13 Epic Books of the Year That Left a Lasting Impact
A great book meets you where you are. In hard times, it may offer solace or the respite of an epic tale. In times of confusion, it may serve as a guiding compass. No matter your circumstances or mindset, when you read a book that speaks to your soul, you are forever changed.
This year saw many books that expanded hearts and minds. So, we asked The Sunday Paper team, our colleagues at The Open Field—the publishing imprint Maria founded in partnership with Penguin Life—and Open Field authors for their biggest takeaways from a 2025 book. We wanted to know what lesson they learned and how it impacted them. As you’ll find, their answers below offer a map toward more beauty, clarity, and strength.
#1:
Heart the Lover by Lily King
The lesson: The life you’re living is your only one, so live it fully and be present.
This is a love story, but it’s also, to me, a novel about relishing our life as we’re living it. It can be easy to get lost searching for meaning in the past, or to be so consumed by worry about our future, that we forget to prioritize our needs and desires and joys right now. I found this novel to be a beautiful reminder of living in the present moment.
—Amy Sun, senior editor, The Open Field
#2:
Chasing Peace by Tom Rosshirt
The lesson: How to look into the darkness in order to see the light.
Tom Rosshirt is one of the bravest people I know because he’s one of the most authentic and, yes, vulnerable. I’ve returned numerous times to Chasing Peace this year because I find Tom’s voice and journey speak to me, carry me, and guide me. Like this quote, which is both spare and all-encompassing.
“All the inventing and discovering and experimenting and exploring we’ve done in the history of human beings has never uncovered one thing that is a greater mark of our progress than how we treat each other."
—Steven Petrow, author of The Joy You Make, and Washington Post contributor
#3:
The Joy You Make by Steven Petrow
The lesson: You can find joy everywhere, even in the hard times.
I may be cheating a bit as this book was published in late 2024, but I opened my copy on January 1, 2025. I was almost done writing my annual list of goals, dreams, and impossible tasks to achieve when I paused and picked up Steven Petrow’s book. I was immediately struck by the fact that my list of goals was seriously lacking when it came to joy, laughter, memory-making, and fun.
Just a few pages in was the wake-up call that has carried me through the entire year, “Joy is always present… You only have to look for it, be confident that it’s there, and be open to it when you find it.” Steven shares how he learned to experience joy in darkness, loss, and hard times. Inspired by his words, I added to my journal: Find joy in the sadness. Find peace in the chaos. Embrace imperfection. See love in the grief. Make space for the laughter along with the tears.
Steven’s personal stories highlight the fact that we are emotional beings, and living a full life means welcoming all the emotions that come up for us. This year, The Joy You Make inspired me to embrace them all, especially joy!
—Diane Button, educator, death doula, and author of What Matters Most
#4:
Are You Mad at Me? by Meg Josephson
The lesson: People-pleasing distorts our relationships and erodes our self-trust, self-worth, and boundaries.
One idea from the book really stayed with me. It's the idea that people-pleasing is a fawn response, where you think it's safer to charm the threat than to run away, fight it, or freeze before it. With this pattern, we draw closer to the thing that harms us! That might sound obvious, but the way Josephson articulated it genuinely shifted something for me. The book offers countless tools to stay connected to our bodies and in the right relationship with our nervous systems so we can choose a response that allows us to honor ourselves rather than abandon ourselves.
—Amina AlTai, executive coach and author of The Ambition Trap
#5:
The Tears of Things by Richard Rohr
The lesson: Get underneath the anger to the hurt – it’s the only way to heal.
Perhaps it’s a sign of hope for these times that a prophet can get a book on the New York Times bestseller list. In The Tears of Things, Richard Rohr uses his lifetime of Old Testament study to trace the Hebrew prophets’ evolution from anger to tears to love.
“Most folks invariably apologize for or try to hide their tears,” Richard writes. “One wonders why. Do they not want the deep self to be revealed? …. Tears invite participation in a wider world and pull us out of our isolation. When we cry, we are revealing our truest, most loving self.”
Moving from anger to tears to love, Richard is telling us, is the spiritual path, and if we see it and take it, we can turn an age of chaos into a time of spiritual flourishing. But if we stay stuck in our anger and suppress our tears, we end our own movement toward love.
Perhaps this explains the famous line of the Beatitudes: Blessed are those who mourn.
—Tom Rosshirt, author of Chasing Peace
#6:
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
The lesson: Public health depends on valuing people over profit, and recognizing our responsibility to one another.
Green writes that “people are not just their economic productivity” and that “We are here to love and be loved, to understand and be understood.” He shows that many preventable crises persist not because we lack solutions but because we fail to prioritize human well-being. This book made me more aware of how privilege shapes perspective, and why compassion and paying attention to what feels distant are part of my responsibility as a reader and global citizen.
—Cassidy Graham, editor, The Open Field
#7:
Uncommon Favor by Dawn Staley
The lesson: Perspective is everything.
Dawn Staley—a legendary figure in women's sports and at my alma mater, the University of South Carolina—shares the life lessons that shaped who she is today in her memoir. One that stood out was her positive mindset about losing, especially given her track record with winning: "I've lost more times than I can count. I know now that every loss strengthens me for whatever I'm going to face in the future. The losses remind me that what feels like an end can be a beginning." This reminded me that perspective is everything, and to embrace the times when things might not go as expected.
—Madison Bridges, coordinating producer, The Sunday Paper
#8:
All the Cool Girls Get Fired by Laura Brown and Kristina O’Nell
The lesson: You always have power within.
Agency. That’s what I learned from the 2025 bestseller All the Cool Girls Get Fired. No matter how grave the circumstances, be it a job loss or an unexpected life shift, we always have the power to find the light, turn things around, and move forward with strength. I’m grateful to authors Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill for revealing this reminder on the page. These two women have exercised this truth in their lives—and I must say, that’s why they’re so “cool”: They’re deeply generous in sharing all the wisdom they’ve gained, motivating all of us to live with agency and joy.
—Stacey Lindsay, senior editor, The Sunday Paper, and author of BEING 40
#9:
I Am Maria by Maria Shriver
The lesson: Poetry can meet us in the spaces where traditional explanations don’t always suffice.
I was really moved by how Maria used lyrical poetry to talk so beautifully about really hard things. It was the perfect format to highlight the nuances and in-between spaces that come with heartbreak and loss and finding yourself again.
—Meg Leder, editorial director, The Open Field
#10:
I’ll Have What She’s Having by Chelsea Handler
The lesson: Hold on to the light.
There’s this quote that I read in preparation for selecting Chelsea Handler’s book for our Sunday Paper “Be Lit” newsletter that I re-read whenever I feel doubt creeping in. I admire Chelsea’s fierceness, her boldness, and her unapologetic drive for doing what makes her happy.
“Now it’s your job to keep that candle lit, and not to let anyone, including yourself, blow it out. You are effulgent. You are true. You are a bright beam of generosity. Don’t stop what you’re doing, because you are on your way to great things. Hold on to the light. Look in the mirror every day and tell yourself, Hello, beautiful, what great things are we going to get up to today?”
—Lauren Westphal, associate editor and producer, The Sunday Paper
#11:
What Matters Most by Diane Button
The lesson: Don’t save the “nice” things for a special occasion.
As an end-of-life doula for nearly two decades, Diane Button has helped many people die. In her beautiful book, What Matters Most, Diane lets all of us in on some of the biggest lessons she’s learned from her clients.
One that stuck with me is a story about a six-year-old cancer patient named Rosie, whose favorite color was “pink glitter,” a shimmery paint Rosie’s mom saved for her kids to use on special occasions. As Rosie’s health declined, Diane encouraged the family to use the pink glitter, which delighted everyone—especially Rosie.
“Rosie did not have the luxury of countless days ahead of her, and we may not either,” Diane wrote. “Instead of waiting for that special day to come, make today a special day and enjoy it fully!”
This story inspired me to start using what I’ve been saving for special occasions. Now, I don’t think twice about burning that spendy candle, using the fancy soap, or breaking out the holiday dishes for a regular-old weeknight dinner.
—Meghan Rabbitt, senior editor, The Sunday Paper and author of The New Rules of Women’s Health
#12:
Burn The Playbook by Joe Pulizzi
The lesson: Create from purpose, not from pressure.
One idea that stuck with me is the courage it takes to pivot, even when something looks “successful” on paper. Pulizzi makes a compelling case for letting go of the things that drain you and leaning into the work that feels aligned. That has shaped how I think about long-term fulfillment, not just short-term wins.
—Katie Brinkley, social media producer, The Sunday Paper and author of The Social Shift
#13:
Erased by Anna Malaika Tubbs
The lesson: Revisiting our past is essential for creating a better future.
The lesson I learned from a book this year was from the remarkable Erased by bestselling author Anna Malaika Tubbs. This essential read is a beautiful reminder that we not only need to continually revisit and relearn history, but that we can't keep moving forward as a society until we start to understand who we have erased from the narrative. In these trying times, revisiting our past can actually provide so many portals to the present and allow us to move forward with a much clearer understanding of how we can avoid the same mistakes and create a better future.
—Mara Freedman, social media director, The Sunday Paper, and founder of Storyd Media
And… an honorable mention:
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
Editor’s note: The following book is a few years old, but we loved Open Field author Shannon Watt’s take so much, we had to include it!
The lesson: Love and forgiveness—of self, of family, even of a country—are hard-won but possible.
John Boyne's novel proves this through the eyes of the main character, who spends decades in secrecy about his sexuality in repressive, Catholic Ireland. The “invisible furies” of the heart (shame, longing, grief) never fully disappear, yet the book insists they can be transformed by honesty, chosen family, and the evolution of people and nations.
—Shannon Watts, organizer and author of Fired Up
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