10 of Our Favorite Reads For 2025

14 March 2025 | to be reviewed 14th March 2026 | The Osé Team

It is that time of the year. It's the time of year when it's still cold outside, all of the holiday fun is over and we are deep into forgetting about the resolutions we made in the New Year. When hibernation is your current mode of operation because outside of going to ski and then of course partaking in apres ski, it’s too damn cold to be anywhere but wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa. So, if you have run out of Netflix shows to watch or just looking to curl up with a good book or inspiring story. Here are some of our community’s must-read picks.

Best Non-Fiction Books

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

A profoundly transformative book that should be mandatory reading for all women. It is a book that I love so much and have read so many times the cover has fallen off the front and it looks like it’s been through a war. 

In this formative book Dr. Pinkola Estés, a psychoanalyst specializing in Jungian psychology, breaks down the Wild Woman in all of us and explores her role in the folklore and fairy tales we all know so well. 

In her analysis Dr. Pinkola Estés, through her poetic words, urges us to awaken the Wild Woman, the sisterhood and the primal urges in all of us. While most of us get a glimpse of her through moments of complete and utter inhibition, throughout our lives we have been taught to tame our Wild Woman to make others feel more comfortable. 

Dr. Pinkola Estés explains the various female archetypes found in some of our favorite stories and explains the role each character represents in our psyche. 

It is an enlightening and empowering journey that you will be all the better for having taken. 

If you are ready to embrace your inner witch, bitch and Wild Woman then this is definitely the book for you!

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

The quote from Gloria Steinem ”The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off” comes to mind when reading this book but it is well worth every second of anger. 

This book dives into the world women live in and how it is inherently more dangerous for them than men. Everything from trains and sidewalks to the fact that we are more likely to die in a car accident because the test dummy is male. Medical books, research and clinical trials are designed based a male body, making women more susceptible to ineffective drugs, dangerous misdiagnosis and a general lack of knowledge. 

Caroline Criado Perez highlights why this data gap is not only detrimental to women’s health and well-being but also its extreme monetary cost on our world as a whole. 

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In this powerful account of myths that shape and separate us, Ta-Nehisi Coates, illustrates the power and true cost of oppression. 

The Message traverses three continents to recount Coates’ experience in Columbia, South Carolina during their massive book ban and the larger implication of the suppression of voice, specifically in the current confederate south. In Dakar Senegal, Coates explores deeply rooted generational trauma inflicted by the slave trade as he visits the departure point for the slave ships bound for the Americas. In Palestine, Coates explores the West Bank and East Jerusalem and draws parallels to the Jim Crow south in the United States. 

The book is both poignant and enlightening as Coates explores the parallels between his three profound experiences around the world. 

Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have by Tatiana Schlossberg 

Another book that will piss you off, then make you feel guilty, followed by igniting the desire to do better. 

Schlossberg explores the food, fashion, fuel and tech industries with a witty sense of urgency that allows you to be informed but not feel too badly about the choices you’ve made. It is an eye opening account of our daily consumption simply because we don’t know what we don’t know.

She also gives great tips on how to make small and large changes to minimize your environmental impact.

Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System and Pocketed $40 Million by Tanya Smith

Tanya Smith, in my humble opinion, is a badass and probably my hero. This is her TRUE STORY about her pocketing $40 million over a few decades by being smarter than the rest of us. 

This book reads as fiction because it has more twists and turns than anything Hollywood could ever write, which Hollywood should definitely be adapting this for a 20 episode 18 season TV show. Smith starts her scheme at 15 years old by buying her sister, her friend and herself plane tickets to California to go see Michael Jackson by posing as her mother on the phone. From there she pays off many of her neighbor’s and classmate’s overdue electric bills or mortgage payments to keep them housed and warm. From there the story gets crazy and the paydays get bigger. 

Thwarted by several jealous men who would never and could never do what she did as well as she did, this amazing woman goes through hell and back as she shares her memoir that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the last page. 

Must-Read Fiction Favorites 

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe pulls you into this realistic world he has created through vivid imagery, rhythmic expression and strong themes of masculinity, pride and colonialism. 

The story surrounds Okonkwo’s rise to leadership and his eventual 7 year exile after killing a clansman. Throughout his journey Okonkwo struggles with the changing world around him and the apathy his fellow villagers feel towards the British colonizers. 

Achebe highlights the struggle between personal ambition, societal change and love of the ego and its eventual destruction of the human psyche in an eloquent and enthralling story. 

Circe by Madeline Miller

Madeline Miller’s poetic narration and vivid imagery bring the story of Circe to life. With her central narrative surrounding Circe, a “weak” and “unremarkable” goddess by her family’s standards. 

In typical male fashion, threatened by her powerful witchcraft Zeus banishes Circe to a deserted island but the jokes on him because Circe in this period of isolation, like most women, learns so much about her powers, crosses paths with amazing gods and tames the wildest of beasts. In the end, forced to choose between worlds, she summons all her strength and courage in order to prevail. 

Miller’s depth of knowledge around Greek mythology and women’s own journey breathes life into this evocative tale that most women will not only relate to but celebrate.

The Year of the Elephant by Leila Abouzeid 

The Year of the Elephant is a collection of short stories that beautifully and poignantly illustrate the complex juxtaposition of being a woman, moving through in the world. 

These eight vibrant essays weave an intricate story about the complexity of combining tradition and modernity, finding home in yourself and the importance of individuality and community. Reconciling these themes within oneself is never an easy task but Abouzeid’s characters accomplish it with poetry and beauty all within the rich backdrop of Morocco and its deeply complicated history. 

The Girl Who Can: And Other Stories by Ama Ata Aidoo

The Girl Who Can: And Other Stories is a collection of stories by Ama Ata Aidoo that brilliantly highlights the intersection of gender, power and social norms. 

In the title story we learn about breaking free from expectations, family dynamics and discovering what makes you truly you. In other stories we learn about the disadvantages women have throughout the legal system, specifically in more patriarchal societies, economic stability and freedom of choice as well as the changing roles of women in society. 

Aidoo’s rich storytelling ability incorporates Ghanaian proverbs allowing the reader to dive deep into her culture. Her voice is humorous and no holds barred in nature making her stories incredibly engaging, while evoking a poetic and deeply human exploration of identity, gender and African story telling. 

Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years by Idries Shah 

Idries Shah is credited with bringing Sufism to the Western World and for good reason. His book Tales of Dervishes: Teaching-Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years, highlights the poetry and story telling mastery present in Sufism and it’s masters. The freedom to interpret the lessons that are provided as well as dive deep into your own spiritual insight is what draws you in.

This collection of stories spans three continents and thousands of years and you feel it as you turn the page. Each story engages you, wakes up your soul and allows you to connect with the wisdom of those that came before. 

This book allows you to dive into the world of Sufism and all its beauty, eloquence and wonder, all while delighting your imagination. 

What books should I read?

Thus, if you’re still in hibernation mode and happy to be there curled up with a must-read book that will help you plant the seed to blossom in spring or simply an inspiring story to entertain you outside of surfing the streaming platforms then these are our favorites that we hope become your favorites too.  

If you want to check out more of our community favorites, like our favorite seasonal eat check it out here.