Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Mswas Sawsm | Books | December 19, 2025
What's the best book you read this year? Are you still looking for that 5 star read to top off your shelf? Or do you need to know what book to put back on the shelf? Well, Cannonball Read is here to help you out. We've got the Best and Worst reads of the year from 22 of our participants, including links to their reviews. (These are books published in any year but were read in 2025.) Take a look below and find out what books you can pick up for the readers in your life (and yourself!)
If you've got something to say about these books drop a comment below, or consider signing up for next year's Cannonball Read 18. Registration is open now.
bjornsnipe's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Silver and Lead: An October Daye Novel (#19) by Seanan McGuire - This was a given; if Seanan McGuire has put out an October Daye book, it's going wind up in my top 3. When she finally ends this series, I am going to go into a major funk.
Gideon the 9th by Tamsyn Muir - All the feels. Just all of them. Still haven't read the second and third books, just because I don't want to no longer have the ability to read them for the first time.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - I knew from the synopsis alone this was going to be one long, strange trip; I still underestimated how long or how strange it would be, or how much I would truly enjoy it.
bjornsnipe's Worst Book of 2025:
Over a God's Dead Body: A Supernatural Comedy by Joel Spriggs - I was honestly torn between this book and Murder on Canvas by Aaron Ben-Shahar for the worst book I've read this year (or possibly I've ever read), but remembering the big end-of-book battle scene shot this one right to #1.
Comments:
The worst book of the year I hit on immediately, but the top 3 I had to narrow down from maybe 5 or 4, and that's not counting my old, favorite re-reads. Which I guess is a good thing, but it is so hard to pick favorite books.
BlackRaven's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Death in the Jungle by Candace Fleming - My Favorite Books are not necessarily my books with a 5 rating. Some were, but I chose the ones that spoke to me the most. I picked this because it is history we don't want to repeat, and yet we are. We need to know how easy it is to fall for the mob mentality. The humanity behind things is shown, but also the horrors. While this book was not perfect, it spoke to me.
North for the Winter by Bobby Podesta - How can you not love a funny story about Santa? This story is a coming of age that we have seen before, but the humor and the funny way we get the NODAC tracking of Santa is more believable than any "official" reason. It is cute, fun, sweet and yet thoughtful, relatable, and a good healing story.
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou - It lingered for so long in my subconscious that I bought the first comic of Part Two. I've bought multiple copies of them, and I almost thought $100 for a hardcover autograph copy was a good idea. It has made me appreciate thoughtful horror.
BlackRaven's Worst Book of 2025:
DAYGLOAYHOLE #1 by Ben Passmore - There was a tie between Daygloayhole and I Think Our Friend Dan Might Be a Dolphin by James the Stanton. Let's say that both were not my style, and it was an experience, if not a pleasant one.
Comments:
My choices were based on emotion. Which meant I made my list, checked it about a dozen times and narrowed it down to these final few.
carmelpie's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid - This really surprised me. It started out slowly but once it got going, I couldn't put it down.
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley - Such a beautiful novel about attitudes and discrimination against refugees, the governments that accept and yet oppress them, and a lovely enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story.
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - Funny, tragic, relatable, and infuriating all at the same time. I never knew where this book was going but it kept me hooked throughout.
carmelpie's Worst Book of 2025:
Famous (A Famous novel, Book 1) by Jenny Holiday - So stupid, so unbelievable, and sort of insulting to the reader. I enjoyed the sequel, Infamous, but that's because it never dealt with this couple again.
Comments:
Best book honorable mentions: The Secret Life of Addie Larue by V.C. Schwab, A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland, and Crush by Richard Siken.
Worst book (dis)honorable mentions: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, The Firm by John Grisham, and How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier.
Classic's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Murderbot Diaries Vol. 1 The Murderbot Diaries #1-2 by Martha Wells - This first volume had me all in on Murderbot and their friends. I fell in love quickly and gobbled up this series so fast. I definitely recommend this for fans of space opera and just fantastic story-telling.
Woodworking by Emily St. James - I fell in love with so many characters in this one. It hits you in the feels and I honestly wish that people who have hatred for others would just read this book. I will forever be perplexed at how quickly our country others anyone that is not like them and then does their level best to destroy them. This was an inspiring story.
Luck be a Lady by Meredith Duran - Do you want hot romance with enemies to lovers tropes? Get this book and just surrender to it for at least a day or two. I really want to read all of Duran's backlist one day. I haven't read one of her books I have not liked yet.
Classic's Worst Book of 2025:
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones - I legit started my review with "Sigh. Whatever man." And I still own that. It was just a really bad trilogy and I now hate the words "Final Girl" forever more like a freaking raven.
denesteak's 3 Best Books of 2025:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - Amazingly written, and recommended by a Cannonballer in the comments of my first Jackson book, Haunting of Hill House. Jackson is a master of unspoken dread, what a skill, what a writer.
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani - Just a heartrending way to understand the partition of India, from the eyes of a 12-year-old girl. When put into simple, child-like English, it lays bare how the decisions of governments and leaders can spiral into real-life horrific consequences for the people.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - Shirley Jackson is a genius. The horror in the book doesn't come from the terrifying haunted house, but the very sad people staying in it.
denesteak's Worst Book of 2025:
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen - Promising premise, but the sci-fi parts of it were so iffy and the plot so shakey.
ElCicco's 3 Best Books of 2025:
James by Percival Everett - A take on Twain's Huck Finn from the point of view of the enslaved character James. Brilliant and hard to put down
The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji - A story about a dysfunctional Iranian family in the US, the family they left behind, and the history of their country.
Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan - A fun, wild book about a very sick young woman who falls into a coma and enters the epic novel series that she and her sister are super fans of. She's changing the timeline while fighting for her life and blurring the lines between good and evil. Can't wait for part 2!
ElCicco's Worst Book of 2025:
The Maid by Nita Prose - Flat characters who make questionable choices that I think we are supposed to admire? There was a lot to bother me in this book, which is the beginning of a series I plan to miss.
Comments:
I also loved Hannah Nicole Maehrer's Villain series (romance/fantasy) as well as Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy; also loving Hobb's Liveship Traders Trilogy so far.
Ellesfena's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich - My only 5-star read of the year. Incredible book.
Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams - I didn't review this one, but it's an eye-opening jaw-dropper of a book that I highly recommend.
Royal Gambit by Daniel O'Malley - My favorite installment in the Checquy series since Book 1. This was so fun!
Ellesfena's Worst Book of 2025:
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry - Objectively an excellent book and American classic that I hated with every fiber of my being. I don't really have a "worst" book of the year this year. This was the reading experience I enjoyed the least.
Emmalita's 3 Best Books of 2025:
F***ed Up Fairy Tales by Liz Gotauco - I really enjoyed this and I am having so much fun getting into the hands of other people.
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz - Robots who find purpose in life through cooking, yes please. I cried so many times.
Back in the Day by Katrina Jackson - This might be a little bit of a cheat, because I've read Back in the Day several times, but this year I listened to the audiobook and fell in love with it all over again. It's a bonbon of a listen.
Emmalita's Worst Book of 2025:
The Dravenhearst Brides by Lindsay Barrett - This was such a disappointment. It's been a long time since I've started a book with such gleeful anticipation only to experience the rising dread of "oh no, I don't like where this is going." The Dravenhearst Brides is a historical gothic romance inspired by Rebecca, and unfortunately, the homophobia is in full swing. I don't think the author intended to be homophobic, but this is one of things where intent counts less than impact.
Comments:
I've done a good job of curating my reading, because there weren't many books I didn't like. Picking only three for best of the year, it's so hard.
esmemoria's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - A powerful and devastating read that imagines the Underground Railroad as a real railroad, depicting slavery in all its horror.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - Kingsolver is an incredible writer and her modern take on David Copperfield is affecting, funny, and riveting.
How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith - Clint Smith travels the US and Africa to explore and bear witness to places that connect to slavery. Just an incredible book.
esmemoria's Worst Book of 2025:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - I hated this very popular book; dull, meandering, and didn't move me even a little.
faintingviolet's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Murder By Memory by Olivia Waite - Highly recommend this couple hour audiobook if you are in the mood for a quick hit of sci-fi mystery. Waite has a way with writing feisty queer women who are about their jobs and love their family and friends.
In a Jam by Kate Canterbary - This is a book for people looking for a marriage of convenience, second chance friends to lover's slow burn romance which doesn't shy away from the messy realities of people's lives.
