Yes, I’m aware that we are now more than a month into 2026, but it’s taken me a while to reflect on what I was reading last year, and even longer to narrow them down into a top 3. But here it is now: my favourite books I read in 2025. Although these might not technically be the best books I read, they’re the most memorable and therefore they’ve made the cut.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
I specifically remember this book because of the context I was reading it in. Following a stressful term at university where I had barely read anything, I’d been restarting countless books out of desperation for anything to engage me. I finally picked up my copy of ‘where the crawdads sing’ whilst on holiday with my friends over easter. I’d had the book on my shelf for a while, but it had never felt like the right time to start.
‘Where the crawdads sing’ tells the story of Kya, a girl living out in the marshlands of North Carolina. Abandoned by her family she raises herself out in the swamp, befriending two different boys from the nearby town. The story follows her life and emotional journey as she grows up, and the romance and darkness that follow her.
My favourite thing about this book was how immersive it was. The writing is beautiful, sweeping you along in the story and fully absorbing you in Kya’s life and mindset. I thought it was really interesting how the marsh acted like another character in the story and had its own distinct personality. Furthermore, Kya is a fascinating narrator, and it was really interesting have an insight into her thoughts. I also loved the plot twist in the ending, which completely contradicted everything I had thought about the book. That’s as much information as I’ll give, as I don’t want to risk spoiling it.
The Institute by Stephen King
This was another holiday read for me, I promise I don’t go on holiday that much, its just where most of the reading seems to take place. It was recommended by my dad, so I went in pretty much blind, lacking the research I normally do before buying books.
Despite being a Stephen King novel, this is not a horror story, although it does have a few disturbing elements to it. There a two main characters, Tim Jameson, a former policeman, and Luke Ellis, a supernaturally gifted 12-year-old. Luke is kidnapped from his house in the middle of the night by a people who work at ‘the institute’, an organisation dedicated to harnessing the children’s powers for their own mysterious aims. Working in the nearby town, Tim must find and help save the kidnapped children.
Although the plot was fairly cliché of typical YA novels, I still enjoyed it. The writing style was different from typical teen literature and therefore it still felt new for me. It was also slightly darker than most YA books due to being catered at an older audience. I found it had a similar energy to earlier Stranger Things seasons.
The characters were really interesting, and as always, King does an excellent job at setting the scene for the action to take place in.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
This was a book that I’ve been meaning to read for a long time but somehow never got around to. I thoroughly enjoyed it by the end, but it did take me a while to get started, and by a while I mean 4 months. Not ideal. However, once I’d forced myself to sit down and actually read it without any distractions I found it really engaging.
The novel follow dual narrators Lisbeth Salander and Mikeal Blomkvist as they investigate the cold case disappearance of Harriet Vagner. I struggled with the dual narration at first as I was much more invested in Lisbeth’s story, but found this better as it progressed. I will warn that the story gets pretty brutal in some parts, its definitely not light reading, but if you can make it through then the ending is really satisfying. There’s some really great plot twists and reveals which keep you guessing for most of the story.
What were your favourite books this year? Let me know in the comments!