1. “Our 51 Favorite Books of 2025.” “Gaze down from on high and declare certain books ‘the best’? Never! Instead, here are the titles that especially stuck with us this year. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did!”


2. Samantha Neugebauer’s review of The Mind Reels: A Novel by Fredrik deBoer (Coffee House Press). “Unfortunately, the stretch between the book’s strong opening and Alice’s breakdown — and again before its cliffhanger ending — is bogged down by persistent telling and summarizing rather than showing, all alongside feeble character dynamics and heavy-handed dialogue. The friendship between Alice and her college roommate, for instance, is so flat and forced that it’s difficult to feel any pain or grief at its demise. The same is true for Alice’s other relationships, including her most lasting romantic connection and a cloudy childhood friendship.”


3. Kitty Kelley’s review of The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation by Jim Clyburn (Little, Brown and Company). “Clyburn is the first Black man to represent his state in Congress since 1897. He’s been reelected every term since 1992 and served as majority whip under Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He became a presidential power broker in 2020 when he endorsed Joe Biden in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, giving Biden the momentum to capture the nomination and later win the presidency. Biden rewarded Clyburn in 2024 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now, the congressman is celebrating himself, his predecessors, and their shared history in a tribute to the African Americans who fought so hard for equality against racial injustice.”


4. Ellen F. Brown’s review of Devouring Time: Jim Harrison, a Writer’s Life by Todd Goddard (Blackstone Publishing). “Born in 1937, Harrison was a middle-class Midwestern kid who bristled at midcentury mores. Inspired by the barbaric yawps of Walt Whitman, he envisioned for himself a nomadic life immersed in — and writing about — the great outdoors. He was just establishing himself as a poet of substantial promise when he was faced with the challenge of keeping food on the table for his wife and children. A practical sort, Harrison took his literary skill and off-the-grid lifestyle on a detour into fiction writing, screenwriting, and contributing to men’s magazines. The enterprise delivered spectacular results: Harrison ended up a bestselling author wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.”


5. Mariko Hewer’s review of Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida by Gilbert King (Flatiron Books). “Some tales of wrongdoing are so riveting, so flabbergasting, that the way they’re told scarcely seems to matter. Yet in Bone Valley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King lends additional tension and urgency to an already-unbelievable real-life horror story. (The book is adapted from the podcast of the same name created by King and his colleague Kelsey Decker.)”

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