• BookTok is setting the bestsellers again: Animal Farm and 1984 rank high in Fiction, alongside two other “classics” boosted by TikTok.
• Fyodor M. Dostoevsky leads the authors’ chart in 2025. Ioana Pârvulescu is the best-selling Romanian author.
• The Little Prince, the undisputed winner in Children’s Books: No. 1 in the category for the past three years and Libris’ best-selling book in 2025.
• Thriller and romantasy are the subgenres dominating Young Adult and Books in English.
• The Big Dictionary of Diseases and Conditions ranks in the top 3 in 27 counties.

Libris’ 2025 data outlines a clear picture of how Romanians are calibrating their cultural choices in a context marked by constant pressure, uncertainty, and a growing need for personal stability. An analysis of last year’s reading behavior shows that books about health, the relationship between body and emotions, and stress management are reaching the mainstream for the first time—reflected directly in the overall bestseller chart.

The fact that several mind–body balance titles appear among the top positions in the overall chart alongside classic literature and established fiction signals a shift in priorities: reading is being used as a tool for clarification, regulation, and personal decision-making.

“In 2025, we see that Romanians no longer choose books only for information or relaxation. Reading is used to better understand how to manage stress, the body, emotions, and the pace of everyday life. It’s a far more pragmatic and deliberate choice than in the past,” explains Loredana Tudor, Marketing Manager at Libris.

Health moves beyond a niche and becomes a major cultural choice

In 2025, interest in health is no longer limited to a distinct category. Books that address how the body works, the nervous system, metabolism, or the link between emotions and health are purchased by the same audience that reads classic literature or contemporary fiction. This overlap indicates that health is becoming a transversal theme, not an isolated interest. Titles such as The Big Dictionary of Diseases and Conditions, Healing Plants, The Glucose Revolution, or The Brain and the Mysteries of the Soul are among the overall bestsellers, confirming growing demand for practical information with a direct impact on quality of life.

“We are seeing a turn toward books that offer structured explanations and concrete solutions, which signals a real need for control and stability. This evolution marks a significant shift from nutrition as a lifestyle to health as a personal investment—with a focus on prevention, understanding, and long-term decisions,” Loredana Tudor adds.

Classics and the search for meaning: anchors in a tense context

At the same time, classic literature continues to play a central role in reading choices. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky hold top positions in the overall chart for 2025, while other canonical titles such as Animal Farm or 1984 have remained solid in readers’ preferences. Their association with books such as Man’s Search for Meaning points to a preference for reading that offers moral reference points, interpretive frameworks, and clarity in a climate of uncertainty.

A phenomenon that clearly took shape in 2024 and is confirmed in 2025 is the increasingly stable role of social media reading communities—especially BookTok. The TikTok-driven popularity of the novella White Nights showed that these platforms do not create short-lived spikes of interest, but rather build “long waves” of consumption. The title, which captured Gen Z’s attention through themes like loneliness, the need for connection, and emotional vulnerability, maintains its leading position in 2025 as well, climbing to second place in Libris’ overall chart (up from 9th place in 2024).

“This dynamic highlights a structural difference compared to classic recommendation models. BookTok does not produce rapid title rotation; it consolidates a relatively stable core of around 15–20 books that remain relevant long-term. Choices are driven primarily by emotional impact rather than critical analysis or literary notoriety, which helps explain the return of classic authors to the charts through a contemporary reading lens aligned with the concerns of today’s young audiences,” adds Loredana Tudor.

How books are purchased in 2025: mobile, fast, recurring. Children’s Books Remain the best-selling category

Libris data shows a clear dominance of mobile devices, which generate 80.4% of traffic, compared to 19.48% on desktop. This behavior suggests that purchases are integrated into everyday life made quickly, in varied contexts, not within a dedicated “online shopping” setting.

Demand structure also confirms a shift in priorities. In 2025, children’s books account for 27.14% of total orders the highest share across all categories followed by Fiction (15.48%). The pandemic accelerated a reorientation toward education and family; this continues today, reflected in sustained interest in children’s titles as well as parenting books.

