The Fiction You MUST Read in 2026
Year in Review: My Best Novel and Short Fiction Reads of 2025
2025 has come to a close. This year has gifted book lovers with thousands of new releases that have kept us happily reading from January to December. But whether you’re uncovering a new favorite author or returning to those books that you’ve read time and time again, I think we can all look back fondly on the books we’ve read this year.
I’ve selected twenty-four books1, across the areas of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as the best books I’ve read in 2025. The list you’re reading right now features my favorite fiction books of 2025.
If you would like to see my other lists, you’ll find them here:
A couple of ground rules for which books are included on this list. This list includes books that I’ve read and finished this year. If I read a book I liked this year and haven’t finished it yet, then it will not be included. If the book wasn’t technically released in 2025, that does not mean that it will be excluded.
I am, however, excluding rereads from these lists. Only books that I’ve read for the first time will be mentioned here.
Because I also do monthly reviews of the books I finish on What’s On My Mind, there will be some crossover with the Fresh Off the Shelf series. To make this article more worth your while, I’ve included a number of books not featured on those lists.
I would also like to inform returning newsletter subscribers that these Best Reads articles will be replacing the December 2025 entry of Fresh Off the Shelf. The books that would’ve been featured on that entry were included in these articles.
As an added note for the fiction selections, there will be repeat inclusions by the same author. I’m not apologizing for this; I love their work. I’m just giving you a heads up.
Without further delay, here are my best fiction reads of 2025.
Fiction
James by Percival Everett
“How strange a world, how strange an existence, that one’s equal must argue for one’s equality, that one’s equal must hold a station that allows airing of that argument, that one cannot make that argument for oneself, that premises of said argument must be vetted by those equals who do not agree.”2
I am not the first person to sing the praises of Percival Everett’s latest novel, James. This literary reimagining of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is replete with some of Everett’s best prose to date.
The first chapter of James stands as one of the strongest opening chapters of any novel I’ve read in recent years. In a mere eleven pages, Everett breathes new life into the world established by Mark Twain, adding new dimensions to the character of Jim that stand in stark contrast to his portrayal in the original novel.
James puts the dichotomy of the black and white experiences of 19th-century America on full display and is a textbook manifestation of W.E.B. Du Bois’s notion of double consciousness when it comes to race relations. A delightful read from start to finish.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
“Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as.”
—Viv3
If the last few years, for me, were defined by my foray into the world of epic fantasy, this year can be defined in part by my exploration of different fantasy sub-genres. Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes and its subsequent stories are the poster children of the “cozy fantasy” sub-genre—a genre defined by high fantastical elements and much lower, non-world-threatening stakes.
Legends & Lattes follows an orc named Viv as she retires from a lifetime of battle and bounty hunting to open a café in the city of Thune. The novel follows her various trials with getting started as a small business owner, from finding the right location and hiring staff to dealing with the hostile business interests in the region that don’t take too kindly to newcomers like her.
The story is a lovely tale about finding new purpose when life has grown too mundane and joy to be found in taking this new journey with the friends you find along the way.
