5 Interesting Books That Filled My Head (and Ears) in 2025
- Jane Dillinger
- Jan 25
- 7 min read
Updated: Jan 26
This was supposed to be a neat little list of the five best books I read in 2025. Spoiler: it didn’t turn out that way. When I went through my Goodreads history and started listing my favorites, I ended up with a list…
made up entirely of audiobooks.
That might be a coincidence. In my case, though, audiobooks make up roughly two thirds of everything I “read” last year. All five books started their lives in English. Two of them I listened to in the original simply because Czech translations weren’t available at the time (one finally appeared in December 2025). The remaining three came to me in Czech—but yes, their English originals still make an appearance here.
This article is special in one more way: it’s one of the rare cases where the Czech version came first, before the English one (and I’m pretty sure the English version ends up being quite different). Mainly because I don’t want to recommend English audiobooks where I actually listened to the Czech versions—so I adjusted those entries to refer to the standard print editions instead. The order of the books also changed.
They’re listed alphabetically by title. No hidden ranking, no deeper meaning. And yes—titles don’t always survive translation with the same vibe, or even the same first letter. That’s just how it goes.
30 Days to Thrive with ADHD — Alok Kanojia
Dr. Alok Kanojia is probably much better known in the English-speaking world than in the Czech one—you may have even come across the website Healthygamer.gg and the shortened name Dr. K. This American psychiatrist of Indian origin focuses on the mental health of video game players, addiction—and, unsurprisingly, ADHD.
The audiobook 30 Days to Thrive with ADHD does not exist in print or as an e-book. And it can’t—because it is designed from the ground up as an audio experience. Ideally, you listen to one chapter a day, learn something new about your operating system, try out a new technique, and then move a little further the next day.
One of the strongest aspects of 30 Days to Thrive with ADHD is the way Dr. K translates complex neuroscience into images that an ADHD brain can actually remember—such as comparing executive functions to a conductor leading an orchestra full of talented but undisciplined musicians. Suddenly, it’s no longer about a “broken brain,” but about chaos that can be cultivated through structure and understanding. The audiobook also respects the reality of ADHD: it’s not about sticking to a challenge at all costs, but about returning, experimenting, and gathering insights at your own pace.
The combination of short chapters, empathy, practical exercises, and gently guided meditation makes it more than just a productivity manual—it’s a safe guide to understanding yourself.
That very kindness, without oversimplification, is why it’s among my five favorite books of 2025.
You can find a review of this audiobook on Glitches & Glory here.
Blue Sisters — Coco Mellors
Blue Sisters felt like a small revelation in my selection. It’s not nonfiction or self-help, it has nothing to do with video games, and it’s not fantasy either. It’s simply contemporary fiction. So what made it hit so hard?
The story follows three sisters who, at first glance, have very little in common: Avery, a successful lawyer; Bonnie, sensitive and withdrawn, who finds relief in boxing; and Lucky, a carefree model living dangerously close to self-destruction. Each of them has built her own way of surviving—but they are all bound together by the death of their fourth sister, Nicky, who died a year ago and whose absence is still painfully present.
When the sisters reunite in their hometown of New York to prevent the sale of the apartment where they grew up, old wounds begin to reopen. Unspoken resentments, suppressed grief, and unresolved tensions rise to the surface. It becomes clear that the shadow of their lost sister continues to shape their relationships, decisions, and self-deceptions.
The novel touches on addiction, identity, female relationships, and the destructive patterns we carry with us from childhood. It’s a book about love that hurts, about sisterhood full of tension and tenderness, and about how difficult it is to let go of the past when it forms the foundation of who we are.
And why did it affect me so deeply? A small spoiler, but a necessary one here. Nicky died from complications related to endometriosis—an illness that is also part of my own life. Because of that, I feel that Coco Mellors added yet another layer to a book already rich in distinctly female themes: one that is terrifying for some, trivialized by many, and too often overlooked by doctors. Thanks to this (audio)book, it has become just a little more visible.
It’s Not You — Ramani Durvasula
This is the second book on my list written by an American author with Indian roots. Ramani Durvasula is a clinical psychologist whose work focuses primarily on narcissistic personality disorder and the victims of narcissistic abuse.
