Book Report 2025
My top books this year and ever-growing TBR list
2025 has been a very long year. When I opened my Goodreads account to look back at the books I read so I could write this piece, I was genuinely surprised. Some of the books I read this year felt like they belonged to two or even three years ago.
There is an ongoing debate about whether reading “counts” as a hobby. In my opinion, it absolutely does. A few years back, I set a goal to read as many books as my age. I love a good reading challenge, but over time I realized something important.
Counting books can quietly take away from the joy of reading. I no longer want to read toward a number just for the sake of hitting one. I want to enjoy each book while I am in it.
Now, at the end of December, instead of focusing on how many books I read, I looked back at what I read. I noticed the patterns, reflected on what stayed with me, and I am happy to share a few recommendations along the way.
My Top Books This Year
Fiction
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Fredrik Backman could write a grocery list and I would want to read it. I was excited for this book and it did not disappoint. Backman has a way of making your heart ache for people you have never met, and for friendships that feel deeply familiar. This book is tender, emotional, and quietly powerful.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
This book sat on my Kindle for a long time. Unlike other Kristin Hannah novels, I initially struggled to get into it. I almost gave up, which is something I rarely push through anymore, but I am so glad I did. Once it pulled me in, it stayed with me. A beautifully told story about survival, love, and resilience.
James by Percival Everett
A retelling of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective, this novel was both sharp and unsettling. Even though it is fiction, I learned so much from it. It made me pause, rethink familiar narratives, and question whose voices are centered in the stories we grow up with. This one lingered long after I finished it.
When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen
I read this book because Fredrik Backman recommended it, and I am so glad I trusted that instinct. I devoured it in less than 24 hours. It broke my heart. A beautiful, devastating story about aging, love, and letting go.
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
Heartbreaking and eye-opening. This novel explores friendship, womanhood, and political upheaval through deeply personal lives.
Nonfiction
Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale
I first listened to this book, then immediately decided I needed a physical copy on my bedside table. I have recommended it to more people than I can count. It reshaped how I think about confidence, competence, and likability. I am hoping to meet Alison this year. She is a Chicago native and generously shares her work through speaking events.
Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini
A deeply honest and eye-opening exploration of unhealthy ambition and the cost of letting achievement swallow everything else that matters.
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey is an exceptional storyteller. If you plan to read this book, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. Hearing it in his own voice makes all the difference. Reflective, funny, and unexpectedly thoughtful.
Looking ahead to 2026
I am very excited for all the books I haven’t read yet. Here is my ever-growing physical TBR, patiently waiting its turn.
What are some books that stayed with you long after you finished reading them?
Let’s grow. Intentionally. With curiosity.
— Arzu
Thanks for sharing this! Im usually someone who reads non fiction but your fiction recommendations got me very excited specifically “When Cranes go South” i think this might be my first nonfiction of 2026!
And speaking of the never ending TBR list… “Ambition monster” sounds like an interesting read 😍
I will leave you my FB post: As it’s becoming apparent that I won’t finish the book I’m reading on a white beach before turquoise water in Riviera Maya before year’s end, I thought I’d share this year in books.
As it stands on December 30, I’ve read 33 books, having set a rough goal of 20. This beats 2024 by 8 books. Read part on paper and part by audiobooks. I think the number reflects 1) increase in consistent walking when I listen to audiobooks the longest, 2) increase in time free from basically many other things I enjoy doing doing in favor of reading due to our location over past 18 months without friends or family nearby.
Top genres of 2025: historical fiction, self development, mystery/thriller
Below are a few thoughts about a selection of the reads:
Autobiography:
I’m glad my mom died. Completely gripping, tragic and unbearably funny. Read by the author Jeannette McCurdy on audio, highly recommend. I am looking forward to her debut fiction novel in January.
Best mystery: Silent Patient. Won’t give away even a word, sooo good.
Best career development book EVER now in my top 5 and should be read by everyone in their 20s (or as soon as it finds you): Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale
Author Discovery of the year: Taylor Jenkins Reid (Atmosphere, Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). So real, you will MISS the characters!
Helpful perspectives/advice:
1. Never split the difference - learn some turnkey negotiation tactics.
2. Time wealth chapter in 5 types of wealth lent a helpful perspective on how to make the most of time we have — for family, for key experiences and make key decisions to maximize experiences in the right time of your life.
3. Anxious generation — understand how mobile phones and social media are impacting children and teenagers and what to do about it
4. Enshittification — an absolutely eye-opening account about how the internet and ALL big providers of services have moved from the kind behaviors when they were building a user-base to abusing all of their customers and b2b providers. My key lesson — don’t agree to anyone’s first offer, threaten to leave often to get best prices. Recent example: following a free trial of MyHeritage.com, they offered a 50% discount - $141 a year. After I declined, they dropped to $75. You won’t be able to unsee the enshittification of businesses after reading.
Best psychology self help: the Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. This is a bible for codependent behavior of all sorts and is absolutely liberating.
Women’s Month must read: Invisible Women… and be shocked the world has been and continues to be designed for men.
Life philosophy to live by: Essentialism. This is so close to my way of thinking, could have written this. Admittedly could have been shorter.
Best history: Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the marriage that shook Europe. A refreshed and in my view much more astute view on one of the biggest rifts in western Catholicism.
Best Russian language read: Двадцать Шестой. Ностальгическая ❤️
Historical fiction loves: Kristin Hannah’s the Nightingale and Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network
Worst:
All the colors of the dark — I can never get those hours back.
Из худшего по-русски: Плохие Русские
Beautiful Ugly (normally like Alice Feeney but not this one)
Onward to 2026! Hoping for meaningful but fewer reads and more friends and family. Join me on goodreads via this link:
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1873903-elena