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The Book Report: Ron Charles’ picks from 2025

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The Book Report: Ron Charles’ picks from 2025


By Washington Post book critic Ron Charles

2025 offered a feast of great books. To help build your never-ending reading list, here are five titles we particularly enjoyed over the past 12 months:


Simon & Schuster


Lucas Schaefer’s debut novel, “The Slip” (Simon & Schuster), won this year’s Kirkus Prize for Fiction. The story takes place in and around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, where two lonely teenagers are eager to remake their identities wherever that might lead them.

This sweaty comic masterpiece tackles our most pressing social debates, and delivers a knockout.

Read an excerpt: “The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer

“The Slip” by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

lucasschaefer.com


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Sourcebooks Landmark


Susie Dent’s debut novel, “Guilty by Definition” (‎Sourcebooks Landmark), introduces a dictionary editor in Oxford who begins receiving strange messages about her sister’s long-ago disappearance.

As she follows these clues, she is led into literary puzzles and unresolved parts of her past. Readers who savor wordplay as much as suspense should look up this clever mystery.

Read an excerpt: “Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent

“Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent (‎Sourcebooks Landmark), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

Susie Dent on Instagram


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Riverhead Books


“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” (Riverhead Books), by Caleb Gayle, traces the rise of Edward McCabe through Kansas and the Oklahoma Territory as Black migrants pursued land, safety and power in the Jim Crow era.

Confronting hostile politics and violent resistance, McCabe fought for community and self-determination, and Gayle lays out this charged landscape to reveal a crucial but long-obscured chapter in the struggle for freedom.

Read an excerpt: “Black Moses” by Caleb Gayle

“Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State” by Caleb Gayle (Riverhead Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

calebgayle.com (Official site)


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Knopf


Karen Russell’s “The Antidote” (Knopf) is a dazzlingly original novel that hovers between fable and history.

This wild tempest of a tale set in Depression-era Nebraska follows a prairie witch and a high school girl swept up into a tumultuous western epic about the tragedies and ambitions of Manifest Destiny.

Read an excerpt: “The Antidote” by Karen Russell

“The Antidote” by Karen Russell (Knopf), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

karenrussellauthor.com


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Crown


Rick Atkinson’s “The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780” (Crown), the second book in his planned trilogy, delivers a chronicle of the American Revolution with irresistible narrative drive.

Moving between battles and diplomacy, he brings Washington, Franklin and their rivals to life while tracing the nation’s fight for independence. The result is an immersive work of history just in time for America’s 250th anniversary.

Read an excerpt: “The Fate of the Day” by Rick Atkinson

“The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Volume Two of the Revolution Trilogy)” by Rick Atkinson (Crown), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via AmazonBarnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

Historian Rick Atkinson (Official site)

Rick Atkinson on how the U.S. Army was born – and a free nation realized (“Sunday Morning”)


That’s it for the Book Report. It’s been great fun to talk to you about good books over the past year. Here’s to many more in 2026.

I’m Ron Charles. Until next time, read on!

     
For more info: 

     
For more reading recommendations, check out our library of previous Book Report features from Ron Charles: 





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Demi Lovato opens up about first tour since marrying Jordan Lutes

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Demi Lovato opens up about first tour since marrying Jordan Lutes


The couple tied the knot on May 25, 2025

Demi Lovato is excited for her first tour as a married woman.

The Grammy-nominated singer will embark on her It’s Not That Deep Tour next week — her first tour since tying the knot with fellow musician Jordan “Jutes” Lutes on May 25, 2025. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, April 6, the Grammy-nominated singer explained why she believes this tour will be “easier” since Lutes will also be on the road at the same time.

“I’m so excited for him,” Lovato said of Lutes’ upcoming Far From Dilworth Tour.

“We both play a show on our [one] year anniversary,” she continued. “He’ll be in Europe, I’ll be here in the states. And the next day I’ll fly out to see him. I wish we were together, but it’s okay, we’ll be together the next day.”

Indeed, Lutes will be playing a show in Amsterdam while Lovato will be performing in Texas on their one-year anniversary.

The Camp Rock star noted that she and Lutes “do a really great job at balancing work and spending time together” by “staying busy” when the other is at work.

“I think it’ll be a lot easier since he’ll be on the road at the same time, we’ll both be busy,” she explained.

