Booksology Goodreads has released a list of 144 most read books from the 2025 Reading Challenge (so far). Each category has 12 titles, with genres including fiction, historical fiction, mystery & thriller, fantasy, romantic, science fiction, horror, romance, young adults, memoirs, history and biography, and general non-fiction.
Some authors dominate the category. Sarah J. Mars has 11 titles divided into romantic and young adult titles, with eight of the 12 Mystery & Thriller books by Frieda McFadden.
This list includes both new backlist titles and backlist titles, indicating that despite the new releases gaining most of their marketing and promotion, they are not all of their popularity. In fact, there are even a few classics on this list, including George Orwell in 1984, Ray Bradbury by Fahrenheit 451, and sower parables by Octavia E. Butler. (Hmm, why are dystopian novels so popular now…)
If you’re looking for the biggest new release of 2025 so far, Goodreads has another list for that. There is a new book (so far) for readers of the year.
This is just a few of the most read books from the first half of the 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge.
Yellow Face (Fiction) by RF Kuang
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and Gabriel Zevin (fiction)
James (Historical Novel) by Percival Everett
Chemistry Lessons by Bonnie Garmas (Historical Novel)
Crash by Freida McFadden (Mystery & Thriller)
The God of the Forest (Mystery & Thriller) by Liz Moore
Babel (Fantasy) by RF Kuang
Before the coffee gets cold, the river in Kawaguchi, translated by Jeffrey Torscelotte (fantasy)
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Jaros (Romantasy)
I didn’t know Jacqueline Harpman’s man, translated by Ros Schwartz (SF).
Octavia E. Butler’s Memories of Sowing (Science Fiction)
We lived here by Marcus Clewer (Horror)
Mona Awad’s Bunny (Horror)
Twisted Love by Anna Fan (Romance)
Funny Stories by Emily Henry (Romance)
