After long days focused on the facts, our newsroom reads a lot of fiction at home. We asked our NPR colleagues what they’ve enjoyed reading so far this year, and these are the titles they shared. (You can also check out their nonfiction picks here; and sign up for our Books newsletter for weekly recommendations.)
All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah HarmanThis book got me out of a reading rut! It’s about a mom who is struggling to keep her life together – while simultaneously trying to solve the mystery of her son’s missing classmate. It’s got fun twists and turns and characters who surprise you. Very plot driven and definitely hard to put down. — Elissa Nadworny, correspondent
Among Friends by Hal EbbottIt’s your oldest friends who can really grind your gears. Hal Ebbott’s debut novel starts off as an examination of this relationship – two families spend a weekend in a house together to celebrate a birthday and, of course, old resentments and jealousies creep in and out of friendly tennis games and predinner drinks. But then something happens and everything shifts and all those resentments don’t seem so old anymore and the jealousy blooms into something else altogether. — Andrew Limbong, correspondent, host of NPR’s Book of the Day podcast
Animal Instinct by Amy ShearnIn the middle of reading Animal Instinct, I had to stop to text this to a friend: “Divorce is so HOT right now!” In this story, Rachel is stuck inside her Brooklyn apartment at the start of the COVID-19 shutdowns. She craves everything from flirting to full-on sex after her divorce, and as she cruises through the dating apps, she starts to think: What if I could create the perfect AI partner, who would always say just the right thing? She’s got the tech savvy to bring her idea to “life,” but it might take more than chat to satisfy her animal instincts. — Sarah Handel, senior editor, All Things Considered
The Antidote by Karen RussellA novel that’s both an epic and an omen, this work of historical fiction is rooted in Dust Bowl tragedies that transcend time and place. In a landscape that surely feels cursed, Karen Russell introduces us to, among others, a Prairie Witch, whose gift is radical listening, providing a kind of proto-therapy that takes the weight of “whatever they can’t stand to know” from her patrons. Histories we collectively cannot withstand and what they mean for our future are at the core of this novel, in which Russell masterfully renders the strange quotidian and imbues the everyday with menace or magic. — Tayla Burney, director, Network Programming and Production
Audition by Katie KitamuraI guess I could explain the plot to you – a woman meets up with a man who is convinced she’s his mother. It turns out she’s not. I think? Maybe she is? Or, maybe she’s not but actually kind of is? What is a mother? The most impressive thing about this book is how Katie Kitamura plays with narrative and toys with these questions presented to the reader without being overly clever about it all. She’s stingy with details and answers, but generous with intrigue and depth. — Andrew Limbong, correspondent, host of NPR’s Book of the Day podcast
Beautiful Ugly by Alice FeeneyAuthor Grady Green thinks he has the perfect marriage, an adoring wife – Abby – who will celebrate a long-awaited success with him. But when he calls her with the good news, the line goes dead and she doesn’t make it home to him. A year after Abby goes missing, he’s downtrodden and wrestling writer’s block when his agent convinces him that time on a remote Scottish island is what he needs to finish his next novel. Once there, he thinks he sees Abby among the inhabitants and it becomes clear that both they, and he, aren’t as they appear. Twisty reveals galore. — Tayla Burney, director, Network Programming and Production
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter is many things: a clever nesting doll of narratives, a sanguine revenge thriller stitched inside the corpse of an old vampire yarn, and a fearsome accounting of America’s murderous past. Lucky for us, Stephen Graham Jones has bound it all together with a hero (antihero?) for the ages – a man from the Blackfeet tribe, aptly named Good Stab, who is determined to right the wrongs of the past, even if it takes him a few lifetimes. — Cory Turner, correspondent, Education
The Catch by Yrsa Daley-WardThis novel bends genres and time. It opens on the 30th birthday of twin sisters Clara and Dempsey. As children, after the death of their mother, they were raised in different families and have little in common – until that birthday, when they are pulled together after Clara swears she sees their dead mother, very much alive and also … 30 years old. The first half of The Catch is riveting. It’s a nearly impossible story to “land,” but an ending is perhaps beside the point – the story could go on and on … — Shannon Rhoades, senior editor,
Content adapted by the team from the original source: https://www.npr.org/2025/06/25/nx-s1-5356144/fiction-books-summer-2025
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