Another Day , the autobiographical book by journalist Mira Kazhani and the controversial book Jam Musliman by Ben Blushi were the two absolute best-selling books at Shtëpia e Librit this year, books that attracted the attention of readers thanks to the media hype that preceded and followed their publication. Kazhani recounts her confrontation with illness and the fight for hope.
Power, and, in particular, the dark side of power, was the dominant theme of the rest of the top ten bestsellers.
In third place, the book The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene captivated readers with its practical information on power and the exercise of power throughout human history. Greene's specialty is analyzing the lives and philosophies of historical figures such as Sun Tzu and Napoleon and extracting from them suggestions on how to manipulate people and situations, a ruthless perspective on the world that has earned him a loyal and diverse readership, from rap singers to drug dealers to corporate executives.
In fourth place, the classic Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor who lived in the second century AD, and who is believed to have left a number of pieces of advice collected from Stoic philosophers.
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, a guide to spiritual enlightenment, took fifth place with its advice borrowed from the world's major religions.
In fifth place, also a classic, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. His lectures on the most ruthless ways to seize and maintain power continue to captivate readers.
In sixth place, the psychological thriller novel The Handmaid by Frieda McFadden. The author, a doctor who usually deals with treating brain problems, has conquered the psychological thriller market in the US and many other countries, including Albania, where she has already published seven novels.
In seventh and eighth place are two Turkish authors. Emin Efendi attracted readers with the book Laws of Manipulation, Dark Psychology , while Mirac Çağri Aktaş took eighth place with the book Life Begins After Loss .
Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl took ninth place with his book In Search of Meaning , a book that combines the terrifying experience of concentration camps with the theory of psychotherapy.
Ranked in tenth place was the Albanian classic Old Albanian Tales by Mitrush Kuteli. The book is a concise collection of some of the most popular tales of Albanian folk culture and has historically been the best-selling book of the Book House.
This is the list of the best-selling books of 2025 so far, regardless of whether the books were published this year or in previous years.
If you want to know about this year's best-selling books, published this year , the list is somewhat different.
First and second place do not change, but After the Loss Begins Life rises to third place, and The House and the Palm Trees by Afaf Tobbala ranks fourth.
Humiliated, the new book by Lea Ypi, ranks fifth, while Beloved , another psychological thriller by Freida McFadden, ranks sixth. Also attracting reader attention are the books In the Sky There Are Rivers by Turkish-British writer Elif Shafak, The Second Punishment of Eve by Artan Fuga, and The Wounded Icon by Mira Meksi.
Several world masterpieces were released in Albanian this year, which deserve mention despite not having entered the bestseller lists.
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates is a literary biography of American cinema icon Marilyn Monroe, written by one of the most extraordinary writers of recent decades.
The Seafarers by Victor Hugo is one of the three most important books of the French classic and one that had not previously been translated into Albanian. The other two books are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables. The Seafarers belongs to the period when the author lived as a political asylum on the island of Guernsey, after escaping from France, which fell under the twenty-year dictatorship of Napoleon III.
Nadja by André Breton is considered one of the most representative works of surrealism.
The Adoration of the Magi by Michel Tournier is a naive and violent story in which the author delves into the sources of Western spirituality and he gives us his original version of the Golden Legend.
Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas, recounts in a very impressive way the failed coup attempt in Spain in 1982.
Also, a lot of attention this year, for understandable reasons, was received by the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
If you are interested in Albanian literature, we recommend these books:
Vorbulla by Genta Hoda is a novel about a "held" girl. It is the author's first novel and has attracted many readers.
Kufiri Dëfrim Çeka is a novel about a love story set in the conditions of the ruthless history experienced by Albanians from the late 1930s until shortly after the communist regime came to power. There are many reasons to praise this book, including the clear structure of the novel and the commendable attempt of a new generation writer to confront the turbulent history of the country, but what can be emphasized is the considerable historical research which relies on both personal sources and common historical sources. The novel merges in a very natural way some of the Albanian legends with the modern world. Here, Besa e Kostandini is a beautiful promise of love. The tension gradually builds in the novel until by the second half the reader begins to think whether he wants the novel to have a happy ending or to end in tragedy.
From the literature of the younger generation, we can also mention Klenti Hodo, whose verse novel Quatrahure sëmështëmash has captivated the reader with its meditations on love and nightmares.
Likewise, Aulona Ilasllari spoke to the new generation with poetry and novels, debunking the myth that suggests that the "Tik Tok generation doesn't read."/reporter
