Five Books editors

Epic poems are amongst the first works of literature that survive, the earliest poems—like the Epic of Gilgamesh—likely part of oral traditions that were written down only after writing developed from the third millennium BCE. Later writers often took inspiration from earlier works and poems like Homer’s Iliad have had a huge impact on Western literature into the 21st century.

Publishers regularly bring out special edition books to entice readers to buy a copy of a book they already own. Often, these are books that are either literary classics or more recent bestsellers with a cult following. Here, we’ve collected together five special editions that have come out recently. These are books that have been recommended on Five Books and are well worth reading.

It’s a golden age for historical writing, as well-researched and sometimes quite specialist books by historians are written in an engaging style for a broad audience. On our new history books list, we keep track of some of the books coming out by Five Books interviewees and frequently recommended authors. We’re also scanning catalogues and highlighting interesting new history books being published that come to our attention.

Welcome to our running list of the best mystery books of 2025, which we’ll be updating throughout the year. Our definition of mystery is broad, and can include any novel that has a crime at its heart with (ideally) an unexpected plot twist. Throughout the year, we’ll be looking out for new mystery books as they’re published and adding them whenever we think they’re worth reading.

Earlier this month, the winners of the  2025 Pulitzer Prizes, awarded annually by Columbia University in New York and founded by Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), were announced. The prizes are awarded for a variety of categories across journalism, but also celebrate outstanding books. Below we’ve listed all the books that won in nonfiction book categories (James by Percival Everett won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction).