Best Books I Have Read in 2025

With the constant post-prandial somnolence of the festivities, it feels hard to write something that requires energy, work, and effort. Truthfully, anything we hope to be well written takes some form of effort, but one thing is to write solely from my brain and heart (with minimal fact-checking), and another is to research for a full-blown — and at times tedious — essay.

So, despite being a slow reader, I read some pretty decent books this year. And with the year coming to an end, and the pages of these books already closed, it feels celebratory to share some of the best books I read in 2025.

Five seemed enough.

I’m going to give the impatient ones a quick resolution and put down the list already. But to learn more about the books and why I loved them, you’ll have to keep reading a little longer.

The Safekeep

Faith, Hope, and Carnage

Stone Yard Devotional

The Well-Gardened Mind

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

1. The Safekeep, Yael van der Wouden

Hot. Hot, hot, hot. But not only that.

The Safekeep is a quietly unsettling novel that explores desire, guilt, and power through an intimate and claustrophobic lens. Set in a remote countryside, it slowly reveals how the past seeps into the present, shaping relationships in ways that feel both inevitable and disturbing. The prose is restrained yet charged, allowing tension to build in what is left unsaid as much as in what is spoken.

The whole novel is a striking work of art that only seldom falls short of its hype.

I was starstruck and completely blown away by some of the love scenes in the second part of the book…specifically the scene near the lake (God bless Sappho’s descendants).

As we follow Isa, a reclusive “heir,” and her unexpected guest, her brother’s girlfriend, Eva, the book unfolds in three main parts — what I like to think of as reclusion, the fall (of love), and the revelation — without spoiling more than I probably already have.

The prose is just right, and the plot is magnificent. The only thing that struck me as curious is how it starts very slowly but then picks up the pace quite quickly. The book keeps us waiting for the big reveal, but personally, I wasn’t disappointed when it finally came through.

2. Faith, Hope, and Carnage, Nick Cave & Sean O’Hagan

Faith, Hope, and Carnage is an intimate, conversational portrait of Nick Cave, built from years of interviews that trace his grief, creativity, and evolving spirituality. Cave reflects openly on faith — not as certainty, but as a fragile, necessary practice shaped by doubt and endurance.

I found it relatable, despite having come to a completely different conclusion from Cave in my own path of discovery.

This is a book that can be read on paper or listened to on audio. The audible version is narrated by the two authors and is incredibly immersive. It truly feels like being part of the conversation, as well as seeing Nick Cave’s thoughts grow and unfold with time and with grief.

3. Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood

Set in the author’s homeland of Australia. Our main character seeks meditative (though in her case not religious) seclusion at a monastery very close to where she lived as a child. A gorgeous, thoughtful story, delving into our memories of the past, grief, regret and forgiveness. Personally, I wanted this one to win the Booker and highly recommend it. — Sadie Seroxcat

In this special book, topics on womanhood, regional life, abuse, isolation, and climate are ever-present in the story without ever overbearing it or insulting the meditative tone of the book.

From start to finish, the anguish and tension between the need for a spiritual life and scepticism is also notable, but then too… The main character is and remains an atheist, and this spiritual need never becomes a seeking, never a reaching out for anything; rather, it is almost an allowing, a soft lending, an accepted surrendering. Never to god or afterlife, but for contemplation, connection, sisterhood, and simplicity.

4. The Well-Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World, Sue Stuart Smith

Stuart-Smith’s The Well-Gardened Mind is the first book you’ll hear me recommend when it comes to mental health and psychology.

As my belief in physical solutions to psychological problems has grown, I’ve come to see that there is no better way to put in the work than through gardening.

My psychologist likes to say that if everyone knew how good it was for the brain to eat well, sleep enough, and exercise, he’d be out of a job. Still, I think many things can be done holistically through a connection to nature. The Well-Gardened Mind includes anecdotes and statistical studies, public programs and personal experiences, as well as references to literature and poetry. Altogether, it makes a very compelling case for the mental and physical health benefits of gardening.

It is a beautiful book, and one I’ll keep in mind when trying to decide what reads to gift next.

Gardening is about a balance of different forces, human and natural, life and death. … If you are not a gardener, it may seem strange to think that scrabbling about in the soil can be a source of existential meaning, but gardening gives rise to its own philosophy…— Sue Stuart-Smith

5. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy

Perhaps my favourite read of the year, this little novella has everything I can ask from a book. Interesting characters, well-described context, existential crises, and philosophical arguments.

It’s a small book that can be read in one sitting, though it took me longer, given that my focus is at zero.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a stark exploration of mortality, exposing the emptiness of a life lived according to social convention rather than inner truth. As Ivan confronts his impending death, his physical suffering forces a profound moral and spiritual reckoning.

Every reader should read this short book. I keep it on my bedside table, because you never know when a lesson on life’s important aspects is needed (and it comes with another short story at the end that I still haven’t read!).