All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles - This book is KJ Charles playing with all the gothic novel tropes and putting her own spin on making the queer textual in a genre where it was subtext for most of its history.
faintingviolet's Worst Book of 2025:
Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers - Just nope. A waste of good research on a poorly executed tropes-as-plot story of suffering without growth. Stay away.
Jen K's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Will of the Many by James Islington - This year especially I found myself drawn to novels that explored oppressive societies with main characters who have a certain, "You will not break me" kind of approach to life (DCC, Red Rising etc). This was just such a layered and fun novel with deep world building and i couldn't wait to see what Vis did next and how it all fit in the broader mystery. The sequel is good though it added so much that it didn't quite get to explore the supporting characters the way this one did.
The Favorites by Layne Fargo - I have already been more of an Austen girl than Brontë girl but I also adore The Cutting Edge so Wuthering Heights retelling with ice dancing - and parts that were told in documentary style with quotes from people reflecting later? I was in. I loved it, and she also used Wuthering Heights where it made sense but didn't force it to the point where it hurt the novel.
The Scorched Throne duology by Sara Hashem - This one does have some trigger warnings with a genocide against magic users that occurred before the novel begins ... but it also ends up exploring much more - exploitation, power structures etc. It was very much a page turner (in some ways it has similarities to the Daevabad trilogy as it explores cycles of oppression, and how the oppressed became the oppressors).
Jen K's Worst Book of 2025:
The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram - You might have been able to write a novel with this premise in the 1990s but in the present day? No, I don't want to read a novel about a Republican and Democratic candidate for governor and their past love story ... this was a book club choice and the person who suggested it was expecting more of a rom-com and it was decidedly not that. Plus had a twist was very anti-choice/pro-life.
Honorary mentions:
Dungeon Crawler Carl - the series as a whole!
The Raven Scholar - it might have made the top 3 but I was afraid it might be recency bias so held off.
The Names - I love a Sliding Doors set up and this shows us 3 different ways one person's life (and those of the people closest to him) might have gone based on his mom's decision what to name him (a bit of the whole what is in a name argument but more so how does the name reflect his mother's choices and approach to her abusive marriage).
The Library at Mount Char - it's so weird and unique and yet you feel it drawing on so many archetypes and traditions and I need to reread it
Dishonorable mentions:
The Summer We Ran was worst because of the politics of it all, the rest of these just all shared the sin of being tedious/a chore to get through despite promising beginnings or premises. Plus, a few really dumb character decision:
A Letter to the Luminous Deep - not whimsical enough to be fun and magical, and just kind of boring by the end
The Book That Held Her Heart - the first in this trilogy was so good; by this point, the author is more interested in exploring ideas and using the characters as placeholders for those, to the detriment of the story and everything else.
Water Moon - got boring quickly, it felt like they wanted to make a movie but didn't create any of the emotional connection needed
The Lover-Haters - I like this author so this is disappointing but the plot was tedious, the chemistry wasn't there and then huge disregard for hurricane safety!
Three Lives of Cate Kay - just unexplainable character choices, started out promising because of promises of mysteries and reveals but once you have those, there is still too much novel left and it falls apart
Little_Plat's 3 Best Books of 2025:
CRISPR People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans by Henry T. Greely - This summer, I went into a bit of a rabbit hole with regards to the Hè Jiànkuí case and the 'CRISPR Babies.'
CRISPR People is an excellent introduction to the whole affair.
Bomb Season in Jakarta: A personal account of a turbulent period in Australian diplomacy by Grant Dooley - It's not often I can 'binge' an Audiobook, but Dooley's account of his three year stint working at the Australian Embassy in the mid 2000's is utterly engrossing. I sped through it in three days.
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett - I wouldn't bet against Robert Jackson Bennett in any instance. One of the best fantasy books of the year.
