Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Book Riot

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Ending this short week with a list that pairs well with yesterday's list (NPR Books We Love); it is a smiler idea but on a smaller scale-- Book Riot's Best Books of 2025. 

I try to feature lists that have something interesting about them and Book Riot is the epitome of that. Why? Because as I have said here on the blog many times, Book Riot is the best resource to see what hard core readers are interested in.

Book Riot is the largest independent website focused on readers. All of their content is crafted to reach readers directly. They want to get the most clicks as well, which means their content is purposefully up to date, interesting, and written in a conversational tone. It is exactly what we need to stay on top of the hottest trends because it is their mission to provide the most "clickable" content to readers This means they have the time and resources to do the work for us: identifying trends and staying on top of what readers want right this second. Everything there is reader focused which dovetails perfectly with RA Service.

Their best books of the year site is made by having each writer, editor, contributor, etc... give one title as their book of the year. Because each person who works for them has a slightly different specialty, the list covers all ages and genres by default. Also they have a commitment to providing diverse voices as part of their policy.

The editors then take all of the titles and allow you, the user of this resource to browse all or to click on tags in a sidebar to help narrow your choices down. While the tags are not as compressive and stackable as the aforementioned NPR Books We Love portal, they are still extremely helpful 

Click here to get started using it for yourself, to build displays, or to help a specific patron.

The only downside to this reader focused resource is that they do not have easy access to past lists on the current year's page. And when I try to search upon the Book Riot site, I was unable to find them

However, when I went to Largehearted Boy's Ultimate List of Lists for access to past years (more on this resource here), I was able to get into the backlist of Book Riot best lists with ease. I have posted them here for you, so you can have 1 click access from my blog:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020

Remember to use my link at the top of these Attack of the Best Lists 2025 posts to access all of my coverage. I do not post every best list, but I do post ones that are interesting and useful. 

Next week I will have a mix of best lists and other year in review content.

Have a safe Thanksgiving break to my American readers.

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Books We Love from NPR

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

As I mentioned yesterday, for the short Thanksgiving week here in America, I am focusing on Bets Lists here on the blog. Today we have one of my personal favorites...NPR's Books We Love. Why do I love it. More on that I after I explain what it is  From their about page:

WHAT IS THIS THING?

Books We Love is NPR’s interactive reading guide. Mix and match tags such as Book Club Ideas, Biography & Memoir or Eye-Opening Reads to filter results and find the book that’s perfect for you or someone you love.

HOW ARE THE BOOKS SELECTED? 

We reached out to our staffers and trusted critics and asked them to nominate their favorite books published in 2025. They responded with hundreds of titles. Then, the editors and producers at NPR Books sat down with a huge spreadsheet of responses; we resolved duplications, noted omissions, considered the overall mix and balance of books recommended and then made assignments. 

WHY ISN’T THIS JUST A LIST? 

Back in 2013, the NPR Books staff was suffering from an acute case of list fatigue. So we teamed up with our friends at NPR News Apps and started to think about a site that would be more Venn diagram-y than list-y – a site that could help you seek out the best biographies that were also love stories, or the best mysteries that were also set in the past. We wholeheartedly believe that human beings are capable of absorbing new information in formats that are 1) not sequentially ordered and 2) wait … dammit! and 3) never mind.

BUT NO, REALLY, I JUST WANT TO SEE A LIST OF BOOKS 

We got you. To view these books as a list of titles rather than as an array of covers, you are welcome to select the “List” option in the upper right-hand corner of the site. 

SO WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THESE TAGS? 

At NPR Books, we’re all about discovery: helping you find your next great read – the mystery you can’t put down, the memoir you recommend to all your friends. In 2013, we hashed out a basic taxonomy that was both functional (e.g., Biography & Memoir or Kids’ Books) and fun (e.g., It’s All Geek To Me and Let’s Talk About Sex). Over the years, we’ve refined our filters and added new tags, like The States We’re In and No Biz Like Show Biz.

 THE NAMES ARE CUTE, BUT WHAT DO THEY MEAN?

 The States We’re In is for stories of the American experience both true and fictional. It’s All Geek To Me is for deep dives on particular topics – trees, personality tests, tiny houses, you name it. In The Dark Side, you’ll find dystopias, serial killers, true crime and people behaving badly in general. Eye-Opening Reads will give you a new perspective on the topic at hand, whether it’s the state of philanthropy or a new pair of shoes.

HOW DO THE BOOKS GET TAGGED? 

Our critics and staffers make suggestions, but to ensure we are applying tags consistently, the producers and editors at NPR Books consider and discuss every tag on every book.

 THAT MUST TAKE A VERY LONG TIME

YUP.

CAN I LOOK UNDER THE HOOD?

If you want to know more about how Books We Love was designed and coded, you can read about the process here. And if you’re curious to see the code and adapt it for your own project, you can check it out here.

