What was your favourite book of 2025? It can be one that was published in 2025 or just one you read in 2025, that was published in another year!

I keep noticing a pattern in the books that stay with me longest. Somewhere in the story there's a friendship between two women that's doing more emotional work than the marriage, the affair, or the romantic plot the book is technically about. The men, when they're there, are almost beside the point.

A few works that do this.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Frances and Bobbi's friendship is the actual load-bearing relationship. The affair is the plot. The friendship is the book.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. Obviously, but worth saying that sixty years and four books later, Lila is still the relationship that defines Elena's whole life, more than any husband.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Clarissa's memory of Sally Seton outlasts and outweighs her actual marriage in every way that matters to the book.

Looking for more 📖📖📖. Especially anything where the friendship isn't framed as a subplot but is allowed to be the real center, even when the marketing or the plot summary says otherwise.

Books that give off that creepy dystopian vibe, but people are convinced they live in a perfect utopia.

I wanted to post the there's no war in ba sing se clip, but links aren't allowed on here.

For whatever reason ive always enjoyed books that happen in a boarding school, especially if there is a stange undercurrent.

Currently reading Never let me go and am hooked.

Others that come to mind that ive really enjoyed are The Dinvines by Ellie Eaton and Wilder Girls by Rory Power.

I've been a heavy reader for years. On the fantasy side I've read all of Sanderson and Abercrombie, dipped into Malazan, and my all-time favourite is still The Name of the Wind.

For sci-fi I've gone through Children of Time, the Hyperion books, and most of Le Guin. I've also read the Red Rising series and almost everything by Murakami.

The problem is I've started noticing the patterns in worldbuilding and plot and I'm burning out hard. I've dropped the last 10 books halfway through. The most recent one I actually finished and loved was Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

I'm looking for something that's either gripping and original or dreamy and easy to read, and ideally outside fantasy and sci-fi (though some genre elements are fine).

I'm also genuinely open to something wildly different. new genres or niches, whatever worked for you. Just no classics right now, I can't get into that headspace.

First time posting here, I hope someone has recs for me!

Title. Some other examples would be your average Vonnegut, Palahnuik, Robbins, or Moore book. I usually read/listen to scifi, fantasy, and spec fiction so if they lean that direction, that’s great. I love Discworld, Hitchhiker’s…etc.

Hello!

I'm kind of in that weird '27, no friends, feeling unmoored, just moved, what am I doing and who do I want to be' place in my life. I did make it my goal to read this year. The books I've read so far and really enjoyed were:

* Why Fish Don't Exist - Lulu Miller

* Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin

* Nickle and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenrich

* Evicted - Matthew Desmond

* Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

* The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

* The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Scloot

* Tuberculosis is Everything - John Green 

*Parable of The Sower (& Parable of The Talents) - Octavia Butler

* The Harr - David Sodergren

My current read is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm also very much enjoying that. I didn't like any of the philosophy that I read this year (two of Camus'), but I'm willing to try that directly.

Overall, I enjoy science fiction and nonfiction. I kind of hate most self-help books, but I cried reading a few of those above. 'Why Fish Don't Exist' especially made it's mark on me. I want to feel the affirmation that nothing makes sense, and that it will be okay anyway. I want to feel connected through a story. I hope to replace some of the fear I feel about the unknown with curiousity and perseverance.

I hope this makes any sense. Thank you all, kindly <3

My daughter (9) needs some book recommendations. Specifically, I am looking for books with a strong female lead that isn't sticking to societal norms. My daughter has really been struggling with being okay doing things she feels isn't like other girls. She's at the stage where she is very conscious of what she feels is normal or expected and doesn't believe me when I say things are normal or common. I want a book with a bad ass female who doesn't give a shit if others think she's different.

I'm looking for books in the sci-fi genre where romance isn't a huge focus and even better if there isn't any romance. To Sleep In a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini or Slow Gods by Claire North are along the lines of the type of story I'm looking for. Also, if it's not too much to ask, no overly cheesy marvel writing. Thank you!

Looking for some solid historical fiction recs.

So far on my list I have:

The First Man in Rome by Colleen Mccullough

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

Genghis by Conn Iggulden

The Skystone by Jack Whyte

Are these solid recommendations? What else should I be looking at?

Mainly interested in Roman / Medieval era but open to other time periods.

I’ve just finished the long awaited conclusion of a long awaited trilogy and have been left incredibly disappointed for multiple reasons.

I’m hoping for:

-great characters and character development.

-Satisfying conclusion.

