The sheer number of books published in any given year is overwhelming.
Even if your local bookstore is particularly well-appointed, it can’t make space for everything publishers have on offer. That can make it challenging to know which recently published books are worth your time.
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One way to discover fascinating books that you might not have otherwise noticed is by paying attention to literary awards, judged by authors, critics, and other experts in the field — and it’s not just the winners that are worth noting, but the runners-up as well.
Here are 24 excellent books published in 2025 that are worth a look, and that either won or were nominated for some of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes.
“America, América: A New History of the New World” by Greg Grandin
Historian Grandin won a Pulitzer Prize for his book “The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America.” His latest reconsiders how U.S. history was shaped by Latin America over the past five centuries, as well as the other way around. The book was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, Cundill History Prize, and Carnegie Medal.
“The Antidote” by Karen Russell
Russell’s debut novel, “Swamplandia!,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Her latest book, which follows five people who become intertwined with one another after their Nebraska town is hit by an epic dust storm, was a finalist for this year’s National Book Award.
“The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam” by Lana Lin
Books from the small press Dorothy, a publishing project, are always a good bet, and this one doesn’t disappoint. The book, by artist and filmmaker Lin, uses a Gertrude Stein-like literary device to explore the life of Lin’s partner, the artist Lam; it was longlisted for a National Book Award.
“Baldwin: A Love Story” by Nicholas Boggs
James Baldwin is widely recognized as one of the greatest American authors in history, but he hasn’t been the subject of a full-length biography in 30 years. Boggs’s look at Baldwin explores his life and work through his relationships. The book made this year’s Kirkus Prize shortlist.
“Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People” by Imani Perry
Harvard professor Perry is one of the country’s most acclaimed writers of nonfiction; her 2022 book “South to America” won a National Book Award. She was named a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize for her new book, which explores Blackness through the lens of the color blue.
“Flashlight” by Susan Choi
Choi, a past National Book Award winner for “Trust Exercise,” was longlisted for the same prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize for her new novel, which tells the story of a Korean man who has immigrated to America and disappears, upending the lives of his wife and daughter.
“Flesh” by David Szalay
The latest novel from “All That Man Is” author Szalay is a piercing look at masculinity — it follows a Hungarian man whose life is derailed by a tragedy. The book took home the prestigious Booker Prize, and it was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
“A Guardian and a Thief” by Megha Majumdar
Majumdar’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed “A Burning” tells the story of an Indian woman who is searching for the desperate man who stole her purse, containing the documents she and her family need to immigrate to the U.S. The novel won praise from Oprah Winfrey and landed on the shortlists for the Kirkus Prize, National Book Award and Carnegie Medal.
“Hunchback” by Saou Ichikawa, translated by Polly Barton
The debut novel from Japanese author Ichikawa follows a disabled woman living in a care home who publishes explicit sexual fantasies online and trolls strangers on social media. The book won Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize, and it was longlisted for a National Book Award, International Booker Prize and Carnegie Medal.
“The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze” by Derrick Barnes
Barnes’s middle-grade novel tells the story of a 13-year-old star football player who raises the ire of people in his Mississippi town after he refuses to play in the wake of his friend’s vicious assault by police officers. Barnes won the Kirkus Prize twice before, for his books “Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut” and “I Am Every Good Thing,” and he was shortlisted for the award again this year. He also made the National Book Award longlist for his latest one.
“King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation” by Scott Anderson
The Iranian Revolution of 1979 changed the course of modern global history. In this book, author Anderson explores how the uprising caught the U.S. by surprise. The book won the Kirkus Prize, with the jury praising it as “masterful and propulsive.”
“The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” by Kiran Desai
Almost 20 years in the making, the newest novel from “The Inheritance of Loss” author Desai tells the story of a romance between two Indian immigrants to the U.S. The book received rave reviews, and it landed on the shortlists for the Booker and Kirkus Prizes.
“A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck” by Sophie Elmhirst
Elmhirst’s book tells the remarkable story of Maurice and Maralyn, a couple who decided to sell their house, buy a boat, and take to the Pacific Ocean — a voyage that was interrupted when a whale sank the ship, and they were forced to survive on a raft for months. The book was a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize.
“Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy” by Julia Ioffe
Journalist Ioffe and her family moved from the then-Soviet Union to the U.S. when she was 7, and she has since become known for her reporting on Russia. Her book, which explores how women have made the country what it is today, was a National Book Award finalist.
“Mother Mary Comes to Me” by Arundhati Roy
Novelist and political activist Roy stunned the literary world with her 1997 debut novel, “The God of Small Things.” Her latest book is a memoir, focused on her relationship with her late mother, Mary Roy. The memoir earned a spot on the Kirkus Prize shortlist.
“North Sun: Or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” by Ethan Rutherford
Published by Austin, Texas, press A Strange Object, the debut novel from Rutherford, set in 1878, follows the crew of a whaling vessel journeying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic Ocean. Rutherford’s book scored a finalist spot for the National Book Award.
“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” by Omar El Akkad
Journalist and novelist El Akkad, an Egyptian native who grew up in Qatar and moved to Canada as a teenager, considers the failure of the West to protect the rights of immigrants, especially Arabs and Muslims, in this book that won the National Book Award and Palestine Book Award.
“Pick a Color” by Souvankham Thammavongsa
Thammavongsa’s novel, about a day in the life of a retired boxer who now manages a nail salon, won the Giller Prize — Canada’s most prestigious literary honor — making her one of four authors to win the award twice, following luminaries Esi Edugyan, Alice Munro and M.G. Vassanji.
“The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer
This debut novel follows two teenagers in Austin, Texas, one a student in a boxing gym who suddenly disappears, and another struggling with his identity. The book won the Kirkus Prize, with the judges comparing Schaefer to Jonathan Franzen, Philip Roth, and John Irving.
“There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” by Brian Goldstone
Journalist Goldstone tells the story of five families in Atlanta who have trouble staying housed despite having jobs, and explores how the economy has left the working poor behind. The book was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal.
“Things in Nature Merely Grow” by Yiyun Li
Li has built a reputation as one of America’s greatest living fiction writers. She turns to nonfiction in this new, heart-wrenching memoir about the suicide of her son James. The book landed on the shortlists for the National Book Award and Carnegie Medal.
“Truth Is” by Hannah V. Sawyerr
Sawyerr stunned critics and young readers with “All the Fighting Parts,” her 2023 novel in verse about a teenage sexual assault survivor. She returned to the genre this year with “Truth Is,” which tells the story of a 17-year-old slam poet dealing with an unexpected pregnancy; the book was a finalist for a National Book Award.
“We Do Not Part” by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
In 2024, Han became the first South Korean author in history to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her latest novel to be translated into English is the dark, dreamlike account of a woman braving a winter storm in order to save her friend’s bird; it was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and longlisted for a National Book Award.
“The Wilderness” by Angela Flournoy
Fans of “The Turner House” author Flournoy had to wait 10 years for its follow-up, but surely weren’t disappointed by this well-reviewed novel about 20 years in the lives of a group of Black millennial women. The novel was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Aspen Words Literary Prize.