Now, Here Is MY List For 2025!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "The New York Times" Is No Longer So High And MIghty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            Never mind the books depicted here, darlings; this sign was perfect, as it centers on the area I am interested in--Fiction.  "The New York Times" has had their say, now I will have mine.

                               Here is my (The Raving Queen) list of "The Five Best Works Of Fiction Of 2025!"

                                                                                   

                                              "Culpability," by Bruce Holsinger--Not just on my list, but my choice as The Book Of The Year!   This fascinating, intellectually stimulating novel involves who or what is or is not responsible for a family car accident, combined with algorithm concepts as well as AI.  Vastly absorbing, but anyone who fully grasps the last two concepts please explain them to me.  But it does not take away from the joy of reading this novel.

                                                                         

                                        "Bear," by Julia Phillips--I loved her previous novel, "Disappearing Earth," and I loved "Bear" just as much.  Touching and heartbreaking as it was, I could almost empathize with the gruesome climax, especially when it is an act of love.  Now, there is a big exception here.  I read this in early 2025 but had no idea till just now it came out in 2024.  How did I miss it then?  I really read it under the presumption was a 2025 book.  Still, it was so good at the time I knew, early on, it would be a selection.  So, I am sticking by my standards and including it.

                                                                           

                                       "Buckeye," by Patrick Ryan--As much about Ohio the state, as the families who people this book, this almost Michneseque novel is the king of big family saga reads I like.  Moving through time and history in surprising and fluid ways, this is a must for books of this type, of which too few are being published these days.  Thank you, Patrick Ryan, and I look forward to more from you.

                                                                             

                                             "Fox," by Joyce Carol Oates--Never, in all my years of writing, girls, did I ever think a Joyce Carol Oates novel would appear on my list.  Maybe "We Were The Mulvaneys," but I was not writing, then.  When I finished this book, something clicked in my head, the sign which tells me this book is eligible for my list.  An absorbing psychological thriller, it offers mystery, murder, and insight into the rationale or irrational of a pedophile.  Gripping and disturbing, yet thought provoking, it broke the "Joyce Spell" for me and made it to this list.

                                                                                

                                        "The Sisters," by Jonas Hassen Khemiri--Much has already been said on this blog, and enough cannot be said.  The only book The Times and I agree on, this is another family saga; perhaps it marks a return of sorts for the genre.  I hope.  Fascinating, exploring the lives of the Mikola siblings, and their author stand-in, Jonas, as he observes them from afar, this is both a family saga and a romance novel.   The kind thinking readers love.  Girls, you have not read anything yet, till you have read "The Sisters."

                                            So, these are my opinions, and I stand by them.  Interesting that "The Sisters" was the only book The Times and I agreed on, and as stated, I never expected a Joyce Carol Oates book to make my list.

                                               Meanwhile, I have to return to a ton of reading I must get out of the way, before beginning my 2026 Mammoth Project.  Will I make 100 books in 2025? Probably not, but I will try!

                                                  Happy Reading, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!