My Favorite Books of 2025
And other notable books I read this year
My Top Five Six
In previous years, selecting my top five books of the year presented a quandary for me. Because I wasn’t reading as much as I wanted, I had a limited number of books to choose from. In fact, last year, I disappointed even myself by not creating a year-end list.
This year, retirement has blessed me with considerably more time to read. In the five pre-retirement months of 2025, I completed only three or four books, and they were mostly work-related. In the seven months since retirement, I’ve finished over twenty—a delightful mixture of novels, memoir, and nonfiction. I feel blessed by the gift of reading retirement has afforded me.
In today’s post, I’ll highlight the five, well, OK, six books that topped my list and comment on a number of others that are worth a look.
You’ll find all the books in Annette’s Wanderings Bookshop.org bookstore (Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Please support independent bookstores).
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman
No question that this is my favorite book of the year—maybe of the decade. Full disclosure: I listened to it rather than read it, and I highly recommend the audio version. The narrator is outstanding. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and, at the same time, will probably cause a few tears to roll down your cheeks. Don’t let this one sit too long in your TBR (to-be-read) pile.
Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
Pauli Murray
When I first learned about Pauli Murray (1920–1985)—lawyer, priest, poet, and activist—and began to explore her life, I was stunned. Her lifelong fight for civil rights and human dignity rivals that of any major social justice leader of the past century, leaving me wondering how I’d never heard of her. Dr. Murray lived an extraordinary life whose impact continues to resonate today. Though the memoir is long, it is well worth the commitment.
The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah
My wife Wendy and I traveled to Alaska this summer to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, my 70th birthday, and my retirement. This was the book I read on the flight home, and I’m so glad I did. Hannah’s gripping story of a family seeking a fresh start in the harsh Alaskan wilderness tests both the bonds of love and the limits of survival. I loved it not only for her vivid evocation of places we had just visited, but also because, as in all her books, she writes straight to the heart.
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
After finishing The Great Alone, I looked for what I hadn’t yet read by Kristin Hannah and chose this World War II novel centered on two French sisters whose divergent paths—one focused on survival, the other on resistance—reveal the extraordinary courage of women in wartime. The novel offers a sobering lens on contemporary attacks on immigrants and challenged me to reflect on my own role as a resister. Would I have the courage to do what these sisters did?
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Robin Wall Kimmerer
I loved Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, so I knew I would love this reflection on the humble serviceberry, a tree I recently planted in our back yard. This lyrical exploration of reciprocity, ecology, and the economics of generosity, uses the serviceberry as an entry point into rethinking our relationship with the natural world. It’s a quick read, but one that caused me contemplate my own relationship with possessions and how I might better share the things I have.
Searching for Solid Ground: A Memoir
Reggie Harris
Full disclosure, the author of this book, Reggie Harris, is a dear friend of mine. However, even if he wasn’t, I would be including this as one of my favorite books for 2025 because, like Harris, I love the power of music to inspire change. I’ve studied it in the Civil Rights Movement, witnessed its power in protest movements, and been inspired by it in my own life as an activist. Harris does a fabulous job of weaving his story through music, activism, and racial justice work. This is well worth a read.
Other Notable Books
So, those are my top six. I hope you pick a couple of them to dig into in 2026. I also enjoyed a number of other books this year, which I’ve noted below (in alpha order by title).
Some of these books fall outside my usual reading genres, chosen either to support authors I know or because I served as moderator for James River Writers events, where those authors were speaking. That role has consistently pushed me to read beyond my comfort zone—and I’m often surprised and delighted by the results.
All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings
Gayle Boss
My wife and I read a story from this book at dinner each day in December and enjoyed every one. In this book, you’ll embrace the ancient wisdom of Advent through the extraordinary lives of 25 northern hemisphere animals as they prepare for winter. It’s a wonderful gift for people of all ages, including yourself!
America the Beautiful?
Blythe Roberson
In this humorous, sharp-eyed road-trip memoir, the Blythe Roberson examines American landscapes, politics, and identity while traveling cross-country in a borrowed Prius. I always love a good travel narrative, especially one that travels to places I know.
As You Wish
Nashae Jones
This is a warm, character-driven contemporary YA novel by a local Richmond author about unexpected romance, self-discovery, and the courage required to embrace the life one truly wants.
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times
Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
I began following the work of Jane Goodall when she first appeared in National Geographic magazine in the early 1960s. In honor of her passing in October 2025, Wendy and I listened to this interview-based book about how hope can be cultivated even amid climate crisis, social upheaval, and personal despair. It’s a little long but a great way to renew your spirit when hope feels far away.
Culpability (Oprah’s Book Club)
Bruce Holsinger
This literary thriller by the first author I’ve known who’s had an Oprah Book Club pick, delves into ethical considerations of AI and how it might impact our daily lives, including the lives of our those we love. It explores interesting questions about families, relationships, and technology. Certainly timely.
The Drive in ’65: An Epic Road Trip. A Journey of Discovery
Sandra Lynne Reed
What can I say—another travel narrative! In 1965, two sisters from Alaska pack up their five children and their mother-eight people in a nine-passenger van and travel North America for fourteen weeks. My family traveled to a lot of the same places in the 60s, so I loved how this book sparked my own memories.
The Girls Are Never Gone
Sarah Glenn Marsh
A supernatural YA thriller in which a teen podcaster investigates a supposedly haunted house while confronting grief, friendship, and the thin line between truth and legend. This novel, by a local Richmond author who relishes ghost stories, had me believing!
The Jackpot
David Kazzie
In this thriller by another local Richmond author, an ordinary man wins the lottery and is immediately swept into chaos involving criminals, bad luck, and the unforeseen costs of sudden wealth. This book is much too violent for my taste but definitely got me thinking about that it might mean to win the lottery.
Lies About My Family
Amy Hoffman
This memoir, by one of my former writing mentors, weaves personal history, queer identity, and family mythologies into a witty, reflective narrative about what it means to belong. It’s a powerful read, especially for anyone contemplating writing a family memoir.
Look Away No More
Carol Owens Campbell
In this novel of manners and war, passion and first love, decorum and protests, based in the 1970s, Tally McCall, a sorority girl and history scholar in Georgia is searching for purpose in a troubled world. I’m fairly ignorant of the sorority scene so much of this felt like exploring another culture, but it’s an interesting journey of a young girl looking beyond sorority life.
Magic Hour
Kristin Hannah
This novel about a feral child found in the wilderness and the psychologist who must uncover her story forces a family to confront loss, hope, and redemption. Another Kristin Hannah novel. Not my favorite, but I’ve talked with others who loved it.
On Tyranny
Timothy Snyder
On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come. What more can I say? A necessary read for these times.
Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America
Beth Macy
In this intimate blend of memoir and reportage, and Barack Obama’s top pick of 2025, Beth Macy returns to her Ohio hometown to examine how economic decline, the loss of local journalism, and political polarization have reshaped the community that once sustained her. I’m still reading this one but plan to finish it before the end of the year.
Rehearsal for Reconstruction: Port Royal Experiment
Willie Lee Rose
This historical account of the Port Royal Experiment, the attempt at reconstruction that occurred in the Sea Islands of South Carolina during the beginning of the American Civil War, focuses on a woman I’ve studied and might still write about, Laura M. Towne, the founder of the first school for freed people during the war.
Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide
Tony Horwitz
A fascinating narrative nonfiction travelogue retracing Frederick Law Olmsted’s journeys through the American South, blending humor, history, and sharp cultural observation. I liked this more than I thought I would.
Tall Water
S.J. Sindu
A reflective graphic novel exploring identity, family, and love against a backdrop of shifting cultural expectations, following characters whose lives intersect around long-held secrets. I struggle reading graphic novels but will remember this one.
This Tender Land
William Kent Krueger
A Depression-era odyssey following four orphans who escape a cruel boarding school and journey downriver, encountering danger and grace as they search for belonging and freedom. Touching story.
Winter Garden
Kristin Hannah
A dual-timeline family drama in which two adult sisters uncover their mother’s harrowing past in wartime Russia, learning how stories—told and untold—shape love and resilience. Another Hannah book that friends loved more than I did, but still good.
The Women
Kristin Hannah
Set during the Vietnam War, The Women follows a young nurse whose service in Vietnam profoundly shapes her identity, friendships, and understanding of courage. This is gruesome in parts, but I found the gore necessary to get a glimpse of these amazing women.
I left off a couple books that I didn’t think were worth sharing (don’t you want to know which ones?), but I included everything else, even if I didn’t love it.
I appreciate the friends and family members who recommend books to me, especially my brother, Jarrett, who’s a voracious reader, my librarian wife Wendy, and my librarian friend, Charlotte D. It always pays to make friends with big readers, librarians, writers, and bookstore owners! In fact, the most effective marketing of any book is from recommendations from others who’ve read it.
What did you read that you loved this year? And feel free to include my memoir, Living Into the Truth: A Daughter’s Journey of Discovery in your list! LOL!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!