Resistance in decadence style. Lisa Birger has chosen 15 books from 2025 that we will take with us into 2026

Bookstores in Hamburg will remain open over the Christmas holidays

MARCUS BRANDT / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP

2025 was a difficult year for the book market - it was marked by the “ publisher case ,” independent bookstores were issued huge fines throughout the year for selling books that inspection authorities saw as “LGBT propaganda,” and participants were expelled from supposedly independent fairs because of denunciations. In addition, the book world is increasingly divided into “tamizdat” and “tutizdat”, and books are again becoming scarce - in Russia it is difficult to get what is published outside its borders, and vice versa. Literary critic Lisa Birger selected the best new releases of the outgoing year for Republic readers.

The traditional selection of books of the year is complicated by the fact that in 2025 Russian book publishing finally entered the stage of collapse, having lost its stable Moscow (and St. Petersburg) center. Now more and more important and necessary books, especially those related to today and the assessment of modern events, are being published outside of Russia - and not all of them are easy to reach from within the country. And those books that continue to be published within Russia increasingly speak Aesopian language and, if possible, bypass the present day in search of a safe zone.

It seems that we are talking about different things from different parts of the globe, and it’s a miracle that we still can’t stop hearing each other. This year’s winter reading list is not only about important books, but also about capturing the changed landscape, the opportunity to look beyond the wall that is growing before our eyes.

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