On this episode, past guests of Books with Betsy and I share our favorite books of 2025! Listen to hear about lots of great 2025 books and the excellent backlist we got to this year.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Betsy’s Top 11 Books (in no particular order):
The Sisters by Jonas Hassan Khemiri
Endling by Maria Reva
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing
Devil is Fine by John Vercher
There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes, Jr.
A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Majumdar
Reservoir Bitches by Dalia de la Cerda
Books Highlighted by Guests:
Tina of TBR, etc:
One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
Red Clay by Charles B. Fancher
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Jen Price:
The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
Canada by Mike Myers
Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
Saltwater by Katy Hays
Come Fly With Me by Camille Di Maio
Bre of Brezzylovesbooks:
Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems by Melania Luisa Marte
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
Maggie; or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee
Maggie Brennan:
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Wolf Pack by Amelia Brunskill
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
Amy Smalley:
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan
Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman
Carrie Vittitoe:
My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Family’s Past by Ariel Sabar
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon
Mary Hopper:
The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Moscow Sleepers by Stella Rimington
The Searcher by Tana French
The Hunter by Tana French
Aflame: Learning From Silence by Pico Iyer
Karishma Verma:
The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversman
You Wanna Be on Top?: A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America's Next Top Model by Sarah Hartshorne
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
The Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden
The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke
Alayna Mills:
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Flashlight by Susan Choi
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Heart the Lover by Lily King
