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Brooklyn’s librarians have spoken—and they’ve delivered a reading list with more range than the G train on a good day. The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has unveiled its 100 favorite books of 2025, a staff-curated mix of fiction, poetry, memoir, kids’ picks and wonderfully odd gems that prove librarians remain the city’s most reliable tastemakers.
The annual roundup, pulled from the titles BPL staff genuinely loved this year, stretches from cult classics to buzzy debuts. And while the full list hits triple digits, a few standouts already have readers buzzing.
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor’s funny-sad 1971 novel about eccentric hotel residents, earns a spot thanks to its “absolutely wonderful” portrait of aging. Meanwhile, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly offers the kind of tech critique that apparently “totally changed how I thought about music.” (Consider yourself warned before you open the app again.)
Poetry lovers will find a long-overdue moment for Essex Hemphill in Love Is a Dangerous Word, a collection praised for its unflinching clarity.
On the fiction front, staffers embraced Emily St. James’s Woodworking, calling its characters “so real, messy and complicated” you’ll wish the book were longer. And if you’re craving a gut-punch of investigative nonfiction, Haley Cohen Gilliland’s A Flower Traveled in My Blood—the true story of the grandmothers who fought to find a stolen generation of children—comes highly recommended and “reads like a novel.”
The list also spans young adult hits, graphic novels, cozy fantasies and several picture books that adults will love just as much. Matthew Burgess and Cátia Chien’s Fireworks gets a shoutout as “the most perfectly New Yorky book,” while Corey Ann Haydu’s A Place for Feelings helps kids make sense of their emotional rollercoasters. There are also pirates in Scarlet Morning, ND Stevenson’s high-energy graphic adventure, which earned a staffer’s gleeful all-caps endorsement.
If choosing among 100 librarian-backed titles feels overwhelming, BPL will even do the hard work for you: its free BookMatch service pairs you with a custom reading list based on your tastes, quirks and literary aspirations.
See the full 2025 favorites list on BPL’s site, then clear a little room in your tote—you’re going to need it.