IF I CLICK ON THE LINKS AND PURCHASE ONE OF THE BOOKS, DOES THAT PURCHASE HELP NPR?

Yes. And you can read more about how that works here.

HOW CAN I STAY UP TO DATE ON REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM NPR BOOKS?

Sign up for our newsletter! Every week we will send interviews, stories and reviews right to your inbox.

Subscribe to our podcast! NPR’s Book of the Day brings you today’s great reads in 15 minutes or less.

Have fun exploring Books We Love! We hope you find something wonderful to read today.

The 2025 Books We Love team: Beth Novey, Meghan Collins Sullivan, Rose Friedman, Andrew Limbong and Ivy Buck

Back to me, Becky, talking about this resource.

I love this list for a few reasons. The first is the tags discussed above. I love that they are natural language based. While there are recognizable categories such as "Biography & Memoir," "Mysteries & Thrillers," or "Young Adult," there are also more intuitive, reader focused categories like "Eye-Opening Reads," It's All Geek To Me," and "The Dark Side," and even choices based on length, this is an excellent portal to "best" books that allows any reader [or library worker] to created highly specific and expertly tailored suggestions. 

Second, it is fun to use. The mixing and matching potential is endless because of the breadth of choices. A lot of that breadth is because of the nature of how they add titles to the list. They ask all of their NPR Books contributors to suggest titles. As a result, a huge swath of reading interests are represented in the list. Their intentional inclusion of all voices, even those who only write a few reviews a year, makes this list one of the best. You can click on as many or as few of the tags as you want to create a general or highly specific list.

Third,  every former incarnation of this list is easily accessible with a single click from the top of this year's list meaning you have more than 4,000 customizable suggestions for literally any reader, no matter how picky, at your fingertips. 

Fourth, Books We Love is a great go-to resource all year long because of the breadth and variety of titles included and the ease of backlist access. Users get to steer the ship to find their own suggestion amongst a universe of pre-approved titles. Then they can be as picky as they want, choosing their own filters to narrow it down. And since these lists are VERY broad in terms of the types of books that are included each year, the results are very useful. And they stand up over the test of time. 

And finally, this resource works very well as a conversation starter itself. You can use it in conjunction with my Conversation Starter to Display advice any time of year. Ask people for their favorite "Eye-Opening Reads." You can fill the display with the titles from Books We Love over the years to get things started and then ask staff and patrons to help give you more. Again, the details on how to use a conversation starter question to build a display are here. You can go back to Books We Love at anytime of year for display ideas. 

Go visit the NPR Book Books We Love portal now (if you haven't already) and have fun using it for yourself or your patrons, but don't forget about it all year long. It is a wonderful  resource and, after years in existence, the compound interest of titles makes it even more useful. 

And now if you will excuse me, I am going to do my annual exercise of using Books We Love to find myself a book to read to end my year. Usually I try to choose something I missed

This year I have used the tags "Staff Picks," "Seriously Great Writing," and "Tales From Around the World" to identify Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. I have downloaded the audiobook from Hoopla.

What will you find for yourself or one of your patrons? It is the most fun you will have finding your next great read.

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Make a Local List-- Featuring Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best (with a Becky Shaped Surprise)

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Library generated best lists are one of your best end of year tools, especially when you use the largest library near your physical location as a guide. Why? Here are a few reasons:

1. Library generated best lists reflect the opinions of actual staff and readers. What did staff most enjoy and what was popular? It is not just critical acclaim or sales data. Remember bestselling mainstays like Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, and Colson Whitehead were extremely popular in libraries well before they became household names. Library workers and patrons often know what is popular and good long before the rest of the world catches up.
2. Library generated best lists take into consideration all ages of readers and all formats because they serve everyone.
3. Library generated best lists always have genre choices because library workers know patrons love genre-- especially Romance and Crime Fiction.
4. Library generated best lists ALWAYS consider local or regional authors which is why I advocate for you to prioritize using the best list from the library in the largest city closest to you [in the same state if possible]. 
5. Library generated best lists are not commercial in anyway. There are no publishers submitting books to their sites. No one is buying ads to be include. There are no links to encourage those using the list to buy the titles. 
6. Library generated best lists know that the BACKLIST is not only important to provide access to but also, it is a tool in and of itself. We are all about "new to you" the reader. They always have easy access to past best lists.

I think you get the point. So today, I am using my nearest big city public library as an example, The Chicago Public Library (with a branch 5.5 miles from my house). But you can use any big city or metro area library near you to help you have a regional interest best books option. For example, here is the NYPL's Best Books portal for 2025.

Now I want to take this post one step further. Yes it is important to see what the "best" books are at the closest big city library to you, but why not take this information as inspiration for you to make your own staff "Best of the Best" list.

