The Funniest Books of 2025, recommended by Stephanie Merritt
Every year, the judges of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction draw up a shortlist of books that made them laugh out loud. We asked the novelist Stephanie Merritt, one of the 2025 judges, to talk us through the eight books in the running for the title of the funniest book of the year.
FICTION BOOKS Flesh by David Szalay
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Booker Prize
“Flesh explores the ways power, money, and desire intertwine, and how loneliness can endure even amid apparent success… One of the things that I find remarkable is its subtle exploration of how the marks left by youth can echo through an entire life.”—Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, chair of the judges
NONFICTION BOOKS Against the Gods by Peter Bernstein
It’s probably the best and most interesting high-level book on investing I can think of.”—Jason Zweig, Wall Street Journal columnist
HISTORICAL FICTION Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman
“Life and Fate…is probably the most important work of fiction about World War II. But, in fact, it is more than just a fiction because it is based on very close reporting from his time with the soldiers.”—Antony Beevor, military historian
FICTION The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
This is another debut, first published in 1971…Toni Morrison was a genius, and would go on to write other novels that were much more famous and celebrated…But I would say that this novel goes to the heart of what it means to be treated differently, treated unjustly.”—Kate Mosse, novelist
BEAUTIFUL BOOKS The Library: A World History by James Campbell & Will Pryce
“The real strength of his book is in the section on the great European libraries of the 18th and 19th centuries… These are extraordinary Baroque and Rococo creations, which look inside like wedding cakes.”—Richard Ovenden, 25th Bodley’s Librarian
FICTION A House for Miss Pauline by Diana McCaulay
“A House for Miss Pauline is about a character who is close to her 100th birthday and has lived in Jamaica her whole life…emotionally, the book takes you thousands of miles to places that you would never have dreamed of.”—Nathan Gray, judge, Wilbur Smith Prize
NONFICTION BOOKS How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction
“The moment I finished it, I wanted to read it again. I realized how brilliant it was and wanted to check all the things I’d missed”—Robbie Millen, chair of the 2025 judging panel
POLITICS BOOKS The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama
“We spend all of our time living in states where we, by default, have given our consent to be governed by some complex mechanism. It’s a part of our external reality that we really do need to get a sense of”—Venkatesh Rao, writer and consultant
HORROR BOOKS
🏆 Winner 2025 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel
“Three young girls escape a mysterious event that otherwise traps their neighbourhood behind a ghostly veil. Why?…If you prefer creepy, atmospheric, character-driven stories as opposed to bloody gore-fests, then this is the book for you.”—Cal Flyn, deputy editor Five Books
BIOGRAPHY The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss 🏆 Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
“Alexandre Dumas, the French author and playwright, was drawing on a rich seam of family legend when he composed his 1846 work of classic literature, The Count of Monte Cristo“—Cal Flyn, deputy editor, Five Books
CRIME NOVELS A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
“I like Ruth Rendell very much as a writer, and I just found it amazing when she suddenly started writing under this new persona. And I thought the books had another level: it was as if she’d been holding back this extra skill. They were very different from the Ruth Rendells – and I just thought those first two were amazing”—Simon Brett, crime novelist
SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
“The Dispossessed is as much a political and cultural thought experiment as it is a novel, though it is also extremely entertaining to read and moves really nicely, with characters that you really relate to”—Tom Huddleston, novelist
NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
“My absolute favourite among Krasznahorkai’s novels.”—Ellen Mattson, Nobel committee member and author
NEW BOOKS/FANTASY Katabasis by RF Kuang
“This is the perfect beach read for fans of Five Books, set at Cambridge University and full of jokes about the intellectual life. It’s 500+ pages, but I read it in two days (at home, as it’s too cold for the beach by now)”—Sophie Roell, editor, Five Books
MYSTERIES The Maid by Nita Prose
“You really feel you are listening to someone whose whole life has to be in the details done the same every time and that if anything goes awry, then you’re off kilter. It’s just brilliantly done. The Maid is… a very good mystery, with lots of red herrings, lots of misdirection.”—Robin Whitten, editor, AudioFile magazine
MEMOIR Testament of Youth by Vera Britten “Testament of Youth is simply one of the finest, most heart-rending and most moving memoirs – not just of the Great War, but of any conflict”—Wade Davis, explorer and anthropologist
FANTASY FICTION The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin 🏆 Winner of the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel
“The world of these books is so unsettling and compelling, really brilliantly drawn. We’re on a planet disrupted periodically by its climate, a harsh period known as ‘the fifth season’”—Sylvia Bishop, SFF editor, Five Books
THE BEST KINDLES IN 2025 Which Kindle to get?
“That’s an easy question for me, Kindle Paperwhite is the most popular Kindle by far…It has all the best features that you would want”—Maneetpaul Singh, Kindle reviewer and author of Kindle Bookworm
HISTORY BOOKS The Pope and Mussolini by David I. Kertzer 🏆 Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Biography
“Kertzer presents a convincing case that Pius XI played a crucial role both in making Mussolini’s dictatorship possible and keeping him in power.”—Five Books editors
BOOKS FOR KIDS Circus Maximus: Race to the Death by Annelise Gray
“Circus Maximus is a gripping novel set in ancient Rome, centred on the world of chariot racing.”—Tuva Kahrs, Children’s Editor, Five Books
THE BEST MYSTERY BOOKS OF 2025, our annual list of prize shortlists and personal favourites, curated by Five Books editor, Sophie Roell
“Of all the mystery books shortlisted for prizes in 2025, my favourite was probably The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore.”
AI BOOKS ChatGPT-4 offers its own opinions on artificial intelligence “These books offer valuable insights into the development, challenges, and future prospects of AI”—ChatGPT-4, AI chatbot
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