Photo-Illustration: Vulture It’s that time of year again, when Vulture’s critics embark on our messiest annual tradition: finalizing our top-ten lists. Here are the best books of 2025, according to New York ’s Emma Alpern and Jasmine Vojdani . Emma Alpern’s Top Five Books I’ve found that if a book is really going to matter to me, it will let me know physically, staying in my peripheral vision and sitting at the pit of my stomach. Of all the things published this year — and there were many —