Arundhati Roy is known for her immersive novels The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Now she’s back with a memoir delving into her complicated relationship with her mother. The memoir is already a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and has been named as one of The New York Times’ “Best Book of the Year (So Far).” Her mother, Mary, passed away in 2022, and Roy was startled by the depth of her grief. She began to write about her mother “to be able to continue to love her.”

In the first major biography on James Baldwin in 30 years, Nicholas Boggs organizes the happenings of Baldwin’s life through the lens of the love Baldwin experienced. Baldwin was an instant New York Times bestseller, was named a finalist for Kirkus Prize, and made The New York Times’ “Best Books of the Year (So Far).” The audiobook, performed by Ron Butler, has also received AudioFile Magazine‘s Earphones Award.

From his perspective as an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad argues that while America claims to be the land of the free, its funding of violence in Palestine is one of many examples of America treating others as less than human. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This became a New York Times bestseller, was shortlisted for the 2025 Palestine Books Awards, and was longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.

Everyone seems to be talking about A Marriage at Sea. It’s a New York Times bestseller, and even former president Barack Obama included it on his 2025 summer reading list. But while it was quite popular, did the writing hold up? Kirkus, known for its curmudgeonly nature, said it does, including it as a finalist for their Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction.