The Central Library's 10th Street accessible entrance is temporarily closed for elevator repairs. A phone number is posted outside the Library to contact staff for assistance with navigating the temporary accessible entrance on Baltimore Ave.
This article first appeared in The Kansas City Star on December 4, 2025.
We really got around in 2025. We traveled outside of Earth’s atmosphere, entered hell through a portal in Cambridge, returned to Panem, and dangled our feet from a seaside pier.
All without ever leaving home.
Surveyed book lovers on staff came up with a best of 2025 book list in each of the following categories, from fantasy to nonfiction. Plus, a deep dive into library records revealed another list: Kansas City’s most popular checkouts of print-edition new releases.
Each one of these books is in the Library’s collection and always free with a library card.
For more about what books are hot, attend the Reading Roundup and listen to librarians from five area library systems at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Central Library. The event is free with RSVP or on the Library’s YouTube channel.
Fantasy book picks
Best of: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang approaches its all-too-apt metaphor — academic achievement is hell — with honesty and wit.
Most popular checkouts: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is an action-packed, steamy adventure with dragons.
Romance book picks
Best of: Dating After the End of the World by Jeneva Rose is a little bit “Walking Dead,” a little bit romance. Fun and fast-paced.
Most popular checkouts: Great, Big, Beautiful Life by Emily Henry is a witty and moving story pairs two vastly different writers vying for the same story and finding common ground — and each other — in the messy process.
Literary fiction book picks
Best of: Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong is original, fresh, and insightful as it delves into themes of defining family, finding friendship in unexpected places, and intergenerational friendship.
Most popular checkouts: My Friends by Fredrik Backman: A retelling of an emotionally intense teenage summer that left bodies in its wake, changed the world, and gave a girl a home.*
Horror and thriller book picks
Best of: In When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy, giant shape-shifting wolves and a child with supernatural powers are pillars of a profound story about familial relationships and what happens what your darkest fears become reality.
Most popular checkouts: The Crash by Freida McFadden is a psychologically suspenseful, intricately plotted and disturbing tale.
Historical fiction book picks
Best of: Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen is a comedic and thought-provoking approach to historical fiction.
Most popular checkouts: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a richly detailed and suspenseful story of female love and resilience in male-dominated, vintage NASA.*
Nonfiction book picks
Best of: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke is a raw and honest memoir of surviving a childhood fraught with deception, manipulation, and abuse.
Most popular checkouts: Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams is a personal account of the unchecked power and wealth that shaped social media and, subsequently, our current social and political landscapes.
Young adult book picks
Best of and most popular checkout: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins is the highly anticipated — and heartbreaking — fifth installment of The Hunger Games series.
*Also appeared on the staff’s best-of list