2025 in books

In perhaps my favorite book I read this year, Dust Tracks on a Road, Zora Neale Hurston writes, “I acted as if the books would run away.”

In another book I recently read and enjoyed, Heroes, Plain Folks, and Skunks by Happy Chandler, the former Kentucky governor writes about becoming interested in reading: “Once I had a taste I became a glutton.”

Tonight, after I finished making my traditional year-in-books spread in my journal using The Ransom Note Stickers Book, I asked Loui if I should caption the photo, “Reading is holding me hostage.”

If reading is, in fact, holding me for ransom, I’m like Belle when she sees the Beast’s library: happy with where I’m held.

Frankly (my dear) I’m astounded by how many books I got to read in 2025, my most in a year by far: 221.

I started keeping track in 2017 because I was curious if I read 100-plus books in a year. In 2025, I finished my 100th book (Dear Writer by Maggie Smith) on May 21. I finished my 200th (Grand Finales: The Creative Longevity of Women Artists by Susan Gubar) on Nov. 13.

Like I wrote in an older draft of my in-progress book, “I kept reading — a statement that could go on my tombstone.”

People often ask me how I read so much. Sometimes there’s a hint of an accusation, like they think I’m cheating somehow. I believe I was blessed with a natural affinity for and skill at reading — and now I’ve been developing that skill for more than two decades. Like the Dread Pirate Roberts says when Inigo Montoya tells him he’s wonderful, “I’ve worked hard to become so.”

My favorite thing about reading so many books is reading the books. My second favorite thing is analyzing the list, particularly at the end of the year. You can view the full list at https://baileyvandiver.com/2025, and here are some titles, numbers, superlatives and thoughts from my 2025 in books.

Top 10

I kept track of my reading for several years before I started curating a top 10. In 2021, I gathered the physical copies of my top 10 reads and took a photo. Each year since, I have scrapbooked a page in my journal to document my top 10 (and other things of note from the year in reading).

Are these my 10 favorite books of the year? Are they the 10 I think are the best? I guess I would most accurately say it’s some combination of the two. Every book on my top 10 is of very, very high quality, and each was — for reasons spanning from entertaining me to evoking emotion to informing me — a great read for me. This subjectivity is what makes the end of the year so exciting — we all get to share what we personally love!

Whittling 221 down to 10 is difficult, and there are some honorable mentions that I want to recognize here (I excluded any honorable mention titles cited elsewhere in this newsletter): Load in Nine Times by Frank X Walker; The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker by Amy Reading; No Son of Mine by Jonathan Corcoran; Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón; A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib; Horse by Geraldine Brooks; James by Percival Everett; The Tigerbelles by Aime Alley Card; and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

In with the old and in with the new

I didn’t keep close track of books’ publication years in 2025 and plan to in the future, but I did check to see what the oldest and the newest books were.

These are the oldest books I read this year: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, published in 1884; Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston, published in 1934; The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1937; and River of Earth by James Still, published in 1940.

I read many 2025 releases. The very, very newest are The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow, published Oct. 28, 2025, and Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, published Dec. 9, 2025.

‘Anyway, it’s about old friends’

It’s New Year’s Eve, so you should listen to “Auld Lang Syne” or, even better, watch When Harry Met Sally.

I love books about romance, and magic, and battles, and grief, and writing — and I really, really love books about friends.

Cultivating wonderful, reliable, fun, wise friends has been a great joy of my 20s. In fact, before Loui was a love interest in my life, he was a friend — one I counted myself lucky to have and one I looked up to as an example.

So I enjoy reading about friendship, and I wanted to share some favorites from this year.

Cat’s People by Tanya Guerrero is a novel about the people brought together by a stray cat in their community.

Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a romance, and while I really enjoyed the couple’s love story, it was the friendship dynamics that had me weeping on the couch.

This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher had The Princess Bride vibes in many ways, including through the group of friends.

Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney is another romance with excellent friendships — specifically friendships that began in the workplace, which are very special to me.

Stay True by Hua Hsu was a heartbreaker, about friendship and grief.

‘When in doubt, go to the library’

I cannot overstate the positive impact that libraries have in my life. August 2026 will mark 10 years since I first moved to Lexington, and the Lexington Public Library has been supporting my reading habit for nearly that long. The Warren County Public Library has been a cherished institution for my whole life — and continues to be, even though I’ve moved away. WCPL welcomed me to give a lecture about Alice Dunnigan earlier this year, which was an honor and privilege.

This year, I read 145 books from the Lexington Public Library — 74 digital and 71 physical. One of my goals for the year was to decrease my social media scrolling (even though I dearly love social media and think it can be a powerful source for good), and the digital books in particular helped with that.

Even though I’m going to try really, really hard to focus on reading through my personal small library in 2026, I’m sure you can still often find me at the LPL Beaumont Branch.

Recurrences

Whether because I read a series or because I read multiple standalones, there were several authors who show up on my list multiple times this year. I want to highlight a few.

When I read the first Veronica Speedwell mystery by Deanna Raybourn, I thought the rest of the series would be great to read digitally and slowly — something to keep on my phone to go to instead of social media. Instead, I read all nine books in nine days, and I can’t wait for the next one in 2026.

This year I read Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series for the first time, and it’s like a crucial piece clicked into place in my fantasy reader heart. It’s such a foundational series, and I enjoyed being in that world from start to finish.

I almost included a short story in my top 10 and probably would have if Alix E. Harrow hadn’t released a novel that I put there instead. Both The Everlasting and “The Knight and the Butcherbird” were out-of-this-world fantastic.

I finally finished reading the entire Secret Shanghai series by Chloe Gong, which are both violent and delightful.

I read a few by bell hooks — Writing Beyond Race and Remembered Rapture — and always look forward to reading more.

I read both of M. L. Wang’s standalone fantasy novels this year, both of which I really enjoyed: The Sword of Kaigen and Blood Over Bright Haven.

I will continue to recommend The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes; I read or reread three of the books this year.

Somehow I originally missed that Julia Seales is from Lexington and was delighted to learn that this year. Her books A Most Agreeable Murder and A Terribly Nasty Business are pure delight.

Jonah’s Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston would have been in my top 10 if her memoir hadn’t taken its place. I admire Zora so much, and I loved reading two of her works this year.

My favorite character

I read about a lot of wonderful characters — both real and imagined — this year, but my favorite by far is my husband, Loui.

From doing all of our household’s chores to reading several of my favorite books as audiobooks this year to listening to my recaps of most of what I read, Loui is a wonderful and crucial part of my reading. I couldn’t do this — nor would I want to do anything — without him.

May you have a wonderful 2026 with your loved ones and with many, many books.

a 2025 writing roundup