Booksology With 2025 looming in the rearview mirror, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year’s reading. Libby, a free app that lets users check out ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines from more than 22,000 public libraries across the United States, shared with us her review of the year in books. A very clear pattern emerges.
Of the 20 most popular books to check out in 2025, most are fiction books (except for one non-fiction book: Let Them Theory Half of the books (written by Mel Robbins) were selected by celebrity book clubs at some point during the year, and all have been bestsellers. That last point leads to another point about not having a lot of diversity. Many of the books that make it onto mainstream bestseller lists are written by white authors because best-selling books tend to be the ones with the biggest marketing budgets, and because of the way the publishing industry operates, books with the biggest marketing budgets tend to be written by white authors.
Still, if you’re curious about some of the biggest books of 2025 by BIPOC authors, here’s a roundup featuring a few. The list includes the necessary nonfiction (One DayEveryone Will Have Always Against This by Omar El Akkad). Fantasy of Hell (Katabasis by RF Kuang). A near-future dystopia (The Guardian and the Thief by Megha Majumdar). A moving memoir (The Virgin Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy). Southern Noir (King of Ashes by SA Cosby). Stories of women in the community (The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy). And so on.
Below are the 20 most popular Libby checkouts for 2025. They range from queer space race stories to family stories set in India to tales of unlikely non-human friendships.
20. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid – Selected by Good Morning America, June 2025
19. The Paradise Problem (by Christina Loren)
18. “The Water Covenant” by Abraham Verghese – Oprah’s Book Club Selection, May 2023
17. “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker, Read with Jenna’s Choice, July 2024
16. “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt – Selected by Read with Jenna, May 2022
15. Say You’ll Remember Me Abby Jimenez
14. “None of This Is True” by Lisa Jewell
13. James by Percival Everett
12. Funny Story by Emily Henry
11. Iron Frame Rebecca Yaros
10. “Just for the Summer” by Abby Jimenez – Selected by Good Morning America, April 2024
9. Force Wing Rebecca Yaros
8. Courtyard of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
7. “The God of the Woods” by Liz Moore – Jimmy Fallon’s Choice for Summer 2024 Book Club
6. Sunrise of the Reap Suzanne Collins
5. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry – Selected by Leith Book Club, May 2025
4. Onyx Storm Rebecca Yaros
3. “The Wedding People” by Alison Espaha – Selected by Read with Jenna, August 2024
2. Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory – Endorsed by Oprah
1. “The Women” by Kristin Hanna – Selected by Leith Book Club, March 2024
For more information about Libby, please visit Libby Life.
To see other books chosen by celebrity book clubs, check out Best Book Club Books of 2025.
