The 49 Most Binge-Worthy Books, TV Shows, and Movies of 2025!

novels, memoirs, thrillers, comedies, and more...

Reading books and watching TV are two of my favorite hobbies, both rooted in childhood, for different reasons.

As a child, I read voraciously and constantly: at every meal, on car rides, and late at night in bed. My childhood home was unhappy, and reading was my escape: deemed healthy by my controlling parents, and therefore unpoliced.

Watching TV was a different matter. Throughout my teenage years, I was allowed one hour of television per week, on Saturdays, from 4-5 pm. This instilled an ongoing obsession with watching as much TV as I possibly could, once I was in control! I spent my twenties catching up on the movies my high school friends gossiped about (Dirty Dancing, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles) and now watch everything from edge-of-your-seat thrillers to silly comedies.

I love end-of-year best-of lists almost as much as testing new habits in the pursuit of happiness, and in 2025, I read over 60 books and probably watched twice as many TV shows and movies (I watch while working out!).

Without further ado, here’s my 2025 best-of list of books, TV shows, and movies…

The novels I loved most were The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (published in 2022), What We Can Know, and Culpability, and the memoirs I couldn’t stop thinking about were Raising Hare and A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck.

Here’s more about those books, and the others I read and loved this year…

Novels

• Buckeye. A sweeping American saga, perfect for book club discussions.

• Bug Hollow. Another family saga, on a smaller scale.

• Case Histories. Book one in the excellent Jackson Brodie detective series (I devoured them all!).

• Culpability. A thought-provoking story about parenting and ethics in the age of AI.

• Parents’ Weekend. Kids are disappearing during parents’ weekend at college!

• Ragtime. An American literary classic that’s eerily prescient.

• Show Don’t Tell. Short stories by the always clever Curtis Sittenfeld.

• The Ministry of Time. A time travel romance novel!

• The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. A cozy, romantic romp for book lovers.

• The Ten Year Affair. A novel about affairs, real and imaginary, set during and after the Covid pandemic.

• Welcome to Murder Week. A fun murder mystery set in the English countryside.

• What We Can Know. Ian McEwan’s fantasy of a post-climate-change and AI future.

• Wild Dark Shore. A moody mystery set on a remote island.

Nonfiction

• A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck. A mind-blowing true story!

• Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. An executive’s exposé of her time working at Facebook.

• Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. John Green illuminates medical history and the way the world works.

• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. A perennial bestseller about what triggers (and repels) compliance.

• Raising Hare. A lovely memoir about our relationship with the natural world.

• The Tell. A controversial memoir about a recovered childhood memory of abuse.

Dying for Sex

My favorite shows of 2025, and the ones I’d recommend most if you haven’t seen them, were Dying for Sex, Platonic, Hacks, Paradise, Murderbot, and Down Cemetery Road.

Here’s the full list of everything I enjoyed this year…

In a Category of Its Own

• Dying for Sex. Based on a true story, this is a heart-wrenching, hilarious, poignant story about a woman coming to terms with living and dying. Michelle Williams is exceptional.

Cozy & Comedy

• All Creatures Great and Small. The coziest English countryside drama ever!

• Hacks. The clever, hilarious, buddy/workplace comedy was back with an excellent fourth season.

• North of North. A lovely (and colorful!) comedy, set in an Arctic community.

• Platonic. The second season of my favorite relationship sitcom did not disappoint!

• Stick. A heartwarming coming-of-age story, starring Owen Wilson and Marc Maron.

• The Four Seasons. Tina Fey’s fun remake of the classic Alan Alda movie.

• The Materialists. A romantic comedy about dating these days.

• The Residence. A murder mystery set in the White House, with many delightful detours!

• The Roses. A well-done remake of the 80s classic, The War of the Roses: it’s both comedy and tragedy.

• The Studio. A prestige drama about how movies get made.

Crime & Thrillers

• A House of Dynamite. A nail-biting thriller imagining a catastrophic disaster.

• Black Rabbit. Jude Law and Jason Bateman star as brothers in trouble.

• Down Cemetery Road. Emma Thompson as a hard-as-nails detective!

• Joan. An 80s drama that’s based on an unbelievable true story.

• Lockerbie: A Search for Truth. Colin Firth stars as a bereaved father obsessed with justice.

• Murderbot. A clever imagining of a future peopled by robots.

• Paradise. What happens in the aftermath of a humanity-threatening global disaster?

• Severance. I finally watched both seasons of the critically acclaimed “workplace” drama.

• Slow Horses, Season 5. My favorite British detective series! I wish this show was on all year round!

• Stranger Things, Season 5. Our entire family is obsessed!

• The Agency. Michael Fassbender plays a spy with many secrets in this moody British drama.

• The Beast in Me. Claire Danes stars as a writer determined to uncover her wealthy neighbor’s secrets.

• The Girlfriend. A thriller starring Robin Wright as a suspicious mother that delivers a very satisfying twist at the end.

• White Lotus, Season 3. Not my favorite season, but always a fun watch!

• Yellowjackets, Season 3. A genre-bending series that’s not for the faint of heart.

• You, Season 5. The final season of the serial-killer-with-a-heart-of-gold series.

Documentary

• America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys. A fascinating profile of Jerry Jones.

• Call Her Alex. A look at the life and extraordinary career of Alex Cooper, media mogul.

• The New Yorker at 100. The storied history of my favorite magazine!

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Your turn! What were your favorite books, movies, and TV shows this year?

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1. 19 Cozy Ways to Enjoy a Winter Staycation. A very low-key list!

2. An Easy Trick for a Happier 2025: The “Feelings First” Rule. A simple way to get the most out of life!

3. 51 and Flourishing: 13 Habits That Make Midlife Better. The unhelpful “rules” I’ve learned to drop, plus the midlife essentials I use every day...

4. How to Never Make the Same Mistake Twice! My all-time favorite life hack.

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