Another year has come to an end, and with it, another year of reading. Like every year, I list the ten best books I read in 2025 below and the reasons why I enjoyed them so much.
This year, I read a mix of novels, history and some science books that I found fascinating. One of the goals I mentioned in last year’s list was to read more fiction. I feel like I did that, but I still wish I’d read more.
That’s a goal of mine going into 2026, and although I read some Hemingway, which is on this list, I would like to read more of his books and explore some more interesting authors I’ve not had the time to check out yet.
Yet, that’s not until next year, and I hope you enjoy the list below and that it gives you ideas of what to read going forward.
Table of Contents
A Farewell to Arms
One of Ernest Hemingway’s finest novels, A Farewell to Arms is based on his experiences in the First World War and follows an American soldier as he fights for Italy.
I was hooked from the beginning, and that Hemingway fought in this war gives his story more credence.
It’s a rollercoaster of emotions as you follow the main character around war-torn Europe as he fights for Italy and then tries to dodge the authorities after going on the run.
As with most Hemingway books, it’s a direct account, and the ending is one of the grimmest I’ve encountered. So much so that I had to sit in silence for a few minutes afterwards to contemplate what I’d read.
But that doesn’t detract from the greatness of this novel, and it’s one you have to read if you enjoy Hemingway’s work.
Vineland
Thomas Pynchon is one of my favourite authors, and although I didn’t read his latest book, which he released towards the end of the year, I did read Vineland.
The timing was fortuitous because a film, One Battle After Another, was released a few months after I started reading it. So, that gave me extra motivation to read this book before it came out.
As with every Pynchon novel I’ve read, with the exception of The Crying of Lot 49, it’s a hard book to follow at times. The plot goes in all directions, and it’s hard to keep up. I had to read the Wikipedia plot a few times to get an idea of what was happening.
Still, it’s a great book and a typical Pynchon adventure through the wacky world he creates. I recommend reading the novel and then watching the film, as this will help you understand both in more detail.
Personality and Power
Personality and Power is a fascinating history book by one of the best historians around, Ian Kershaw. It looks at some of the powerbrokers since the Second World War who have shaped Europe.
While it’s one of the most interesting books about dictators, it also looks at democratic figures such as Churchill and Thatcher, too.
It’s this contrast that makes the book a fascinating read. You get to see the differences between how dictators affect their country and those who adhere to democratic norms.
If you’re looking for a primer on some of the most notable figures in the history of postwar Europe, it’s one of the best books to start with.
The Blackwater Lightship
I’ve been aware of Colm Toibin for a while, but I’ve never got around to reading one of his books. Until this year, that is.
The Blackwater Lightship is a great novel and one I wasn’t expecting much from when I picked it up. The story follows a family in Ireland who are divided and dealing with the grief of one of them slowly dying.
It’s a masterful book, and it’s fascinating how Toibin weaves a story around the embittered family as circumstances bring them back together and old wounds open up.
I don’t know much about Toibin’s other work, but I feel like this is a good book to start with, and one you won’t regret reading.
The Great Transformation
The Great Transformation is a book I wasn’t aware of until I saw it mentioned in a Guardian article a few years ago. I’d heard of the author, Karl Polanyi, but I didn’t know much about him or his work.
This book is considered to be his finest work and details how economic conditions in Europe in the 1920s led to the rise of Fascism that plagued the continent from the 1930s to the 1940s.
What was fascinating about Polanyi’s work was that he went back as far as the 18th century to indicate how economic conditions in that period set the stage for what was to come. I was intrigued by this, and although I didn’t fully understand it, it was fascinating to see how Polanyi dives so far back to explain what happened.
It’s not an easy book to read, as it’s dense with information and economic history. But if this stuff interests you and you want to understand how these dictators came to power, it’s a must-read.
The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire
As a student of history, one of the empires I know little about is the Ottoman Empire. I bought The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire to rectify this and learn more about what caused this once mighty empire to collapse.
The book was fabulous, and although not very long, it did an excellent job of explaining how the empire came to collapse after the First World War.
The collapse of the empire was a profound moment that still has an impact today in Gaza, Greece, Turkey and many more places. What surprised me was how far the empire’s reach extended. It seems there were very few places it didn’t touch.
In 2026, I want to read more about the empire in the early days, but this book was a brilliant read and one that helped explain some of the modern-day tribulations we see in the world.
On The Calculation of Volume
On the Calculation of Volume was one of the first books I read in 2025, and one I enjoyed reading.
The story is great and follows a woman who keeps waking up and experiencing the same day on repeat. Every day she awakes and goes through the motions, and you keep reading and wondering when it’s going to stop.
Only it doesn’t, and she decides to take more and more extreme measures to try and snap out of the loop. The book does drag on a little towards the end, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
There are more books scheduled to come out, and I’m interested to see how the story develops and what happens next.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
I’ve always wanted to read John le Carre, and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was the first book of his I read while I was on holiday with my girlfriend.
The book surprised me. I wasn’t expecting it to be so interesting and gripping. This is probably because I’ve never read spy fiction before, but it kept me hooked for the whole flight to Barcelona. I think I had 50 pages left by the time the flight landed, I enjoyed it that much!
The story follows Cold War intrigue, as a disgraced spy undertakes one last assignment in East Germany. But gets caught in a web of intrigue and danger.
I loved the book, and one of my goals for 2026 is to read more of Le Carre’s work.
Fire Weather
Out of all the books on the list, Fire Weather was the one that shocked me the most, and not in a good way.
The book tells the story of the Fort McMurray fire, which I’d never heard of, and how it destroyed this mining town in the north of Canada.
I was shocked, I hadn’t heard about this fire, and the way it’s described in this book is terrifying and gripping. It’s a book that epitomises what’s going on with climate change and how the warming planet is making weather events more extreme.
The book is a warning about what might be headed our way if we’re not careful. It’s an essential, if scary, read.
The Old Man and the Sea
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The last of my books on this list is The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and perhaps my favourite book of the year.
It’s a short book but a brilliant one. It describes the battle between an old man and a giant fish he tries to capture at sea.
The prose is typical Hemingway, brief and to the point, but it doesn’t detract from the story. As it’s only a short book, you can read this in an afternoon and enjoy such a brilliant book that tells the struggle between man and nature.
This is the best book to get an introduction to Hemingway, and the easiest one to read to get an idea of his style and ideas. I can’t recommend it enough and can’t believe it took me so long to read.