{"id":2213746,"date":"2025-12-27T13:01:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T13:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2213746"},"modified":"2025-12-27T13:01:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T13:01:19","slug":"the-30-best-books-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-30-best-books-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The 30 Best Books of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F12%2FNY-Post-New-Years-Double-WEB.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>From gripping thrillers, witty satires and poignant epics to captivating histories and juicy memoirs, 2025 was full of great books. Read on for 30 of our favorites. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><strong>FICTION<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Karen Russell (Knopf)<br \/><\/em>The latest from the Pulitzer finalist and MacArthur fellow is set in Nebraska during the Great Depression \u2014\u00a0a very real backdrop for a very surreal story, complete with a sentient scarecrow and a \u201cprairie witch.\u201d Don\u2019t let that scare you off. Russell spins a gripping tale as the lives of a Polish farmer, a basketball star, a New Deal photographer and others become intertwined when Dust Bowl storms rage across the town.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Katie Kitamura\u00a0(Riverhead Books)\u00a0<br \/><\/em>This short, fascinating puzzle of a novel explores ideas about identity and the roles we play. At the start, a successful actress meets a much younger man for lunch at a Manhattan restaurant, but their relationship is unclear. He claims to be her son, but she says that\u2019s impossible. As things unfold, the actress\u2019 performance and real life blur.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Patrick Ryan (Random House)<br \/><\/em>This captivating bestseller emanates loneliness and desire. Set in Ohio and bookended by World War II and Vietnam, it tracks two families constrained by suburban norms and bound by a brief affair and its lasting consequences. Patrick Ryan renders the personal drama with wisdom and restraint. Wars and lovers come and go. Children are born and parents die. Life unfolds against history.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dream State<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Eric Puchner (Doubleday)<br \/><\/em>As she\u2019s planning her wedding at the Montana lake house of her doctor fiance\u2019s family, Cece falls in love with his troubled best friend from college, Garrett. She must choose between the two very different \u2014\u00a0but very close \u2014 men as her nuptials become flooded with Norovirus and betrayal. Eric Puchner portrays her decision and its aftermath over the decades that follow with creativity and grace, as the characters have children and grow older and somewhat wiser. Bonds are broken and sometimes healed, though nothing \u2014 including the warming Montana environment \u2014\u00a0is left unchanged.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Susan Choi (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)<br \/><\/em>\u201cTrust Exercise\u201d author Susan Choi\u2019s latest opens with a mystery: While walking along a Japanese beach with his young daughter, a man \u2014 who can\u2019t swim \u2014 disappears. The girl doesn\u2019t remember what happened and her father is presumed to have drowned. The inevitable plot twist is a big reveal, but it\u2019s the finely detailed personal relationships that make this book sing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>David Szalay (Scribner)<\/em><br \/>The prestigious Booker Prize was recently awarded to this dark rags-to-riches tale of a man who rises above the poor circumstances of his youth \u2014\u00a0raised by a single mother on a housing estate in Hungary \u2014 to the upper echelons of London. Szalay renders his character\u2019s journey, with various sexual liaisons, isolation and alienation, in taut, declarative sentences, including a final one that lingers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Lily King (Grove Press)<br \/><\/em>Yes, it has some of the trappings of a Sally Rooney novel \u2014 glittering young creatives at university talking about literature \u2014 but King portrays the events in her fast-moving book with a mature empathy, rather than cool pretensions, and the ending packs a wonderfully brutal emotional wallop. A writing student who goes by Jordan falls into a lively love triangle with two intellectuals boys. Decades later, Jordan is a successful novelist with a beautiful family. Then, unexpected events catapult her college friends back into her life, and she must reckon with the loose threads of her past.