The 25 best new books
The 25 highest-ranked books published in the last five years in our ranking of 2,816, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 481 new books in all. How we rank
- 1
James99.0Must-Read ScoreJames
Huckleberry Finn, retold by the man on the raft.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2025)National Book Award (Fiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (4 weeks at #1)52 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024 - 2
Demon Copperhead96.3Must-Read ScoreDemon Copperhead
Dickens's David Copperfield, moved to the mountains of Lee County, Virginia, in the 1990s and 2000s.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (2023)Women's Prize for Fiction winner (2023)81 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 3
Project Hail Mary95.2Must-Read ScoreProject Hail Mary
A man wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of who he is or why he's there, and two dead crewmates beside him.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (science fiction) winner (2021)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)157 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021Hugo Award finalist (2022) - 4
The Correspondent94.9Must-Read ScoreThe Correspondent
Sybil Van Antwerp is a sharp, private woman in her seventies who has written letters nearly every day of her life: to her brother, to old friends, to her children, to authors she admires and to people who have annoyed her.
Why it made the listWomen's Prize for Fiction winner (2026)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)50 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2025) - 5
Fourth Wing93.8Must-Read ScoreFourth Wing
Violet Sorrengail was meant for the quiet life of a scribe, until her mother, the commanding general, orders her into Basgiath War College to train as a dragon rider.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (romantasy) winner (2025, for Onyx Storm)#1 New York Times bestseller (14 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2023, 2024 and 2025 (Publishers Weekly) - 6
I'm Glad My Mom Died91.3Must-Read ScoreI'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy was six when her mother put her in her first audition, and she spent the next decade as a child actor, eventually starring on Nickelodeon's iCarly, all to make her mother happy.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (memoir autobiography) winner (2022)#1 New York Times bestseller (8 weeks at #1)151 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022 - 7
The Women91.0Must-Read ScoreThe Women
In 1965, Frankie McGrath is a sheltered twenty-year-old nursing student in Southern California when she hears that women can be heroes too.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (historical fiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (10 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2024 (Publishers Weekly) - 8
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This90.6Must-Read ScoreOne Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
In October 2023, a few weeks into the bombardment of Gaza, novelist Omar El Akkad posted a single line that went viral and became this book's title.
Why it made the listNational Book Award (Nonfiction) winner (2025)Goodreads Choice (nonfiction) finalist (2025) - 9
King: A Life90.2Must-Read ScoreKing: A Life
The first major biography of Martin Luther King Jr.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Biography) winner (2024)NBCC Award (Biography) finalist (2023)Goodreads Choice (history biography) finalist (2023) - 10
The Housemaid89.3Must-Read ScoreThe Housemaid
Millie is out of prison, out of options and living in her car when she's offered a live-in job as a housemaid for the wealthy Winchester family.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (3 weeks at #1)One of the ten best-selling books of 2024 and 2025 (Publishers Weekly)Goodreads Choice (mystery thriller) finalist (2022) - 11
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty89.2Must-Read ScoreEmpire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
The Sackler family's name was once on museum wings and university buildings around the world.
Why it made the listBaillie Gifford Prize winner (2021)Goodreads Choice (history biography) winner (2021)40 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2021NBCC Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2021) - 12
Things in Nature Merely Grow88.0Must-Read ScoreThings in Nature Merely Grow
Novelist Yiyun Li and her husband had two sons and lost them both to suicide: Vincent in 2017, at sixteen, and James in 2024, at nineteen.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Memoir) winner (2026)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2025)Goodreads Choice (memoir autobiography) finalist (2025) - 13
Remarkably Bright Creatures87.4Must-Read ScoreRemarkably Bright Creatures
Since her husband died, seventy-year-old Tova Sullivan has worked the night shift cleaning the Sowell Bay Aquarium, and she's been grieving for much longer: her eighteen-year-old son vanished on a boat in Puget Sound more than thirty years ago.
Why it made the list133 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2022Goodreads Choice (fiction) finalist (2022) - 14
The Anxious Generation87.3Must-Read ScoreThe Anxious Generation
Around 2012, rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm among teenagers began rising sharply in many countries at once.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (nonfiction) winner (2024)#1 New York Times bestseller (6 weeks at #1)131 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024 - 15
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America87.2Must-Read ScoreThere Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America
In America, hard work is supposed to keep a roof over your head.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) winner (2026) - 16
Quicksilver87.1Must-Read ScoreQuicksilver
Saeris Fane is a thief and secret-keeper in a desert city ruled by an undying queen, where water is precious and powers like hers are dangerous.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)56 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2024Goodreads Choice (romantasy) finalist (2024) - 17
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice86.7Must-Read ScoreNobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Virginia Roberts Giuffre was a teenager when she was recruited into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's network of abuse, and she became the most outspoken of their victims, the woman whose decision to speak publicly helped send both to prison.
Why it made the list#1 New York Times bestseller (5 weeks at #1)31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025Goodreads Choice (memoir autobiography) finalist (2025) - 18
How the Word Is Passed86.6Must-Read ScoreHow the Word Is Passed
Poet and historian Clint Smith travels to places across America where the history of slavery is remembered, or misremembered: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, a Louisiana plantation turned museum, Angola prison built on a former plantation, a Confederate cemetery, Galveston where Juneteenth began, New York City and Senegal's Gorée Island.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Nonfiction) winner (2021)#1 New York Times bestseller (1 week at #1)Goodreads Choice (history biography) finalist (2021) - 19
The Tainted Cup86.2Must-Read ScoreThe Tainted Cup
In an empire walled off from monstrous sea leviathans, a high officer is found dead with a tree erupting from his body.
Why it made the listHugo Award winner (2025)Edgar Award finalist (2025)Goodreads Choice (fantasy) finalist (2024) - 20
Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice86.0Must-Read ScoreLiliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice
In 1990, Liliana Rivera Garza, a twenty-year-old architecture student in Mexico City, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, who was never brought to justice.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (Memoir) winner (2024)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2023) - 21
Atmosphere85.9Must-Read ScoreAtmosphere
Joan Goodwin has loved the stars all her life, and in 1980, as a reserved physics professor in Houston, she's chosen as one of the first women to train for NASA's space shuttle program.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (historical fiction) winner (2025)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)31 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 22
Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World85.9Must-Read ScoreFire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World
In May 2016, a wildfire swept into Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada's oil industry, and in a single afternoon drove 88,000 people from their homes while melting cars and leveling neighborhoods.
Why it made the listBaillie Gifford Prize winner (2023)Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction) finalist (2024)National Book Award (Nonfiction) finalist (2023) - 23
Everything Is Tuberculosis85.7Must-Read ScoreEverything Is Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis killed more people than any other infectious disease in history, and it still kills over a million people a year, even though it's curable.
Why it made the listGoodreads Choice (nonfiction) winner (2025)#1 New York Times bestseller (2 weeks at #1)43 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists since 2025 - 24
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space85.7Must-Read ScoreChallenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger broke apart seventy-three seconds after launch, killing all seven crew, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire teacher chosen to be the first ordinary citizen in space.
Why it made the listNBCC Award (Nonfiction) winner (2024)Goodreads Choice (history biography) finalist (2024) - 25
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America85.3Must-Read ScoreNative Nations: A Millennium in North America
Long before Europeans arrived, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations, and when Europeans did come, Native nations stayed powerful for centuries.
Why it made the listPulitzer Prize (History) winner (2025)
