📚 Over this past year, we’ve recommended a long list of books across genres. And while each read has left its mark, some did so more than others. As we race towards the winter holidays, many of us will be cozying up with a hot drink and the latest addition to our personal libraries.

Not sure what to pick up just yet? We’ve gathered up some of our favorite 2025 reads in case you missed any (we forgive you). Here’s what we would argue deserves your time and attention.

Non-fiction reality checks

#1- I Can Imagine it for Us, the memoir that had us sobbing: A heart-breaking ode from a Palestinian-Egyptian daughter to her father, Mai Serhan reimagines Nizar Serhan’s past intertwined with the Nakba — a history he spent his life trying to escape. The memoir asks: what if we could have been happy? What if we could have had it all? Through a non-chronological narrative, Serhan explores their complicated relationship set against shifting backgrounds of Cairo, Beirut, Palestine, China, and Dubai.

#2- One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, the most pivotal read for historians, journalists, and anthropologists of 2025: Egyptian-American novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad not only chronicles the ongoing atrocities of Gaza’s genocide through a sociopolitical aspect, but studies how its events have been conveyed to the world. The book is a masterclass in journalistic ethics. It’s also an immigrant’s tale of what it means to never belong, rich in personal experiences and timely anecdotes.

#3- House of Huawei, our favorite tech read: How did Huawei become one of the tech world’s most prominent players (and its most mysterious)? That’s exactly what Washington Post tech reporter Eva Dou sets out to answer in a detailed and comprehensive read that doesn’t shy away from drama and controversy. Educating and entertaining? Absolutely.

#4- Heart Lamp, the anthology we couldn’t put down: 2025 International Booker Prize recipient Banu Mushtaq captures the nuanced reality of some women and girls in Southwest India, primarily spotlighting women in toxic marriages, struggling with ruthless in-laws, being denied education, and suffocating from a social system that see them as easily replaceable. The collection heavily explores motifs of faith, caste, class, and religion.

#5- Seven Myths About Money, a book that changed our perception on finances: Rob Dix explores common financial misunderstandings and traps, offering a perspective shift that promises to help readers achieve actual financial freedom. Everything we think we know about money might just be exactly what’s holding us back from… well, making more. Is managing your finances better one of your resolutions for 2026? Do yourself a favor and give this one a go.

#6- Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, the most hauntingly beautiful book we revisited in 2025: We found ourselves re-reading Pulitzer Prize laureate Mosab Abu Toha’s 2022 poetry collection several times over this year. A painfully raw, wholly emotional, and gruelling venture into one devastated Palestinian man’s soul, reflecting an entire people’s reality and confronting the reader with it. Despite its brevity, it won’t be an easy trek.

For the fiction aficionados

#1- Daughters of the Nile, the Egyptian debut that stuck with us: Challenging Egyptian gender norms, Zahra Barri’s debut novel tells the story of three Egyptian women from the same family across different generations. The polarizing and brave novel tackles religion, sexuality, and feminism all against an Egyptian sociopolitical backdrop. If you’re a fan of historical fiction that doesn’t follow traditional linear storytelling, you’ll want to pick this one up.

#2- Wild Dark Shore, the speculative fiction worth your time: The question of how long the world has left before it starts dying on us is one that has, at one point or another, crossed nearly every mind on earth. Charlotte McConaghy makes what-ifs a reality in a novel set on a far flung island whose only inhabitants are a family of four and one of the last seed faults on earth. At its core, the novel is a story of what it means to be human, what connects us, and whether or not our earth is beyond saving.

#3– The Other Valley, a time travel story that transcends genres: Rather it being a man-made invention, Scott Alexander Howard’s debut novel presents time travel as a fact of geography — a natural phenomenon that needs to be carefully managed. Howard’s background in philosophy shines through his writing, drawing readers into character-driven narratives spotlighting fundamental human dilemmas, and creating a deeply satisfying and resonant temporal experience that carries the emotional weight of the movie Interstellar.

#4- The Emperor of Gladness, 2025’s most beautifully-written novel: Vietnamese-American poet, writer, and the author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong’s latest novel follows 19 year old Hai’s struggles, hopes, and realities as he finds his chosen family. We’re let in on their in such hauntingly beautiful prose that we found ourselves re-reading passages just to savor them longer. While the novel itself is not based on a true story, it draws heavily from the author’s own life.

#5- The Safekeep, the plot twist we didn’t see coming: Dutch author Yael van der Wouden’s short novel takes place decades following World War II, a temporal setting that doesn’t quite stand out, but proves pivotal as the chapters fly by. Isabel’s off-the-beaten-path countryside life takes a stark turn when she’s visited by a peculiar guest, and we’ll leave it at that because it’s a novel best read with no prior introductions.

Honorable mentions

  • Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (Fantasy) — Read more ;
  • Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon (Fantasy) — Read More ;
  • Flesh by David Szalay (Literary Fiction) — Read More ;
  • The Road: A Graphic Adaptation by Cormac McCarthy (Dystopian Fiction) — Read More ;
  • Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Speculative Fiction) — Read More ;
  • A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar (Historical Fiction) — Read More ;
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