Every year our staff vote for their favourite books of the past year. Here are the best nonfiction books of 2025, as voted by Readings' staff!
The titles are displayed alphabetically by author.
The Eyes of Gaza
Plestia Alaqad
‘Formatted in the style of diary entries, The Eyes of Gaza is a harrowing account of 22-year-old Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad’s experience during the first 45 days of the 2023 genocide in Gaza.
Alaqad weaves together deeply human experiences, telling the stories of her people as the bombs rained upon them. It is a witness’s account of those first 45 days and, written with raw honesty, shows the deeply human experiences of the people of Gaza: the turmoil, their gentle acts of quiet, necessary heroism, and the moments of unexpected tenderness, humour and vulnerability amidst the chaos.
The Eyes of Gaza is not an easy read. It will make you feel utter rage and sorrow. But you will also feel a glimmer of hope as you read about the resilience and resistance of the people of Palestine. This is not just a memoir, it is a call to action; a call for solidarity and transformation, and ultimately, it is a call for peace, for everyone. A must read.’
– Lucie Dess, Marketing and Events Coordinator
A Different Kind of Power
Jacinda Ardern
‘One of my favourite memoirs of this year was Jacinda Ardern's A Different Kind of Power. We all know the key events of her six-year tenure, most notably COVID-19 and the Christchurch mosque attacks, but reading why and how she got to power, what makes her tick, and what went on in the background to her leadership was so very interesting and insightful.
Though a first-time writer, Ardern’s obvious intelligence comes through in her writing, and she has crafted a very moving and powerful account of her life so far. From her Mormon upbringing to her decision to step-down as Prime Minister, and the self-doubt she carried with her throughout her life, we get a full view of the woman behind the well-known name.
This isn't just for political aficionados but more so for readers in search of inspiring people and stories.’
– Melanie Barton, Readings Bookseller
Memorial Days
Geraldine Brooks
‘27 May 2019, Memorial Day. Geraldine Brooks, alone at her home on Martha’s Vineyard, receives a phone call that changes her life instantly and profoundly. Tony Horwitz, her partner of over 35 years, has died, collapsing on the street alone in Washington DC while on tour promoting his new book, a world away. Brutal.
How does one even begin to process such finite news? In Memorial Days, Brooks questions and details this deeply personal journey of grief, one that is uniquely different for every individual yet for which expectations are universal. Recounted through two storylines in alternating chapters, the first recounts the events at the time of Horwitz’s death and in the immediate months following. The second storyline takes place on Flinders Island three years later, when Brooks escapes there and allows herself the time and permission to finally grieve …
Brooks is a remarkably gifted storyteller and writer, whatever the genre may be. Give yourself the time to read Memorial Days, you will want to read it in one sitting if you can. I highly recommend it.’
– This is an edited quote from Danielle Mirabella’s review for Readings Monthly
Defiance
Bob Brown
‘This is a delightful collection of stories from Bob Brown’s 50 years at the front line of the environmental movement. Filled with his trademark passion, warmth and humour, he combats some of the common reasons that people don’t join protests or get actively involved in politics and provides inspiration to take a stand for nature.
From chapters about his first campaign saving the Franklin River, when all appeared lost, to defying bad laws, and imparting the awareness that the actions of only 3.5% of the population are all it takes to change a bad government policy, there are numerous practical and useful tips for the budding activist.
Well-known protests, such as those against Adani and the fight to save native forests from logging, stand next to more personal anecdotes about his mother and father, lesser-known rebels including Eric Herbert and Rob Lord, as well as famous Australians such as high court judge Lionel Murphy and artist Emily Kam Kngwarray. These are stories of standing up to unbridled ego, abuses of power and the overreach of corporate capitalism, as well as a heartfelt love of the natural environment …’
– This is an edited quote from Angela Crocombe’s review for Readings Monthly
Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You
Candice Chung
‘… This memoir of a certain time in Candice Chung’s life does cover a vast territory of family and meals and cooking, but it is more than that. It is a record of living and loving in Covid times, and it is about finding happiness …
You may already know Chung’s writing work from her restaurant reviews and articles in magazines and newspapers, where she writes with grace and generosity. Her first long-form work takes as its premise the time after Chung’s 13-year relationship ends and she begins to take her retired Cantonese parents to the restaurants she is reviewing. Over meals – a $40 scampi burger, anyone? – they begin to share their lives and heal a distance that had emerged throughout her previous relationship … And then, just before Covid restrictions fall over the world, Chung meets another partner. And everything changes, except the need to keep sharing meals.
Chung has written a highly original memoir that asks big questions of its reader. It asks us to stop and pause for a moment; to contemplate family, language and history, alongside the true meaning of hospitality …’
– This is an edited quote from Chris Gordon’s review for Readings Monthly
The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial
Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
‘Clear your diaries, because The Mushroom Tapes is categorically a must-read, diary-clearing kind of book: the hotly anticipated literary engagement with the infamous and internationally compelling Erin Patterson triple murder trial that we’ve all been waiting for, and undoubtedly the nonfiction book of the season. Written by three of the best writers in the business – Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, Sarah Krasnostein – who joined forces and interests to follow the trial together, and create something they could not have done alone, this book is, as we who know these writers’ works individually have hoped, greater than the sum of its parts, their collaboration supercharging their insights, concerns, expertise.
