

So there you have it. I finished a lot more debut novels (20!) than I realized I was picking up. Did you have any of these on your favorites list? What trends did you notice in your reading? And do you plan to make any changes to your reading in 2026? Wishing you all a great year ahead.