Barnes & Noble revealed its lists of the best books of 2025, with scores of titles across 19 categories receiving praise from the retail chain.
The bookseller highlighted 30 books in the fiction category, including three that were finalists for this year’s Kirkus Prize: Megha Majumdar’s A Guardian and a Thief, Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, and David Szalay’s Flesh. The list also included bestselling titles such as Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere, and Clare Leslie Hall’s Broken Country.
Arundahti Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me, another Kirkus Prize finalist, was among the 17 books listed in the biography and memoir category, alongside titles including Jen Hatmaker’s Awake, Margaret Atwood’s Book of Lives, Cameron Crowe’s The Uncool, and Lionel Richie’s Truly.
Books making the cut in the mystery and thriller category include S.A. Cosby’s King of Ashes, John Grisham’s The Widow, Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben’s Gone Before Goodbye, Freida McFadden’s The Intruder, and Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition.
The young adult category includes books such as Dustin Thao’s You’ve Found Oliver, Ann Liang’s I Am Not Jessica Chen, Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, Elizabeth Lim’s A Forgery of Fate, and Lynn Painter’s Fake Skating.
All of the lists are available on the Barnes & Noble website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
