Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

---

These are the best books I read in 2025.

The Invention of Charlotte Bronte: A New Life, Graham Watson
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, Candice Millard
Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, Rebecca Romney
Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI, Karen Hao
Bibliophobia, Sarah Chihaya

The Correspondent, Virginia Evans
Shadowplay, Joseph O'Connor
Flashlight, Susan Choi
Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope
Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories, Nam-Joo Cho
Rhine Journey, Ann Schlee


Other books mentioned:
Bad Bad Girl, Gish Jen
The Adjunct, Maria Adelmann
........


Book Cougar's podcast episode with Rebecca Romney
bookcougars.com/blog-1/2024/episode207

For some reason I thought there were two episodes with Romney, but apparently it's only one.

Shawn's interview of Virginia Evans @shawnbreathesbooks
youtube.com/watch?v=0mmCsJzCdnA

Contact info:
anenthusiasticreader@icloud.com
GoodReads: goodreads.com/review/list/1295781
Voxer @sonya_enthusiasticreader
Bluesky: @readersonya.bsky.social
Threads: @an.enthusiastic.reader