Little_Plat's Worst Book of 2025:
The Book the Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence - I never got around to reviewing this one, but while the first two books in the trilogy held me, the third one never got its hooks in. I love most of Lawrence's other works, but there were more derailments than developments on the way to the ending here
Malin's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson - I don't even have the words to describe how amazing this book is, which is why I haven't been able to review it. I just want to make a number of excited, slightly high-pitched sounds while pushing the book at people to make sure they read it. It's the start of a new epic fantasy series, and while it has so many elements that you've seen in fantasy so many times before, Hodgson does new and interesting things with them. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to peek ahead and spoil the plot, because my poor feels were overwhelmed, but I didn't, and that meant that all the various twists and turns that the story took were a complete surprise to me. I would give this book 6 or 7 stars if I could. I can't wait for book 2.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - Another book that I haven't actually reviewed, because I only read it at the end of November, and having completed my Cannonball and my Book Bingo for the year, I try to just read for fun. This is one of those books that absolutely everyone has told me that I would love, and they were right. It's not a long book, and it starts out rather confusing and mysterious. But as you continue, and let the story just wash over you (like the water in the House), more and more is revealed, and the picture of what is actually happening starts becoming more distinct. By the end, I stayed up far later than I should have on a school night, just so I could finish it.
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren - I have read a lot of contemporary romance this year, and many books that I would rate 4.5 or 5 stars, but of all of them, this is probably the one that sticks with me the most. I can't even exactly say why. Maybe it's just that it was so great to find a Christina Lauren book that completely blew me away, instead of being merely fine, if rather forgettable? A very clever take on reality tv, and incorrect first impressions and being a romance author and the many tropes that we romance reader know and love. I just found it delightful, and can see myself re-reading this many times in the years to come.
Malin's Worst Book of 2025:
The Love Haters by Katherine Center - This was an ARC I got via NetGalley; and if it hadn't been, I doubt I would actually have finished the book. It didn't have the most promising start, but because I have read and liked the author's books in the past, I kept reading, hoping it was going to get better. It did not. It got increasingly more implausible and infuriating and I'm going to be very wary of Center's books going forward. Next time, I doubt I will bother reading the whole book.
Comments:
Many honourable mentions for best of the year: The Change by Kirsten Miller (so much more timely and depressing now, with all the focus on the Epstein Files); Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher (the whole series is good, this was my favourite); Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry; Deep End by Ali Hazelwood These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean; In a Rush by Kate Canterbary; Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria; The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam by Megan Bannen; The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter.
narfna's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson - This is my perfect book. I haven't been so giddy about a book in a LONG time. [Note from Mswas - that's 2 people in a row raving about The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson!]
Woodworking by Emily St. James - This was *easily* my #1 book for most of the year until it was unseated in a surprise last minute twist by THE RAVEN SCHOLAR. You should read both of them. I'll wait.
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie - Vigga forever.
narfna's Worst Book of 2025:
Behooved by M. Stevenson - I was sooo excited for this book, and it was very terrible. Read My Lady Jane instead.
NatalieH's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Butcher's Masquerade by Matt Dinniman - This is the first book I finished this year, and still one of the best (along with the other books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series). It's just so much fun, while also having a surprising amount of depth.
I started the series as a "this is probably going to be a guilty pleasure" read last Christmas break, realized near the end of the first book that it was actually good, and I'm seriously considering doing a re-read the same time this year.
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb - Realm of the Elderlings was a whole journey this year (which has been on my TBR for decades, but that I only got around to reading this year), but I think my favourite of the sub-series was the Liveship traders.
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher - T. Kingfisher is one of my favourite authors, and I loved this Snow White inspired tale about a healer specializing in curing poisons.
NatalieH's Worst Book of 2025:
The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn - This was the type of book that you hate from the beginning, but somehow, you just can't stop reading it, because you want to be justified in your hating of it.
Comments:
I read so many great books this year that I had trouble just picking three! I've also chosen not to include anything that wasn't a first-time read.
NTE's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Not Quite A Ghost by Anne Ursu - Having invisible illness own voices authors perspectives on these types of subjects is going to be invaluable in the current health crisis, and Anne Ursu's is striking. In these days when Long Covid has overtaken asthma as the number one chronic illness in children, though, a book like this is an invaluable resource. Terrifyingly so. Unnecessarily so. Heartbreakingly so. Books like this are more relevant & more essential now than ever.
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean - Because I'm counting it as a romance novel: "You can't write shit like that and then tell me I'm not reading a romance novel, Ms. MacLean. We will agree to disagree. Specifically because she mentioned the rules of the genre during their discussion about These Summer Storms on the podcast, and I DO GET that, but ... I also feel like this "absolute fucking tree trunk of a man just wandering through fucking shit up & going down on (your) girl" takes the romance from subplot to PLOT. Again, we can argue in the comments, if you wanna."
