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Books of 2025

By beepso
  • Period: to

    January

  • The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

    The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

    Winner of 'The Ghost of Tom Joad will haunt me forever' award
  • Salt Houses, Hala Alyan

    Salt Houses, Hala Alyan

    Winner of the 'Dispossessed, distraught diaspora' award
  • Soft Touch, John D. MacDonald

    Soft Touch, John D. MacDonald

    Winner of the 'Pulpier than thou' award
  • The Vegetarian, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    The Vegetarian, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Magical realism ain't got nothing on Asian inner dystopia / Murakami is a softie at surrealism' award
  • Acts of God, Kanan Gill

    Acts of God, Kanan Gill

    Winner of the 'My stream of consciousness is a never-ending run of sci-fi trope-based wisecracks' award
  • The Mill House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong (Translator)

    The Mill House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Make Architecture Grisly Again (MAGA)' award
  • The Decagon House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong (Translator), Sōji Shimada (Introduction)

    The Decagon House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji, Ho-Ling Wong (Translator), Sōji Shimada (Introduction)

    Joint winner, team award
  • The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, Sōji Shimada, Shika MacKenzie (Translator), Ross MacKenzie (Translation)

    The Tokyo Zodiac Murders, Sōji Shimada, Shika MacKenzie (Translator), Ross MacKenzie (Translation)

    Winner of the 'Did someone order a grisly murder? (cracks knuckles, whispers "Clarice..." softly and creeps up softly behind you)' award
  • A Personal Matter, Kenzaburō Ōe, John Nathan (Translator)

    A Personal Matter, Kenzaburō Ōe, John Nathan (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Is your ego bigger than your heart? / Most agonising, rewarding read' award
  • Period: to

    February

  • Intermezzo, Sally Rooney

    Intermezzo, Sally Rooney

    Winner of the 'I can make a grown man cry / What's popular I also sometimes great / Who says the great emotional novel is dead?' award
  • Human Acts, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    Human Acts, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Punch to the gut / How can such a frail-looking person write such strong stuff / Shehan Karunatilaka probably learnt a thing a two from this book' award
  • A Very Short History of the Israel–Palestine Conflict, Ilan Pappé

    A Very Short History of the Israel–Palestine Conflict, Ilan Pappé

    Winner of the 'To the extent it is possible, let me explain this tragedy to you' award
  • The Death of Artemio Cruz, Carlos Fuentes, Alfred J. MacAdam (Translator)

    The Death of Artemio Cruz, Carlos Fuentes, Alfred J. MacAdam (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Latin American writing will never cease to amaze / Mexico, your fact and fiction are indistinguishable' award
  • The Comeback: A Novel, Annie Zaidi

    The Comeback: A Novel, Annie Zaidi

    Winner of the 'Maybe stick to journalism?" award
  • Greek Lessons, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator), E. Yaewon (Translator)

    Greek Lessons, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator), E. Yaewon (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Almost makes me want to be a social person' award
  • The Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, David Harvey

    The Anti-Capitalist Chronicles, David Harvey

    Winner of the 'Back to basics / The world is bigger than my every day' award
  • The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian, Neha Dixit

    The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian, Neha Dixit

    Winner of the 'This is India, this is India' award
  • The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back, Andrew Sullivan

    The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It, How to Get It Back, Andrew Sullivan

    Winner of the 'Now I understand conservatives a little better' award
  • The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport, Sohini Chattopadhyay

    The Day I Became a Runner: A Women's History of India through the Lens of Sport, Sohini Chattopadhyay

    Winner of the 'This is what great sports writing looks like / Indian women's sport was a thing way before the T20 World Cup' award
  • Period: to

    March

  • Murder in the Crooked House, Sōji Shimada ,  Louise Heal Kawai  (Translator)

    Murder in the Crooked House, Sōji Shimada , Louise Heal Kawai (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Did someone ask for grisly architecture? Hold my beer' award
  • Orbital, Samantha Harvey

    Orbital, Samantha Harvey

    Winner of the 'I defy categorisation / There is beauty in space' award
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke

    2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke

    Winner of the 'I wrote AI horror before AI was a thing' award
  • The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux (Translator unknown)

    The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux (Translator unknown)

    Winner of the 'Psychological horror meets haunted theatre' award
  • Period: to

    April

  • Tareekh Pe Justice: Reforms for India's District Courts, Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu, Chitrakshi Jain

    Tareekh Pe Justice: Reforms for India's District Courts, Prashant Reddy Thikkavarapu, Chitrakshi Jain

