Best Books of 2025 | Kate & Drew’s Year-End Reads (Bonus Episode)

To close out 2025, Everyone Should Read co-hosts Kate Watters and Drew Sylva share their best books of 2025 in an extra-long bonus episode. We’re breaking down our top picks across longform fiction, longform nonfiction, shortform fiction, and shortform nonfiction—plus the most surprising reads, our favorite discoveries, and the single best thing we read all year. Expect lively book recommendations, hot takes, and tangents that take us all over the literary map.Drew's Best of 2025 Book Picks:Longform Fiction: Home to Harlem by Claude McKay / The Antidote by Karen RusselLongform NonFiction: The Color of Law by Richard RothsteinShort-form Fiction: The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna ClarkeShort-form NonFiction: The Race to Innocence by Mary Louise Fellows and Sherene RazackBook that Surprised: Yellowface by R.F. HuangBook to Build a Class Around: Making History by KJ ParkerBest thing Drew Read in 2025: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon JimenezKate's Best of 2025 Book Picks:Longform Fiction: The Knight and the Moth by Rachel GilligLongform NonFiction: In Open Contempt by Irvin Weathersby JrShort-form Fiction: Galatea by Madeline Miller / Carmilla by Sheridan le FanuShort-form NonFiction: Superfine by Monica L. MillerBook that Surprised: I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jannette McCurdyBook to Build a Class Around: The Fifth Season by N.K. JemisinBest thing Kate Read in 2025: Hand written notes