Jen's Favorite Reads of 2025 - Part 2

by Jen Moyers (@jen.loves.books)

We've reached the end of the year and my inevitable mix of delight in reflecting on the books I've loved and angst over having to choose my favorites. It's always such an interesting exercise (and I often cheat . . . just a bit). Before I get started, make sure you check out our picks from mid-year—here are Ashley's and mine—and Ashley's end-of-year picks.

John Green's Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

John Green has long been an auto-read author for me: I find both his fiction and nonfiction to be heartbreakingly beautiful. While a book about tuberculosis may seem to be an odd pick for a "best of" list, this one was an easy selection.

While traveling in Sierra Leone, Green met a boy named Henry. Living in a hospital while he was treated for tuberculosis, Henry became the catalyst for Green's deep investigation of the disease, which soon transformed into a personal mission for him. Green—after researching its history, treatment options, and current status—became convinced that this widespread source of suffering is a disease that we could eradicate. We've just chosen not to. The book is a blend of narrative, following Henry's story, and history, an indictment of the pharmaceutical and medical systems and of choices that have placed profit above people. (I also had the opportunity to see Green speak about the book at the National Book Festival, which only made me love the book more. I also highly recommend this interview—I'm sharing the gift link.)

Jason Mott's People Like Us (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

When I picked up People Like Us, I didn't realize it was a sequel to Hell of a Book (which I also recommend!). Honestly, you would be okay reading this one as a standalone, though of course, parts of it have extra resonance if you've read both.

This book is almost impossible to describe. The publisher's synopsis says, "In People Like Us, two Black writers are trying to find peace and belonging in a world that is riven with gun violence. One is on a global book tour after a big prize win; the other is set to give a speech at a school that has suffered a shooting." Though that sounds straightforward, it's anything but, and it captures only the narrowest sliver of the true breadth of this novel. The book feels like a bit of a fever dream. It's immersive and surreal, constantly making me question what's happening in the book's reality and what is . . . well, something else. Maybe a dream? Maybe a departure into fantasy? That unsettled feeling is incredibly powerful, emphasizing the ways that our current reality perhaps shouldn't be real at all.

Oh, and it's funny.

This reading experience is a unique one, and I'm sure that when I read the book again, I'll be off kilter (in the best way) all over again.

Morgan Talty's Fire Exit (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) and Night of the Living Rez (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

Here comes the cheating . . . I couldn't choose between these two.

Fire Exit was the first book I finished in December, and I immediately queued up Night of the Living Rez (I'd had it on my phone as an ALC from Libro.fm since its release). Morgan Talty is an author you must add to your list.

Talty, a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation, writes movingly of reservation life from the perspective (in Fire Exit) of someone who is on the outside and (in Night of the Living Rez) from someone on the inside. Both books deal with the legacy of family history, of complicated relationships, of the ways that secrets can shape us. Fire Exit is a spare, trim novel whose pages I couldn't stop turning; Night of the Living Rez is composed of interconnected short stories that spiral towards a central moment, a revelation that reshaped my understanding of all that came before.

I'll be reading everything Talty writes.

Yael van der Wouden's The Safekeep (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm)

The Safekeep was my favorite book in the Tournament of Books Summer Bracket; it was also short listed for the Booker Prize and won the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction and the Women's Prize for Fiction.

The book begins with Isabel who, after caring for her mother until her death, now lives alone in their home in Overijssel, a Dutch province. Though she knows she may not inherit, she holds out hope that her brothers will understand the sacrifices she has made and allow her to stay in the home.

Isabel is, I must say, a difficult protagonist, which is only exacerbated by immersion in her point of view. She's particular and grumpy, a misanthropic, pedantic, unyielding terror. She's also deeply lonely, and she uses her daily routine as a way to inhabit her life with something.

Suddenly, her solitude comes to an abrupt end when her brother tells Isabel that he needs his new girlfriend, Eva, to stay with her while he takes a trip. Isabel is, to say the least, displeased, particularly when she realizes that Eva is slovenly and lazy, unwilling to go along with Isabel's implicit rules and seemingly oblivious to her less-than-subtle hints.

But, slowly, Isabel becomes fascinated by Eva, and the entire narrative shifts in unexpected directions.

Part of the joy of this one is in the discovery, so I'll leave my description there . . . it's a journey worth taking.

Jessica Walker's The Secret Astronomers (Bookshop.org)

This recent YA read took me by surprise. It's an unexpected mixed-media text, with an entirely written (and illustrated) dialogue taking place between two strangers in the midst of a school library book.

Set in Green Bank, WV, the story begins with "Copernicus," who has recently moved in with her grandparents after the death of her mother. She begins using an astronomy book in the library as a sort of journal . . . until "Kepler" finds her writing, objects to this misuse of a library text, and is then drawn into a year-long conversation with her new, anonymous friend.

Copernicus discovers a sort of mystery that her mother (who grew up in Green Bank) set up around the town and asks for Kepler's help in unraveling the clues. The two teenagers decide to stay anonymous, communicating only through their written notes.

The novel is a beautiful tribute to friendship, a meditation on loss, and a study of the loveliness and pain that can be found in a rural home. (As someone who grew up in WV, I'm always excited to find a new book set in my home state!)

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