Go to “What to read next: McKinsey’s 2025 annual book recommendations”
All the Beauty in the World
Patrick Bringley
Simon & Schuster
“After the death of his elder brother, a heartbroken former magazine staffer quits and joins The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a guard. The book gives us a glimpse into Bringley’s next ten years—spent learning and appreciating beauty from across the ages—and the inner workings of the museum.”
Another Country
James Baldwin
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House
Be Kind
Pat Zietlow Miller; illustrated by Jen Hill
Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan Publishers
“It’s a children’s book, but its enduring message always resonates in my adult life. At the end of the day, it’s a gentle and poignant reminder of what’s written on the back cover—that, perhaps, ‘two simple words can change the world.’”
Beloved
Toni Morrison
Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House
Boat Baby
Vicky Nguyen
Simon & Schuster
The Book of Disappearance
Ibtisam Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon
Syracuse University Press
“It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize this year and is still an extremely timely and sensitive narrative.”
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 (The Revolution Trilogy: Volume 1)
Rick Atkinson
Henry Holt & Company/Macmillan Publishers
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Stephen Graham Jones
Saga Press/Simon & Schuster
“A gore-spattered historical horror novel set in 1912 that follows a Lutheran priest transcribing the life of a vampire on a native Blackfoot reservation who is driven by a thirst for blood and revenge.”
By the Iowa Sea
Joe Blair
Scribner/Simon & Schuster
The Catcher in the Rye
J. D. Salinger
Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group
The Devils
Joe Abercrombie
Tor Books/Macmillan Publishers
“A grim, dark fantasy novel set in a warped version of medieval Europe that follows a troubled priest who must lead a group of unrepentant murderers, monsters, and practitioners of the dark arts on a near-suicidal mission.”
Educated
Tara Westover
Random House/Penguin Random House
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Scribner/Simon & Schuster
Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World
Devorah Heitner
Tarcher/Penguin Random House
“For everyone freaked about how online the kids are, this is a super helpful guide to how to talk to them about digital presence.”
The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood
Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers
Heart Lamp
Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi
And Other Stories
“Feeling so elated that it’s the second International Booker Prize win for India in just three years!”
Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future
Alan Weisman
Dutton/Penguin Random House
How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir
Molly Jong-Fast
Viking/Penguin Random House
I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free
Lee Hawkins
Amistad/HarperCollins Publishers
“A former Wall Street Journal reporter explores his family’s 400-year journey in America, delving into how various generations of his kin were affected by the country’s legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.”
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
Modern Library/Penguin Random House
A Lost Lady
Willa Cather
Vintage Books/Penguin Random House
Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie
Random House/Penguin Random House
Mood Indigo
Boris Vian, translated by Stanley Chapman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan Publishers
More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa
Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Publishers
My Father’s House
Joseph O’Connor
Europa Editions
My Friends
Fredrik Backman
Atria Books/Simon & Schuster
The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More
Jefferson Fisher
Tarcher/Penguin Random House
“I’ve been following the author on Instagram for years and have found his advice to be truly helpful many times. I look forward to seeing how the messaging plays out on the written page compared with 30-second video snippets.”
O Caledonia
Elspeth Barker
Scribner/Simon & Schuster
“This is an underground modern classic reissued in 2022 in the US. It’s short, dark, and evocative.”
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
Penguin Press/Penguin Random House
“The moment I reached the end of this book, I felt the need to go back to the first page and start over. Vuong’s poetic prowess is on display with every sentence of this semiautobiographical novel. Keep a highlighter handy.”
On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports
Christine Brennan
Scribner/Simon & Schuster
“Super interested to read this one when it comes out in July. Our family has gone from no interest in sports to die-hard WNBA fans, and it’s largely due to Caitlin Clark.”
On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good
Elise Loehnen
The Dial Press/Penguin Random House
“A fascinating book by podcast host Elise Loehnen that explores how, as women, we often force ourselves to behave and follow a certain moral code of conduct. From tracing behavior and the seven deadly sins to understanding more about social programming, this book forced me to take a hard look at myself.”
One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps
Andrea Pitzer
Back Bay Books/Hachette Book Group
“This is an author I’ve followed for a long time on social media. I’m deeply interested in history; unfortunately, this topic is still timely.”
The Outrun
Amy Liptrot
W. W. Norton & Company
“A book about addiction, sobriety, nature, and the struggle to realign oneself, The Outrun is a memoir by Amy Liptrot. The description of the Scottish islands is breathtaking and is the best part for me.”
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Dover Publications
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
Harper/HarperCollins Publishers
Poor Things
Alasdair Gray
Mariner Books/HarperCollins Publishers
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Robert A. Caro
Alfred A. Knopf/Penguin Random House
“This 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.”
Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words
John McWhorter
Avery/Penguin Random House
“Grammar evolves with usage, and we shouldn’t feel too constrained by it, New York Times language columnist McWhorter writes in his usual entertaining way. Defending the use of ‘they’ as a pronoun for one person, he points out that it’s been employed that way for at least 600 years. In a tidbit that makes for great cocktail chatter, McWhorter notes that in modern English, we use the formal ‘you’ to address everyone—even babies—because the informal ‘thou’ became obsolete.”
The Rich People Have Gone Away
Regina Porter
Hogarth/Penguin Random House
“While I’m not particularly eager to revisit the pandemic, I am super interested to follow the characters who stayed in New York City during it.”
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe
Doubleday/Penguin Random House
“A harrowing work of nonfiction that explores the brutal violence and complex history of early 1970s Northern Ireland through the lens of a woman who was abducted and murdered by the Irish Republican Army [IRA].”
Taiwan Travelogue
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King
Graywolf Press
Time Shelter
Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel
Liveright Publishing/W. W. Norton & Company
The Vegetarian
Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
Hogarth/Penguin Random House
“This was a popular book in South Korea when it came out in 2007, but it came to my attention when it was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature last year. I just started the book and am looking forward to exploring the role of women in modern South Korean society, a country with the lowest birthrate in the world and where the ‘4B’ movement emerged in recent years.”
We Do Not Part
Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
Hogarth/Penguin Random House
“I had never heard of Kang before he won the 2024 Nobel Prize, so I’m curious.”
The Wolf Age: The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire
Tore Skeie, translated by Alison McCullough
Pushkin Press
“A gripping and meticulously researched work of nonfiction that explores 11th-century Europe and the Vikings’ relentless pursuit of power through war and plunder.”
Women Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He’ll Change
Robin Norwood
Tarcher/Penguin Random House
Written on the Dark
Guy Gavriel Kay
Ace Books/Penguin Random House
“A lyrical historical fantasy novel set in a world based on late medieval France that follows the exploits of a notorious tavern poet who finds himself caught up in royal intrigue and an impending war.”
You Dreamed of Empires
Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer
Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House
“It’s a fictionalized story of Cortés coming to Tenochtitlán (what is now Mexico City—wish I had read it before visiting) in the early 1500s and meeting with Moctezuma. Told from multiple character perspectives, it covers everyone from oppressed women (both slave and royalty), to a disillusioned conquistador, to the drug-addled emperor. Also giving credit to the translator as I’m sure they helped shape the tone and pace for the English version (they’re certainly a co-creator here).”
Comments and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not represent or reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of McKinsey & Company or have its endorsement. McKinsey & Company does not benefit from third-party books you may choose to buy based on these recommendations.
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