    Winner of the 'My friends make me proud' award
  • Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster, Jon Krakauer

    Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster, Jon Krakauer

    Winner of the 'Thanks, now I'm scared of heights' award
  • Public Policy in India: Oxford India Short Introductions, Rajesh Chakrabarti,  Kaushiki Sanyal

    Public Policy in India: Oxford India Short Introductions, Rajesh Chakrabarti, Kaushiki Sanyal

    Winner of the 'Thanks, my work makes more sense to me now' award
  • Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Jorge Amado (Translator unknown)

    Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Jorge Amado (Translator unknown)

    Winner of the 'I wish this feast of magic would never end / You make me want to learn Portuguese' award
  • The Indian Constitution: A Conversation with Power, Gautam Bhatia

    The Indian Constitution: A Conversation with Power, Gautam Bhatia

    Winner of the 'Makes the rest of us look bad / The seeds of today were sown in 1950' award
  • The Overstory, Richard Powers

    The Overstory, Richard Powers

    Winner of the 'Wood Wide Web' award
  • The Psychology of Money : Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness, Morgan Housel

    The Psychology of Money : Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness, Morgan Housel

    Winner of the 'Solid implementable advice that changed my life' award
  • Period: to

    May

  • Discipline Is Destiny, Ryan Holiday

    Discipline Is Destiny, Ryan Holiday

    Winner of the 'Chat GPT, see my Zettelkasten and write a book on stoicism' award
  • Butter, Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator)

    Butter, Asako Yuzuki, Polly Barton (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Murder at mealtime' award
  • Politics: who gets what, when, how, Harold D. Lasswell

    Politics: who gets what, when, how, Harold D. Lasswell

    Winner of the 'Soft intro to Political Science' award
  • The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie

    The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie

    Winner of the 'Mr. Poirot, it's good to finally meet you' award
  • Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, David Goggins

    Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, David Goggins

    Winner of the 'Sometimes you just gotta Goggins that sh*t' award
  • Fluke : Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, Brian Klaas

    Fluke : Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, Brian Klaas

    Winner of the 'Chaos will change your life / Foreshadowing Tolstoy' award
  • Period: to

    June

  • War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy ,  Anthony Briggs  (Translator)

    War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy , Anthony Briggs (Translator)

    Winner of the 'This book is beyond awards / Death happens / Life is chaotic' award
  • My Man Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse

    My Man Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse

    Winner of the 'Tongue firmly lodged in cheek / I can picture Fry and Laurie do this' award
  • Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

    Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

    Winner of the 'Now I know the difference between prediction and judgement' award
  • The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History, Isaiah Berlin, Michael Ignatieff (Foreword), Henry Hardy (Editor)

    The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History, Isaiah Berlin, Michael Ignatieff (Foreword), Henry Hardy (Editor)

    Winner of the 'You make me want to read more Tolstoy' award
  • Period: to

    July

  • Power And Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Ajay Agrawal,  Joshua Gans,  Avi Goldfarb

    Power And Prediction: The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb

    Winner of the '** We read Paul David's Dynamo and Computer paper and turned it into a book**' award
  • The End of the Affair, Graham Greene, Monica Ali (Introduction)

    The End of the Affair, Graham Greene, Monica Ali (Introduction)

    Winner of the 'Can love make you jealous of God? / No beginning and no end' award
  • A Cyborg Manifesto, Dona J. Haraway

    A Cyborg Manifesto, Dona J. Haraway

    Winner of the 'We're all cyborgs and always have been' award
  • Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher

    Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher

    Winner of the 'Aviator-chic baddie calls out infantile tech bros' award
  • Period: to

    August

  • Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State, Paul Tucker

    Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State, Paul Tucker

    Winner of the 'I want to read this book once every year for at least five years / 'Sure, I've read Tucker's whole book casual flex' award
  • Great Eastern Hotel, Ruchir Joshi

    Great Eastern Hotel, Ruchir Joshi

    Winner of the 'Can you be nostalgic for your hometown in a time before you were born?' award
  • Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide, Ivan Pastine, Tuvana Pastine, Tom Humberstone (Illustrator)

    Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide, Ivan Pastine, Tuvana Pastine, Tom Humberstone (Illustrator)

    Winner of the 'Wait, where's the boundary between Psychology and Economics' award
  • Chaos: A Graphic Guide, Iwona Abrams, Iwona Abrams (Contributor)

    Chaos: A Graphic Guide, Iwona Abrams, Iwona Abrams (Contributor)

