The books we couldn’t stop reading in 2025
The Excerpt
USA TODAY
4.1 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
From romantasy fever to dystopian deep dives, 2025 delivered a year of midnight book parties, big feelings, bold worlds and stories that became cultural touchstones. USA TODAY Books Reporter Clare Mulroy joins The Excerpt to break down the genres that dominated the year, the titles readers couldn’t stop talking about and what our favorite books reveal about us in 2025.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We traveled across centuries, stepped into dystopian arenas, sailed on survival rafts, and even made space for a little found family magic. |
| 0:13.6 | The books of 2025 didn't just entertain us. They became cultural touchstones, sparking conversations about identity, grief, love, and the world we want to build. |
| 0:29.6 | Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, December 11, 2025. |
| 0:37.1 | USA Today Books reporter Clown More, shares her picks for the best books of the year and the story is still lingering with readers. |
| 0:45.3 | Claire, it's always good to have you on. |
| 0:47.1 | Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. |
| 0:49.4 | This year felt huge for community around reading with midnight release parties, author tours, adaptations. |
| 0:57.1 | When you look back at 2025, what defined the reading culture for you? |
| 1:03.1 | I think it was a really fun year to be a books reporter, to be getting to see the way that we connect with each other in person, |
| 1:11.1 | I think, in the years since the pandemic, we're all increasingly hungry for that in-person |
| 1:15.6 | community, even around something that can be so solitary as reading. I think the publishers |
| 1:20.5 | are feeling this too, bringing back those midnight launch parties, going all in on book |
| 1:25.2 | influencer events and, you know, big splashy releases. This |
| 1:29.6 | year we went to a silent book club. And for me, I think that showed me the power of reading |
| 1:35.7 | with others in person. You know, it was just a group of people who were quiet and, you know, |
| 1:40.7 | maybe had a little bit of social time at the beginning, but just really wanted to read their favorite books and talk about them with people in a really low-stakes |
| 1:47.8 | social environment. So I think it's a good year for both extroverse and introverts to kind of |
| 1:52.7 | find some community around reading. Your list spans everything from Romanticy to horror to |
| 1:58.5 | memoir. What trends stood out this year in terms of what readers were |
| 2:03.3 | creating? I think we saw a lot of tried and true paranormal stories like werewolves and vampire books. |
| 2:09.5 | I feel like it's very in line with the 20th anniversary of Twilight that happened this fall. |
| 2:13.9 | Books like Barry Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, even on the Romance side, Bride and Mate by Allie Hazelwood. |
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