… There is nothing gawkish or gratuitous about this book (or, as Garner fears at one point, they’re not "perving"). Its register is inquisitive, reflexive, curious, cautious, a cultural inquisition with psychological heft, always mindful of the lives affected and lost following the terrible event of that infamous beef wellington lunch, and interrogative of the collective interest in the gloom …’
– This is an edited quote from Alison Huber’s review for Readings Monthly
Not Quite White in the Head
Melissa Lucashenko
‘… This is the first time Lucashenko’s nonfiction work – which contains essays like "The First Australian Democracy" – has been brought together in one accessible volume. We are treated to essays about her own writing, a love letter to her literary hero, speeches that have thankfully been preserved, and poignant interviews.
While the works were produced across time and place, they can be read comprehensively together (always a worry with essay collections). There is something for everyone; you needn’t have read her fiction, although learning about the motives behind her famous titles will make you want to. As Lucashenko says, "you don’t need to be Indigenous to engage with First Nations mobs … you simply need to be a decent, mindful human who cares about your neighbours and the earth." In the essay "On Keri Hulme", Lucashenko says she first discovered her hero’s work at age 22, "a very good age to read a powerful and angry novel."
No matter your age, now is a very good time to read this powerful collection of essays, which contains, yes, anger – but also hope, honesty and bloody good journalism …’
– This is an edited quote from Grace Gooda’s review for Readings Monthly
Mother Mary Comes To Me
Arundhati Roy
‘… This is a memoir of epic proportions and fans of Roy’s fiction will not be disappointed. It’s a memoir of two parts: a searingly beautiful and honest account of Roy’s complex relationship with her mother, Mary, and Roy’s own life story, particularly her journey in writing her epic Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things …
Mary Roy ("Mrs Roy" to her children) was a force of nature … a fiercely intelligent and progressive woman and educator. Mrs Roy established a school in Kerala in 1967 … and she continues to be revered as a feminist and visionary. However, her children, particularly Arundhati, bore the brunt of a cruelty that clearly contradicts the accolades …
There is a period of seven years where Roy doesn’t have contact with Mrs Roy, and it is during this time that we learn of Roy’s other life – a life of her own creation involving struggles with making it on her own, poverty, studies, loves, political activism … and with the call of writing a constant throughout …
Mother Mary Comes To Me is a memoir to devour, equal parts rage and heartache: two women, two very different paths and ultimately two legacies shaped by each other.’
– This is an edited quote from Danielle Mirabella’s review for Readings Monthly
One Aladdin Two Lamps
Jeanette Winterson
‘Jeanette Winterson’s latest book is an essay of sorts: a wonderful dissertation about empathy and the call of imagination. She argues that love is not the great link in our lives, but rather the ability to imagine is our greatest strength. To illustrate her point, Winterson introduces us to Shahrazad, the storyteller in One Thousand and One Nights … This is a story of a woman fighting for her life, but it is more than a feminist fable. This is the story of how we read, why we read and what we can take from reading, but again, it is more than a book about storytelling. This is the story of happenstance and hope. It is a story about where to find the truth.
… I love everything Jeanette Winterson writes. I love the way she pulls stories apart, looks at them from different angles, from various reference points (the Bible, Shakespeare, Rowling, Collins and so many more), reflects on her own life (her own mother, the local library, the schoolyard), and then puts it all together again to ask us: who are you when you read? … This book is the year’s most compelling and important read.’
– This is an edited quote from Chris Gordon’s review for Readings Monthly
Snake Talk
Tyson Yunkaporta & Megan Kelleher
‘Over the course of his first two books, Sand Talk and Right Story, Wrong Story, Tyson Yunkaporta has carved out a highly distinct intellectual niche … In this new book, Snake Talk, Yunkaporta has co-authored the text with his wife, Megan Kelleher, a Barada and Gabalbara woman with a background researching blockchain technology and Indigenous knowledge.
The book explores the snakes, serpents and dragons that feature prominently in so many of the world’s myths, from Nepal, Central America, Ireland, India and China. Kelleher and Yunkaporta approach these stories by meeting, breaking bread and engaging in solemn ritual with representatives of each culture, bringing them into dialogue with Indigenous Lore. The tone is inclusive and invitational, too – oral culture transmuted into written form.
… Rich and layered, Snake Talk is partly a response to the crises of rising authoritarianism and environmental collapse we currently face. It calls for rebalancing our relationships with the Earth and each other through shared narrative, "gathering a world of stories around one fire". At a time when our world feels fragile, we sorely need the kind of fresh thinking found in this expansive and visionary book.’
– This is an edited quote from James Marples’s review for Readings Monthly
Discover our other favourite books of 2025 here!
