“Year’s Best” lists always seem to start in November, but that has never made sense to me. Do the people who make these lists find nothing worthy of the label “favorite” in December? As I’m always reading right up to New Year’s Eve, I wait until January to do my best of/worst of lists, because I never know if I’ll find something amazing (or terrible) at the end of December. Now that it’s January, I’m going through to find my favorite books of 2025. Note that these might not have been published in 2025, it’s just that that’s the year I first read them. I also haven’t included re-reads of old favorites, otherwise the list would just be The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, and Wolf Hall every year. In no particular order, here are my favorites of 2025:
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Almost Midnight: Three Classic Fairytales by Ceinwen Langley Fairytale retellings are nothing new, but Australian author Ceinwen Langley takes a lighter, more empathetic turn in these retellings of Cinderella, Hans My Hedgehog, and The Little Mermaid, and asks “what if, sometimes, people indulged their best instincts instead of their worst ones?”. This little collection had me in tears with every story. If you enjoy fairytales, this is a must-read.
The Children of Gods and Fighting Men (Gael Song #1) by Shauna Lawless Though the fantasy market is full of books set in or based on the history and lore of Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, it can be difficult to find ones that really seem to care about the places they’re meant to be set in. Fortunately with The Children of Gods and Fighting Men and the rest of the books in the series, Northern Irish author Shauna Lawless loves her country’s history and lore and skillfully weaves it into a story set in the late 900s and early 1000s that’s full of love and danger with characters you’ll love and others you’ll love to hate. I read the entire series this year and enjoyed every minute of it.
Honeyeater by Kathleen Jennings We head back to Australia for this gothic, fantastical novella set in a suburban city that wants to forget its past, but is forced to face its future as the rivers rise and dredge up secrets that some wish would be buried forever. Honeyeater is the story of a hapless young man whose friends keep disappearing, his ambitious sister, a nosy neighborhood kid, a ghostly dog, and a woman with flowers under her skin who walks out of the river one strange day. Reading this book was like a dream that I want to go back to again and again.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar Esther and Ysabel live with their parents at the edge of a river near the borders of Faerie. For generations, they have tended the land with love and so the land has prospered. The sisters are the latest in this line of devoted caretakers, and they cherish each other as much as they cherish the land. But when a questionable neighbor comes to ask for Esther’s hand in marriage, she rejects him in favor of a suitor from Faerie and sets off a chain of events that put the sisters and their beloved land in grave danger. I read this in a single afternoon and was utterly enchanted. Every time someone brings it up, I remember how much I loved it. The hardcopy of the book has beautiful illustrations, while the audiobook includes music. Either version is excellent.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar Al-Akkad History/Current Events/Memoir In this slim but powerful book, Omar Al-Akkad reckons with what it means to be a brown man living in the United States since his family immigrated from Egypt to Canada when he was a child, especially in the shadow of 9/11 and, more recently, the Israeli bombardment of Palestine after October 7, 2023. This book was thoughtful and thought-provoking, exposing only some of the injustices that people of color face in western societies, and points toward ways that, even as individuals, we can work toward a better future.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer was trained in scientific methods, but as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she brings her people’s traditional viewpoints into her work. With elegant prose, heartfelt anecdotes, and plenty of scientific information, Kimmerer gently points out that human beings are not separate from nature– we are part of it, and in many cases nature relies upon us as much as we rely upon it. If we can come back to a better understanding of this basic fact, we will go a long way toward healing our damaged lands and ourselves.
The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis During a hot and dry summer in the English village of Little Nettlebed in the early sixteen hundreds, rumors begin to spread that the five Mansfield sisters turn into dogs. Old superstitions are beginning to fade but are not forgotten and rear their ugly heads when hysteria takes hold. Told from the point of view of several people from the area but not the girls themselves, Xenobe Purvis gives us a gorgeously written story of what happens when girls and young women break from cultural expectations and men take exception to it. This is a marvelous debut novel, and I look forward to whatever Purvis might write in the future.
James by Percival Everett Percival Everett’s retelling of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn has won so many awards and other accolades, but it earned them all and then some. This story, told from the point of view of the character Jim from Huckleberry Finn, tells of an enslaved man who hears that he is to be sold downriver and so escapes to find a way to free himself and his family. Little does he know that young Huck Finn is trying to escape from his violent father and will tag along and complicate matters. Throughout the book, James must hide his own education, as well as the fury and disdain he holds for the white people who think he is lesser because of the color of his skin. There is a wry humor throughout, and plenty of observations about race, prejudice, and the general state of humanity.
Ragwort (The Eythin Legacy #2) by Sam K. Horton A year after the events of Gorse, Mirecoombe’s Keeper, Nancy Bligh, has her work cut out for her in keeping the fae creatures of the Undermoor in hand and stopping them from harming her fellow villagers. Strange things are afoot, though, as a new fervor breaks out among the people and rumors of a dark and powerful figure from forgotten history begin to surface. When she discovers that people she has trusted have kept important family secrets from her Nancy ventures out of the moor to find answers. But what she finds may put her and Mirecoombe in greater peril than ever. Gorse was one of my favorite books of 2024, and Ragwort was a satisfying conclusion. Horton’s love of the landscape of Cornwall and its folklore is clear, and his prose is beautiful and provides so much sensory detail you can practically hear and smell the Cornish moors. I’m hoping we get to hear more from Horton in the future because I’m looking forward to whatever stories he’ll tell in the future. Traveling in Books is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Traveling in Books that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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