Chicago Public Library makes their "Best of the Best" list as a team. You can do this too. Why not send out an email to all staff and ask them for their favorite reads of 2025. You can decide if you want to limit it to 2025 published titles or not, but just ask. See what answers you get. Then make your own lists and displays. Promote your staff's expertise and let your community know that best lists aren't just for the big cities or major media-- they are for all of you as well. 

And then take it another step further, and use your local, staff created "best" list to start a "best" conversation with your patrons. The question? What is the best book you read this year? And then yes my conversation starter to display post to ask that question far and wide-- to all of your users-- in the building, online, every service age and format.

Back to Best of the Best 2025 from Chicago Public Library. I love this list even if it wasn't from the city closest from me. They have direct links to every reading category, genre, and age level, as well as links at the bottom to explore the backlist of bests from years past. Bonus,  if you click on the Nonfiction link, you will see WHY I LOVE HORROR on the list!

Explore with the links below or head to the CPL Best of the Best landing page:

CPL Best of the Best Books 2025

Every year, Chicago Public Library staff work hard to evaluate the year’s new books, and today we are proud to present our latest annual recommendations for book lovers in Chicago and beyond. Happy reading!

Adults

• Top 10
• Our Favorite Books of 2025
• Our Guide to the Must-Read Books of 2025:
  • Fiction
  • Fantasy, Horror and Sci-fi
  • Mystery and Thriller
  • Romance
  • Nonfiction
  • Biography and Memoir

Teens

For teens in high school.

• Teen Fiction
• Teen Nonfiction
• Teen Graphic Novels and Manga

Kids

• Board and Picture Books: For kids from birth to third grade
• Fiction for Younger Readers: For kids in kindergarten through third grade
• Informational Books for Younger Readers: For kids in kindergarten through third grade
• Libros en español: Para niños desde el nacimiento hasta el tercer grado
• Fiction for Older Readers: For kids in third through eighth grade
• Informational Books for Older Readers: For kids in third through eighth grade

Past Selections

• Adults Best of the Best
• Teens Best of the Best
• Kids Best of the Best

What Was Literary Twitter?: A Guide and Bracket Challenge

Let's end this week with some fun. LitHub has been hosting a literary bracket challenge focused on the glory years of literary Twitter. From Day 1's post/voting:

What Was Literary Twitter? The Bracket

OR, WE USED TO HAVE FUN ONLINE

We are gathered here to celebrate the brief, bright, Roman Candle life of Literary Twitter, a mesmerizing and maddening place where the most talented writers used to rub shoulders with the most unbalanced shitposters. 

If you’ve ever had to stop a conversation to explain Kidney Gate to a confused loved one or quoted a Joyce Carol Oates banger in a group chat, welcome. This bracket is for you. 

Does a version of this community still exist on X, in some corner? Or on Bluesky with the joke scolds, or on Mastodon with the Linux hackers, or on Threads with the voice-forward brands? Perhaps. But the particular microblogging alchemy of Literary Twitter of the late 2000s to early 2020s will probably never again exist. Where else were so many opinionated readers and writers sloshing in the same warm pool water, where the frenzied, silly posting merged real life stakes with absolute, terrifying chaos? Where else could award winning writers pop off about nothing at all, and nobodies could rattle the ivory towers? Literary Twitter was a horrible, beautiful place. And now, for better or for worse, it’s gone. 

In an attempt to reclaim some of the fun (?) we used to have on this here internet, we at Literary Hub have plumbed the depths of our scrolling rotted brains to put together a list of the weirdest and most consequential posts, conversations, and personalities from those halcyonline years. (In the spirit of this thing, I’m sure you’ll let us know what we missed.) 

RIP Lit Twitter, we loudly knew thee.

Click here to see the full bracket

I have been following this over the last few days, Here is the voting schedule with links to the results where applicable:

Round of 64 Character Limit: Results

Round of “dang, only 32 likes?”: Results

Round of “sweet, 16 new followers”: Results

The Retweeted 8: Voting open Thursday, November 20th from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST 

The Quarter Finals: Voting open Friday, November 21st from 10:00 AM, until Sunday November 23rd at 7:00 PM EST 

The Finals: Voting open Monday, November 24th from 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM EST

People have been voting on each round in a new post each day. So for example, here is the Day Four post from yesterday. You can scroll down and see results for every round previous. 

Today the Quarter Finals will open and you have all weekend to vote.

But it is not just the voting and the winners vs losers that are fun here. What I also love is that each round is its own story about recent literary history, news, and controversies. It is a great way take a big picture view of the larger book and publishing conversation over recent history.

So fun and learning for this Friday as we lead into the Holiday Season beginning in earnest.

Scheduling Note: next week, I will have 3 days of Attack of the Best Lists posts before taking Thursday and Friday off. 

Get (or Give) a Note From a Favorite Author and Raise Money for A Great Literary Magazine in the Process

We are running full speed into the gift giving season, but we are also approaching the time of year when many people also make their annual donations. I have an idea that is a great option for all book lovers and covers both categories and it is run by an award winning literary magazine here:

The Common's Author Postcard Auction

Bid to win a postcard from your favorite author!

Bidding closes at noon EST on December 1, 2025

This unique online auction gives literary fans the opportunity to bid on handwritten, personalized postcards from their favorite writers. Postcards will be handwritten for you or a person of your choice. A wonderful keepsake, author postcards make great gifts! In years past, authors have gone above and beyond when writing their postcards, including impromptu doodles, poems, and personalized stories. Winning bids are tax-deductible donations. 

All proceeds go to The Common Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to publishing and promoting art and literature from global, diverse voices. Read more at www.thecommononline.org. 

Not interested in bidding? You can still support The Common Foundation by donating here.

Each year the Common gathers some of the biggest names in the writing world and asks them to offer 1 handwritten post card to one bidder. And they donate all of the proceeds to the magazine. Now this magazine is more than a place to launch new voices, they are part of a vibrant college community and fund internships and post-graduate jobs for students interested in writing and publishing. More about this is on their "Support Us" page.

Full disclosure, I am a subscriber and a donor to The Common. They also employed by oldest as a Literary Editorial Fellow last year. This allowed them to have a meaningful, career starting job for a full year after graduation and the experience led directly to their current job as the Assistant News Editor at Publishers Weekly. 

The Common is doing the vital work to help to keep the literary community moving forward in what are very difficult times. 

And that is why you should look at this page and consider bidding on a post card.

But let's get practical here as well. Uber fans of authors like George Saunders, Percival Everett, Ann Patchett, Stephen Graham Jones, Julia Alvarez, Elin Hilderbrand, Hanif Abdurraqib, Lauren Goff and more, these people probably already own every book their favorite writers have published. There is also a good chance they have signed copies. But I bet they do not have a personal note from these people.

Take a look at the auction and make a bid for yourself or a loved one. What a great way to show your thanks to the writers who have filled our world with joy-- by giving back to an organization they are supporting.

Bids are open until 12/1 at noon EST.

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Essential and Interesting “Best Books of 2025” Lists via Largehearted Boy

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here. 

Next week as we lead into the American Thanksgiving holiday, I will be posting a few key best lists. And while I have been doing this for a few weeks now, I want to make it clear to all of my readers-- I will not get to every list. In fact, that is very far from a goal for me.

The lists I chose to include here on the blog are usually the broadest and most useful to you as a resource. I also prioritize the lists that I can use to make some other tangential point or comment about how to best serve your readers.

But, I also understand that it means I miss lists that might be essential to helping you to help one of your readers. 

I'm okay with that though because every year since 2008, Largehearted Boy has us all covered. Here is the direct link to his list of 2025's most interesting best lists including this introductory note:

From 2008-2022, I aggregated every online year-end book list I discovered into one post.
This year (like last year), I will collect essential and interesting year-end book lists in this post and update it daily. 

Please feel free to e-mail me with a magazine, newspaper, or other online list I have missed. 

Please consider making a donation or leaving a tip to Largehearted Boyto support posts like these, the author playlists, and much more.

This is a best list archive you need to bookmark and return to as the lists keep rolling out. He is just getting started.

Also, please note that all of his backlist of best lists are available, by year, at the end of the post, meaning access to those books previously deemed "best" are one click away.

Remember, "best" does not have a shelf life. Sure the 2025 bests are shiny and new, and everyone is talking about them, but the lists from the last five years are still a treasure trove of sure bet suggestions for your readers. And chances are they are somewhere on your shelves, buried in the stacks, waiting for their best readers to find them. 

Give them a boost by using Largehearted Boy's archive to make a fund backlist best books display. You can play with the name. Suggestions-- Best Books Flashback; Best Books You Never Got Around to Reading; Forgotten Favorites; etc... you get the idea.

I have found that during this time of year, our library users really appreciate finding a book they might have missed from a year or two ago. These are hardcore readers. They will be aware of the best lists and in many cases, they have a plan to read the ones that are most interesting to them. But, they also know (as do we) that these 2025 best titles are going to have long holds lists. And while they wait, one of the best books from 2024 or 2023, or 2022 that they never got to, will fulfill their reading needs quite nicely.

(Remember, our job is to highlight the books that our readers would not find without out help.)

As a result, Largehearted Boy's list of the best lists becomes your go to resource for the best, best list action and your portal into the best lists of years gone by. 

And don't forget, when the attack of the best lists is over for 2025, Largehearted Boy's lists are still there, anytime, anywhere, ready and waiting to help you find the perfect suggestion for your readers.