In 2025, I read 96 books and of those, I had 19 books that I rated 5 stars. And an additional 41 more were 4 stars or between 4 and 5. (The StoryGraph, the tool that I use to track my reads, allows for fractional ratings down to a quarter of a star.) As with last year, most of my 5-star reads were part of a few thriller series I was reading and a few were re-reads. It was actually a little bit of a disappointing reading year; I read several books that were highly rated and hyped up that just didn’t really work for me. (If you’d like to hear more about that, let me know.) But I want to share some thoughts on 6 of my favorite reads from last year. If you are interested in more takeaways from my media consumption last year, I wrote a post about that here.
I went through all of my 4- to 5-star books, set aside all the series ones, and looked at all the standalone books, both nonfiction and fiction. I considered which ones impacted me the most as I looked back on them. Or another way to say it is, which books I was still thinking about now, months later. I have to clarify that this is not a “Top 6 Best Books” or a “6 Books You Gotta Read” kind of list, but this is more of a “My 6 Favorites” list. There are elements to books that are objectively good or bad, but often reading choices are a very subjective thing, so these books may not resonate with you the same way they did for me. But generally speaking, I think each of these books deserves a look at the very least. Don’t just take my word for it, check out their synopses, read some other reviews, and make a decision for yourself.
These are also not books published in 2025, just ones that I read in 2025. So let’s get into the Top 6 Books I Read in 2025, in no particular order.
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren
This is a medium-paced fantasy tale written for children that is adventurous, lighthearted, and at times, mysterious. I know this is intended for younger readers, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's an absolutely delightful tale with wonderful characters that are so much fun to follow. The book follows the titular Ronia from her birth up through her early childhood. The author is Swedish, but as far as I can remember, the book doesn’t explicitly state that it’s set there, but as it’s a fantasy, it could be some alternate version of medieval-era Sweden. It's fantasy that does not feel too different from the real world; more like a light dusting of whimsical fantasy, mostly in the form of mythical and folkloric creatures, sprinkled over the setting of a lush, enchanting wood and a cavernous castle on the hill. It's beautifully written with touches of humor here and there and moves at a leisurely pace that allows you to enjoy the world and its colorful characters. Very enjoyable! Highly recommend this one.
Purgatory Road by Samuel Parker
I’ve read Parker’s two other novels and loved them both. This was actually his first, but I got to it last. It is a fast-paced, dark, adventurous, mysterious thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. We’re following a husband and wife who are on a road trip when they break down in the middle of the Nevada desert, where they encounter an old recluse who turns their world upside down. It’s creepy and strange in places and has some supernatural elements that all work together to keep you in suspense. Like I said, it’s dark and is not without moments of peril and horror, but it is ultimately hopeful. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan
This is another fast-paced, dark, adventurous, mysterious thriller, but this time it’s a YA one. It’s about Tom Harding, who is a reporter for his high school newspaper. As he starts to investigate a story for the paper, suddenly his whole world gets turned upside down and he finds his town swallowed by a dense fog; but it’s not just a fog, there are monsters in the fog. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but it all makes sense in the end. This book does not deserve the low rating it has, IMO. The plot is gripping right from the start, and even though I figured out what was happening very early on due to being very familiar with another story with a similar plot, I still loved going on the journey with our POV character, Tom. I think this is a fantastic story that was told extremely well, and it has some incredible, deep spiritual truths woven throughout. There's even a subtle, perhaps unintentional, message of anti-suicide that is so important for teens (and adults) these days. Overall, I think Andrew Klavan's Nightmare City is an excellent book that I highly recommend for older teens and adults. This is my favorite of the four Klavan YA thrillers that I read last year.
Favorite line: “That was the trouble with searching for the truth. It wasn’t always pleasant. It wasn’t always something you wanted to find.”
The Fox by Frederick Forsyth
This is just a straight-up spy thriller. It’s an adventurous, tense, and fast-paced espionage suspense novel about the former chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service, named Adrian Weston, who recruits a brilliant teenage hacker to assist the British and American governments, but then the stakes are raised when another nation learns of the hacker’s existence, and Weston has to go from just his handler to his protector. The Fox has got action, intrigue, cyber warfare, and clandestine ops all in this short novel of about 300 pages. A really enjoyable contemporary thriller with great characters and a quick-moving plot.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius with Gregory Hays (Translator)
This is the only nonfiction book on the list. If you’re unfamiliar with it, Meditations is a book of Stoic philosophy by a 2nd-century Roman emperor. It is a collection of snippets of thoughts and ideas that Aurelius wrote down throughout his life. It is essentially dozens of “notes to self” that have been collected together and published as a book, so it is not written like a typical book. It is meandering and repetitive at times. Some of the sections are short maxims, and others are several-sentence-long passages, and many are just fragments that have a sort of stream-of-consciousness feel to them. I found some to be poignant and deep, and others to be nonsense, but on the whole, they all made me think, which is a good thing. And as I said, they were written as journal notes to himself, so whenever he says “you,” he’s not speaking to the reader, but to himself. The particular edition I read was a newer translation by Gregory Hays, and it is very modern in its vernacular and the way he translated the language. It's interesting, but I did feel at times that it felt a little too modern, so I looked up another translation just to compare the wording. I will definitely be re-reading this book, but will likely read another translation alongside the Hays one to contrast them to help digest all that is in this book.
Favorite line: The first line of Meditations 8:44, “Give yourself a gift: this present moment…” (Modern translation by Gregory Hays from 2002) vs “See that thou secure this present time to thyself…” (Classic translation by George Long from 1862)
Indiscretions of Archie by P.G. Wodehouse
Absolutely hilarious! Might be my favorite Wodehouse yet, and I've read a lot! I literally laughed out loud several times. Wodehouse is probably most known for his characters of Jeeves and Wooster, but this is a comical, medium-paced novel about a young man named Archie Moffam (pronounced Moom) who has married the daughter of a rich hotelier in New York, Daniel Brewster. The father-in-law is not a fan of Archie, and the book just chronicles all the messes he gets into trying to please Brewster. Not sure if it was the first time ever used, but surely has to be one of the earliest times that the phrase, "it seemed a good idea at the time," was used for comedic effect. Obviously, the slightly different "it seemed like a good idea at the time" is used often these days and seems very modern, but this author got there first, it would seem. In any case, Wodehouse once again proves his mastery of writing comedic prose. His witticisms and funny similes abound in this book.
Favorite line: “He looked like a horse with a secret sorrow. He coughed three times, like a horse who, in addition to a secret sorrow, had contracted asthma.”
Bonus Books
The Liminal Library by S.R. Crickard
The Charles Lenox Mysteries by Charles Finch
The Flavia de Luce Mysteries by Alan Bradley
Resources/Links
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