2025 Round Up: Favourite Nonfiction

Ideas, people, places. Here are the top titles that resonated with us in 2025.

Updated January 9, 2026
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Greater Victoria Public Library Greater Victoria Public Library
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2025 Round Up: Favourite Nonfiction

Ideas, people, places. Here are the top titles that resonated with us in 2025.

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1929 : inside the greatest crash in Wall Street history-- and how it shattered a nation
Sorkin, Andrew Ross
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "It is one of the best narrative histories I've read." --The Wall Street Journal A New York Times Notable Book of 2025 * One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2025 * Named a BEST BOOK OF 2025 by The Washington...
Apple in China : the capture of the world's greatest company
McGee, Patrick
Paper Book
"Phenomenal...a jaw-dropping book." --Jon Stewart, The Daily Show Named by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Prospect magazine as a best book of the year, this "scrupulously reported" (The New Yorker) and...
The art spy : the extraordinary untold tale of WWII resistance hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Paper Book
A riveting and stylish saga set in Paris during World War II, THE ART SPY uncovers how an unlikely heroine infiltrated the Nazi leadership to save the cultural legacy of the West. On August 25, 1944, Rose Valland, a woman of quiet daring, found herself in a desperate position...
Book of Lives : A Memoir of Sorts
Atwood, Margaret.
Paper Book
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR FROM NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, THE CHIGACO TRIBUNE, TIME MAGAZINE, PEOPLE, NEW YORK MAGAZINE,...
Capitalism : a global history
Beckert, Sven
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book * A Financial Times Best Book of the Year "A learned, formidable and vivid story... Readers around the world will study and ponder this monumental work of history, agreeing and arguing with it, all the while affirming its...
Careless people : a cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism
Wynn-Williams, Sarah
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK. NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, THE NEW YORKER, AP, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, AND MORE! "Careless People is darkly...
The certainty illusion : what you don't know and why it matters
Caulfield, Timothy A.
Paper Book
Knowing the truth, what's real from what's fake, should be easy. In today's world, that's far from the case. In The Certainty Illusion, Timothy Caulfield lifts the curtain on the forces contributing to our information chaos and unpacks why it's so difficult - sometimes even for experts - to escape...
Elbows Up! : Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance
Abdelmahmoud, Elamin.
Paper Book
A blazing collection of responses to the U.S.'s shocking annexation threats and the swell of Canadian national unity that followed, from a remarkable array of Canada's sharpest and most influential minds. 2025. Donald Trump is president. And he is insisting that Canada is for...
Empire of AI : dreams and nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI
Hao, Karen
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book * Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * Named a Best Book of the Year by Smithsonian, Scientific American, and Elle "A bestselling page-turner that has made waves...
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community
Helwig, Maggie
Paper Book
ONE OF THE GLOBE AND MAIL'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 WINNER OF THE 2025 TORONTO BOOK AWARD "Striking, elegant." - Publishers Weekly, ★ STARRED Review An activist priest provides sanctuary for an encampment of unhoused people in her churchyard The...
Enshittification : why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it
Doctorow, Cory
Paper Book
Enshittification: it's not just you--the internet sucks now. Here's why, and here's how we can disenshittify it. We're living through the Enshittocene, the Great Enshittening, a time in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit...
Everything is tuberculosis : the history and persistence of our deadliest infection
Green, John
Paper Book
#1 New York Times bestseller * #1 Washington Post bestseller * #1 Indie Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller John Green, award-winning author and passionate advocate for global healthcare reform, tells a deeply human story illuminating the fight against the world's...
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan
Doucet, Lyse
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE The story of a hotel. The story of a nation. When the Inter-Continental Kabul opened in 1969, Afghanistan's first luxury hotel symbolised a dream of a modernising country connected to the world.
A flower traveled in my blood : the incredible true story of the grandmothers who fought to find a stolen generation of children
Cohen Gilliland, Haley
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 * THE WASHINGTON POST'S 5 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2025 * THE ATLANTIC'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * TIME MAGAZINE'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * NPR'S BEST BOOKS...
Forest euphoria : the abounding queerness of nature
Kaishian, Patricia Ononiwu
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * VANITY FAIR BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * TIME 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2025 "An antidote to the loneliness of our species."--ROBIN WALL KIMMERER "A master class in how to love the world."--MARGARET RENKL A...
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Paper Book
From Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert, a blazing critique of how early-aughts pop culture turned women and girls against each other--and themselves--with disastrous consequences. An urgent read that addresses questions around the current regression of feminism.<...
The Golden Road : how ancient India transformed the world
Dalrymple, William
Paper Book
The internationally bestselling author of The Anarchy returns with a sparkling, soaring history of ideas, tracing South Asia's under-recognized role in producing the world as we know it. For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse...
Here comes the sun : a last chance for the climate and a fresh chance for civilization
McKibben, Bill
Paper Book
Our climate, and our democracy, are melting down. But Bill McKibben, one of the first to sound the alarm about the climate crisis, insists the moment is also full of possibility. Energy from the sun and wind is suddenly the cheapest power on the planet and growing faster than any energy source in...
