It’s hard to believe, but the year is coming to an end. Among other things, that means a huge wave of “Top [insert cool topic here] of 2025” lists are about to hit your metaphorical shores! So, before you’re inundated, and since by now it’s almost tradition to share our staff picks, we thought we’d share a list of our favourite reads of the year, along with some bits of data about our team’s reading habits — how many books we’ve read and our preferred formats. All our recommendations can be found in this CataList catalogue.
BookNet reads
The BookNet staff has read a total of 484 books so far this year!
51% were print books, 26% audiobooks, and 23% ebooks.
66% were Fiction, 23% were Non-Fiction, and 12% were Juvenile or Young Adult titles.
The BookNetter who read the most in 2025 finished 88 books — 59 of them in ebook format! Though they’re not the only avid reader among us: Honourable mentions go to a colleague who read 79 books, and two others who tied at 70.
Staff picks
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
This standalone fantasy grabbed me from the first visceral chapter and didn't let up. At one point I had to close the book and stare into the middle distance for a while — in the best way. Read if you're into dark academia vibes, complex magic systems, political and social critique, imperfect characters and a reading experience characterized by a looming sense of dread.
— Stephanie Small
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig 🍁
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig is a necessary book for the unique times we are facing in 2025. Helwig, a social justice activist and Anglican priest, is a gifted communicator and offers Encampment to her readers and quietly asks for only grace in return. Encampment is not an easy read, but it is necessary, offering insight into the dual housing and affordability crises and should be required reading for policy makers, community leaders, and anyone who believes in housing justice and expanding their understanding of how we build communities and understand our neighbours. It's a sensitive read, and I encourage readers to find their way to the audiobook, where Helwig's skills at leading a congregation are on full display. At times, I felt myself nearing a state of reverie, and I hope the book inspires others into a place of empathy and action.
— Lauren Stewart
Endling by Maria Reva 🍁
It's both deeply funny and deeply troubling — social satire of a sort I haven't read for years. A debut novel so perfect that it names Reva's previous book (and it's worth reading).
— Tom Richardson
Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange by Katie Goh
Did you know that oranges are not a naturally occurring fruit, but a hybrid of pomelos and mandarins? Or that if you plant a seed from an orange, any one of the 1,500 species of citrus might grow from it? The orange — like ourselves — contains multitudes, and in tracing the fruits' historical path across the world, Katie Goh explores her own ancestral past, being a hybrid of sorts herself - a queer person of Chinese, Malaysian and Irish heritage. Cleverly disguised as a book about a supermarket staple, this memoir is actually a book about colonialism, inheritance and identity. You will learn so much, and oranges will never look - or taste - the same again.
— Kalpna Patel
The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed 🍁
The book's description says it best: "[a] post-apocalyptic hopepunk novella that reflects on the meaning of community and asks what we owe to those who have lifted us up."
— Ainsley Sparkes
The Capital of Dreams by Heather O'Neill 🍁
I just finished this book last night, and I knew immediately I had to include it for BookNet’s Staff Picks this year. Very much a dark fairy tale, The Capital of Dreams is also a coming-of-age story, as our main character learns what it means to leave childhood behind while learning to survive in her war-torn country of Elysia. This story is both bleak and hopeful, but what made me pick up this book again and again was Heather O’Neill’s whimsical writing, which quite poetically captures what it’s like to discover the world on your own terms.
— Lily Dwyer
The Hike by Drew Magary
This book was an absolute romp. It was absurd and strange, while still being just a great, readable story — and I didn't see the twist coming at the end. This would be a great recommendation for those who like their reads to be a little offbeat.
— Carol Gordon
The House Witch by Delemach
I thoroughly enjoyed the cozy medieval fantasy castle vibes from this book. It's the first of a trilogy, about Fin, a witch who works as the palace cook. Due to fears of discrimination and unreasonable expectations that would be placed on him as a witch, he hides his identity as one and is instead known as the best cook the palace has ever seen. He comes with an extra serving of grumpy.
Fin manages to get himself roped into court politics and solves their problems (of course). When this was mentioned in the description, I immediately dubbed it as "BBC Merlin but with more acceptance of magic" and started reading.
The House Witch is what I like to call "poli-lite," since the court politics exist, but it is more light-hearted than the cutthroat Game of Thrones kind of action. I need this kind of story sometimes, and The House Witch fit the bill very well.
Fin grows wonderfully as a character, and so do the rest of the kitchen crew, especially the knights, who were bullies at first.
Funny, light-hearted, and appropriately serious when it needs to be, this book takes the top spot of my 2025 list.
Oh, did I mention that there's a cat? There's a cat. Don't mess with the cat.
— Vivian Luu
The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir
I really enjoyed the writing in the books (which somewhat reminded me of Gormenghast), and it's a fun fantasy/sci-fi setting!
— Madeleine Griggs
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen
This book came as a surprise to me. I've never really considered the role that the invention of the notebook has played in Western culture. Allen traces that history in this very well-written, well-researched title. He shows how double-entry bookkeeping was enabled by the notebook and how closely guarded the Italians kept their paper-making and notebook-making in the Middle Ages, granting them an easy advantage over European merchants. Another huge role the notebook played was in navigation. Again, without the notebook, the logs that stored the details of the voyages and what inevitably led to the circumnavigation of the world would never have happened. This book is just a veritable feast of insight, starting with the invention of the notebook all the way up to and beyond Bruce Chatwin's leveraging of those beautiful little Moleskine notebooks and Ira Progoff's journaling methodology.
— Tim Middleton
Todo Mafalda by Quino
Mafalda is very close to my heart. As a kid, I grew up reading Mafalda comics in the newspaper with my mom, and later, as I got older, I started to understand and appreciate Quino's work even more. Through his witty and clever humour, he offered deep, complex social and political commentary — all from the point of view of a six-year-old girl who, like me back then, hated soup. This collection is a treasure, and I look forward to re-reading it many, many times.
— Nataly Alarcón
Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko
[It was a ] book club recommendation.
— Ben Farrall
Winnipek by Nigaan Sinclair 🍁
In Wînipêk, Niigaan Sinclair demonstrates remarkable precision and emotional depth, writing with grace and purpose. The book confronts the sadness and losses endured by Indigenous peoples, yet it also finds room for connection, renewal and pathways for hope.
The narrative of Rooster Town and the legacy of Henry is especially moving. Experiences familiar across Indigenous nations worldwide, a vivid reminder of the resilience embedded in Indigenous memory.
Sinclair’s voice is steady and poetic, guiding readers through difficult histories with honesty and care. Transforming personal history into a broader reflection on cultural erosion and the unfinished work of reconciliation. This is a thoughtful, compelling and necessary read.
— Shuvanjan Karmaker
Check out all the recommendations in this CataList catalogue for easy ordering. Happy reading!
The best books BookNet read this year.