Books of 2025

Welcome to the sixth instalment of my annual book review! In 2025, I consumed a total of 18 books; and for the first time ever, this includes five audio books! Together they span precisely 6,800 pages – a 17% drop compared to last year. 2025 saw an exciting mix of fiction, non-fiction, and memoirs, so let’s crown my favourites in each category!

Non fiction books

Winner 2025: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey)
Truth be told, I had a few preconceptions about this book… and not particularly positive ones. I assumed it was just one of those “LinkedIn bookshelf” books, more about signalling than substance.  When I received it as a Christmas gift from someone whose book recommendations I always trust, I decided to give it a proper read and was blown away. I realised that many of the non-fiction books I’d read (and reviewed) over the years could be boiled down to 1-3 of Covey’s 7 habits. They are not necessarily about time management (though that does feature in the book) – as the title may suggest – but rather cover fundamentals I found useful both at work and in private. Since reading this book, I often find myself going back to a habit or two that are particularly relevant for a given situation. I regret not reading this book sooner.

Runner Up: Algorithms to Live by (Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths)
This book explores how insights from computer science can inspire our everyday decision-making. It simultaneously offers an engaging journey through fundamental computer science concepts such as explore-exploit trade-offs, overfitting, and randomness. If you have a background in maths, data, or computer science, you’ll especially enjoy drawing connections between the book’s concepts and your own experiences. It’s an entertaining read, perfect for a long train ride or enjoyable in daily increments before bed, but definitely on the more nerdy side!

Fiction books

Winner 2025: Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)
This book is being turned into a movie in 2026, but please – and I cannot stress this enough – do NOT watch the trailer as it contains huge spoilers! It all starts with an astronaut finding himself alone in a space ship, not knowing who he is or why he is hurling through space at breakneck speed. We accompany him on his search for identity, meaning, and solutions to the many challenges he encounters on his journey. Project Hail Mary is an elite Sci-Fi book that has captured the hearts of many who would usually be somewhat indifferent to Sci-Fi, including myself. It is heartfelt, funny, exciting, gripping, science-y, and surprising all at the same time. No matter if you are a sci-fi-fan or not, this book is for you! 

Runner Up: My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante)
First and foremost, this book is about the friendship between two women. We meet them as young girls in Naples and watch them grow up, sometimes together, sometimes apart. Elena Ferrante excels at describing all facets of friendship and, at the same time, life itself without the need to sugarcoat. This is the first book of Neapolitan Novels, which covers their childhood through to adolescence. So if you liked this one, there are three more continuing the main characters’ life stories in an almost perfectly linear manner. Thoughtful, observant, brutally honest.

Memoir

Winner 2025: Frankly (Nicola Sturgeon)
In this memoir, Nicola Sturgeon manages to strike a balance between telling her own story, and that of the country she was leading for almost 10 years. She permits a brief glimpse into the room where it happens on multiple significant moments: the lead up to and the formation of the Scottish parliament in Holyrood, the Scottish independence referendum narrowly decided in favour of the no-campaign, Brexit, and the Covid-19 pandemic. It is history retold through Nicola Sturgeon’s point of view. An engaging way to learn more about Scotland’s past and how it shapes our present and future.

Check out all previous yearly book reviews here!