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Amity Gaige (Simon &amp; Schuster)<br \/><\/em>Valerie Gillis, an experienced 42-year-old hiker, goes missing on the Appalachian Trail, writing letters to her mother in her journal as she battles the wilderness. Meanwhile, two women \u2014\u00a0a Maine game warden and an armchair detective in a Connecticut retirement home \u2014\u00a0investigate her disappearance. This year\u2019s most crowd-pleasing thriller, it\u2019s both a search-and-rescue mission and a thorny exploration of mother-daughter dynamics.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-aps-asc-tag=\"nypost-20\" data-aps-asin=\"\" data-wrapped-template=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url\" href=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FXenobe-Purvis%2Fe%2FB0F9QXYP67%2Fref%3Ddp_byline_cont_book_1%3Ftag%3Dnypost-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fentertainment%2Fthe-30-best-books-of-2025%2F%26asc_source%3Dweb\" rel=\"nofollow\">Xenobe Purvis<\/a> (Henry Holt and Co.) <br \/><\/em>In a small village in 18th-century England, five orphaned sisters live with their ailing grandfather and attract the suspicion of the townspeople, some of whom believe the girls are turning into dogs. Purvis\u2019 debut novel is just 240 pages, but it packs a tense, atmospheric punch, and it\u2019s deservedly drawn comparisons to \u201cThe Virgin Suicides\u201d and \u201cThe Crucible.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books: Pine &amp; Cedar)<\/em><br \/>Many novels are acclaimed for having a cinematic feel, but this vivid, violent tale reads more like a prestige television series. A patriarch in a crime-ridden Virginia town ends up in a coma after a car crash, and his adult children \u2014 older son and money man Roman, troubled younger brother Dante and exhausted sister Neveah \u2014 come to realize that it was no accident. A little bit Southern Gothic, a little bit Shakespearian and, yes, a little overwritten in a fun way. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Kiran Desai (Hogarth) <br \/><\/em>It\u2019s been nearly two decades since Indian writer Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize with \u201cThe Inheritance of Loss,\u201d and her new book has the rich depth and length \u2014\u00a0nearly 700 pages \u2014\u00a0of something that\u2019s been allowed to percolate slowly. At college in Vermont, wannabe novelist Sonia struggles with loneliness, and a well-meaning relative in India attempts to arrange a marriage between her and a nice Indian boy in New York City. Instead, Sonia becomes entangled with a rich, mentally ill older man who gets her a job at a Brooklyn art gallery. Meanwhile, Sunny\u2019s relationship with his live-in girlfriend \u2014 a Midwestern girl who complains about his spicy food \u2014\u00a0is fraught with resentment and cultural differences. Desai takes her time building her two titular characters and their backstories. When they finally collide nearly half way into the book, each back in India and needing a break from NYC, it\u2019s all the more rewarding. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Honor Jones (Riverhead Books)<br \/><\/em>This debut treads well-trod territory \u2014 a city gal divorcing in midlife, mother-daughter relationships, childhood sexual abuse and lasting trauma \u2014 but with uncommon subtlety and empathy. Honor Jones finds complexity in parents who looked the other way and paints vivid, troubling scenes that feel astonishingly true.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Lucas Schaefer (Simon &amp; Schuster)<br \/><\/em>In Austin, Texas, in\u00a0the\u00a0late \u201990s, a 16-year-old boy vanishes after he plans to meet up with the Russian phone-sex operator he\u2019s been spending his Hanukkah money on. Years later, his troubled uncle gets a surprise tip that leads him to dig into his nephew\u2019s disappearance \u2014 and experience encounters with a madcap cast of characters at the boxing gym the boy had frequented. Stylish, ambitious and insightful, this is a novel that, dare we say, packs a punch.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p>Charlotte Wood (Riverhead Books)<br \/>You haven\u2019t heard this one before. An atheist Australian woman in her 60s leaves her life in Sydney for the seclusion of a rural convent. There she encounters three visitations: a mouse infestation, the delivery of her long-dead sister\u2019s remains and a visitor from her past. It\u2019s a totally original, strangely compelling story.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Jade Chang (Ecco)<br \/><\/em>Should you love, resent, pity or sympathize Lola Treasure Gold, the protagonist of Jade Chang\u2019s follow-up to \u201cThe Wangs vs. the World\u201d? It\u2019s all of the above, as the Los Angeles millennial \u2014 grieving her best friend\u2019s shocking death while casting around for a career\u00a0path \u2014 stumbles into wild success as a guru to people desperately seeking meaning and with the disposable income to pay for it. Fun, funny and ultimately moving, but served with a side of skeptical side-eye.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NONFICTION<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Laurie Gwen Shapiro (Viking)<br \/><\/em>This juicy biography of Amelia Earhart <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/12\/lifestyle\/the-high-flying-life-and-love-of-aviatrix-amelia-earhart\/\">has everything<\/a>: \u201cair rodeos,\u201d sugar daddies, flashy cars, racy fashions, sex and more. Shapiro examines Earhart\u2019s relationship with her husband, George Putnam, the showman publisher who made the high-flying aviatrix a star \u2014 and possibly led to her downfall. Though a fierce feminist, the good-natured Earhart let her pushy paramour control her schedule and public image. In turn, he encouraged her recklessness, setting up dangerous stunts for a quick buck or a sensational headline, including her last, fatal trip around the globe.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Michael T. Osterholm and Mark Olshaker (Little, Brown Spark)<br \/><\/em>Legendary \u201cdisease detective\u201d Michael Osterholm <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/07\/science\/the-next-pandemic-could-rattle-civilization-and-a-new-book-warns-were-not-ready-for-it\/\">uses a fictional outbreak<\/a> in a Somali village to show how a new virus, as contagious as COVID but far more lethal, could race through refugee camps, jetliners, and megacities before the world even agrees on what it\u2019s facing. Moving between this scenario and real crises from 1918 influenza to HIV, Ebola, Zika and COVID-19, he exposes how fragile supply chains, political denial, and collapsing public trust leave us wide open to the next hit. Osterholm doesn\u2019t traffic in charts but in chilling clarity: Pathogens have a 220,000-to-1 generational advantage over humans, and \u201cthe only currency public health has is trust\u201d\u2014which COVID shattered.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Laurie Woolever (Ecco)<\/em><br \/>Yes, Laurie Woolever was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/09\/28\/anthony-bourdain-friends-reveal-all-sex-drugs-tanning\/\">Anthony Bourdain\u2019s longtime friend<\/a> and personal assistant, and her memoir is filled with tidbits about the late great \u2014 including her <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/10\/entertainment\/anthony-bourdains-assistant-shares-heartbreaking-final-texts\/\">heartbreaking final text<\/a> with him \u2014 that Bourdain fans are sure to enjoy. And yes, she also worked for Mario Batali and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/10\/lifestyle\/mario-batalis-assistant-recalls-strippers-and-groping-on-the-job\/\">offers up tawdry tidbits<\/a> about working for the hard-partying chef who was felled by sexual misconduct allegations. But Woolever\u2019s book is also a compelling, bravely honest, beautifully written look at addiction, ambition, sexual compulsions, parenting and ambivalence.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson (Simon &amp; Schuster)<br \/><\/em>Forget Coco Chanel. Claire McCardell is the most influential fashion designer of all time. In the 1930s and \u201940s, the plucky American championed dresses with pockets, ballet flats and mix-and-match separates and introduced leggings, hoodies, wrap dresses and denim into womenswear. Dickinson\u2019s engaging biography finally gives this genius her due, bringing her exciting, glamorous world and rebellious ideas to life.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><em>Charles Piller (Atria\/One Signal Publishers<\/em>)<em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-aps-asc-tag=\"nypost-20\" data-aps-asin=\"1668031248\" data-wrapped-template=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url\" href=\"https:\/\/r.nypostlink.com?btn_ref=org-19984c113c692001&amp;btn_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDoctored-Fraud-Arrogance-Tragedy-Alzheimers%2Fdp%2F1668031248%3Ftag%3Dnypost-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fentertainment%2Fthe-30-best-books-of-2025%2F%26asc_source%3Dweb\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/><\/a><\/em>Charles Piller exposes how the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/02\/09\/lifestyle\/how-greed-and-profit-fueled-one-failed-alzheimer-drug\/\">failed Alzheimer\u2019s drug simufilam<\/a> \u2014 developed by Cassava Sciences and valued at $5.4 billion \u2014 was based on manipulated research images and the flawed amyloid hypothesis. Whistleblower Matthew Schrag uncovered shocking evidence of scientific fraud that diverted resources from promising treatments, revealing systemic problems plaguing medical research where over 55,000 studies have been retracted. Piller carefully explains how Schrag used NIH-endorsed software to spot \u201cshockingly blatant\u201d signs of tampering, and why this matters beyond one drug: \u201cYou can cheat to get a paper,\u201d Schrag says. \u201cYou can\u2019t cheat to cure a disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Haley Cohen Gilliland (Avid Reader Press\/Simon &amp; Schuster)<br \/><\/em>This riveting book tells the story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, whose grandchildren <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/12\/lifestyle\/the-argentine-grandmothers-who-fought-the-military-to-find-their-grandkids\/\">went missing during Argentina\u2019s military junta<\/a> in the 1970s and \u201980s. Gilliland chronicles the heart-rending decades these women spent searching for their grandchildren, many born in captivity to mothers who were then \u201cdisappeared\u201d \u2014 that is, dropped out of airplanes. In the process, these brave women defied the government, inspired a breakthrough in genetic testing and helped reunite 139 missing children with their biological families.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em> David McWilliams (Henry Holt and Co.<\/em>)<em><br \/><\/em>Economist David McWilliams <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/10\/world-news\/from-the-worlds-first-ever-bailout-by-the-romans-to-33-interest-loans-5000-years-ago-humans-have-pretty-much-always-been-in-financial-crisis\/\">tells the story of money<\/a> through the anxious people who have used it, from a Sumerian brewer sweating a 33% barley loan to Roman senators triggering the world\u2019s first credit crash and bailout under Tiberius. He follows money\u2019s evolution from clay tablets and temple IOUs to Nazi counterfeiting plots and modern central banks, showing how credit, debt and trust become tools of power, empire and resistance.\u00a0McWilliams draws direct lines from ancient Rome\u2019s property collapse to modern financial crises\u00a0(\u201cIt was 2008, but with togas\u201d) and reveals the chilling truth that Lenin and Hitler grasped:\u00a0\u201cMess with money and you mess with far more than the price system \u2014 you mess with people\u2019s heads.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Keith McNally (Gallery Books)<br \/><\/em>Keith McNally\u2019s Instagram reports from dinner service at his Balthazar and Minetta Tavern are always a delight, and his book is this year\u2019s not-to-miss memoir. The prolific, outspoken restaurateur (who hates that word \u2014 sorry, Keith) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/05\/03\/celebrity-news\/restauauranter-keith-mcnally-reveals-two-homosexual-affairs\/\">dishes on growing up in London<\/a> and working as a child actor, opening the iconic Odeon and numerous other classic NYC spots, and his two divorces, a serious stroke and much more.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books)<\/em><br \/>In 1972, an unconventional young couple quit their day jobs with dreams of sailing around the world. But, a year into their journey, an encounter with a whale sunk their boat, leaving the pair stranded for months on a rubber raft in the Pacific. The harrowing true story isn\u2019t just a survival tale, it\u2019s a fascinating, compelling picture of the psychology of\u00a0marriage that reads like fiction.\u00a0(Spoiler warning: The woman\u2019s strength and optimism and focus on seemingly trivial matters \u2014 making playing cards, planning future dinner party menus \u2014 are what gets them through, while the man contemplates suicide and grows weak.) Elmhirst doesn\u2019t stop the book with their rescue but continues on as the couple struggles with their fame and re-acclimating into \u201cnormal\u201d life.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press) <br \/><\/em>Caroline Fraser <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/21\/lifestyle\/how-tacoma-washington-became-the-serial-killer-capitol-of-america\/\">investigates whether Tacoma, Washington\u2019s industrial pollution<\/a> \u2014 53 factories releasing arsenic, lead and toxic chemicals \u2014 created America\u2019s serial killer capital. Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, Charles Manson and Jack Spillman all spent formative years breathing contaminated air near smelters. Studies show childhood lead exposure correlates with aggression and crime, suggesting environmental toxins may have unleashed monsters. Fraser connects the dots with chilling precision, proving that every one of Tacoma\u2019s four major contamination \u201cplumes\u201d has hosted activities of serial rapists or murderers. And she traces the pattern all the way back to Jack the Ripper\u2019s soot-choked London.