When I was a kid, I was a proper little bookworm. I loved burying my head in a novel and scouring bookshops for new stories to get lost in…Then I took several years off from reading to doomscroll on social media instead.

Once you’re out of the habit of reading, it can be difficult to get back into it. It’s much easier to choose to consume mind-numbing amounts of content through a screen, no matter how much more nourishing for our brains we know books can be. In a world full of digital distractions, it is simply more tempting to reach for your phone than pick up a paperback.

And, let’s be honest, the literary world does have a reputation for being a tad snobby. Whether it’s coming from internal voices or external sources, it’s easy to feel judged for how much or how little you read and the kinds of books you choose. This discourages anyone without a regular reading habit, causing them to feel out of place whenever they are in a book-themed conversation or setting.

At some point, I started labelling myself as a non-reader. I began sorting people into book people and non-book people, and placed myself firmly in the latter category… Then I remembered that I hate labels and have no time for binaries, and started reading again.

I’ve been back in my bookworm era for a couple of years now. The habit took a while to build back up, but I slowly remembered why I loved reading so much in the first place. Spending time with a good book calms my mind in a way that no other form of entertainment can. Looking back, my childhood self loved reading because it helped him quiet his mind - and that is definitely something my adult self still needs help with.

The most difficult part about getting back into reading has been choosing which books to read. I very much appreciate a recommendation to simplify the selection process so I thought I’d make some of my own. Here are six books I read and loved in 2025…

Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna

"Ed is blurry, to even himself. His outlines are vague. This is fine except that you need to be solid for other people.”

Long before I read Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna, I had a running joke with one of my friends that it was my favourite book. I had seen so many people I admired online - from both queer and literary sides of the internet - heap praise on it, and I just had a feeling I would truly love it. When I finally did get around to reading it, I was proved right. It is my favourite book of 2025, and maybe ever.

Evenings & Weekends follows the interconnected lives of four individuals over one weekend (which includes a few evenings) during a hot, sweaty summer in London. Unsurprisingly, what I adore most about this book is how queer it is. It’s queer in terms of its content - it explores a multitude of LGBTQ+ subjects, delving into the complexities of non-monogamous dating, the long-term impact of queer trauma, the weight of carrying secrets and the dangers of suppressing your sexuality. And it’s also queer in terms of its structure - none of the interwoven stories unfold as I expected, and they are each the better for it.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

“This is what time travel is. It’s looking at a person, and seeing them in the present and the past, concurrently.”

On paper (as it were), I shouldn’t love the novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. It is, on the surface at least, a book about video games and the people who design them - a profession and pastime that I have very limited interest in. Scratch a little deeper, however, and a beautiful, platonic love story is revealed.

What I ended up loving so much about Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is that it explores how friendships can be just as complex as romantic relationships; they can contain just as much friction but unconditional love, too. I felt like I was gaming and growing and grieving alongside real people as I followed Zevin’s masterfully written characters through decades of life. I missed each one of them as soon as the story finished.

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

“What you're trying to say is that it's easier for you to hide in your own darkness, than emerge cloaked in your own vulnerability. Not better, but easier.”

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, on the other hand, is a book I was perhaps always going to love, as it explores two of the subjects I am most interested in: masculinity and mental health. Not only does it explore these subjects, but it does so through a stunningly written, soulful love story. A photographer and a dancer meet at a pub and fall in love, only to have their simple tale derailed by fear and violence.

In less than 200 pages, this small but mighty book celebrates Black creativity, champions the power of human connection and confronts the psychological toll systemic racism can have on a person. Specifically, it shows how the feeling of being perpetually looked at but never truly seen impacts a young man, leaving him internally and externally vulnerable. I have never wanted so desperately for a character to open up and for a fictional couple to get their happy ending.

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

“I don't need you to be mad that it happened. I need you to be mad that it just like... happens.”

One subgenre of books which I have discovered I am particularly interested in is the issue-driven novel. Falling into this category, Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid tells the story of Emira Tucker, a young Black woman in Philadelphia who is wrongly accused of kidnapping while babysitting for a white family. The novel questions whether it is possible to connect across barriers of race, gender, wealth and privilege - navigating these topical subjects with nuance, wit and heart.

Booker Prize nominee Kiley Reid is a precise writer, describing scenarios with such specificity that it feels like you are in the room. From the very first chapter, she conjures gut-churning moments of tension but never lingers on them for too long, as the lovable protagonist is ever keen to swiftly move on. I was hooked throughout the story, particularly compelled by the dynamic between Emira and Briar, the young girl she cares for, as it’s the only relationship pure enough to cut through societal boundaries. And the story’s laser-sharp final line is still imprinted in my mind.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

“I was twenty and I needed two things: to be in love and to be taken seriously.”

In The Rachel Incident, an Irish woman looks back on the chaotic way in which her 20s began and the lie that changed her life. Caroline O'Donoghue perfectly captures the messy emotions of early adulthood with humorous hindsight in this surprisingly gay page-turner. This felt like the perfect book to read as I officially left my 20s in the past (I turned 30 in August), as it reminded me just how much I do not wish to be that young again.

Despite neither the author nor the titular character being LGBTQ+, The Rachel Incident contains some of the best queer writing I have read. The book's plot hinges on James, the trope-free gay best friend. From the moment he is introduced, you are just as intoxicated by him as Rachel is. You get to revel in their addictive friendship as it develops, and there is one particularly poignant moment in which James discloses that he simply doesn’t see romantic love in his future. Through candid conversations and raucous nights out, this pairing perfectly depicts how truly life-changing gay-male-straight-female friendships can be.

Simply More by Cynthia Erivo

“For those of us who consider ourselves out and proud, know we have all been the recipients of a great gift - the opportunity to be more. For many, the road to that place was not paved with yellow bricks, but bumps and potholes. Whatever road you have travelled, how beautiful it is that you have had a road to travel on at all.

Remember, there are the invisible ones who have no road - who have not even yet begun to find their road. If you are that person who has not yet found your road, be encouraging and patient with yourself. The way forward will show itself. You might not have had the strength or capacity to fully become yourself just yet. That’s okay. Know that I am proud of your quiet and solitary want to be fully yourself.

And for the rest of us, know that our real work is to make the ground we leave in our wake level enough for the person who is searching for their road and has not found it yet.”

And finally, Simply More by Cynthia Erivo is the most recent book I have read (in fact, I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Cynthia herself). It’s less a memoir, more a collection of thoughts and questions about life, creativity, music, running, and queerness. Through this series of musings, Cynthia reveals how prioritising authenticity and refusing to be anything less than her full self has allowed her to become the proud, queer, Black icon she is today.

There is one chapter, the fifty-second to be precise, that I have listened to several times (and included an extract from above). I wish, somehow, every queer person on the planet could read this chapter - and the book as a whole. It has made me think about what kind of writer, queer and person I’d like to be.

Other things I’ve enjoyed reading…

This article is already pretty hefty, so I capped it at my top six books from the year. Just quickly, though, I’d also like to mention that I very much enjoyed reading Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, and Am I Having Fun Now by Suzi Ruffell. I’d highly recommend all of these titles.

So often when I read book lists like this, they are subtle ways for the writer to brag about how many books they have read that year or boast about how generally well-read they are (no shade, just saying). The point of this list is not to shame anyone for not reading enough this year or even to say that I think I have profoundly original taste in books.

The point of this list is to say: I love these books, here’s why. Maybe you will too. And, if you would like to read any of these books, you shouldn’t let anything - inside or outside of your head - stand in your way.

The Best Things I Read in 2025