Our 38 New York Times Book Review "100 Notable Books of 2025"
The annual New York Times Book Review “100 Notable Books” list has arrived, honoring the year’s most compelling and influential works across fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We’re incredibly proud to share that 38 titles from Penguin Random House have been selected!
You can view the complete list online, as well as in the November 30 print edition of the New York Times. And there’s more to look forward to: the NYTBR’s “10 Best Books of 2025” list will be announced on Tuesday!
A heartfelt congratulations to all the writers and to every team across PRH who helped bring these books to life. This recognition is a testament to your remarkable talent and commitment to excellence in publishing.
Explore standout titles of the year from our U.S. imprints below:
FICTION & POETRY
BUCKEYE by Patrick Ryan (Random House)
DEATH TAKES ME by Cristina Rivera Garza, translated by Robin Myers and Sarah Booker (Hogarth)
A GENTLEMAN’S GENTLEMAN by TJ Alexander (Vintage)
A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF by Megha Majumdar (Knopf)
ISOLA by Allegra Goodman (Dial Press)
THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY by Kiran Desai (Hogarth)
NIGHT WATCH: Poems by Kevin Young (Knopf)
PLAYWORLD by Adam Ross (Knopf)
SHADOW TICKET by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press)
SILVER ELITE by Dani Francis (Del Rey)
STONE YARD DEVOTIONAL by Charlotte Wood (Riverhead)
THESE SUMMER STORMS by Sarah MacLean (Ballantine)
VENETIAN VESPERS by John Banville (Knopf)
WE DO NOT PART by Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris (Hogarth)
WHAT WE CAN KNOW by Ian McEwan (Knopf)
A WITCH’S GUIDE TO MAGICAL INNKEEPING by Sangu Mandanna (Berkley)
NONFICTION & MEMOIR
ALL CONSUMING: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now by Ruby Tandoh (Knopf)
THE ARROGANT APE: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters by Christine Webb (Avery)
BEING JEWISH AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA by Peter Beinart (Knopf)
BLACK MOSES: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State by Caleb Gayle (Riverhead)
BOOK OF LIVES by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday)
BUCKLEY: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus (Random House)
CAPITALISM by Sven Beckert (Penguin Press)
DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO GROVE: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins by Barbara Demick (Random House)
EMPIRE OF AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao (Penguin Press)
THE FATE OF THE DAY: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 by Rick Atkinson (Crown)
GIRL ON GIRL: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (Penguin Press)
THE GODS OF NEW YORK: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler (Random House)
KING OF KINGS: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Doubleday)
MARK TWAIN by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)
A MARRIAGE AT SEA by Sophie Elmhirst.(Riverhead Books)
MEMORIAL DAYS: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks (Viking)
MOTHER EMANUEL: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church by Kevin Sack (Crown)
1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking)
ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)
THE PEEPSHOW: The Murders at Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale (Penguin)
RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon)
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone (Crown)
We’d also like to recognize a few nominated titles published by Penguin Random House Publisher Services clients!
PERFECTION by Vincenzo Latronico and translated by Sophie Hughes (New York Review Books)
I SEEK A KIND PERSON: My Father, Seven Children, and the Adverts That Helped Them Escape the Holocaust by Julian Borger (Other Press)