What Toronto Read 2025
Every year, our list of the most borrowed books provides insight into the reading trends of the city. In 2025, Toronto’s reading list was as varied as the city itself.
Torontonians went genre hopping: fantasy (Onyx Storm), romance (Great Big Beautiful Life), thriller (The God of the Woods), dark humour (The Wedding People), historical fiction (The Women) and literary fiction (Intermezzo). Nonfiction hits (The Let Them Theory, Atomic Habits, The Anxious Generation) show a desire for self-improvement and calm amid modern life’s stresses. Together, these titles were borrowed over 195,000 times.
1. Onyx Storm
After topping our 2024 list, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros continues to top the charts. Readers can’t get enough of Violet Sorrengail’s journey as she becomes a dragon rider and grapples with newly awakened powers.
With the next installment still unannounced, Torontonians are revisiting—and reborrowing—this romantasy blockbuster series.
Thousands of Torontonians want to borrow the most-talked-about self-help phenomenon? Let them! Mel Robbins’s guide to practicing radical acceptance—and letting go of what you can’t control—was impossible to keep on the shelf this year.
3. The Women
Last year’s second most-borrowed book remains a favourite, falling only one spot. Kristin Hannah’s captivating story of a nurse serving in the Vietnam War, and the challenges she faces after returning home, continues to resonate with readers.
A novel about a failed suicide plan shouldn’t be funny, but Alison Espach pulls off a darkly comic miracle. When a woman’s attempt to end her life is interrupted by a wedding party, she’s swept into a chaotic, poignant and unexpectedly hilarious chain of events. With its unique blend of humour and the macabre, this book found a passionate following in 2025.
When the daughter of a wealthy couple goes missing at a summer camp in the Adirondacks—years after her brother disappeared from the same place—a crime story with plenty of drama unfolds. Told in vivid fashion through multiple perspectives, Liz Moore’s atmospheric thriller kept Torontonians turning pages late into the night.
Emily Henry continues to charm Toronto readers with relatable characters and witty writing. In her 2025 hit, two authors fight over who gets to write the biography of an heiress-turned-tabloid darling, only to discover her story is more complicated than either expected.
7. Funny Story
Henry appears twice on this year’s list—proof of her devoted fan base and the appeal of contemporary romance.
This opposites-attract romance about two people determined to get even with their newly engaged exes remains one of the city’s most reread novels.
As habitual as ever.
James Clear’s bestselling guide to building better habits and breaking bad ones remains a perennial fixture on our most-borrowed list—proving that Torontonians never tire of self-improvement.
9. Intermezzo
Sally Rooney’s latest novel came out too late to make last year’s list, but it found a huge audience in 2025. This intimate story of two brothers navigating grief after their father’s death showcases Rooney’s trademark emotional precision and quiet intensity.
In this notable work on nonfiction, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that the shift from a play-based to phone-based childhood has contributed to rising anxiety among adolescents.
Readers seeking insight and solutions kept this book in constant circulation.
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