The ten best books I've read so far this year

Starring buzzy books worth the hype and nonfiction to understand the current state of America.

I know, I know. Every single one of these (admittedly very sporadic) newsletters over the past ~9 months has begun with some tale about how I’ve been MIA but “I’m back for real, this time, I promise!” While I’ve learned who I am by now and am not going to lay out some huge claim that I’ll be newslettering every weekend, I’ve been consuming a lot of Substack content lately, which has given me the itch to get back to writing my own.

What better way to kick things off than by sharing my favorite books of Q1, aka, the ten best books I’ve read so far this year? These span genres—we’ve got nonfiction, historical fiction, romance, literary fiction, even a short story collection!—and are made up of old faves (Curtis Sittenfeld, may you always be famous!) and debut authors who absolutely blew me away (Katie Naymon and Holly Brickley, may you always be famous too!).

Should my rave reviews for any of these compel you to pick any of these titles up, I’ve linked out to my Bookshop storefront (I’m not buying much, if anything, on Amazon these days). If you make a purchase through my links, I might make a small commission.

Onto the good stuff—the books (in alphabetical order to keep things fair):

1. BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall: In my experience, the year’s buzziest books usually don’t make their debut until summer or fall. Thus far, 2025 has proven to be an exception to the rule, as evidenced by BROKEN COUNTRY. The novel opens with a gunshot that changes the course of Beth’s life: When her brother-in-law kills a dog about to attack their herd of sheep, she’s shocked to find that the dog belongs to Gabriel, her first love who broke her heart as a teenager years before. Even though Beth is now happily married, she still feels a pull to Gabriel and his young son, causing tensions to swell in their small English countryside town. To me, this is the quintessential book club title. Told in dual timelines, it’s equal parts tragic love story, coming of age tale, legal/courtroom thriller, and historical fiction. While I did not love WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING, I certainly see shades of that title in BROKEN COUNTRY, which I think is infinitely better. Where this book excels is in the pacing. It moves like a thriller, but has the depth of literary fiction. I would advise knowing as little as possible before diving into this one!

2. CONFESSIONS by Catherine Airey: If you pitch a book as a cross between TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW and THE GOLDFINCH, odds are, I’m going to absolutely eat it up. As such, I started CONFESSIONS one morning and had to drag myself away from my Kindle so I could go to work and pretend to be a fully-functioning adult. CONFESSIONS is a novel that jumps from New York to Ireland and back again, with timelines spanning the 1970s to now. The novel opens in 2001 New York, where Cora is reckoning with her father’s death after the tragic events of 9/11. From there, we zoom out to Ireland, where we see her mother’s life unfold. I won’t go into any more detail than that for fear of spoilers. Like the aforementioned T&T&T, this book does delve into the world of video games and the way Airey uses the game as a device to reveal family secrets was impeccably crafted. CONFESSIONS is packed with family secrets that lend themselves to complex character dynamics and interesting formats, both in the way Airey uses multiple timelines/POVs and in the inclusion of mixed media elements.

3. DEEP CUTS by Holly Brickley: If you were to ask me about the titles I’d deem the buzziest of Q1—at least in my corner of the Internet—DEEP CUTS would easily be on the list. I love a music book, I love stories steeped in nostalgia, I love a novel that’s suuuuper character-driven. The novel opens with Percy and Joe meeting at the campus bar where Joe works, where they spend an evening discussing music. He asks her for feedback on one of his songs, igniting a partnership that’s equal parts electric and toxic, following them for years through heartbreak and angst as their story bops from Berkeley to New York to San Francisco in the early 2000s. While I loved many things about this book (the music talk—there’s an accompanying playlist! The pop culture and political references!), Brickley’s debut absolutely SHINES in the way she captures what it’s like to be young and vulnerable and passionate. Percy and Joe might be messy, but the ride while watching them figure it all out is truly a joy.

4. JAMES by Percival Everett: Every time there’s a universally acclaimed book, I get a little nervous to pick it up. What if I’m the one who doesn’t “get it?” What if I’m some weird outlier? With the case of JAMES, this has received both critical and social media praise, which made me equal parts anxious and excited to finally dive into it. After just a few pages, my fears dissipated—this was easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. This reimagining of Huckleberry Finn centers the story on Jim, the man who is enslaved to Huck’s family. When Jim overhears that he is going to be sold to a man in New Orleans, in turn separating himself from his wife and his daughter, he decides to flee. Meanwhile, Huck has turned up on the island where Jim has escaped after faking his own death. Knowing that he’ll be blamed for Huck’s murder if he’s found, the pair set off on an unforgettable adventure down the Mississippi River. When I reviewed this in February, I got a ton of questions asking if you need to read Huck Finn first. It had been well over a decade since I’ve read it and I had no issue with following JAMES. There’s not much I can say about JAMES that hasn’t been said already—it’s sharp, smart, perfectly satirical and James’s inner voice is one of the best literary devices I’ve seen in a long time.

5. REEL by Kennedy Ryan: As a self-proclaimed pop culture connoisseur, I tend to love books that explore the wild world of Hollywood, especially when they dive behind the scenes. Enter: Kennedy Ryan’s REEL, which follows a Broadway understudy who gets tapped to star in a biopic of a forgotten Harlem Renaissance legend, only to fall for the director who discovered her. If you’ve never read a Kennedy Ryan book, you need to change that ASAP. Might I suggest starting with this one? It truly has it all: Hollywood drama, scandal, spice, heart-wrenching moments, multimedia elements, and tons of Harlem Renaissance history. Ryan is known for the emotional depth she packs into her novels and REEL has it all in spades. The level of Hollywood detail in here feels so lush and glam. Don’t even get me started on how much I loved the exploration of Dessi’s story through the screenplay.

6. SHOW DON’T TELL by Curtis Sittenfeld: Me? Loving a Curtis Sittenfeld book? How unexpected! My reviews for Curtis’s books might be some of my most biased work yet: She is my all-time favorite novelist and it’s hard to put into words the impact PREP has had on my life (aka, it made me the writer and campus novel lover I am today). While I always love short story collections in theory, I seldom pick them up, unless of course they’re written by one of my favorite writers EVER (Can you tell that I love her work?). SHOW DON’T TELL is comprised of 12 short stories, most of which revolve around middle-aged white women in the Midwest and explore themes of marriage, family, identity, career, and community. Although I can’t necessarily relate with many of these (I’m in my 20s, not married, live in NYC, and don’t have kids), her observational style absolutely shines and her layered characters are fascinating to follow. My favorite stories include The Richest Babysitter in the World, White Women LOL, and Lost But Not Forgotten—the long awaited follow-up to my beloved PREP.

7. THE BARN by Wright Thompson: While I read a lot of nonfiction, true crime is surprisingly not typically something I reach for. Something about reading deep into these unsolved mysteries often leaves me with an ick. One caveat? When said true crime book is actually a deep dive into the history of a place, an exploration of the impact of violence has on a community, and an analysis of the way racism is so deeply intwined in American history. With THE BARN, acclaimed sports journalist and Mississippi native Wright Thompson uncovers the truth about the murder of Emmett Till, the young Black boy who was brutally killed in the Mississippi Delta. This book came highly recommended and it’s deserving of every single accolade. The crime happened miles from Thompson’s family farm and his profound connection to the Mississippi Delta colors the narrative with not only incredible detail, but a sense of accountability in having a white man delve so deep into violence against Black Americans to attempt to dismantle systemic racism and uncover this piece of buried history. This is a deeply moving book. Not always an easy read, but an essential one.

8. THE FAVORITES by Layne Fargo: Let’s get this out of the way: I love sports, but most sports-themed books err on the side of cheesy romances (no shade if you love these, I too partake in cheesy romance reading from time to time!) and not the lit fic I crave. While I’ve found a few sports-related reads that scratch that itch over the years (Hellllo THE ART OF FIELDING), it had been a while since I devoured something set on a court, or a field, or a rink—you get it. Enter THE FAVORITES, which perfectly toes the line between contemporary and literary fiction. It’s got the pace of a thriller, the character development of a literary tome, and the mixed media elements I’m always a sucker for. Did I mention it takes place on an aforementioned rink, following two ice dancers whose love for each other might ultimately destroy their personal and professional lives? Despite the 400+ page count, I gobbled this down in just a few sittings. And for my retelling lovers, this one is loosely based on WUTHERING HEIGHTS!

9. THE SMALL AND THE MIGHTY by Sharon McMahon: Despite my often-fraught relationship with historical fiction, I love reading about history—the more nonfiction in my life, the better! This year, I’ve decided to read at least one nonfiction book a month that can help me wrap my head around WTF has happened to this country (aka why 77 million people think a rapist/racist/failed businessman with multiple felonies and bankruptcies under his belt would be a great president). If you want to feel even a shred of faith in America, I implore you to read THE SMALL AND THE MIGHTY, penned by Sharon McMahon, oft-known as America’s Government Teacher. Each chapter of THE SMALL AND THE MIGHTY follows a little-known American who has made a massive impact on the country. They’re all people who deserve endless flowers but never got them in their lifetimes. From formerly enslaved people who made strides in Black education to Japanese immigrants who fought in combat, every last story in this book is deeply impactful and low-key encouraging. On that note: You’ll never find a person scumbag like DJT in a book like this.

10. YOU BETWEEN THE LINES by Katie Naymon: While I’m far from the most prolific romance reader out there, I’ve read my fair share of the genre and like to think I know exactly what titles are going to do it for me. In the case of YOU BETWEEN THE LINES, the signs were there. I prefer my romances with a touch of angst, can’t resist a campus novel, and love anything related to being a writer, so this novel about a burnt-out woman who enrolls in an MFA program to follow her dreams of becoming a poet, only to find that her former high school crush-turned-enemy is her new classmate was right up my alley. Turns out my romance spidey senses are still intact because I ADORED this book. It’s SUPER angsty, dives into the nitty gritty of their shared history and is packed with the “Saturn Return” vibes that I tend to love. Will might just be my new favorite book boyfriend and Katie Naymon has cemented herself as one of my new favorite romance writers with this debut.

WHEW! What better way to get back into the Substack game than by telling you all about some really damn good books? I actually have a newsletter for next weekend tentatively drafted, so we shall see if this is my official re-entry into newslettering.