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron - Nora Ephron is just an all-time favorite & an all-around all-star. This audiobook only gets more relevant the older I get, & makes me miss her all the more.
NTE's Worst Book of 2025:
I did read some bad things this year, but I didn't review them, so I'm going to pretend they don't exist today. TRUST ME when I say some author is getting off very lucky.
Pooja's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides - Captain James Cook was already a world-renowned explorer when he set out on his third great voyage around the world. Over the course of three years, he'd touch down on the shores of Tasmania, be the first European to come in contact with the people of the Hawaiian islands, and nearly destroy his ships and sailors in the search for the fabled Northwest Passage - and meet a grisly end in a strange murder that is still being debated to this very day.
Author Hampton Sides focuses on the third voyage of Captain Cook, drawing upon both materials written from Cook's crew as well as oral traditions of the indigenous peoples they met with to tell the story. He sketches out Cook, his crew, and Mai, a young Ra'iatean man who was the first Pacific Islander to visit Europe, in vivid and fascinating detail.
By the Horns by Ruby Dixon - Gwenna is determined to join the Royal Artificer's Guild, where she'll be able to leave behind her past life as a maid - but between her budding necromantic powers and her growing attraction to Raptor, who suspects she may be a thief, her dream might be slipping out of reach.
Ruby Dixon is one of my favorite authors, and this book's got a bit of everything that I enjoy - a sweet and sexy romance, an interesting mystery, and a fantasy world I'm excited to explore further in future books.
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor - Amber starts life as the adopted daughter of a farmer, but her beauty and her naked ambition has her destined for greater things - if only she can break free of her love of the unfaithful privateer Bruce.
The ur-bodice ripper originally published in 1944, there's plenty of drama, sex, betrayal, and murder to satisfy any appetite. I wanted to reach into the book to shake some sense into lead character Amber, and also for the book to never end.
Pooja's Worst Book of 2025:
Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood - Victoria has been forced to work as a guide with the Exotic Lands Touring Company since she was six years old, and things are worse than ever now that her ex Dean has been promoted over her. Her last hope is to successfully guide Thorn, a high-profile client, safely to the depths of the jungle - but as she grows closer to him, she begins to wonder if there's a life out there for in the broader world. My only one-star read of the year. The romance was dull and unbelievable, the characters were cardboard, and the ending simply made no sense at all.
Comments:
I've ordered my favorite books of the year by reading date - it wouldn't make sense to compare these books together, as it would be like apples and oranges.
Sophia's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe - I read this for my local book club, and was pleasantly surprised. It was funny, unique, and poignant.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green - This book was both eye opening and moving. I learned a lot, and I find myself still thinking about it now.
Sophia's Worst Book of 2025:
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley - This was another book I read for my local book club. I know that it's very popular, and even half of my book club really enjoyed it. But I hated it.
teresaelectro's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Lights Out by Navessa Allen - The hype was real on this dark romance. The premise hooked me in, but the characters made me love it. If you can, listen to the audiobook. I was riveted while listening during a long road trip.
Quicksilver by Callie Hart - Even though it took a minute to find my groove, I really had fun reading Quicksilver. I love most things fae, and even better when there's a romance. The ending got me, and I'll definitely be reading the next one for CBR18.
Lost in the Future: The Storm by Damian - A graphic novel where kids fall into a time portal to the future is right up my alley. I wish the book were longer! The interdynamics of the characters kept me engaged. The illustrations were captivating and never hard to understand. If you like Adventure Time, you'll probably enjoy this series.
teresaelectro's Worst Book of 2025:
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur - By no means is this a bad book. It's a cute sapphic romance that I hope gets made into a rom-com one day! I really liked Tansy, but I wasn't totally sold on her relationship with Gemma. Also, Gemma's family (and that one friend) really suck, so I wasn't having as much fun as I hoped for a romance read.
Tracy's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb - I gave two Hobb books 5 stars this year but have to give this one the edge over Ship of Destiny.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar - Akbar is a poet, and you can tell!
