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PEOPLE’s Best Books of October 2025: Malala Yousafzai’s Candid Memoir, New Reads from Joe Hill, Brandon Hobson and More

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A masterly novel about Indigenous teens, a tantalizing romance and a mother-daughter drama — plus gripping celebrity memoirs you won’t want to put down. See PEOPLE’s picks for the best books of October 2025, so far.

‘Finding My Way’ by Malala Yousafzai

In a generously candid new memoir, the Nobel Peace Prize winner gets personal about life’s messier moments, finding love and reclaiming her own story along the way.

‘The Devil Is a Southpaw’ by Brandon Hobson

Milton has envied a childhood friend, Cherokee artist Matthew, ever since they were incarcerated together in a juvenile detention center in the 1980s. In this haunting, ingenious novel-within-a-novel, we find out why. It follows the boys’ harrowing imprisonment, Matthew’s unlikely escape and everything that followed through Matthew’s possibly unreliable recollections of that time. A memorable, character-driven portrait of trauma and pride. 

‘The Ten-Year Affair’ by Erin Somers

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Cora’s marriage to Eliot, but when she meets a sexy dad named Sam at a baby group in their Hudson Valley town, infidelity suddenly seems tempting. Will they or won’t they? Somers’s engaging novel lets readers have it both ways. — Kim Hubbard

‘Bad Bad Girl’ by Gish Jen

This autobiographical novel traces a mother’s restrictive Shanghai childhood, her education in a Catholic school and the American dream she later achieves. But her family’s influence trickles down to how she treats her own strong-willed daughter. Funny, sad and poignant.

‘King Sorrow’ by Joe Hill

After Arthur is roped into a crime, he and his friends summon a dragon to exact revenge. But it demands regular human sacrifice in this dark academia triumph.

‘Good Spirits’ by B.K. Borison

The Ghost of Christmas Past haunts a people-pleasing antique shop owner in this sneakily profound romance. Bonus: a seriously swoony Irish leading man. — McKenzie Jean-Philippe

‘The Devil She Knows’ by Alexandria Bellefleur

Samantha gets trapped in an elevator with Daphne, a demon who gives her six wishes to get her ex back. But we all know how that tends to go.

‘Future Boy’ by Michael J. Fox

In 1985, Michael J. Fox brought two iconic characters to life on-screen: Marty McFly in the film Back to the Future and Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties. The actor looks back on that memorable year with wit and humor.

‘Holy Disrupter’ by Amy Duggar King

In this eye-opening memoir, Amy Duggar King, a relative of the Duggar family from TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, looks back on growing up alongside the reality show stars.

‘Minor Black Figures’ by Brandon Taylor

A disillusioned artist named Wyeth meets Keating, a former seminarian, amid the sweltering restlessness that is a New York City summer. As they grow closer, Wyeth begins researching the life of a forgotten Black artist, in the process discovering more about himself and what he and Keating have to offer each other. A meditative, illuminating portrait of friendship and competition, belief systems and the connections between us all.

‘Joyride’ by Susan Orlean

Surfing, taxidermy, orchids and Rin Tin Tin are just a few of the many topics that have captivated acclaimed nonfiction writer Orlean — and her readers — over the years. This absorbing memoir illustrates her core belief that “familiar things examined closely” can be magnificent. — Kim Hubbard

‘A Guardian and a Thief’ by Megha Majumdar

In a near-future Kolkata ravaged by famine, drought and heat, Ma has finally scored the visas to bring her father and daughter to join her husband in the U.S. Then, while robbing her to feed his own family, a teenage boy steals them. Electrifying and unputdownable. — Marion Winik

‘Bog Queen’ by Anna North

A strangely well-preserved Iron Age body turns up in an English bog, and the American forensic anthropologist on the case is thrust into an absorbing, complex mystery.

‘The Unveiling’ by Quan Barry

On a luxury Antarctic cruise, a Black film-location scout gets stranded on a remote island with a group of wealthy White tourists. Gripping and terrifying.

‘What a Way to Go’ by Bella Mackie

A wealthy Englishman dies mysteriously before news breaks that he’s been running a scam. As his spoiled family fight over money and suspect one another of murder, he looks on from a waiting room in the afterlife, where he must figure out how he died before moving on. Wickedly funny.  — Robin Micheli

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