Top Ten Tuesday | Best Books I read in 2025

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, you compile a list of ten books that coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining here!

This week’s theme is Best Books I Read in 2025.

This is a list of the best books I read last year, not necessarily published last year, and with no further ado, let’s dive in. The best books of 2025 for me were the diverse ones – I read from a wide variety of genres and places, and I loved the insights into different cultures and times in history.

1. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell – A really dark and violent look at Whitechapel during the time of Jack the Ripper. Loved the detail, the scene setting, and the historical background of London.
2. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot – Warm and wholesome stories anecdotes from Herriot’s experiences as a vet in 1930’s Yorkshire. Lovely rural, small-town atmosphere. Had me yearning for a simpler life.
3. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Moving on to Africa. Purple Hibiscus is a hard-hitting book. Themes are domestic violence in Nigeria, but also connected with the larger socio-economic and historical background of post-colonial Nigeria.
4. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – This is a book about the slave trade from Ghana to the Americas and follows the lives and descendants of two sisters – one who is sold as a slave, and one who is married to a slave trader. Very interesting, as it examines the impact the slave trade has on subsequent generations.
5. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee – Another multi-generational book. Pachinko is about displaced Koreans living in Japan and looks at life in a foreign country and how that impacts the original immigrants as well as their descendants.
6. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell – I read a lot of thrillers this year, but none really stood out except for this one. I loved the characters, especially the mother, and even though the resolution is disappointing, I felt this book had heart and it stayed with me for a long time.
7. Shōgun by James Clavell– A doorstopper of a book about an Englishman who gets marooned in medieval Japan and has to navigate the political tussles in play. It’s based on a real story, but the details are all fictional.
8. Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes – This is the sequel to Rachel’s Holiday – one of my favorite Marian Keyes books. It’s not as good as the first book, but there was enough love left over for the characters that I still enjoyed this one.
9. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon – This book is about two Spartans putting up a play with Athenian prisoners of war and was surprising, funny, tragic, and quite unique. I really enjoyed this one.
10. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – In this book in the Cormoran Strike series, Robin and Cormoran investigate a sinister cult. Very exciting and thrilling, and one of those can’t stop reading all night books.

So, these are the top books I read last year. Have you read any of these? What books were your best of 2025?