{"id":18085,"date":"2025-12-26T18:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=18085"},"modified":"2025-12-26T18:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T18:26:17","slug":"best-books-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/26\/best-books-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Books of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Terri Schlichenmeyer<\/em>
\nThe Truth Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

This past year, you\u2019ve often had to make do.<\/p>\n

Saving money here, resources there, being inventive and innovative. It\u2019s a talent you\u2019ve honed, but isn\u2019t it time to have the best? Yep, so grab these Ten Best of 2025 books for your new year pleasures…<\/p>\n

Nonfiction<\/p>\n

Health care is on everyone\u2019s mind now, and A Living: Working-Class Americans Talk to Their Doctor<\/em> by Michael D. Stein, M.D. <\/strong>(Melville House, $26.99) lets you peek into health care from the point of view of a doctor who treats \u201cfront-line workers\u201d and those who experience poverty and homelessness. It\u2019s shocking, an eye-opening book, a skinny, quick-to-read one that needs to be read now.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been doing eldercare or caring for any loved one, then How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter\u2019s Memoir<\/em> by Molly Jong-Fast <\/strong>(Viking, $28.00)\u00a0 needs to be in your plans for the coming year. It\u2019s a memoir, but also a biography of Jong-Fast\u2019s mother, Erica Jong, and the story of love, illness, and living through the chaos of serious disease with humor and grace. You\u2019ll like this book especially if you were a fan of the author\u2019s late mother.<\/p>\n

Another memoir you can\u2019t miss this year is Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran\u2019s Memoir <\/em>by Khadijah Queen<\/strong> (Legacy Lit, $30.00). It\u2019s the story of one woman\u2019s determination to get out of poverty and get an education, and to keep her head above water while she goes below water by joining the U.S. Navy. This is a story that will keep you glued to your seat, all the way through.<\/p>\n

Self-improvement is something you might think about tackling in the new year, and Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy<\/em> by Mary Roach<\/strong> (W.W. Norton & Company, $28.99) is a lighthearted \u2013 yet real and informative \u2013 look at the things inside and outside your body that can be replaced or changed. New nose job?\u00a0 Transplant, new dental work? Learn how you can become the Bionic Person in real life, and laugh while you\u2019re doing it.<\/p>\n

The science lover inside you will want to read The Grave Robber: The Biggest Stolen Artifacts Case in FBI History and the Bureau\u2019s Quest to Set Things Right<\/em> by Tim Carpenter<\/strong> (Harper Horizon, $29.99). A history lover will also want it, as will anyone with a craving for true crime, memoir, FBI procedural books, and travel books. It\u2019s the story of a man who spent his life stealing objects from graves around the world, and an FBI agent\u2019s obsession with securing the objects and returning them. It\u2019s a fascinating read, with just a little bit of gruesome thrown in for fun.<\/p>\n

Fiction<\/p>\n

Speaking of a little bit of scariness, Don\u2019t Forget Me, Little Bessie<\/em> by James Lee Burke<\/strong> (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28.00) is the story of a girl named Bessie and her involvement with a cloven-hooved being who dogs her all her life. Set in still-wild south Texas, it\u2019s a little bit western, part paranormal, and completely full of enjoyment.<\/p>\n

Evensong<\/em><\/strong> by Stewart O\u2019Nan<\/strong> (Atlantic Monthly Press, $28.00) is a layered novel of women\u2019s friendships as they age together and support one another. The characters are warm and funny, there are a few times when your heart will sit in your throat, and you won\u2019t be sorry you read it. It\u2019s just plain irresistible.<\/p>\n

If you need a dark tale for what\u2019s left of a dark winter season, then One of Us<\/em> by Dan Chaon <\/strong>(Henry Holt, $28.00). It\u2019s the story of twins who become orphaned when their Mama dies, ending up with a man who owns a traveling freak show, and who promises to care for them. But they can\u2019t ever forget that a nefarious con man is looking for them; those kids can talk to one another without saying a word, and he\u2019s going to make lots of money off them. This is a sharp, clever novel that fans of the \u201ccircus\u201d genre shouldn\u2019t miss.<\/p>\n

When the Harvest Comes<\/em><\/strong> by Denne Michele Norris<\/strong> (Random House, $28.00) is a wonderful romance, a boy-meets-boy with a little spice and a lot of strife. Davis loves Everett but as their wedding day draws near, doubts begin to creep in. There\u2019s homophobia on both sides of their families, and no small amount of racism. Beware that there\u2019s some light explicitness in this book, but if you love a good love story, you\u2019ll love this.<\/p>\n

Another layered tale you\u2019ll enjoy is The Elements<\/em> by John Boyne <\/strong>(Henry Holt, $29.99), a twisty bunch of short stories that connect in a series of arcs that begin on an island near Dublin. It\u2019s about love, death, revenge, and horror, a little like The Twilight Zone,<\/em> but without the paranormal.\u00a0 You won\u2019t want to put down, so be warned.<\/p>\n

If you need more ideas, head to your local library or bookstore and ask the staff there for their favorite reads of 2025. They\u2019ll fill your book bag and your new year with goodness.<\/p>\n

Season\u2019s Readings!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Terri Schlichenmeyer The Truth Contributor This past year, you\u2019ve often had to make do. Saving money here, resources there, being inventive and innovative. It\u2019s a talent you\u2019ve honed, but isn\u2019t it time to have the best? Yep, so grab these Ten Best of 2025 books for your new year pleasures… Nonfiction Health care is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-18085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book_review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18088,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18085\/revisions\/18088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18085"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}