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Benjamin Wallace (Crown) <br \/><\/em>Benjamin Wallace <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/03\/22\/tech\/who-is-bitcoins-mysterious-founder-satoshi-nakamoto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">investigates Bitcoin\u2019s enigmatic creator<\/a> Satoshi Nakamoto, who invented cryptocurrency worth $100 billion yet remains completely unknown. Despite theories ranging from novelist Neal Stephenson to Elon Musk, Nakamoto\u2019s identity stays hidden \u2014 possibly deliberately, as his anonymity gave Bitcoin its best shot at decentralized success. Wallace tracks down every major suspect (all deny it) and reveals why the mystery endures as Bitcoin\u2019s most compelling feature: In a world where mysteries are rapidly ceasing to exist, this one feels increasingly unsolvable.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Mary Roach (W. W. Norton &amp; Company)<br \/><\/em>Science writer Mary Roach <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/27\/science\/pig-hearts-fish-skin-and-finger-penises-the-shocking-science-of-replacing-human-body-parts\/\">explores the astonishing frontier<\/a> of human body replacement, from pig heart xenotransplants keeping patients alive for months to cod skin healing burns better than synthetics. She examines 3D-printed organs, finger-to-penis reconstructions and lab-grown tissues, revealing how pragmatic medical fixes restore function and humanity \u2014 measured not in sci-fi spectacle but ordinary days reclaimed. Roach delights in surgeons\u2019 gallows humor and kitchen metaphors (a dermatome as cheese slicer, a perfusion cart as salad spinner), leaning into absurdities without losing sight of what\u2019s at stake: survival, dignity and years added to lives.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Ione Skye (Gallery Books)<\/em><br \/>Come for the Gen X (and Boomer\u2014the author\u2019s absentee dad is \u201cSeason of the Witch\u201d singer Donovan) nostalgia, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/03\/08\/celebrity-news\/ione-skyes-romances-with-anthony-kiedis-keanu-reeves-john-cusack\/\">stay for the thrillingly honest writing<\/a>. Actress Ione Skye, best known for her star turn in \u201cSay Anything,\u201d is\u00a0a pop-culture Zelig and writes about experiences, good and sketchy, with Keanu Reeves, Anthony Kiedis, River Phoenix and, most heartbreakingly, the Beastie Boys\u2019 Ad Rock. But this is far more than a woman telling her life story through famous men. Skye\u2019s Hollywood childhood, film career, unusual first foray into parenting and life regrets spring to vibrant, cinematic life.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Graydon Carter (Penguin Press)<br \/><\/em>Carter\u2019s stories about the heady, black-car years at Cond\u00e9 Nast, where he was the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair from 1992 to 2017, are fizzy fun that\u00a0romanticize the magazine era. From the \u201cMission Impossible\u201d-style subterfuge the publication went to to keep its coveted Suri Cruise cover a secret to the unveiling of Watergate source Deep Throat, the memoir is like a 432-page Page Six item.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"\/>\n<p><em>Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press\/Simon &amp; Schuster)<br \/><\/em>Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/26\/entertainment\/cameron-crowe-remembers-wild-times-as-a-teen-journalist-with-led-zeppelin-allmans-bowie\/\">recounts his teenage years<\/a> as a Rolling Stone journalist embedded with Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, the Allman Brothers and David Bowie. The prodigy graduated high school at 15 and gained extraordinary access, watching bands write hits, navigating cocaine-fueled confessions and being berated by a paranoid Gregg Allman \u2014 experiences that ultimately inspired Crowe\u2019s movie \u201cAlmost Famous.\u201d Crowe\u2019s journalism reads like a greatest hits of American rock, as he captures the exact moment when \u201cdeep truths are being spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From gripping thrillers, witty satires and poignant epics to captivating histories and juicy memoirs, 2025 was full of great books. Read on for 30 of our favorites. FICTION Karen Russell (Knopf)The latest from the Pulitzer finalist and MacArthur fellow is set in Nebraska during the Great Depression \u2014\u00a0a very real backdrop for a very surreal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2213747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[21994,343715,21741,394638,425212,359120],"class_list":["post-2213746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-books","tag-cameron-crowe","tag-entertainment","tag-graydon-carter","tag-keith-mcnally","tag-postscript"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-30-Best-Books-of-2025.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2213748,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213746\/revisions\/2213748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}