January is always a quiet time for new releases, but there were two that made a big impact this year – the moving final novel from Julian Barnes and an uplifting new book from Ash Barty's mindset coach!
Several favourites from 2025 also stayed in the bestsellers, including the 2025 Booker Prize winner, the book the Readings community voted their favourite international fiction of the year, and The Mushroom Tapes, once again at the top of the list!
1. The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder Trial by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein
2. Flesh by David Szalay
3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
4. Heart the Lover by Lily King
5. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
6. Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy
7. Where the Light Gets In by Ben Crowe
8. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
9. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, Sawyer Robbins
10. Last One Out by Jane Harper
11. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
12. The Names by Florence Knapp
13. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith
14. Earthquake by Niki Savva
15. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
16. Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray
17. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz
18. Departure(s) by Julian Barnes
19. The Shortest History of the United States of America by Don Watson
20. The Hiding Place by Kate Mildenhall
