The books I read in 2025

A selection of my favourite reads from the year just about gone

Sometimes people ask me, “How was your weekend?” and although it’s only Monday, when I try to sift back through the previous two days, my mind draws a complete blank. I must have done something, but I get totally stuck trying to remember what.

So it is with a nagging feeling that I must be forgetting something crucial, that at this time of year I start to look back at the previous 11 and a half months and put together my “Best of” lists. And so, with that caveat in place, I thought I’d share with you some of the best books I read this year (since I’m an author and all that).

It’s probably too late to ask for any of these for Christmas (unless you’re willing to use Amazon), but you can always treat yourself in January - which is a good time of year, I find, for reading. You know, when you’re looking for wholesome, cheap, indoor activities that fire the imagination and provoke ideas and wonder. Books are pretty great, when you think about it. For just a few pounds (dollars, euros etc) you can get hours and hours of absorbing, immersive experience. As long as it’s a good book, of course.

So with that in mind, here are the best books I read in 2025 (not necessarily all published in 2025).