WPL: The Best Books We Read In 2025

Just like you, the staff at Windsor Public Library have been enjoying books from our collection all year long. We’ve decided to share some of our favourite reads from 2025. Let us know which book you most enjoyed from the library this year and please enjoy these recommendations from our staff. Happy New Year!

Kate:

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

My favourite read of 2025 was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt which features an octopus narrator so brilliant he helps solve a mystery! I found myself so fascinated that I had to learn more and also read the non-fiction book, The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. I love it when great fiction ignites my curiosity like this and helps me find even more great reads!

Erica:

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

For horror lovers out there, I’d highly recommend: Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito. The book opens with line, “Everyone here will be died by Christmas” – what follows is a journey into the sociopathic mind of a Victorian nanny. Purely chaotic and very well written.

Micaela:

Springtime in Chernobyl by Emmanuel Lepage

Springtime in Chernobyl is about the author’s sojourn to Chernobyl, alongside a bunch of other illustrators, to document the area in drawings. The point is to showcase the potential for devastation that comes with nuclear energy use. However, when they arrive, they find that Chernobyl isn’t purely a wasteland – it’s teeming with life and pockets of natural beauty, and it’s a place that many people still call home. The book is interesting because the illustrations juxtapose the moody, dark landscapes of the ruined city with the vibrant blossoming of spring, and it serves as a historical document that sheds light on the long-term effects of the nuclear fallout in Eastern Europe, something that is often overlooked here in the West.

Alyssa:

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong

Jo-ann:

The Tenant by Freida McFadden

Jennifer:

The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarrors

In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarrors

Alex:

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Although it was published in 2020, The House in the Cerulean Sea remains one of my favourite books of all time. Heartwarming, quirky characters, a beautiful story of self-acceptance and a charming queer love story. Check out the audiobook for an even more immersive experience with character voices and expressive narration. If you read it and love it, there’s even a sequel: Somewhere Beyond the Sea.

Adam:

On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle