Alamo City’s calendar may slow down in the sleepy days between Christmas and January 5, but the San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) is giving locals plenty of reasons to cuddle up at home. The staff has issued its annual list of staff picks, an essential cheat sheet to what to read, watch, and listen to right now.

The library system’s Best of 2025 list is now on display at SAPL locations across the city. The recommendations span books, movies, TV shows, and music, selected by staff and annotated with handwritten notes explaining why each stood out. The selections feel like ringing endorsements from friends instead of datapoints from an algorithm.

Each curated item was either released in 2025 or new to the recommending staff member this year. Because the displays are neighborhood-specific, browsing a nearby branch also offers a glimpse into the personalities of the staff who work there.

Additional staff favorites are available online through the library’s website, covering a wide range of media from a vegetarian cookbook to Fyodor Dostoyevski's 1866 tome Crime and Punishment to the frothy 1999 cult classic But I’m a Cheerleader.

SAPL also shared a snapshot of what Bexar County couldn’t stop borrowing this year. In 2025 alone, residents checked out more than 11.8 million books and other items. These were San Antonio’s 2025 must-reads:

Top Adult Titles
1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
2. The Crash by Freida McFadden
3. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Top eAudiobooks
1. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
2. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
3. The Women by Kristin Hannah

Top Author
1. Freida McFadden

Top Kanopy Titles (SAPL’s free movie and TV streaming service)
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Father Brown
3. Masha and the Bear

All of the above gives Bexar County residents even more motivation to pick up a free San Antonio Public Library card. Cards can be picked up at any library location, or users can begin the process online and start borrowing eBooks and eAudiobooks immediately.

This year also marks the first time SAPL is offering free library cards designed specifically for gifting, complete with packaging — an easy last-minute present for readers of any age.

For locations, services, or help getting started, residents can visit the library’s website or contact staff by calling 210-207-2500 or by chat.