How to share an egg : a true story of hunger, love, and plenty
Reichert, Bonny
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER GLOBE & MAIL GLOBE 100: BEST BOOKS OF 2025 CBC BOOKS BEST CANADIAN NON-FICTION 2025 NPR BOOKS WE LOVE 2025 "I started crying on page one; a few pages later I burst into laughter. This beautifully written ...
How to survive a bear attack : a memoir
Cameron, Claire
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE 2025 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION * Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Globe and Mail * CBC * Spotify * The Hill Times In this debut memoir from the bestselling author of The Bear and The Last...
Is a river alive?
Macfarlane, Robert
Paper Book
From the celebrated writer, observer and naturalist Robert Macfarlane comes a brilliant, perspective-shifting new book, which answers a resounding "yes" to the question of its title. At the heart of Is a River Alive? is a single, transformative idea: that rivers...
John Candy : a life in comedy
Myers, Paul
Paper Book
The definitive biography of John Candy--a heartwarming portrait of one of comedy's most beloved and enduring stars. INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Vulture's #1 Comedy Book of 2025 * A Globe and Mail, National Post, and CBC Best Book of 2025 "Reading this book was like...
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: a Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Anderson, Scott
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year * Named a Best Book of 2025 by Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Globe and Mail From the author of the acclaimed international bestseller Lawrence in Arabia, a stunningly revelatory narrative...
A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck
Elmhirst, Sophie
Paper Book
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER & ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2025 ALSO NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2025 BY NPR, VOGUE, TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, AND MORE "This is nonfiction that...
The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir
Nguyen, Vinh
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Finalist for the Toronto Books Awards Finalist for the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction Finalist for the Hilary Weston-Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction An inventive memoir about one family's escape from Vietnam and the father's...
The mind electric : a neurologist on the strangeness and wonder of our brains
Anand, Pria
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of Summer 2025 by The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Publishers Weekly, and Book Riot The Observer (London)'s Summer Reads Select In this collection of medical tales "reminiscent of Oliver Sacks...the best of medical...
The mission : the CIA in the 21st century
Weiner, Tim
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller * A New Yorker Best Book of 2025 * A New York Times Editors' Choice * A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year "No one has opened up the CIA to us like Weiner has, and The Mission deserves to win Weiner a second...
Motherland : a feminist history of modern Russia, from revolution to autocracy
Ioffe, Julia
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NAMED ONE OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 BY THE WASHINGTON POST NAMED ONE OF THE 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2025 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2025 NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF FALL...
Mother Mary Comes to Me
Roy, Arundhati
Paper Book
Named One of the New York Times Book Review's Top Ten Books of 2025 Finalist for the Kirkus Prize A raw and deeply moving memoir from the legendary author of The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness that traces her...
Nobody's girl : a memoir of surviving abuse and fighting for justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell "Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale sex abuse and the way in which...
No more tears : the dark secrets of Johnson & Johnson
Harris, Gardiner
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . An explosive, deeply reported expose of Johnson & Johnson, one of America's oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies-from an award-winning investigative journalist "A damning portrait."-Associated Press "A page-turning...
One day, everyone will have always been against this
El Akkad, Omar
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION * Finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction * Longlisted for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * A New York Times Notable Book of 2025 * A...
The serviceberry : abundance and reciprocity in the natural world
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world....
The sirens' call : how attention became the world's most endangered resource
Hayes, Christopher
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller * One of Barack Obama's Summer Reading List Picks From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has...
Theory of water : Nishnaabe maps to the times ahead
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * WINNER OF THE 2025 WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION * A CBC Best Canadian Nonfiction Book of 2025 * The Hill Times' Top 100 Best Books in 2025 Acclaimed Nishnaabeg writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson takes a revolutionary look at that most...
A Truce That Is Not Peace
Toews, Miriam
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * FINALIST FOR THE 2025 HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION * LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR AUTOBIOGRAPHY * TIME's 10 Best Books of 2025 * Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Globe and Mail * CBC * The New Yorker *...
Wellwater: Poems
Solie, Karen
Paper Book
Winner, 2025 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry Winner, Forward Prize for Best Collection of Poetry Finalist, T.S. Eliot Prize A CBC, Observer, Financial Times, and Guardian Best Book of 2025 The poems in Wellwater, Karen Solie's sixth collection, explore...
We Survived the Night : An Indigenous Reckoning
NoiseCat, Julian Brave.
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER Julian Brave NoiseCat's childhood was rich with culture and contradictions. When his Secwépemc and St'at'imc father, an artist haunted by a turbulent past, abandoned the family, NoiseCat and his non-Native mother were embraced by the urban Native...
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