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Tracy's Worst Book of 2025:
Graveyard Shift by M. L. Rio - Not a terrible book but definitely missing something. Or several things.
wicherwill's 3 Best Books of 2025:
Of Monsters and Mainframse by Barbara Truelove - I'm still thinking about this book months after I finished it, and the warm fuzzy feelings it engendered. Yes, it's a book about AI but an AI that is the kind that techbros are decidedly not creating, aka one that cares and feels and loves (and perhaps could not)? But it's a glorious genre mashup that truly pulls you in.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai - This year's best books are those I remember not being able to put down, and this book definitely counts. It's also a great example of how to write about traumatic events--A Little Life this is not, despite also being about some really misery inducing times (aka, early AIDS).
In Memorium by Alice Winn - I gave this four stars when I read it, and I'll stick by that for now, but it's another one that I just couldn't put down. A rec from a book club that I didn't stick with that has a less US-publishing-centric view, it's a good reminder to diversify one's book rec sources. An excellent, thrilling-and-haunting tale of WW1 and the loss of romanticism that resulted.
wicherwill's Worst Book of 2025:
The Rose Field by Philip Pullman - Quite recent but my ire over this book has not diminished in the slightest. A gigantic middle finger to a thoughtful, serious book series, Pullman managed to pull a fast one on all of his editors to publish this mess. I really applaud his politics and viewpoints--turns out writers of your childhood book series can also be trans allies--but this book tries to jam too much in at the expense of what made his original works good. UGH now I'm mad just thinking about it again.
Comments:
A lot of books this year hit 4* status but not as many 5*, and I don't have a sense as to why. I've gotten better at DNF-ing, but perhaps I now need to turn to how best to scope out some truly life-changing books. I don't like the idea that perhaps there aren't as many left to find...
Zirza's 3 Best Books of 2025:
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley - This book has a few problems. It's occasionally glib, can never really settle on a tone, and it's hella confusing in places. And... I don't care. At all. It's just too much fun for that. For all its faults, it manages to capture both the funny things that would ensue from taking people from the eighteen hundreds (or earlier) and dropping them in the current day, but it also portrays the sorrow, fear and confusion that would come from this. Most of all, the time travellers are fascinating: sexy, fun Maggie (someone calls her a feminist killjoy; she wants to put it on a t-shirt), sweet, traumatised Arthur and, above all, Graham himself. He's charming, he's wittily eloquent, and the way Bradley describes him, he's also effortlessly cool and attractive. I never wanted this novel to end; I wanted more, to know what the expats got up to off the page. I want to see what Arthur and Graham got up to in Scotland. I want to read about the gang discovering roller coasters and Cardingham falling in and out of love with Andrew Tate. If Bradley ever decides to write additional material, I'm camping out in front of my bookstore.
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst - A novel that's almost languid in tone as its main character swans around in the upper crust of British society. His sexuality is a completely different world, one that others pretend not to know about; ignorance is bliss. It's a deeply sad novel on both sides, with the vapid avarice and faux-friendly façades on the one side and an underground community torn to shreds by illness on the other. The writing is superb, and it leaves you with a sense of dread that sticks with you.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - What can be said about this novel that hasn't already been said? Superbly prophetic, insidious in its horror and never more relevant than in the day and age of the manosphere, of America First, of redpillers and incells. A must-read for anyone.
Zirza's Worst Book of 2025:
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - I read many books this year that were ostensibly worse than this one, yet this was the one I ended up hating the most. Embittered is one thing, but nonsensical is worse. And it just.keeps.going. The author has said many things about this, such as that it was based on a painting that gets increasingly dark, or the fact that she doesn't believe in therapy. And you know what? I don't give a shit. Brow-beating the audience with one miserable event after another to make some misguided point about trauma isn't literature; it's torture porn. And Jude isn't sympathetic, or even all what well written; why anyone would want to go to the lengths at which is friends, colleagues and doctors go is beyond me.
Comments:
Honorable mentions: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston; The Terror by Dan Simmons; Martha Wells' Murderbot series; Intermezzo by Sally Rooney; The Hunter by Tana French; Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall; Big Sky by Kate Atkinson.
Dishonorable mentions: Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake and No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack.
Cannonball Read an annual, memorial book challenge that began here at Pajiba. CBR asks participants to read and review 52 (or 26 or 13) books in a year. Bonus, CBR does all of this while fundraising for the American Cancer Society. If you got through the list and have added even one item to your TBR list, sign up for 2026's Cannonball Read 18. You too can stick it to cancer, one book at a time.
