{"id":3408,"date":"2025-06-30T01:37:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3408"},"modified":"2025-06-30T01:37:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:37:54","slug":"10-best-books-of-2025-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=3408","title":{"rendered":"10 Best Books of 2025 (so far)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Halfway through 2025, it\u2019s been a bumper six months for new books.  Of the multitude of fiction releases, here are our favorite reads of 2025 to date. Enjoy 10 Best Books of 2025 (so far)!<\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">10 Best Books of 2025 (so far)<\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc wp-block-simpletoc-toc\">\n<h2><button class=\"simpletoc-collapsible\">Table of Contents<span class=\"simpletoc-icon\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#10-best-books-of-2025-so-far\">10 Best Books of 2025 (so far)<\/a>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#tilt-by-emma-pattee\">Tilt by Emma Pattee<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#death-of-the-author-by-nnedi-okorafor\">Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#isola-by-allegra-goodman\">Isola by Allegra Goodman<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#flesh-by-david-szalay\">Flesh by David Szalay<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#strange-pictures-by-uketsu\">Strange Pictures by Uketsu<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#the-cafe-with-no-name-by-robert-seethaler\">The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#a-room-above-a-shop-by-anthony-shapland\">A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#three-days-in-june-by-anne-tyler\">Three Days in June by Anne Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#the-emperor-of-gladness-by-ocean-vuong\">The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/10-best-books-of-2025#theft-by-abdulrazak-gurnah\">Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Tilt by Emma Pattee<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ncxoSR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DEmma%2520Pattee%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DTilt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Annie is 37 weeks pregnant, standing in IKEA, finally about to take home the crib she should have bought months ago. That\u2019s when it happens \u2013 the long-anticipated Cascadia Earthquake, dismantling the East Coast of America in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Propulsive, disruptive, funny, terrifying, Tilt is a novel about how the foundations of our lives are built and shaken. About a woman trying to walk back to the husband she\u2019s long been pushing away. About put-off dreams and inevitability and what makes us keep moving forward.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4fQ7oJ9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DNnedi%2520Okorafor%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DDeath%2520of%2520the%2520Author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she\u2019s suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister\u2019s wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she\u2019s not sure what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life \u2013 she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.<\/p>\n<p>What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu\u2019s life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.<\/p>\n<p>Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Isola by Allegra Goodman<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<\/p><p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3GuQovi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAllegra%2520Goodman%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DIsola\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In sixteenth-century France, as the heiress to an aristocratic fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of privilege. Then she is orphaned, and her enigmatic and volatile guardian squanders her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to the new French colonies of North America. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian\u2019s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished, abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.<\/p>\n<p>From a childhood dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she had never before needed\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola tells the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Flesh by David Szalay<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/45tQBJv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DDavid%2520Szalay%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DFlesh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fifteen-year-old Istv\u00e1n lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour \u2013 a married woman close to his mother\u2019s age \u2013 as his only companion. These encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istv\u00e1n himself can barely understand, and his life soon spirals out of control.<\/p>\n<p>As the years pass, he is carried gradually upwards on the currents of the twenty-first century\u2019s tides of money and power, moving from the army to the company of London\u2019s super-rich, with his own competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth winning him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Strange Pictures by Uketsu<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kPLFTQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DUketsu%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DStrange%2520Pictures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>An exploration of the macabre, where the seemingly mundane takes on a terrifying significance. . . .<\/p>\n<p>A pregnant woman\u2019s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.<\/p>\n<p>A child\u2019s picture of his home contains a dark secret message.<\/p>\n<p>A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbithole that will reveal a horrifying reality.<\/p>\n<p>Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, Uketsu invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all. <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Cafe With No Name by Robert Seethaler<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3SYJgu3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DRobert%2520Seethaler%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Cafe%2520With%2520No%2520Name\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is 1966, and Robert Simon has just fulfilled his dream by taking over a caf\u00e9 on the corner of a bustling Vienna market. He recruits a barmaid, Mila, and soon the customers flock in. Factory workers, market traders, elderly ladies, a wrestler, a painter, an unemployed seamstress in search of a job, each bring their stories and their plans for the future. As Robert listens and Mila refills their glasses, romances bloom, friendships are made and fortunes change. And change is coming to the city around them, to the little caf\u00e9, and to Robert\u2019s dream.<\/p>\n<p>A story of the hopes, kindnesses and everyday heroism of one community, The Caf\u00e9 with No Name has charmed millions of European readers. It is an unforgettable novel about how we carry each other through good and bad times, and how even the most ordinary life is, in its own way, quite extraordinary.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kS4c2f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAnthony%2520Shapland%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DA%2520Room%2520Above%2520a%2520Shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When two quiet men form a tentative connection neither knows where it might lead. M has inherited his family\u2019s ironmongery business and B is younger by eleven years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side in the shop, they also begin a life together in their one shared room above \u2013 the kind of life they never imagined possible and that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.<\/p>\n<p>Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Three Days in June by Anne Tyler<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3HSIjRF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAnne%2520Tyler%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThree%2520Days%2520in%2520June\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the day before her daughter\u2019s wedding and things are not going well for Gail Baines. First thing, she loses her job \u2013 or quits, depending who you ask. Then her ex-husband Max turns up at her door expecting to stay for the festivities. He doesn\u2019t even have a suit. Instead, he\u2019s brought memories, a shared sense of humour \u2013 and a cat looking for a new home.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Gail is wondering what\u2019s next, their daughter Debbie discovers her groom has been keeping a secret\u2026<\/p>\n<p>As the big day dawns, the exes just can\u2019t agree on what\u2019s best for Debbie. Gail is seriously worried, while Max seems more concerned with whether to opt for the salmon or prime rib at the reception, if they make it that far.<\/p>\n<p>The day after the wedding, Gail and Max prepare to go their separate ways again. But all the questions about the future of the happy couple have stirred up the past for Gail. Because \u2018happy\u2019 takes many forms, and sometimes the younger generation has much to teach the older about secrets, acceptance and taking the rough with the smooth.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong<\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4iTpkDJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DOcean%2520Vuong%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Emperor%2520of%2520Gladness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. <\/p>\n<p>Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai\u2019s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.<\/p>\n<p>Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3T53vGt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAbdulrazak%2520Gurnah%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DTheft\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is the 1990s. Growing up in Zanzibar, three very different young people \u2013 Karim, Fauzia and Badar \u2013 are coming of age, and dreaming of great possibilities in their young nation. But for Badar, an uneducated servant boy who has never known his parents, it seems as if all doors are closed.<\/p>\n<p>Brought into a lowly position in a great house in Dar es Salaam, Badar finds the first true home of his life \u2013 and the friendship of Karim, the young man of the house. Even when a shattering false accusation sees Badar sent away, Karim and Fauzia refuse to turn away from their friend.<\/p>\n<p>But as the three of them take their first steps in love, infatuation, work and parenthood, their bond is tested \u2013 and Karim is tempted into a betrayal that will change all of their lives forever.<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed 10 Best Books of 2025 (so far), check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/5-amazing-new-books-for-july-2025\">5 Amazing New Books for July 2025<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Halfway through 2025, it\u2019s been a bumper six months for new books. Of the multitude of fiction releases, here are our favorite reads of 2025 to date. Enjoy 10 Best Books of 2025 (so far)! This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. 10 Best Books [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}