How has your reading year been going so far, bibliophiles? I feel like I lucked out in 2025 because the first book I finished was this delightfully sweet romance novel by author Sonora Reyes. It wasn’t completely luck, though. I knew what I was getting into with this author. Their young adult novel The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School completely melted me with how sweet, honest, and entertaining it was. With The Broposal, Reyes’s debut adult novel, I was pretty sure we could expect more of the same A+++ storytelling. I was not disappointed, and you won’t be either.

As Book Riot does every year, we have launched the annual Read Harder challenge to help you expand your reading horizons. We are also launching some posts, including this one, to give you ideas about how to rise to that challenge! What’s great is whether or not you’re taking the formal challenge, you’ll be able to discover some great new reads.

The nice thing about comics is that they usually don’t take as long to read as a prose book but still 100% count as reading. So whether you’re falling behind on your Read Harder goals, don’t have as much reading time these days, or just really like graphic novels, the books on this list will give you a boost.

While there are comic-specific Read Harder goals, graphic novels can apply to many, if not all, of the challenges on this year’s list. To prove it, let’s look at a few titles that will help you check “read a standalone fantasy book” off your list. Most will even knock out multiple challenges at once — I’ve noted those in the blurbs.

Whenever I plan my New Year’s Resolutions, some iteration of “cook at home more often” finds its way on my list. Sure, there are the usual reasons for this, like saving more money or getting more nutrients in my diet. But as I browse shelves of new cookbooks, I know that the one I bring home will not only teach me new skills but also help my mental well-being.

I appreciate the way learning new recipes makes me focus on the present as I cook, and it gives me a built-in opportunity to spend time with my husband after busy workdays. Plus, you can learn to make your favorite meals whenever you want (a dangerous and wonderful power)!

As you prepare your culinary TBR for the coming months, take note of these highly anticipated cookbooks of 2025. You’ll find plenty of recs perfect for the aspiring or seasoned chef, from comprehensive guides like Bread: The Ultimate Cookbook and Real Japanese Cooking to practical, accessible picks like Shred Happens. All are organized by release date so you know when to look for them at your local library or bookstore.

Let’s get your to-read lists—and your dinner plans—in order with the best and most anticipated cookbooks of 2025!

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

A Big List of 2025 Books By Women of Color

Electric Literature rounded up 48 books by women of color to look forward to in this fresh, new year. Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma is appearing everywhere and is on my reading list. I scrolled down for books publishing later in the year since those aren’t getting as much hype in these early months and a couple standouts for me include Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyễn, a satire about trans athletes, and Zeal by Morgan Jerkins, which is a multi-generational look at the legacy of slavery and has a banger blurb from Kiese Laymon. It’s easier to face down what’s gearing up to be a hard year knowing great books by great authors are coming to bring us some joy and remind us of our humanity.

S&S Launches Audio-First Imprint

Simon & Schuster is launching an audio-first imprint, Simon Maverick, with Jason Pinter (formerly of Polis Books) as VP and editorial director. The plan for the imprint is to mostly work with self-published authors to mostly produce original audiobooks. There are a lot of mostlys here because it sounds like this isn’t an all or nothing scheme when it comes to audio or authors–Pinter is staying open to opportunities printing works under the Maverick banner and working with books by S&S authors under other divisions. It’s not hard to see this as a business model where the focus on self-published works and audio formats allows S&S to quickly surface and mass produce unrepresented works in successful genres (ahem, romantasy) that come with a built-in readership ready and willing to hear their favorite story in audio format and capture fans who might not know of X author but have a big appetite for the genre. And if an audiobook takes off, Simon Maverick would be set up with a framework to quickly pivot to print. The imprint is already planning to publish at least 50 titles this year.

It’s hard to feel optimistic about 2025. America as a country is more divided than ever. With the upcoming presidential inauguration later this month, it doesn’t seem like that will be changing any time soon. If you’re hoping to ignore the very real, very frightening realities of the current political climate in the United States, then maybe skip this book. But if you’re feeling the heaviness of this upcoming year and want to know that you’re not alone in feeling afraid, this is absolutely a must-read. It’s one you’ll want to read right now, as it feels especially timely.

I firmly believe that mockery is one of the strongest weapons we have against thin-skinned tyrants — and it’s certainly one of the most fun. So today, I’m starting a monthly limited series to compare the (unfortunately) former and (even more unfortunately) incoming president of the United States to comicdom’s most infamous supervillains to see how he stacks up.

First: Lex Luthor, who also served as president.

Luthor was elected in 2000, much to the shock and dismay of Superman, who assumed the American people were smart enough not to hand the nuclear codes to a self-obsessed, unrepentant criminal (you sweet, summer child). Before that, Luthor was a criminal mastermind and a cunning and ruthless businessman. While comparing the two men’s business acumen, or lack thereof, is beyond the scope of this article, I would like to point out that Luthor built on his fortune by using mysterious alien tech to make things like “repair spiderbots,” which, while scary, is also kind of awesome.

Where does Trump’s money come from these days? Crypto scams?

Once in the Oval Office, Luthor shows repeatedly that he is an intelligent, worldly leader with a thorough understanding of both foreign and domestic affairs. The first Trump administration, aside from being the most nauseating phrase in the English language, got off to a repugnant start with the Muslim Ban in January 2017. Luthor’s administration? Started by funding the Justice League and greater educational opportunities for all students. He used his deep knowledge of politics to push these initiatives through Congress…

Well, so far, the most read books on Goodreads in 2025 look very similar to the most read books in 2024! Before you scroll down, try to guess which three authors have titles in the top five. If you’ve been following this series, you can definitely get them all.

Because these are familiar titles, I’ve also included the most read books in three countries across the world. This time, we’re looking at the reading habits of Goodreads users in Brazil, Indonesia, and Norway. There is some overlap with the global list, but there are also titles uniquely popular in each country, including one that isn’t available in English: the Portuguese book Ainda estou aqui by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, which is one the most popular titles in Brazil at the moment.

As usual, the global list of the most popular books on Goodreads doesn’t include many authors of color. Approximately 98% of the authors with books on the top 50 list are white. (Relatedly, I recommend reading about The Unbearable Whiteness of the Goodreads Choice Awards.) I’ve included a couple of excellent books by BIPOC authors that came out this week at the end of this list, but if you’d like recommendations in your inbox every week, sign up for Book Riot’s In Reading Color newsletter!