Podcast Summary: The Book Review – The 10 Best Books of 2025
Host: Gilbert Cruz (New York Times Book Review)
Guests: Dave Kim, Jumana Khatib, editors of NYT Book Review, Nima Jeromey, Greg Coles, Emily Aiken
Date: December 2, 2025
Episode Overview
In this special edition of The Book Review podcast, host Gilbert Cruz gathers the New York Times Book Review editors and critics to present and dissect the 10 Best Books of 2025, split evenly between fiction and nonfiction. They explore the year’s boldest, most unforgettable literary achievements, offer in-depth discussion of each selection, and recommend additional titles for curious readers. The tone is lively, engaged, and sometimes irreverent, but always driven by a deep love of literature.
Major Themes and Purpose
- Announcement and deep-dive discussion of the year’s top five fiction and five nonfiction books, selected by the NYT Book Review team.
- Exploration of contemporary literary trends and what this year’s picks reveal about the state of fiction and nonfiction in America and beyond.
- Behind-the-scenes insight into the selection process, including debate and personal passions among the editors.
- Recommendations of “books we wish made the list,” ensuring listeners have an even broader menu for reading.
- Nuanced, sometimes emotional conversations about how literature responds to social, historical, and personal challenges.
Key Discussion Points and Detailed Insights
I. The 5 Best Fiction Books of 2025
1. Stonyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Main Discussants: Jumana Khatib, Dave Kim, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 02:29–09:37
- Setting/Theme: A midlife woman returns to rural Australia, seeking refuge in a convent, despite a fraught relationship with religion.
- Style: The novel is structured “like a devotional, almost a diary or chronicle,” interspersed with moments of stillness set against dramatic, even surreal, disruptions (notably a “biblical” mouse infestation).
- Quote: “The silence here is so thick it makes me feel wealthy.” – (Jumana Khatib, 05:34)
- Discussion: The panel marvels at the writing’s beauty, discipline, and meditative nature. They reflect on the novel’s handling of solitude, interruption, and internal conflict. Personal anecdotes about “silent retreats” and urban vermin add levity.
- Memorable Moment: Jumana’s beloved, extensively-annotated copy of the book has disappeared: “Somebody has my copy and I hope they got as much joy out of it as I did.” (06:01)
2. The Director by Daniel Kehlmann
Main Discussants: Dave Kim, Jumana Khatib, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 10:23–15:16
- Overview: Fictionalized account of Austrian filmmaker G.W. Pabst’s struggle to maintain artistic integrity in Nazi Europe.
- Themes: Moral compromise, artistic freedom vs. survival, family under totalitarian rule.
- Quote: “He’s the rare writer who can deliver the goods for a popular audience… but there’s also this subtlety and bristling intelligence for that stuck up reader who ‘never reads contemporary.’” – (Dave Kim, 10:23)
- Memorable moment: Jumana describes reading the climax as emotionally overwhelming: “It was one of the more emotionally affecting novels I’ve read this year.” (14:23)
- Praise for Translation: Ross Benjamin’s work is highlighted for capturing the nuance of living under constant threat.
3. Angel Down by Daniel Kraus
Main Discussants: Gilbert Cruz, Dave Kim, Jumana Khatib
Timestamp: 15:16–20:14
- Plot: Historical horror novel set in World War I trenches; soldiers discover a literal fallen angel in the carnage. Notable for being written as one very long, continuous sentence.
- Tone/Style: Unrelentingly visceral, grotesque, yet with moments of beauty and philosophical depth.
- Quote: “You can read something about decapitation… and be like, wow, this can be made into a beautiful sentence.” – (Dave Kim, 19:13)
- Discussion: The book is lauded for its ambition and for bringing something “unexpected” and original to a well-trodden war genre. “Not for everyone” is said admiringly.
4. The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Main Discussants: Jumana Khatib, Dave Kim, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 20:41–25:56
- Story: Autofictional saga of the three Mikola sisters, Swedish-Tunisian immigrants, told through the eyes of “Jonas,” a stand-in for the author.
- Strengths: Energetic, sprawling, yet finds the extraordinary in ordinary lives. Explores folklore, family curses, and the immigrant experience with humor and pathos.
- Quote: “Somebody’s put a curse on us… and this book is the way I wrote myself out of it.” – (Jumana Khatib, 24:02)
- Memorable Dialogue: Lively, funny debate about the existence of curses:
“You know curses don’t exist, right?” (Gilbert Cruz, 24:12)
“That’s not true.” (Jumana Khatib, 24:13) - Praise: The distinctness of each sister and the kinetic momentum across its considerable length.
5. The Loneliness of Sonja and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Main Discussants: Dave Kim, Jumana Khatib, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 26:03–31:36
- Overview: A romance across continents, generations, and expectations, spanning India and America from the late 1990s onwards.
- Themes: Art, love, family, diaspora, the tension between creative authenticity and expectation.
- Quote from Alexandra Jacobs: “Almost 20 years in the making… not so much a novel as a marvel.” (28:01)
- Notable Elements: The book’s size (original manuscript 5,000+ pages), sensory richness, and blend of literary traditions.
- Discussion: Exploring art’s demands and cliches: “She both resists and reinvents… she really makes them uniquely hers.” – (Dave Kim, 30:23)
- Audiobook: Praised as “a bravura performance” that enhances the novel’s lushness.
II. Additional Fiction Recommendations
Timestamp: 31:55–34:58
- Audition by Katie Kitamura: “Mulholland Drive in novel form… elegant, understated, a psychological thriller.” – (Jumana, 32:19)
- Trip by Amy Baradale: A surreal, Buddhist-themed interdimensional romp powered by a mother’s love.
- The Tokyo Suite by Giovanna Mataloso: “Great, sensitive portrait… very funny and it moves quickly.” – (Dave Kim, 34:11)
III. The 5 Best Nonfiction Books of 2025
1. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhurst
Main Discussants: Greg Coles, Emily Aiken, Gilbert Cruz, Nima Jeromey
Timestamp: 38:44–47:17
- Plot: English couple Morris and Marilyn Bailey, dissatisfied with suburban life, embark on an ill-prepared voyage to New Zealand in the '70s. After their boat is capsized by a sperm whale, they survive 118 days at sea.
- Tone: “A gripping story… but also a story about their marriage” that “could have torn them apart or brought them closer together.” – (Greg Coles, 41:51)
- Memorable Detail: They brought books and playing cards, Marilyn planned dinner parties on the raft to keep morale.
- Quote: “Marilyn kept them alive by imagining that they were alive.” – (Emily Aiken, 42:48)
- Discussion: How Elmhurst makes the sea ordeal vivid and moving, with a “feat of imagination” matching her subjects’.
2. There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone
Main Discussants: Emily Aiken, Gilbert Cruz, Nima Jeromey, Greg Coles
Timestamp: 47:28–56:41
- Premise: Deep, immersive reporting on American families who are homeless despite having jobs—focusing on Atlanta.
- Central Statistic: “There is no city in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to rent a two bedroom apartment.” – (Emily, 47:30)
- Quote: “You look at the people you interact with… and wonder, just because they have a job, do they have a home?” – (Emily, 50:52)
- Themes: Systemic failures, bureaucracy, predatory real estate, societal misconceptions about homelessness.
- Discussion: The book’s “propulsive, fly on the wall quality” keeps it as engaging as it is infuriating.
3. Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux
Main Discussants: Nima Jeromey, Isabella Rossellini, Greg Coles, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 56:50–63:27
- Overview: Lively, unsparing biography of Gauguin, painter and adventurer, reframing his complex legacy amidst myth, scandal, and colonialism.
- Details: Exposes little-known biographical details (his time in Peru, claim to “savagery”, possible involvement in Panama Canal works, family life).
