As 2025 draws to a close, it feels only right to pause, look back, and take a look at the stories that added colour to our lives. Every year, the publishing world releases an overwhelming number of books across genres, languages, and formats. It’s a staggering abundance, one that can be both thrilling and exhausting for readers. Amid this flood of new releases, finding the books that truly stay with us becomes an act of intention.

Some books are devoured in a weekend and quietly forgotten. Others linger till long after the last page… in the minds of the readers, in conversations, in the way they subtly influence our lives and way of thinking or change how we look at the world that we live in. These are the books that refuse to end when the last page is turned, the ones we recommend instinctively, underline obsessively, or find ourselves thinking about weeks later for reasons we can’t always articulate.

This list is my attempt to honour those kinds of books. It is not meant to be definitive, exhaustive, or prescriptive because reading, after all, is deeply personal. Instead, it is a curated list of titles from 2025 that moved, challenged, entertained, and reminded me why stories still matter. From fiction and fantasy to biography, history, and non-fiction, these books capture the breadth of creative energy that defined the year.

Here are my picks for the ten best book releases of 2025 (in no particular order):

1. The Boys in the Light by Nina Wilner – This book is based on the Second World War and mentions the real life story of Nina Wilner’s grandfather, Eddie Wilner and his experiences as a young Jewish person during Nazi Germany. In this work of non-fiction lies a story of pain, resilience and hope. The heaviness of these words is felt through three characters – Elmer Hovland, Sammy de Cola and Eddie Wilner. The story ties itself when Eddie is rescued by American troops. Prior to her writing career, Nina Wilner was a U.S. Army Intelligence officer. 

2. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown – The ever-celebrated writer Dan Brown released his work of fiction, The Secret of Secrets, after a long hiatus of eight years. We meet Robert Langdon once again, the Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, in the sixth instalment of this series. The adventure begins in Prague, and as expected, quickly delves into a series of drama, excitement, thrill and danger. Dan Brown is best known for his works ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and ‘Angels and Demons’. 

3. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry – Emily Henry has established herself as the romance writer of this generation. Her latest work, ‘ Great Big Beautiful Life’ as the name suggests, is about the relentlessly optimistic protagonist Alice Scott. She’s a journalist who is competing for the story of Margret Ives with Hayden Anderson. The catch is that they both sign an NDA.  As professional ambition collides with emotional vulnerability, Henry crafts a tender exploration of love, trust, and the stories we tell, both on the page and to ourselves.

4. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang – Katabasis is the sixth novel by R.F. Kuang, which follows the story of two graduate students on a rescue mission in the underworld to retrieve their professor’s soul. The book begins with our protagonist, Alice Law, accidentally committing murder of her academic supervisor. What follows is an attempt to go to hell with Peter Murdoch, her academic rival. It is a very interesting read as it combines dark academia, romance, fantasy and all of this with literary allegories. This author is best known for her works ‘Yellowface’, ‘Babel’ and ‘The Poppy War Trilogy’.   

5. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Taylor Jenkins Reid is a popular American writer, and you must have come across her work, ‘The Seven Lives of Evelyn Hugo’. Her work, Atmosphere, is set in NASA in the 1980’s. Our protagonist, Joan Goodwin, is selected as one of the candidates for the space shuttle programme. It is a very romp of a novel about romance, friendship, family and most importantly, what it’s like to be a woman with great ambition. 

6. Shattered Lands by Sam Dalrymple – Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia by Sam Dalrymple  – This is the author’s debut book, and it’s on South Asian Partition. It’s a deeply researched and structured book that will allow the reader to have a bird’s eye view of the history of South Asia. Sam Dalrymple employs primary resources, including diaries and oral histories, which he uses to connect the dots, and that provides a micro-perspective to the reader. I would highly recommend this book to someone who wishes to understand the present geo-political scenario of South Asia. 

7. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans – Virginia Evans is the newest voice in literary fiction as she quickly rose to the bestseller list with her debut work, The Correspondent. Our protagonist, Sybil Van Antwerp, writes letters to her brother, her best friend, authors whom she admires and most importantly to her deceased son, Gilbert. The act of writing is how she makes sense of the world, her grief and this life that she has built. It is a very warm and wintery novel that brings back the truth of writing. Evans narrates this story through an epistolary format, and as a reader, one can gauge how each person brings out a different side of our character. 

8. Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck – Dr Martha Beck is a best-selling author, podcaster, life coach and speaker. Her titles majorly fall under the category of self-help books and memoirs. Her latest work, ‘Beyond Anxiety’ released at the start of the year, which I must say was great timing. The book offers several exercises for the mind with the promise of a calmer and authentic self.  It is not your basic self-help advice, rather a well researched, science backed book that invites you to dig deeper using creativity, curiosity and imagination.

9. Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs – James Baldwin was a writer and civil rights activist from America. Through his incisive essays, novels, and public speeches, he contributed thoroughly to fighting racism and uplifting the civil rights movement. This text by Nicholas Boggs is a biographical work of him that reintroduces the author and brings his philosophy into focus: love. The book also sheds light on the romantic partners of James Baldwin and how those interactions shaped him into the man that he was.  

10. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins  – Suzanne Collins is the writer of the inexorably famous ‘The Hunger Games’. The book Sunrise on the Reaping is a second prequel to her latter work. It explores the story of Haymitch Abernathy, a mentor in The Hunger Games series. Set during Haymitch’s own Hunger Games, the novel offers a darker, more intimate look at the brutality of the Capitol and the psychological toll of survival. Collins uses this prequel to deepen the moral and political undercurrents of her universe, examining themes of trauma, spectacle, and resistance long before Katniss Everdeen’s rebellion. It has also been adapted into a movie, which is set to be released in the forthcoming year.  

Looking back at the books of 2025, what stands out most is not a single theme or genre, but a shared sense of depth and intentionality. Together, these books reminded me that reading is not just about escape or entertainment, but about attention. It was about slowing down long enough to listen to other lives, other voices, and others’ way of seeing the world. 

As we move into a new reading year, this list is not an endpoint but an invitation. An invitation to revisit the stories that resonated, to discover the ones you may have missed, and to continue building a reading life that is curious, generous, and deeply personal. 

What were some of your favourites this year? Share them in the comments.