It’s Not You explores narcissistic relationships—romantic, family, and workplace ones—and how quietly but systematically they can dismantle a person’s self-confidence, sense of reality, and even identity.
Durvasula clearly explains who a narcissist is (and just as importantly, who they are not), how common manipulation patterns like gaslighting, idealization, and devaluation work, and why leaving these relationships—or trying to “fix” them—is so painfully difficult.
The core idea of the book is simple and deeply relieving: narcissistic behavior is not a reaction to your flaws, but a stable personality pattern. In other words, there was no way to do it better—and there still isn’t. Drawing on more than twenty years of clinical practice, real client stories, and research, the book offers not only understanding but also practical steps for self-protection: setting boundaries, breaking trauma bonds, and rebuilding a sense of self.
It’s Not You matters because it does something survivors of narcissistic relationships desperately need: it removes guilt and shame. Instead of asking “What’s wrong with me?”, it invites a different question: “What kind of system did I end up in?” It helps explain why empathetic, caring, and responsible people are often targeted by narcissists—and why that says nothing about their weakness, but everything about their values.
The Let Them Theory — Mel Robbins
Mel Robbins feels like that slightly older friend who’s already figured out a few hard lessons. After all, she opens her podcasts with: “Hi there, it’s your friend Mel!” At the time I started this audiobook, there was no Czech edition yet, and the Slovak one was still a hot new release. I knew Mel mainly from her podcasts, but I wasn’t sure she could carry a single idea across a ten-plus-hour audiobook. And you know what? She absolutely can.
This book is about stopping living your life as a reaction to other people’s expectations—and starting to live it on your own terms. With the simple but not at all simplistic idea of Let Them, Mel Robbins puts words to something many people intuitively feel but rarely allow themselves to do: let go of the need for control, approval, and constant calibration to what others expect of us.
Mel has admitted—though I can’t remember whether it was in this book or in one of her podcast episodes—that she herself was diagnosed with ADHD later in life, while she was dealing with challenges one of her children was facing. That’s precisely why I believe her when she talks about these struggles as something she’s genuinely lived through.
She hits the exact intersection where neurodivergence, rejection sensitivity, and a lifelong habit of asking “What will people think of me?” all collide. The Let Them Theory wasn’t new to me—but it was articulated in a way I needed to hear again and again. Not as a mental mantra, but as a human reassurance that I’m not broken just because other people’s opinions hurt me more than they seem to hurt others.
This audiobook helped me take one very concrete step: stop waiting for permission. This blog, my writing about neurodivergence, and the courage to show my work to strangers are all growing partly because I allowed myself to stop obsessing over the thought “What if they don’t like it?”
You can find my review of the original audiobook—written as an open letter to Mel—right here on Glitches & Glory.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin
The final book in my selection is a real treat for video game enthusiasts—but don’t expect another spin on Ready Player One. Gabrielle Zevin tells a story set in the world of game developers that feels utterly believable and deeply human.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is about games—but they’re only one layer of the story. At its core, it’s about a friendship born at a person’s lowest point, and about whether that bond can survive adulthood, ambition, and ego. Sadie and Sam meet as children in a hospital, where video games become their escape, their shared language, and their safe place. Years later, when they reunite at university, they try to build an entire life out of that shared obsession: a game studio, a career, a sense of purpose.
But games—just like relationships—have bugs. Sadie runs into chauvinism and systemic limits; Sam faces prejudice and the limits of his own body. Success gives way to failure, euphoria to silence, love to code riddled with errors that can’t be fixed with a simple patch. Here, video games aren’t just a backdrop—they’re a way of talking about things that are hard to put into words: power, dependency, pain, and how easily you can damage a relationship with the person who knows you best.
It’s a love letter to games, but not a nostalgic or cute one. It’s honest, sometimes brutal, and deeply human. About the fact that creating means taking risks. That friendship has no checkpoints. And that some glitches stay with you for the entire game.
Did you find your next read—or listen—among my picks?
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Topics: audiobooks, ADHD, reviews, book tips
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