What I'm Reading: Becky's Best Books I Read in 2025

For the ninth year in a row, I am doing my best books that I read during this calendar year in a category list rather than in some kind of ranked order, Why? Because why I loved these particular books matters more to me than the order in which I would place them. How I interacted with them, how they affected me, how they stayed with me over the course of the calendar year, this is what is most important because it is why they are my on personal "Best" list.

Some of the categories are the same from year to year, others change. This is because the books I read each year create their own experiences and categories to me personally and I want to capture that experience along with the titles. I am not a robot, I am a human reader, even if reading and suggesting titles is my job. In order to remind myself [and all of you] of the joy in what we are paid to do, I strive to create a year end best list that captures, celebrates, and acknowledges that.

By this time, lots of people have already weighed in with critically acclaimed "best" lists for weeks, but I always wait to post this until end the year here on RA for All. I am keeping that tradition both because I like traditions, but also for ease of retrieving this list and other from years' past. To find any of my year's best read lists, from any year, all you have to do is click on the year in the right gutter on the blog scroll down). It brings up every post for that year in reverse chronological order, meaning that the last post of the year is first. Always the librarian, I am sharing my favorite reads AND cataloging them in an easy to retrieve way. 

I also wait to post this because my list is about my reflections on myself as a readers over the last 12 months. It is not just another best list. This is a list that is personal to me, my tastes, and my weird quirks. I need time and quiet to really think about it. I have been sitting with the categories for a a few weeks.

You can also use this post to help other readers, but because it is so specific to me, it is actually better used by you as a conversation starter. (Click here for my post about turning conversation starters into displays) For example, you can ask people "What is the most fun you had reading a book this year?" or "What title was the biggest surprise to you?" Those are questions readers can answer much more quickly and easily than "What was your favorite book of 2025?" And these are the types of questions that engender dialog.

The categories I have listed here provide great conversation starters to offer to your patrons. You can even use my answers to keep the conversation going by saying, "I was thinking about this question because I read another library workers list and got the idea."

The point of my "Best" list is to both offer books that I loved this year, while also presenting an example of a regular reader view of a "Best" list.

Below you will find my list of the best books I experienced in 2025 (regardless of publication year) in 17 categories created by me. It is an arbitrary amount, but so what? It's my list of what mattered to me the most this year so I get to decide how I present it.

Each title includes my three words and a link to a longer review which will explain more about the book and give you insight as to why it is a "best" book for that category for me.

Some general comments about my list this year:

• This year I had an experience that I have never had in 25 years of being a librarian and that is the fact that I have one overall best book and it could be slotted into almost every category as such.
• I have to say it, but this was also the first year I wrote a book for general readers. That will be captured in my list below because my book coming out was the BEST moment of my reading year.
• I read a lot of mysteries for the second year in a row and all were on audio. I also increased my NF by reading them on audio.
• My audio reading went up overall and I not only know why, I now share the reason in my training programs. Since I read so much print for review, for a few years I was finding it hard to turn off my reviewing brain and just enjoy a book as a fan. But, I have now realized that when I listen to a book, my brain understands that it is NOT for work and I have no problem just sitting back and enjoying it. This was a huge discovery I made into my own reading preferences and it led to me reading more books for fun this year than I have in many years.
• And of course-- Horror is everywhere on this list (even some titles that did not make my horror best list) because for me as a reader, it fits in more categories than just the ones for its genre. While I know that is unique to me as a reader, I wonder if that is true for you and a different genre. I am sure it is for many of your readers. If they have a favorite genre, they loved the books they loved for reasons that go beyond their genre classification. This is always important to remember as we help readers.

I'll be back on January 5, 2026 with Part 1 of my Reader Resolutions-- an assessment of how I did on 2025's goals, followed by Part 2 where I will set out my goals for 2026 on January 6th. Have a safe and Happy New Year.

Now what you have been waiting for.....my list with links to my reviews and my three words!

Becky's Best Books I read in 2025

Best Overall Book: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter  by Stephen Graham Jones-- There is not a better book I read in 2025 than this novel. It is a masterpiece of American fiction, I could have been my answer to at least 6 categories below, so I gave it it's own category. (historical, revenge, riveting)

Best Feel Good Read: The entire Thursday Murder Club Series thus far-- all on audio and I binged the first 4 in the first 4 months of 2025 and then listened to the 5th right after it came out. (fun, mature main characters, cozy but still serious issues)

Book That Stayed With Me All Year: Angel Down by Daniel Kraus-- this one was an easy call. This book written as one single sentence was memorable and ambitious, but he also pulled it off! (visceral, ambitious, reads like a chant)

 

Book That I Am Recommending to Everyone I Know: Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature by Becky Siegel Spratford. I mean it is true. I don't have three words but here is the Booklist starred review.

Best Debut: Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel-- I am excited to new reading her second book for my April 2026 LJ column and I will be conducting an interview with the author in the same issue. (family trauma, steadily building dread that burst open to all out terror, original)

The Most Fun I Had Reading a Book: Starter Villain by John Scalzi-- I needed a fun book to read on my vacation and just before I went into my book tour. This book was the PERFECT choice. (fun, thought provoking, fast paced)

Best Audio: Fair Play by Louise Hegarty-- hands down this was the book I loved BECAUSE I listened to it. If I read it in print, it would not have made this list. (Meta, Thought Provoking, Siblings)

Best One Sitting Read: Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones

Best Book From 2024 Best Lists That I Read in 2025: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (return to a beloved world and its characters, belonging, cozy with serious issues)

Best Surprise: The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin (vignettes, weird western, thought-provoking)

Best Speculative Fiction: Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel-- A YA books every adult should read. (Existentially Terrifying, Thought Provoking, Unique Band of Survivors story)

Best Horror [That wasn't mentioned already] TIE: When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy (the power of fear, immersive terror, pulp homage) and A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper (discomfort, an original retelling of a classic work, cursed book)

• [See also this post for a more detailed discussion of my personal Best Horror of 2025]

Best Historical Fiction: The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling-- so this is clearly historical but fantasy historical. I am fine with doing this for 2 reasons. 1. BHH was the best historical I read (see the top of the list) 2. It's my list and I loved this book; one of the reasons I loved it was the setting. (richly detailed, highly unnerving, 3 points of view)

Best Collection: The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein -- this is a great example of how a collection also be a great united volume. (Cursed Land, Madness, Unnerving)

Best Nonfiction: Daughter of Daring: The Trick-Riding, Train-Leaping, Road-Racing Life of Helen Gibson, Hollywood's First Stuntwoman by Mallory O'Meara-- this book reminded me why I chose to be an American Studies major. (fascinating, enlightening, fun)

Best Memoir: Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus. This book could have been put in a few categories (audio, most fun, book I am recommending to everyone I know, and surprise), but each time I made a final decision, it got dropped. But just the fact that it kept popping up in my mind meant it had to be here somewhere. So I made this category so that it could be included. (Funny, irreverent, but also sweet and charming)

 

Best Under the Radar Read: The Sofa by Sam Munson-- also the winner of best line in a Becky review of 2025. "...readers will be giving their own couches the side-eye for a while after finishing this one. (Horror in the mundane, dark humor, intensely psychological)