We did it! We made it to the end of 2025. It’s time to take a deep breath, remind yourself of all that you experienced, and maybe reflect on all the books you read. After all, books inspire us like nothing else: travel, food, culture, stories, suspense, and maybe even some self-help. How wonderful it is to know that they’re all available for free at your library!
Let’s take a look at some of the Best Books of 2025.
Tip: Hitting a paywall when you try to access some of these lists? You can get free access to many newspapers and magazines online with your library card! Learn more on our Magazines & Newspapers page.
You might be someone who waits all year for the New York Times book list. Well, it’s out! Here are the New York Times’ The 10 Best Books of 2025. The New York Times also has the 100 Notable Books of 2025 list, a compilation of standout fiction and nonfiction of the year, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.
If the New Yorker is more your style, check out their Best Books of 2025 list. This list is curated by their editors and critics who recommend what they consider to be the most “captivating, notable, brilliant, thought-provoking, and talked-about books” and this list is their chosen dozen essential reads in nonfiction and a dozen in fiction and poetry.
Time magazine has released their list of The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025. You might recognize some of the books as being on the “Lucky Day” shelves at your local library or in the “New” section. Contact your library staff if you want some help placing finding a book from this list or placing a hold a book for a future date.
The NPR: Books We Love list is always a favorite. You can mix and match the filters on their website to find more than 4,000 recommendations from NPR staffers and their trusted critics. Subcategories include Staff Picks, Book Club Ideas, Eye-Opening Reads, and Seriously Great Writing.
For a shorter list, check out the Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2025 list. The Smithsonian Magazine also released lists for their picks of The Best Books of 2025 and you can see different “Top 10” lists based on genres of your choice including food, science, photography and travel.
If you subscribe or frequent Literary Hub’s website, you might know that they released their list of Lit Hub’s 43 Favorite Books of 2025. This list includes titles that might not be repeated in other lists. It’s worth taking a look!
You get a book! You get a book! Oprah fans, have you been keeping up with Oprah’s book list? To see Oprah’s Book Club selections, check out The Complete List of All 120 Books in Oprah’s Book Club. While this isn’t a “Top List,” it is a nice list of books, including her 2025 picks. Similarly, Reese Witherspoon’s site has a list of all her Book Club Picks.
Audiobook lovers, listen up! AudioFile Magazine’s selections for the Best Audiobooks of 2025 is out. The Marin County Free Library Audiobooks webpage has many resources to help you learn how to access audiobooks for free with your library card.
Do you track your books on Goodreads? If so, see their newly released list, Readers' Favorite Books of 2025. You may also be interested in seeing The Most Read Books of the 2025 Reading Challenge list. The books aren’t all from 2025 but it is a nice mix of books that have held strong year after year.
Happy Reading!
Contributed by Daniela Leyva
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