The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025

• All
• FICTION
• NONFICTION
• POETRY

The books that moved and delighted us, sparked conversations, and opened our minds

• 

  All That We See or Seem

  by Ken Liu

  byTIME Staff

• 

  All the Way to the River

  by Elizabeth Gilbert

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Antidote

  by Karen Russell

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Atmosphere

  by Taylor Jenkins Reid

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Audition

  by Katie Kitamura

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Bad Bad Girl

  by Gish Jen

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  Baldwin

  by Nicholas Boggs

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Black in Blues

  by Imani Perry

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Boleyn Traitor

  by Philippa Gregory

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Book of Lives

  by Margaret Atwood

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Book of Records

  by Madeleine Thien

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Bread of Angels

  by Patti Smith

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

  by Stephen Graham Jones

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Careless People

  by Sarah Wynn-Williams

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Catch

  by Yrsa Daley-Ward

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Claire McCardell

  by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Colonel and the King

  by Peter Guralnick

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Crush

  by Ada Calhoun

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  Cursed Daughters

  by Oyinkan Braithwaite

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Dead and Alive

  by Zadie Smith

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Dead Money

  by Jakob Kerr

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Death of the Author

  by Nnedi Okorafor

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Dream Hotel

  by Laila Lalami

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Dry Season

  by Melissa Febos

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  The Edge of Water

  by Olufunke Grace Bankole

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Emperor of Gladness

  by Ocean Vuong

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Flashlight

  by Susan Choi

  byTIME Staff

• 

  A Flower Traveled in My Blood

  by Haley Cohen Gilliland

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Forest Euphoria

  by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Gemini

  by Jeffrey Kluger

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  Gingko Season

  by Naomi Xu Elegant

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Girl on Girl

  by Sophie Gilbert

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Good Dirt

  by Charmaine Wilkerson

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Good Girl

  by Aria Aber

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Great Black Hope

  by Rob Franklin

  byTIME Staff

• 

  A Guardian and a Thief

  by Megha Majumdar

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  Gwyneth

  by Amy Odell

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Heart the Lover

  by Lily King

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Hostage

  by Eli Sharabi

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Hounding

  by Xenobe Purvis

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Idea of an Entire Life

  by Billy-Ray Belcourt

  byTIME Staff

• 

  I'll Tell You When I'm Home

  by Hala Alyan

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  Is a River Alive?

  by Robert Macfarlane

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Isola

  by Allegra Goodman

  byTIME Staff

• 

  I Want to Burn This Place Down

  by Maris Kreizman

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Joyride

  by Susan Orlean

  byTIME Staff

• 

  Katabasis

  by R. F. Kuang

  byTIME Staff

• 

  King of Ashes

  by S. A. Cosby

  byTIME Staff

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• 

  A Language of Limbs

  by Dylin Hardcastle

  byTIME Staff

• 

  The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

  by Kiran Desai

  byTIME Staff

Project Credits

• Editors:Lucy Feldman, Lori Fradkin, Annabel Gutterman, and Megan McCluskey
• Audience:Kitty Ruskin, Kari Sonde, and Alyona Uvarova
• Digital:Nadia Suleman
• Visuals:Chloe Dowling
• Contributors:Judy Berman, Hamilton Cain, Shannon Carlin, Kelly Conniff, Eliana Dockterman, Merrill Fabry, Mahita Gajanan, Cate Matthews, Erin McMullen, Rebecca Schneid, Olivia B. Waxman, and Stephanie Zacharek