2025 Global Reads for Adults

Updated April 3, 2025
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Around the world in 80 books
Damrosch, David
Paper Book
A transporting and illuminating voyage around the globe, through classic and modern literary works that are in conversation with one another and with the world around them *Featured in the Chicago Tribune's Great 2021 Fall Book Preview * One of Smithsonian...
The Black Orb
Kim, Ewhan
Paper Book
The object was a black orb, roughly two meters in diameter. Despite its large size, it made no sound as it moved. Although it wasn't chasing Jeong-su fast enough to catch him, it was unrelenting and persistent in its pursuit... One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a...
The blanket cats
Shigematsu, Kiyoshi
Paper Book
"Utterly charming . . . I would read a hundred of these stories." --Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures Seven struggling customers are given the unique opportunity to take home a "blanket cat" . . . but only for three days,...
Cobalt red : how the blood of the Congo powers our lives
Kara, Siddharth
Paper Book
The revelatory Pulitzer Prize finalist for General Nonfiction, New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller, shortlisted for the Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year Award. An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights...
The Dressmakers of London
Kelly, Julia
Paper Book
The author of the "enthralling" (Woman's World) The Lost English Girl returns with a heartfelt new novel about estranged sisters who inherit their late mother's dress shop in World War II London. Isabelle Shelton has always found comfort in the predictable world of...
The half known life : in search of paradise
Iyer, Pico
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2023 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, NPR, TIME MAGAZINE & MORE "Masterful . . . A book of inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors . . . One of his very best." --Washington Post  ...
Homeseeking
Chen, Karissa
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK "Homeseeking is about the love of home and family, even against unimaginable circumstances...[A] sweeping epic." --Good Housekeeping "Fans of historical fiction will want to pick up this exceptional novel...
It won't always be like this : a graphic memoir
Gharib, Malaka
Ebook
An intimate graphic memoir about an American girl growing up with her Egyptian father's new family, forging unexpected bonds and navigating adolescence in an unfamiliar country--from the award-winning author of I Was Their American Dream.   "What a joy it is to read...
Kinning
Shawl, Nisi
Paper Book
Named a Best Fantasy and Sci-Fi Book of The Year by Elle! Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl's acclaimed debut novel Everfair, continues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, varied peoples build a new society together,...
Last twilight in Paris
Jenoff, Pam
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! "A fast-paced and vibrant wartime tale of holding on to love against the odds and learning to fight for the truth." ­­-Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Daughter ...
The lion women of Tehran
Kamali, Marjan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER An "evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism" (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran--from nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali. In 1950s Tehran,...
A man of two faces : a memoir, a history, a memorial
Nguyen, Viet Thanh
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide With insight, humor, formal invention, and lyricism,...
Martyr!
Akbar, Kaveh.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD * ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR * A newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants, guided by the voices of artists, poets, and...
Picture in the sand
Blauner, Peter
Paper Book
"On rare occasions I read a book that reminds me of why I fell in love with storytelling in the first place. This is such a book." --Stephen King Peter Blauner's epic Picture in the Sand is a sweeping intergenerational saga told through a grandfather's passionate...
The power of crisis : how three threats--and our response--will change the world
Bremmer, Ian
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller Renowned political scientist Ian Bremmer draws lessons from global challenges of the past 100 years--including the pandemic--to show how we can respond to three great crises unfolding over the next decade. In this revelatory,...
Save our souls : the true story of a castaway family, treachery, and murder
Pearl, Matthew
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of The Taking of Jemima Boone, the unbelievable true story of a real-life Swiss Family Robinson (and their dog) who faced sharks, shipwreck, and betrayal. On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the...
Watch us dance
Slimani, Leïla
Paper Book
West with giraffes : a novel
Rutledge, Lynda
Paper Book
An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America. "Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes..." Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But...
What we kept to ourselves : a novel
Kim, Nancy Jooyoun
Paper Book
A "propulsive and moving story of a family torn asunder by their mother's disappearance" (Bookreporter) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee. 1999: At the end of the millennium, the Kim family is struggling to move on after...
Work in progress : a novel
Mackenzie, Kat
Paper Book
A warm, sexy, laugh-out-loud rom-com about a woman who, desperate for a fresh start, books a literary bus tour across the UK that consists of a lively group of elderly ladies plus one infuriatingly handsome Scottish driver. UK Bus Trip Goals: Crawl out of pajamas. Get...

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