Jessica’s 10 Best Books of 2025
I read 54 books in 2025 (plus 5 that I did not finish), which I attribute mainly to having the most calm, quiet evenings of any year ever (thank you Man Cleanse). Here I share with you my top ten favorites, which span multiple genres, so they are hard to order.
Also, in making this post, I made the strange discovery that almost all books (even recently published ones) now have multiple covers?! Some with identical cover art over different background colors, others with completely different vibes. So odd.
Anyways, here we go:
Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
A book I think about literally every single day. A really well researched and well cited read on the lack of regulation around synthetic food additives, their interactions with human metabolism, and the misinformation around diet & exercise. Its also quite funny at times.
“If the company that will make money from an ingredient disagrees with the FDA’s concerns, and it believes that its product is GRAS [generally recognized as safe], then it can withdraw the FDA application and put the molecule in food anyway. […] There have been 766 new food chemicals added to the food supply since then, which means that the other 756 (or 98.7 per cent) have been self-determined [to be GRAS] by the companies that make them.”
The High Sierra: A Love Story by Kim Stanley Robinson
A nostalgic journey into the mountains I love the most, by a man who spent most of his life exploring them. Robinson succeeds in describing what I find so compelling about being in the wilderness. It inspired me to get off trail and go on some cross country adventures.
“The quiet mornings. Sunsets. The rhythm of walking all day. The nights out. Wilderness as experienced while walking in it, traversing a space so above or beyond our ordinary world. The sense of being on a quest; the exploration of unknown territory, wild and remote from the world. The slow devotional practice of it. The harmless fun.”
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
2025 is the year I discovered Sally Rooney (thank you Ari). Intermezzo was my first, my favorite, and I almost did not finish it. The first chapter is written in a very chaotic style that I found quite off-putting, but I persevered and was rewarded with such a beautiful unfolding. Oh, and she doesn’t use quotations to indicate speech, so don’t come at me.
“Men, and even other women, and systems, bureaucracies, laws, intent it seems on breaking her, forcing her to accept misery. And here she is laughing, drinking sugary coffee, begging to be fucked.“
The Will of the Many by James Islington
A prestigious magical school on an island with a dark secret and an anti-imperialist theme. The second book of this trilogy was just published at the end of 2025.
Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa
Woman drops her life to go to Bhutan, has a melt down, falls in love with the country, stays. The psychological journey of adaptation to challenging situations and change of perspective.
““Now, there are just two things I have to tell you about before you go to sleep.” I am already asleep. I do not want to hear two things. “If you hear things falling off the shelves in the night, it’s just the rats. And in the morning, could you just reach behind you and slide open that window to let the chicken out?”
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
Honestly picked this up because I saw the holographic-melty-disturbing cover of the just-published fourth book in a shop. A horror sci-fi told from the perspective of a biologist trying to make sense of a strange aberration in time-space. I was surprised to be genuinely terrified of what would befall the group of explorers next. Originally a trilogy, Jeff decided to publish a final wrap up novel this year.
“That’s how the madness of the world tries to colonize you: from the outside in, forcing you to live in its reality.”
The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard
A very unique concept for a sci-fi universe. I finished this on one very long flight from Barcelona to San Francisco and the hours just melted away. Beautifully written, the young love story in the beginning is so wholesome and so sad and made it hard for me to continue into part 2 when everything falls apart. Glad I overcame my stress avoidance and finished it.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
I was looking for a book that could go into the GxE on extrovertism/introvertism, and this satisfied some of my curiosity. By necessity of comparison, it explores the extrovert experience, but it did feel biased towards introverts. And maybe that’s to counteract some of the common cultural bias in favor of extroverts. Very interesting book that gave me a lot to reflect on, though I did lose some respect for the author when she claimed this introverted man got pneumonia from being too social. So take her analyses with a grain of salt.
“What’s so magical about solitude? In many fields, [research psychologist, Anders] Ericsson told [the author], it’s only when you’re alone that you can engage in Deliberate Practice, which he has identified as the key to exceptional achievement. When you practice deliberately, you identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly. Practice sessions that fall short of this standard are not only less useful — they’re counterproductive. They reinforce existing cognitive mechanisms instead of improving them….Only when you’re alone, Ericsson told [the author] can you ‘go directly to the part that’s challenging to you. If you want to improve what you’re doing, you have to be the one who generates the move.”
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Kuang nails the helpless and drowning feeling of being a PhD student. An unhinged journey into Hell to recover her bipolar advisor. Unexpectedly relatable.
“Peter trudged into her circle, which was very rude. One should always ask before entering another magician’s pentagram.”
“For one of them had to keep the cheer; one of them had to be delusional. This was the key to flourishing in graduate school. You could do anything if you were delusional.”
The Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell
The best audiobook that I listened to this year! Two young friends go to Fire Island to have a fun gay summer, magical weirdness and personal growth ensue. The writing & the narrator are hilarious.
“His eyes were bombarded by a rainbow fantasia of feathers, sequins, glass beads, and wall-to-wall camp. A Disneyland fantasy boudoir by way of a whorish Glinda the Good Witch.”