The New York Times Book Review’s May 7, 2025, midyear list names 15 books: eight works of fiction and seven of nonfiction. It is a staff selection, not a ranked top 15 or a prediction that every title will make the year-end list. The mix ranges from historical fiction and horror to memoir, biography and reported investigations—so the most useful way to browse it is by the story or subject you want.
What the 2025 midyear list represents
In “The Best Books of the Year (So Far),” published May 7, 2025, the New York Times Books Staff gathers 15 choices from a year in which the Book Review had already covered hundreds of books. The staff wrote that it suspected some, “though certainly not all,” would be on readers’ minds for its end-of-year best-of lists. The distinction matters: this is a snapshot of staff recommendations, not a final annual verdict or a ranked countdown. Read the New York Times Book Review list.
The list groups books under fiction and nonfiction and frames each with a reader-interest prompt. Those prompts make the selection especially easy to navigate by mood, genre or subject.
Fiction: eight books, from Jeju’s history to an Appalachian mystery
For haunting historical fiction
We Do Not Part by Han Kang follows a writer who travels to Jeju during a blizzard to help a friend, and finds herself drawn into the island’s history and the memory of violence. The Times list says at least 30,000 people were killed on Jeju between 1947 and 1954 in atrocities perpetrated mostly by the government. That figure is the list’s synopsis, rather than a figure independently established here. The book suits readers looking for an unsettling novel by a Nobel Prize winner.
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For survival stories rooted in the past
Isola by Allegra Goodman turns to the life of Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval, a 16th-century French noblewoman marooned on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The list presents it as a survival drama based on true events.
For an eerie, inward retreat
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood centers on an atheist wildlife conservationist who leaves her career and husband to live near her rural Australian hometown in a convent. Mice, the return of a nun’s remains and the reappearance of a former classmate disturb her attempt at withdrawal. It is the choice for readers drawn to quiet, unsettling fiction rather than a conventional thriller.
For a sweeping contemporary novel
Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, her first novel since 2013, follows three Nigerian women and a former housekeeper. Its concerns include relationships, language and women’s lives, with the Times staff highlighting its abundance of human detail.
For horror woven into history
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones follows a Blackfeet man who becomes a vampire in the 1870s and seeks vengeance. The narrative unfolds through linked perspectives, including a vampire, a pastor and a researcher, combining historical and horror fiction.
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Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins returns to The Hunger Games world, focusing on Haymitch Abernathy and his experience in the 50th Games. The list points to its treatment of propaganda and authoritarianism alongside its place in a popular series.
For an Appalachian slow-burn thriller
Heartwood by Amity Gaige is a thriller about a missing hiker on the Appalachian Trail and two women investigating her disappearance. The Times page labels it “Most Saved by Times Readers.” That is a separate reader-engagement marker, not a ranking of the 15 books.
Rank #3
For a rags-to-riches story with an edge
Flesh by David Szalay follows Istvan from a Hungarian housing estate toward the upper reaches of British society and then back again. The list identifies male alienation among the novel’s subjects, making it a fit for readers who want social reflection alongside an ascent-and-reversal narrative.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Nonfiction: seven books about history, lives and social conditions
For the history of school segregation
The Containment by Michelle Adams examines school segregation in Detroit, failed integration efforts and their consequences for education and civil rights. It is the list’s pick for readers seeking a timely look at a less familiar chapter of American history.
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Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton is an illustrated memoir about raising an abandoned newborn brown hare found in the English countryside during the Covid pandemic. Its appeal is intimate and personal rather than investigative.
Rank #4
For a critical account of Facebook’s leadership
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams is an insider account by a former Facebook employee, sharply critical in its portrayal of the company’s leadership and conduct. Those characterizations belong to the author’s account and the Times staff’s description; they should not be mistaken for independently established findings.
For a biography of Yoko Ono
Yoko by David Sheff is a biography of Yoko Ono by a writer who had interviewed her and was her friend. The Times staff describes the result as sympathetic without being fawning.
For reporting on working families and housing insecurity
There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone reports on working families experiencing homelessness in Atlanta and follows five families. The Times list says median rent in Atlanta rose 76 percent between 2010 and 2023; that figure is attributed here to the list’s synopsis.
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For family history shaped by flight and refuge
I Seek a Kind Person by Julian Borger combines memoir and history to trace how Borger’s father, a Jewish child who fled Austria for Wales in 1938, found help through a personal ad seeking a foster home. It connects one family’s story to a wider history of displacement and welcome.
For a broad account of the Revolutionary War
The Fate of the Day by Rick Atkinson is the second volume of a trilogy on the Revolutionary War, covering the conflict’s middle years. The Times list describes the book as around 800 pages, making it the substantial choice for readers who want an extended military history rather than a short overview.
Quick Recap
How to choose among the 15 picks
- Choose by genre: literary and historical fiction, horror, a series prequel, a thriller, memoir, biography and reported nonfiction are all represented.
- Choose by place or subject: the selection moves among Jeju, an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, rural Australia, Appalachia, Atlanta housing and the Revolutionary War.
- Choose by reading experience: pick Sunrise on the Reaping if you want a return to an established fictional universe; choose a biography, memoir or reported account for nonfiction grounded in real people and events.
- Read the list as a snapshot: it offers a range of staff choices from the first half of 2025, without claiming a final ranking or guaranteeing year-end recognition.
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