- Quote: “This is a haunted biography. It’s a beautiful biography.” – (Nima, 59:23)
- Discussion: How new evidence (e.g., dental records dispelling syphilis rumors) and a recent manuscript prompted a timely reexamination.
4. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
Main Discussants: Nima Jeromey, Isabella Rossellini, Greg Coles
Timestamp: 65:15–69:35
- Content: Memoir focused on Roy’s tumultuous relationship with her formidable, sometimes abusive mother, principal of a school in Kerala.
- Tone: Both unsentimental and deeply humorous, mixing personal pain with comic observation.
- Quote: “Despite her mother… she somehow makes all this funny. Every chapter… is like a comedian's tight 10.” – (Nima, 67:42)
- Discussion: The book is praised for its honesty, generosity, and matter-of-fact rendering of difficult family realities.
5. Mother: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church by Kevin Sack
Main Discussants: Emily Aiken, Nima Jeromey, Gilbert Cruz
Timestamp: 69:55–75:40
- Scope: Not just a recounting of the 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church massacre in Charleston, but a sweeping history of the Black church in America and its intersection with politics and resistance.
- Quote: “At a moment when religion and race are so much a part of our national politics and conversation, this book just feels incredibly timely and essential.” – (Emily, 73:55)
- Structure: The “church as protagonist” serves to connect the nation’s past and present struggles with race and justice.
- Review: Described by reviewer Randall Kennedy as “a masterpiece.”
IV. Additional Nonfiction Recommendations
Timestamp: 76:04–79:45
- Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs – biography of James Baldwin through his romantic relationships.
- Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt – bold, readable biography of playwright Christopher Marlowe, challenging Shakespeare’s primacy.
- Motherland by Julia Ioffe – feminist history of Russia through the lens of Yoffe’s family and Soviet legacies.
Notable Quotes by Timestamp
-
[05:34] “The silence here is so thick it makes me feel wealthy.”
— Charlotte Wood’s narrator, relayed by Jumana Khatib -
[10:23] “He’s the rare writer who can deliver the goods for a popular audience… but there’s also this subtlety and bristling intelligence for that stuck up reader who ‘never reads contemporary.’”
— Dave Kim on Daniel Kehlmann -
[19:13] “You can read something about decapitation… and be like, wow, this can be made into a beautiful sentence.”
— Dave Kim on Kraus’s Angel Down -
[24:02] “Somebody’s put a curse on us… and this book is the way I wrote myself out of it.”
— Jonas Hassen Khemiri (via Jumana Khatib) -
[28:01] “Almost 20 years in the making… not so much a novel as a marvel.”
— Alexandra Jacobs on The Loneliness of Sonja and Sunny, quoted by Gilbert Cruz -
[42:48] “Marilyn kept them alive by imagining that they were alive.”
— Emily Aiken on A Marriage at Sea -
[50:52] “You look at the people you interact with… and wonder, just because they have a job, do they have a home?”
— Emily Aiken on There Is No Place for Us -
[67:42] “Despite her mother, who was very unstable… she somehow makes all of this funny. Every chapter… is like a comedian’s tight 10.”
— Nima Jeromey on Arundhati Roy -
[73:55] “At a moment when religion and race are so much a part of our national politics and conversation, this book just feels incredibly timely and essential.”
— Emily Aiken on Mother
Conclusion
The episode delivers an exuberant, sometimes emotional celebration of reading, debate, and discovery. Editors champion both bold and quiet books, emphasizing works that expand our empathy, challenge assumptions, and reflect the vibrancy of contemporary literature. This episode is a passionate resource for anyone seeking the literary highlights of 2025, including standout works that provoke, delight, and transform.
For those who haven’t listened: This summary offers a comprehensive walkthrough of each major book discussed—fiction and nonfiction—along with panelists’ favorite moments and extra recommendations, all in the candid, energetic spirit of the NYT Book Review team.