Top 10 Books of 2025

In the past twelve months, I’ve read a total of 82 books. A few of those books, such as Laura Ingall’s Wilder’s Little House Books and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, I’ve read several times before. One of them, the Bible, I read through every year. If I included those personal favorites on my list of the Top 10 Books of 2025, it wouldn’t leave much room for new books.

So I ‘m purposefully restricting this Top 10 Book List to books that were new to me this year — my first reading. I’ve included both fiction and non-fiction titles, although I tend to read much more of the latter than the former, aside from the aforementioned favorites.

Even so, these were the works I found to be most impactful and thought-provoking this year, listed in the order I finished reading them. I hope, if you add any of these titles to your own reading list, you’ll find them to be the same.

Top 10 Books of 2025

Chris Beat Cancer by Chris Wark

A friend recommended the book Chris Beat Cancer after learning about my breast cancer diagnosis.The author was diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 26 and had surgery to remove the tumor and 49 lymph nodes, but decided to forgo chemo in favor of making radical changes to his diet, which he details in this inspiring account.

I also tried the recipes in Wark’s Beat Cancer Kitchen, all very tasty. The best time to read either these books? Before you ever get a diagnosis, since many of the recommendations are even better at preventing cancer than they are at healing it.

​Hannah’s Children by Catherine Ruth Pakaluk

Hannah’s Children  examines plummeting birth rates and the failure of even aggressive pro-natalist policies to reverse the trend. The author traveled across the US to interview outliers: 55 women who’ve intentionally had from 5-15 children.

In this fascinating account, Pakaluk shares their reasons for wanting a large family, what kind of personal sacrifice was required to achieve it, and how they felt about the results. As a mother of 12, I found myself resonating with many of their testimonies, some of which brought tears to my eyes.

French Kids Eat Everything by Karen le Billon

French Kids Eat Everything  was a delightful read! When the author moved with her husband and children to a small French village to be closer to her in-laws, she was totally unprepared for the culinary culture-shock that awaited her there. 

Not only did the cuisine differ dramatically from that to which she and her kids were accustomed, but the whole French mentality toward food, fine dining… and the most effective way to deal with finicky eaters.  Parents of picky eaters everywhere would do well to give these French food practices (and the included recipes!) a try.

No More Tears by Gardiner Harris

Want to keep believing Big Pharma (or even the FDA) has your best interest at heart? Then don’t read this book. If, however, you’d like to know how deep the corruption goes or the extent to which certain pharmaceutical companies put profit ahead of public safety, Gardiner Harris’s eye-opening book, No More Tears, delivers such details big time.

It’s based on decades of investigative journalism, internal memos, courtroom testimonies, clinical trials, and firsthand accounts of people whose lives were forever altered by the pernicious products peddled and the perilous cover-ups perpetrated by one of America’s most trusted companies, Johnson & Johnson.

The Art of Making Memories by Meik Wiking

I purchased The Art of Making Memories thinking it might offer some fun ideas for adding to my children’s bank of fond recollections. But the book was much more scientific than that. Rather than the bucket list of suggestions I was expecting, it contains a treatise on how memories are made and stored and retrieved, along with a few hacks for optimizing the process. 

I still found it a fascinating read, although it is not written from a Christian perspective and consequently falls short in some of its conclusions concerning the attainability of deep and abiding happiness.

The Covenant Household by Douglas Wilson

My husband and I listened to The Covenant Household together, having come to appreciate Douglas Wilson’s writings. This one deals with family relationships from a concise, biblical perspective. We found it both insightful and convicting.

Wilson holds to a complementary view of marriage and a belief that parents have a God-given responsibility to train, teach, and discipline their children rather than indulging or ignoring poor attitudes and sinful behaviors. And so The Covenant Household, like his other books, is written from this conservative Christian perspective and filled with lots of supporting scripture.

You Bet Your Stretch Marks by A. Halberstadt

Abbie Halberstadt’s You Bet Your Stretch Marks is jam-packed with life-giving, soul-nourishing wisdom and encouragement for bone-weary mamas who find themselves wondering whether they’ll ever see any fruit from their parenting efforts. Is the all the hard work and personal sacrifice really worth it?

The title of this book is Abbie’s resounding answer, backed by tons of scripture and underscored by testimonies from over a dozen faithful, older moms whose own experience likewise bears out the truth of that claim.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

A middle-school science teacher awakes from a coma to find himself stranded alone in deep space on a mission to save Earth… but with no immediate recollection of how he got there.

Our family first heard of Project Hail Mary when we saw a trailer for an upcoming sci-fi film starring Ryan Gosling. We wanted to read the book before watching the movie, so we downloaded the audiobook before a lengthy roadtrip. Andy Weir’s storyline is so compelling and Ray Porter’s narration so captivating that we tuned in every chance we got and finished the 16-hour listen long before it came time to drive home.

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom’s The Little Liar was voted onto our family reading list this year. One of my adult daughters suggested it, but I knew nothing about the story before listening to the audiobook with my husband last month.

We both found it powerfully moving.

Albom tells the poignant story of a Jewish family from Greece, split apart by the Nazis, and the lengths to which each family member goes to protect one another and survive the Holocaust — some, successfully; others, not.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat has revolutionized the way I approach meal prep. Hers is not so much a recipe book as it is a simple explanation of the elements that make food taste good — salt, fat, acid, and heat — and how to combine them for maximal impact on flavor.

This gem by Samin Nosrat is an interesting, informative, and enjoyable read (and one our entire family has been passing around). Highly recommended.