The Sonny With a Chance alum added, “He knows the life and he’s just so supportive, and I wanna be equally as supportive for him.”

Lutes will additionally embark on another newly announced tour, the Smile You’re on Tour, from August. He will be performing in Toronto on Lovato’s 34th birthday on August 20.

Lovato, 33, and Lutes, 34, sparked a romance while working together on her eighth studio album, Holy Fvck, in 2022. The couple went Instagram official shortly after. 





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Queen’s trusted aide shares heartfelt truth after saying goodbye to Palace

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Queen’s trusted aide shares heartfelt truth after saying goodbye to Palace


Queen’s trusted aide shares heartfelt truth after saying goodbye to Palace

Angela Kelly, who shared strong bond with Queen Elizabeth for 30 years, has finally broken her silence after being cut off from the Palace.

The late monarch’s dresser and confidante shared unforgettable memories she cherished with her best friend, revealing how the pair would dance in the royal house to the ABBA hit Dancing Queen.

In a rare interview, the late Queen’s trusted aide revealed they used to chat about “anything and everything.”

She was so closed that they used two drank tea, swapped jokes and anecdotes about their grandchildren.

Kelly, who says the Queen was her best friend, released two books with her former boss’ blessing about her life curating her wardrobe, designing her vibrant looks and looking after her jewellery.

After the late Queen’s death, she lost her grace-and-favour home on the Windsor estate and told her followers on Instagram : “Getting ready to say goodbye. I am moving at last to my new home which I will be able to call My Home at last.”

Queens trusted aide shares heartfelt truth after saying goodbye to Palace

Replying to a friend, she said her work phone had been disconnected and added she’d be moving to the Peak District, close to Sheffield, in a house provided by the King.

Later this week, six of Kelly’s outfits that she created for her former boss will go on show in an exhibition at Buckingham Palace called Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style.

The 68-year-old told Vanity Fair: “Every morning the queen would listen to the Terry Wogan show on Radio 2. When the song Dancing Queen came on she loved it, and both of us would dance. The Queen would move from side to side and sing.

And as the 100th anniversary of the late Queen’s birth approaches, she remebered her for all the good reason, revealing: “Her Majesty loved singing and had a good voice. I didn’t. I’d get carried away and be dancing all round her like I was at a disco, and the queen would tell me to ‘move over’ because I can’t sing and we laughed. They were moments to cherish, to see the queen so relaxed.”

She also explained Queen’s love for her grandchildren and Easter gatherings, saying: “The family would visit and she loved being granny. Her Majesty took her great-grandchildren out riding or walking. She did barbecues and fun things and she always washed the dishes, even when she was entertaining the prime minister.”

Angela’s close relationship with the late Queen also reportedly caused jealousy among other members of staff, with Kelly, once dubbed ‘AK47’ once joking: “I don’t have any more room for knives in my back.”





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Zendaya credits ‘Spider-Man’ for introducing her to her ‘love’ Tom Holland

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Zendaya credits ‘Spider-Man’ for introducing her to her ‘love’ Tom Holland


‘The Drama’ actress can’t help but gush and blush over her fiancé Tom Holland

Zendaya will forever be grateful to the Spider-Man franchise for introducing her to her “love” and “best friend,” Tom Holland.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Monday, April 6, the Euphoria star took a walk down memory lane to her past projects, including Disney’s Shake it Up, The Greatest Showman, and, of course, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

“Lots comes to mind,” Zendaya said with a grin as a picture of her in Spider-Man’s arms appeared on the screen.

The Drama actress noted how “crazy” it is to be a part of the franchise she grew up watching. “To be a part of them, and the joy that it brings to people…” said Zendaya, before reflecting on what it brought to her own life.

“It brought into my life love and my best friend,” she gushed as she stole another glance at the picture from their early days.

Zendaya, 29, and Holland, also 29, famously met while filming the 2017 Marvel hit. After years of romance rumours, the pair confirmed their relationship in 2020. They got engaged in late 2024, and it was rumoured they secretly wed earlier this year.

Though the couple is choosing not to confirm or deny the rumours for their privacy’s sake, fans will get to see them share the screen once more as Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theatres on July 31.

“I’m excited for you to see the next one,” Zendaya told Barrymore. “I am already so proud of the work, and I’m so proud of Tom. This next one — I’m blown away,” 





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