12 Must-Read Books, Handpicked By Our Editors
2025 is already under full sway, and if you’re anything like us, you’ve put reading on the back burner while you’ve gotten your to-do lists sorted. But now that the new year is humming along nicely, it’s time to carve out a little (or a lot) “you” time and make reading a priority.
With so many good books flooding everyone’s To Be Read list, it was hard to narrow down the list to just 10. But our editorial staff was up to the challenge, and here is the list of the top 10 books that should be on everyone’s 2025 TBR list.
The Seven Year Slip
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, is a story about a magical apartment, the love of family, and a trip back in time. Season that with the components of a great love story, and you’ve got a book you can’t put down. Go ahead–feed the kids cereal for dinner and settle down for a delightful read.
The Summer Before The War
A gorgeous and picturesque telling of the beauties and tragedies surrounding war in England. Helen Simonson gives you the entire mood and story by offering up every detail you never knew you needed and never boring you with the ones you’re used to. Every person in my book club gave it a 10/10, which is rare, to say the least. READ IT NOW.
The War That Saved My Life
If you can’t seem to get enough of historical World War II fiction, don’t pass up this young adult novel about a young English girl and her brother who are evacuated to the English countryside during World War II. But don’t let the war backdrop fool you–the book is less about the war and more about resilience and courage when those you love disappoint you and what it means to learn to trust and love again.
Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
This is a non-fiction book that chronicles the development of the atomic bomb. As the race to develop this technology unfolds, you get an inside look at Oppenheimer’s brilliant mind and the technology that changes the landscape of modern warfare. Suppose this wasn’t enough to draw you in. In that case, the story also follows three spies detailing the efforts of the Soviet Union to steal the bomb design through espionage, culminating in the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
A Dictionary Of Lost Words
A New York Times bestseller, A Dictionary of Lost Words, is an intriguing look at power over language and how it so often equates to power over people. (Hint: the power belongs to a particular group and essentially always has.) But this book also gives you a look at women’s role in shaping language, even when it’s not reflected in the published resources we’ve all relied on since grade school.
The Unselected Journals Of Emma M. Lyon
This is THE book you have to read this year. And rest assured, you’ll devour it and its subsequent seven volumes with equal parts joy, grief, laughter, and love. It’s everything you’ve ever loved about a Jane Austen novel with the absolute magic of language that’s gone untapped for the last 200 years or so, plus the 21st-century retrospect you need to get a full picture of the world at the time (even though your heart will remain in St. Crispians and its dynamic residents forevermore). All hail Beth Brower for the beauty these books have brought into the world.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Being a budding backyard birder, the title alone of Amy Tan’s 2024 release of The Backyard Bird Chronicles lured me in. Using birds as an inspiration to be more in tune with life and the wonder and beauty around us, this book becomes a delightful and insightful way to illuminate what’s most important. Besides being a prolific, talented writer, who knew that Tan is also an incredible artist whose bird illustrations grace the entire book? Her sketches are beyond enchanting. If you love art mixed with excellent writing, this book is for you.
4,000 Weeks: Time Management For Mortals
This fascinating book explores the human need to make life meaningful within the constraints of time that we all live under–4,000 weeks. Challenging conventional ideas about time management, Oliver Burkeman argues that the average lifespan is roughly 4,000 weeks, prompting readers to re-evaluate their priorities and focus on what truly matters instead of trying to optimize every moment and achieve an impossible “to-do” list. This book had us thinking long and hard about what we choose to do with the time we have on earth and why life seems to stand still and rush by–all at the same time.
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
This sweeping memoir is both hauntingly devastating and brutally honest. Detailing the lives of three generations of women in the author’s family, Jung Chang gives the reader an honest look at the turbulent history of Moa’s 20th century China as the three generations navigate through political upheavals like the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, the Chinese Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution. For weeks, I could NOT stop thinking about this book. It was a powerful look behind the communist curtain.
A Kim Jong-Il Production
This story keeps you on the edge of your seat for all 383 pages. An extraordinary true story of a kidnapped South Korean actress, Choi Eun-Hee, and her husband, filmmaker, Shin Sang-Ok, A Kim Jong-Il Production is a nonfiction book written by Paul Fischer that describes how the couple were forced to make films for Kim Jong-Il before escaping to the United States. The story is truly unbelievable and a testament to the strength of the human soul to survive, even under the most trying circumstances. As a bonus, the story is also a love story, as the kidnapping brings the husband and wife back together after living apart as they fight for their lives and, ultimately, escape.
I Will Always Write Back
It started as a simple assignment that ended up changing two lives for the better. I Will Always Write Back tells the story of Caitlin, living in Pennsylvania, on a whim decided to write a letter to another student in Zimbabwe–a place she’d never heard of. From that first letter stemmed a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives. In this compelling dual memoir, Caitlin and Martin share everyday details about their lives, eventually becoming best friends—and better people—through their long-distance exchange. If you don’t think America is one of the best places on earth, this book will give you a different perspective.
The Anxious Generation
If COVID feels like it’s in your rearview mirror, get ready for the next epidemic to hit America. Instead of an infectious disease that brings a nation to its knees, The Anxious Generation, written by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, explains how the next epidemic is mental rather than physical. This book investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need to play and engage in independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. If you’ve got an anxious teen at home, this book is a must-read.
Don’t just read—elevate your life! Pick up any (or all!) of our Top 12 Books on our TBR list.
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