The Best Books of 2020–2025: A Reader’s Journey Through Literary Excellence

If you’ve ever found yourself lost in the pages of a novel during a quiet morning or stayed up late unraveling a gripping memoir, you know there’s something magical about reading. Over the past six years, from 2020 to 2025, readers around the world have turned to books for comfort, connection, and clarity, especially during unpredictable times. The literary world responded with powerful stories that explored identity, resilience, global change, and the enduring power of human connection.

In this post, we’ll take a journey through the best books of each year from 2020 to 2025, highlighting standout titles across genres, notable literary trends, and a few hidden gems worth your attention. Whether you’re catching up on what you missed or planning your 2026 reading list, this guide has something for every kind of reader.

Why the 2020–2025 Era Matters in Modern Literature

The early 2020s brought seismic shifts, not only globally but in the literary landscape. Lockdowns sent book sales soaring as people sought solace in stories. BookTok and Bookstagram turned unknown authors into bestsellers overnight. Meanwhile, publishers amplified diverse voices, and readers embraced books in translation like never before.

This era saw the rise of autofiction, climate narratives, and deeply personal memoirs that blurred the line between truth and storytelling. It also marked a resurgence in literary fiction with emotional depth and speculative works that imagined possible futures.

Let’s dive into the standout titles from each year.

2020: The Year We Turned to Books for Comfort

With the world on pause, reading became an act of resistance and retreat.

• “The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett – A generational saga about twin sisters, racial identity, and the lives we imagine versus the ones we live. It dominated bestseller lists and book clubs alike.
• “Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener – A memoir of a woman leaving the literary world for Silicon Valley, capturing the absurdity and alienation of tech culture.
• “Deacon King Kong” by James McBride – A vibrant, darkly comic novel set in 1960s Brooklyn, blending crime, community, and redemption.

2020 also saw a surge in audiobooks and e-reading as libraries closed and readers adapted. It was the year many rediscovered the joy of reading for pleasure.

2021: Literary Fiction Reclaims the Spotlight

After a year of nonstop headlines, readers craved narrative depth and emotional resonance.

• “No One Is Talking About This” by Patricia Lockwood – A fragmented, poetic novel that captured the absurdity of internet life and the profundity of grief. Its second half hit like a thunderclap.
• “Hell of a Book” by Jason Mott – A genre-bending novel that confronts racism, fame, and the story of a Black author on tour, blending surrealism and heart-wrenching realism.
• “The Sentence” by Louise Erdrich – A ghost story set in a Minneapolis bookstore, this novel blended the supernatural with the very real pain of loss and racial injustice.

Nonfiction also shone, with “Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe exposing the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis, a page-turner with journalistic rigor.

2022: The Rise of Quiet, Powerful Narratives

After years of chaos, readers leaned into introspective, contemplative stories.

• “The Rabbit Hutch” by Tess Gunty – Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, this debut follows residents of a low-income apartment complex, blending melancholy with dark humor.
• “Lucy by the Sea” by Elizabeth Strout – A pandemic-era novel about isolation, love, and the quiet resilience of ordinary people.
• “All About Love” by bell hooks – Though not new, it became a cultural touchstone, republished with renewed relevance as readers reexamined relationships and emotional intelligence.

Poetry also made a comeback, with Ada Limón’s appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate and her candid public readings resonating widely.

2023: Global Voices Take Center Stage

Readers embraced stories from around the world, especially works in translation.

• “Tomb of Sand” by Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy Rockwell) – The first Hindi novel to win the International Booker Prize, it’s a sprawling, inventive story about an elderly woman’s late-life transformation.
• “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh – While earlier published, it gained new cult status as readers connected with its anti-hustle ethos.
• “The Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson – A sweeping climate novel that offered both dread and hope, becoming a staple in climate fiction circles.

This year also saw a boom in book subscription boxes focused on international literature and indie presses.

2024: Bold, Unflinching Memoirs and Social Commentary

Personal stories took center stage, with authors using autobiography to explore broader social themes.

• “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sánchez – A raw, funny, and painful novel-turned-memoir hybrid about mental health and cultural expectations.
• “Bad Art Mother” by Leesa Cross-Smith – A provocative exploration of motherhood, creativity, and sacrifice that sparked intense book club debates.
• “Chain-Gang All-Stars” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah – A dystopian masterpiece critiquing the prison-industrial complex through a brutal, fictionalized reality show.

Genre-blending became the norm. Fiction borrowed from essay writing; memoirs read like novels.

2025: The Year of Reconnection and Literary Ambition

As the world reopened, readers sought meaning, connection, and transformation through books.

According to The New York Times Book Review, the 100 Notable Books of 2025 included:

• “Spare Parts” by Garth Greenwell – A profound meditation on desire, morality, and art.
• “All Fours” by Miranda July – A surreal, intimate road trip novel that redefined autofiction.
• “The Cliffs” by J. Courtney Sullivan – A multigenerational Maine story exploring family, secrets, and the passage of time.

Nonfiction highlights included “The Future We Choose” by Christiana Figueres, a hopeful roadmap for climate action, and “How to Think About God” by Marilynne Robinson, a reflective spiritual inquiry.

2025 also saw a resurgence in slow reading movements and analog reading, people reclaiming focus, one page at a time.

How to Use This List for Your 2026 Reading Goals

If you’re inspired to dive deeper, here are a few tips:

• Pick a book from each year to see how themes evolved.
• Try one book in translation, start with Tomb of Sand or Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights.
• Join a themed reading challenge: “Read the Decade” or “6 Books, 6 Years.”
• Pair fiction with nonfiction: For example, read The Ministry for the Future alongside The Overstory by Richard Powers.

And if you want to remember why a book moved you, not just that you read it, consider keeping a reading journal, more on that in a moment.

Final Thoughts: What These Books Reveal About Us

The best books of 2020–2025 aren’t just stories, they’re mirrors. They reflect our fears, hopes, and the persistent desire to understand ourselves and each other. From pandemic isolation to social reckoning, from climate anxiety to personal reinvention, these books gave voice to our collective experience.

As we head into 2026, let’s carry forward the habit of deep reading, of choosing books that challenge as much as they comfort.

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