Denver Public Library names its top books of 2025

Zoom in: We're highlighting the 12 books that rose to the top after multiple staffers named them their pick of the year.

Fiction favorites:

• "Atmosphere: A Love Story," Taylor Jenkins Reid
• "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter," Stephen Graham Jones
• "Death of the Author," Nnedi Okorafor
• "The Emperor of Gladness," Ocean Vuong
• "The Possession of Alba Díaz," Isabel Cañas
• "Vera, or Faith," Gary Shteyngart
• "Wild Dark Shore," Charlotte McConaghy
• "Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil," V.E. Schwab

Top nonfiction picks:

• "The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir," Neko Case
• "Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live," Susan Morrison
• "Washing My Mother's Body: A Ceremony for Grief," Joy Harjo
• "Raising Hare: A Memoir," Chloe Dalton

🚀 My thought bubble: "Atmosphere: A Love Story" — which I read earlier this year and rated a rare 5/5 — also took home the historical fiction prize in this year's Goodreads Choice Awards.

• It's an action-packed page-turner that's slim on sappiness. Highly recommend.