Story Street’s Favorite Books of 2025

Eileen’s Top Pick

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Jozzie’s Top Picks

Soft Burial by Fang Fang is my top book of the year. I read it in March, and the story still lives on. A beautiful, heartbreaking mystery, the characters continue to haunt me, and I welcome their presence. You can read my full review here.

Since I already reviewed Soft Burial, another favorite book for the year is The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey—an enchanting story about love, loss, and family. Mable and Jack are new homesteaders in 1920s Alaska, trying to escape their painful past. During the first snowfall, they make a little snow girl and give her mittens and a scarf. In the morning, the snow girl is gone, but they catch glimpses of a little blonde wearing the clothes. An emotional retelling of the fairytale, Ivey’s immersive prose and genuine characters make this book the ideal winter read.  

And finally, my 2025 was made possible by the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. I listened to the audiobooks on Soundbooth Theater, where I fell in love with the characters, the adventure, the emotional truths, and the humor. I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in my Donut and Mongo PJs while drinking from my Princess Posse Mug.

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Michele’s Top Picks

For me, it’s a toss-up between The Bee Sting by Paul Murray and The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.

Murray’s character and plot development are superb. Though his twist on multiple-perspective formatting is a little challenging at first (one character’s rambling consciousness defies punctuation), it quickly becomes a stylistic window into the hearts and souls of his memorable characters.

Verghese’s seven-hundred-plus-page novel seemed daunting at first, but each chapter of this epic family story flowed so smoothly and lyrically that I lost track of time. I will carry Verghese’s characters in my heart forever, along with the words the author spoke at Harvard’s 2025 graduation ceremony, where I received my master’s degree in creative writing alongside some fellow Story Street Writers. Abraham Verghese is a wonderful human and a literary gem!

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Alex’s Top Picks

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

The books that last with us last for a reason, and rediscovering that reason is so refreshing and revitalizing. After first taking the crown in, idk, 1995(?), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader reclaims the Top Book of the Year throne. (The copy that I reread is my grandmother’s, which made it extra special.)

Wind & Truth by Brandon Sanderson

This book — the conclusion to the first Stormlight arc — elevates therapeutic conversation as an alternative to violent battle. Violence isn’t entirely replaced, and we still get awesome action sequences, but the prominence Sanderson gave to slowly and steadily working through depression — and then turning to help others experiencing the same — was deeply meaningful to me.

A writing professor at UCLA coined a genre called ‘hopepunk’, and as soon as I saw that name, Wind & Truth sprung to mind. ‘If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that hearts can always change,’ says the healed scarecrow in Howl’s Moving Castle. This book can change hearts. As aspiring writers, we live on constant reminders of the power of the world of words — this world through which we blunder and bumble and stagger and stumble, but in which, ultimately, we’re going to find life and light. And, with a LOT of help along the way, we’ll carry that life and light forward — both for ourselves and our eventual readers.

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