Best Books of 2025
That is, of the ones I read
Let’s be honest – anyone who’s not a celebrity, respected book critic, or famous author yet still publishes a “Best Books of the Year” list is kind of a self-important dolt.
However, the de rigueur holiday content calendar calls, and since I’m always looking for good recommendations, I figure there’s a 50% chance some of you beautiful folks might check out and enjoy one of the following. So, let’s go…
Most Thought-Provoking
In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife — Sebastian Junger
Of the 45 books Goodreads tells me I completed over the past 12 months, the most thought-provoking is the latest from Sebastian Junger, In My Time of Dying.
Author of The Perfect Storm and a couple of books about war, Junger has never shied away from mortality. This time, he reflects on his own near-death experience and the nature of the great beyond.
A secular guy, Junger’s probably not such a confirmed atheist after his pancreatic aneurysm caused him to lose 2/3 of his blood. He obviously survived, though just barely and only after having visions of his dead father and being pulled toward…well, neither he nor any of us knows what.
So it’s not surprising the book explores the cross-cultural history of near-death experiences and considers what might happen after we die through the lens of quantum physics.
Junger didn’t convert, nor did his story renew my unquestioning belief in a Heaven with angels, pearly gates, and whatnot. But given how little we know of the incomprehensibly vast universe, might there be a post-death shift in consciousness that could be considered an “afterlife”?
Most Page-Turn-y
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing — Lara Love Hardin
As I said to the author on my fantastic podcast, this Oprah’s Book Club pick ripped my face off. It’s a mind-bending story of a suburban soccer mom who got hooked on heroin, stole from her friends, went to prison (where she became a shot-caller named ‘Mama Love’), then resurrected herself as a celebrity memoir ghost writer and literary agent. It is a story of collapse, redemption, and forgiveness that will fill you with hope…and an appropriate amount of fear.
You-Gotta-Be-Kidding-Me Award
Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again — Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
“Are you fucking kidding me?” This was the question I uttered to myself—and sometimes out loud—while consuming this monumentally important exposé of the 2024 Biden Presidential debacle. Unfortunately, the answer to my inquiries was “No. We are not fucking kidding you.”
Team Biden’s jaw-dropping arrogance, the willful self-deception of his administration, and the complicity of the Democratic Party and the media (including Tapper himself) all contributed to Donald Trump’s second term. If our current President makes your skin crawl, you can chalk your irritable epidermis up to Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
The Head-Scratcher
107 Days — Kamala Harris
Even progressive news outlets like MSNBC and New York Times found former-VP Harris’ explanation of her 2024 campaign puzzling and unflattering to the author. I won’t belabor the point, so if you missed my full review of this perplexing read, you can find it here.
Big Thoughts in and Easy Read
Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes — Morgan Housel
In this follow-up to mega-bestseller The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel identifies timeless truths about human behavior and financial systems. As with Junger, though for completely different reasons, whenever Housel publishes something new, just buy it.
Most Practically Useful
Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You — Jeffrey J. Selingo
If your kids have already gotten into or graduated from college, enjoy your empty nest and read something else. However, if like Stacey and me, you have middle- or high-schoolers at home, I strongly recommend Selingo’s reality check/message of hope: there are many good schools out there—beyond the near-impossible-to-crack Top 20—where your kid will thrive and find his/her people. Selingo emphasizes fit over prestige, helping readers make informed inquiries and decisions that align with their goals and values rather than school rankings. I think this is a very good mindset with which to start the college exploration process. Jeff and I had a great conversation on the podcast here.
Best Memoir / Biography
Who Knew — Barry Diller
I get great satisfaction from learning the backstory to the pop culture that I grew up with, and on that level, I found much to enjoy in Hollywood memoirs.
I kicked off January in a Moroccan desert tent, tethered to my cot (and the bathroom) by a tenacious abdominal microbe. While not pleasant, the bug provided ample opportunity to read Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood by Ed Zwick who shares the triumphs and tragedies behind films like The Last Samurai, About Last Night, Legends of the Fall, and his smash TV show, thirtysomething.
Similarly, Susan Morrison’s excellent Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live provides amazing insights and anecdotes behind five decades of SNL, the show we all take for granted, but whose success and survival have never been guaranteed. Our collective sense of humor would be completely different were it not for Lorne Michaels.
All this said, my favorite memoir/bio of 2025 (and while this isn’t a competition, thank you to all the publicists from major publishing houses who sent me fruit baskets and bottles of Acqua di Parma cologne) was Barry Diller’s Who Knew.
I’ve always thought Diller was a bit of a prickly character, so I wasn’t sure how I’d react to his story. But his journey is fascinating: a Beverly Hills kid, Diller skipped college and—with the endorsement of family friend Danny Thomas—educated himself in the William Morris mail room. To learn the business of show, he spent hundreds of hours scouring the agency files that contained the details of deals with the biggest stars of the 1940s and ‘50s. Armed with this knowledge, he went out and conquered Tinseltown, leaving his mark on legendary projects like Saturday Night Fever, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Simpsons.
The way Diller navigates the web of celebrities, media executives, and corporate titans reveals his intelligence, savvy, and wicked sense of humor. His homosexuality, yet sincere obsession with wife Diane Von Furstenberg, makes you wonder – just who is this guy? Perhaps that’s it – Diller refuses to be pinned down and never stops moving. So, the reader ends up cheering for him to win. And win he does.
Le prix Très Drôle
I See You’ve Called in Dead — John Kenney
I want to be John Kenney when I grow up. He is hilarious, cool, and so damn smart. His latest novel, which tells the tale of an obituary writer who accidentally announces his own death, is absurd and lonely, yet filled with love. While overtly focused on death, it ponders the most significant question many of us face: if I know how I should be living, why can’t I bring myself to live that way? Which is way funnier than it sounds.
While these are notable highlights, there were several others that I truly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I’m running out of space, and there are three college football games I want to watch today, so I must stop here.
I’m curious what read and loved. Please share your favorites in the Comments section below.
Happy New Year!