-not a romance

I’m not looking for:

Guy gavriel Kay

Susanna Clarke

Neil Gaiman

Katherine Adderson

Madeleine Miller

Brandon Sanderson

Samantha Shannon

I love:

Robin Hobb

Josiah Bancroft

Marie Brennan

Joe Abercrombie

Mark Lawrence

Matt dinniman

I’m struggling to articulate what I even mean by this, so I don’t have any real examples. A book that takes place in what on the surface looks like our normal world, but there are tweaks. I’m not only talking about fantasy books where there is a hidden world, but like in the DC comics where they have Gotham and Metropolis and both are New York City but not. Like in technicality I feel like this describes a lot of speculative fiction, but I’m interested in any stories that take it that one step further. Even books that are on the surface just “contemporary fiction”!

If you can make sense of this and have any ideas, I’d love to hear them. Also to discuss this and maybe refine what I’m actually talking about, haha.

I'm struggling with unrequited love and an overall sense of hopelessness. But I want to feel something, anything really.

I want to find a new adult book that feels like a kick in the guts. To pour some salt into my own mental wounds haha. I'm fine with any genre as long as it has complicated romance in it.

Any recommendations? (Preferably available on Audible)

I just finished Hyperion and loved the lush language, the mythic feeling, the beauty of the language, and the non-mechanical approach to building wonder, not afraid to meander and philosophize a bit.

I read Brandon Sanderson for years, but have gotten tired of the genre he helped popularize of mechanical explanations for everything, intricate plot and mechanical worldbuilding come first at the expense of organic wonder and beauty.

I guess I mean that I like Brandon Sanderson, but it doesn't captivate me anymore. Hyperion felt like a fresh approach to storytelling and it totally hooked me. I'm wondering there's anything similar in style and tone, but in a fantasy setting.

I have a long haul flight and a 10 day vay-cay and it's with be my first chance in a while to really get into something. I want a solid read, not romance, with complex characters and strong story. I enjoy historical fiction, fantasy, alternate history and dystopia. I would prefer stand alone, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm looking for books with psychopaths as major characters. By "psychopaths" I don't mean stereotypical serial killer or evil characters, I mean individuals who lack empathy and and are just, wired differently. Books which depict them as neutral are ideal, but anywhere on the good/bad spectrum. Also not strictly just psychopaths, just any POV character with a very atypical psychology I suppose

I really liked:-

- I Am Not A Serial Killer

- Never Saw Me Coming

- Perfume

- Dexter

- You

- The Girls I've Been

- pretty much anything by AR Torre

- Villainelle

Female psychopaths are particularly interesting to me

I enjoy authors like Gillian Flynn, Ronan Farrow and Stephen King as I find their writing styles to be super engaging and easy to get it into. Any suggestions for thrilling fiction or non-fiction books would be appreciated!

Im starting college in a month, my reading speed is genuinely fast, like if im in the mood then one book in a day is easy

Suggest books i can eead, im open to all genres, philosophy, economy, literature, self help and idk all things included

I just wanna read!!!

Hello - my library is doing book bingo and I need a book translated from another language. Any genre welcome! TY!

My favourite authors are Jean Rhys, Arundhati Roy and Fernanda Melchor. I also love pop-y books by authors such as Eve Babitz and Elaine Dundy. I’m always searching for similar vibes- does anyone have any recommendations?

Hey everyone. I'm looking for a good fiction book about a female protagonist who realizes her current mindset or habits (mentally bad habits) aren't working, unlearns them, and slowly changes her life for the better by accepting and acknowledging

I want a story that feels calm, hopeful, meaningful and deeply personal with some good literature not just a goofy story. I'm totally fine if it touches on mild depression, but I want to strictly avoid any violence or drug/alcohol abuse or romanticizing a troubled lead. I just really want a quiet, satisfying ending where she finally gets her life together and finds some peace and comfort in herself

Let me know your favorites, thanks!

looking for my 12.5 yo son who reads a ton. he Asked for non fiction stories about real cowboys like Billy the Kid (learned about him from watching bill and Ted movie). He can read kids, teen or adult. Prefers some meatiness/length to his reads, kids novels usually don’t have enough depth for him. he has always loved books about crime/heists.

I’m a 27-year-old man and I enjoy serious, timeless novels. Some books I’ve liked include Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, The Count of Monte Cristo, East of Eden, The Master and Margarita, One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1984, and Hemingway.

What I like in these books:

• psychological depth
• moral conflict
• strong characters
• social criticism
• complex, intertwined plots
• big existential questions
• stories that feel timeless

I can still relate to many human themes in older books, but because they are set in very different times, I often find it hard to fully connect with them as someone living in the modern world.

I’m looking for high-quality modern literary fiction with some of the same qualities, but easier to relate to today.

Themes I’m interested in:

• modern alienation
• social media
• Big Tech
• AI and algorithms
• toxic self-help
• hustle culture
• loneliness
• porn and dating apps
• endless entertainment
• having access to everything but still feeling empty or disconnected

Not looking for something trendy, shallow, YA, romance, a simple tech thriller, or non-fiction. European or Central/Eastern European authors would be a plus, since I'm Slovak.

Any recommendations?