    Winner of the 'Tolstoy called it first' award
  • The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening: An In-Depth Guide to Abhidharma, Steven D. Goodman

    The Buddhist Psychology of Awakening: An In-Depth Guide to Abhidharma, Steven D. Goodman

    Winner of the 'Buddhist philosophy rocks' award
  • Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick

    Chaos: Making a New Science, James Gleick

    Winner of the 'Did you notice I've been obsessed with chaos this year?' award
  • Period: to

    September

  • Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop

    Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop

    Winner of the 'Complex systems are chaos redux' award
  • Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

    Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Surreal horoscopes and murders mashed together' award
  • VAJPAYEE: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977, Abhishek Choudhary

    VAJPAYEE: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977, Abhishek Choudhary

    Winner of the 'This is how a political biography should be written / I did not know that' award
  • The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals: Some Moral Tales From The Mahabharata, Wendy Doniger

    The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals: Some Moral Tales From The Mahabharata, Wendy Doniger

    Winner of the 'Subversive mythology' award
  • Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit, Charles W. Calomiris, Stephen H. Haber

    Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit, Charles W. Calomiris, Stephen H. Haber

    Winner of the 'So you think you know central banking? Think again' award
  • Period: to

    October

  • Believer's Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right's Path to Power, 1977–2018, Abhishek Choudhary

    Believer's Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right's Path to Power, 1977–2018, Abhishek Choudhary

    Joint winner, team award
  • Yellowface, R.F. Kuang

    Yellowface, R.F. Kuang

    Winner of the 'Dark academia as a pallet-cleanser' award
  • Roadside Picnic, Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko (Translator)

    Roadside Picnic, Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Olena Bormashenko (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Mid-twentieth century Soviet sci-fi is such a trip' award
  • The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai

    The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai

    Winner of the 'Make literature beautiful again / Love is complicated' award
  • This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone

    This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone

    Winner of the 'Love subverts war' award
  • Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, Kai Cheng Thom

    Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, Kai Cheng Thom

    Winner of the 'Dangerous stories can make safe spaces' award
  • The Little Sparrow Murders, Seishi Yokomizo, Bryan Karetnyk (Translator)

    The Little Sparrow Murders, Seishi Yokomizo, Bryan Karetnyk (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Move aside, noobs, the master has some murderous plans' award
  • The Devil's Flute Murders, Seishi Yokomizo, Jim Rion (Translator)

    The Devil's Flute Murders, Seishi Yokomizo, Jim Rion (Translator)

    Joint winner, team award
  • Tokyo Express, Seichō Matsumoto, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)

    Tokyo Express, Seichō Matsumoto, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)

    Winner of the 'Psychological Honkaku is my little niche of nastiness' award
  • Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo, Louise Heal Kawai (Translator)

    Death on Gokumon Island, Seishi Yokomizo, Louise Heal Kawai (Translator)

    Joint winner, team award
  • Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

    Winner of the 'Best anti-war anthem you'll ever read' award
  • Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, Dan Wang

    Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, Dan Wang

    Winner of the 'China book of the year' award
  • Period: to

    December

  • Trilegal: The Making of a Modern Indian Law Firm, Akshay Jaitly

    Trilegal: The Making of a Modern Indian Law Firm, Akshay Jaitly

    Winner of the 'An institution-building story, lightly told' award
  • Abundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

    Abundance, Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson

    Winner of the 'The Left acknowledges the need for supply-side progressivism' award
  • Murder at the Black Cat Cafe, Seishi Yokomizo, Bryan Karetnyk (Translator)

    Murder at the Black Cat Cafe, Seishi Yokomizo, Bryan Karetnyk (Translator)

    Joint winner, team award.
  • Lessons in Stoicism: What Ancient Philosophers Teach Us about How to Live, John Sellars

    Lessons in Stoicism: What Ancient Philosophers Teach Us about How to Live, John Sellars

    Winner of the 'Forget Ryan Holiday, this is where it's at' award
  • A Sixth Of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey - A Financial Times Book of the Year, Arvind Subramanian, Devesh Kapur

    A Sixth Of Humanity: Independent India's Development Odyssey - A Financial Times Book of the Year, Arvind Subramanian, Devesh Kapur

    Winner of the 'If you read one book about India this year, make it this one' award
  • Flesh, David Szalay

    Flesh, David Szalay

    Winner of the 'Ok, now I see why you won the Booker/ Spare prose on living life as a body' award
  • The White Book, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    The White Book, Han Kang, Deborah Smith (Translator)

    Winner of the 'A meditation on grief that eviscerates you with frailty' award