Categories that indicate the need for understanding and guidance Humanities, Religion, and Personal Development complete the picture of a careful, selective cultural consumption oriented toward meaning.

“Consumption behavior in 2025 shows a high level of loyalty. For example, a reader from Constanța made purchases totaling 81,950 lei across 87 orders, while a reader from Bucharest placed 170 orders in a single year. In the corporate segment, the largest single order included 4,600 copies, totaling 154,901.73 lei. These figures show that reading remains a consistent and relevant choice for both individual readers and organizations. The book is perceived as an instrument for education, reflection, and development not as occasional consumption,” emphasizes Loredana Tudor.

Additionally, Libris data for 2025 shows that the highest number of book orders per capita came from Ilfov, Brașov, and Bucharest, while Harghita, Covasna, and Teleorman rank at the opposite end.

What romanians read in 2025. Rankings as a airror of priorities

The overall bestseller chart for 2025 reflects this combination of interest in health, meaning, and classic literature, alongside contemporary bestsellers especially those with viral visibility or screen adaptations.

The most-read categories, the number of books ordered, mobile traffic, and data about the most loyal readers’ orders in each county can be explored via Libris’ interactive map, created by processing 2025 sales data*, available on Romania in Books Read, 2025 Edition.

*To increase relevance to real reading preferences, the analysis treats separately sales of textbooks and school books or titles included in the school reading list.

Top 10 Best-Selling Books on Libris.ro in 2025

1. The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2. White Nights — Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. The Big Dictionary of Diseases and Conditions — Jacques Martel
4. Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl
5. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind — Joseph Murphy
6. The Secret of Secrets — Dan Brown
7. The Brain and the Mysteries of the Soul — Leon Dănăilă
8. Healing Plants — Nicolae Onu, Mihaela Onu
9. The Glucose Revolution: Balancing Your Blood Sugar Can Change Your Life — Jessie Inchauspé
10. Animal Farm — George Orwell

Top 10 Best-Selling Authors on Libris.ro in 2025

1. F. M. Dostoevsky
2. Freida McFadden
3. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
4. Ioana Pârvulescu
5. Liane Schneider
6. Geronimo Stilton
7. Roald Dahl
8. Jacques Martel
9. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt
10. Dav Pilkey

Top 10 Best-Selling Romanian Authors on Libris.ro in 2025

1. Ioana Pârvulescu
2. Leon Magdan
3. Ioana Chicet-Macoveiciuc
4. Alex Donovici
5. Alec Blenche
6. Veronica D. Niculescu
7. Dan-Silviu Boerescu
8. Radu Paraschivescu
9. Niculina Gheorghiță
10. Igor Bergler

Top 10 Most Popular Categories and Top 10 Titles in Each Category Children’s Books*

1. The Little Prince — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2. 101 Bedtime Stories
3. First Poems and Songs for the Littlest Ones
4. A Summer with Isidor — Veronica D. Niculescu
5. 101 Animal Stories
6. 500 Clever Riddles for Children (Ed. 2)
7. The Girl Who Didn’t Like Her Name or… — Elif Shafak
8. 99 Stories in Large Print for Kids and Grandparents
9. STEM Activities. Sensational Science — Stephanie Clarkson
10. The Invisibles — Ioana Pârvulescu
11. *The chart excludes authors from Textbooks / School Books categories.

Fiction

1. White Nights — Fyodor M. Dostoevsky
2. The Secret of Secrets — Dan Brown
3. Animal Farm — George Orwell
4. 1984 — George Orwell
5. As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow — Zoulfa Katouh
6. I Am Emilia del Valle — Isabel Allende
7. The Body of the Soul — Ludmila Ulitskaya
8. The Housemaid — Freida McFadden
9. Don’t Lie to Me — Freida McFadden
10. The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger

Humanities

1. Breaking the Curse. The Romanian Revolution of December 1989 — