What was the best book of 2025? Our go-to book expert shares her picks

Traci Thomas's best books of the year

• "Hunchback" by Saou Ichikawa translated by Polly Barton
• "Dominion" by Addie E. Citchens
• "Middle Spoon" by Alejandro Varela
• "The Grand Paloma Resort" by Cleyvis Natera
• "Sunrise on the Reaping" by Suzanne Collins (YA)
• "This Thing of Ours" by Frederick Joseph (YA)
• "Stag Dance" by Torrey Peters

• "One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This" by Omar El Akkad
• "The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990" by Jonathan Mahler
• "Things in Nature Merely Grow" by Yiyun Li
• "Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People" by Imani Perry
• "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism" by Eve L. Ewing
• "There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America" by Brian Goldstone
• "A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children" by Hayley Cohen Gilliland
• "Sad Tiger" by Neige Sinno translated by Natasha Lehrer
• "The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders" by Sarah Aziza

• "The People's Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward" edited by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith
• "Scorched Earth" by Tiana Clark

• "Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love" by Samin Nosrat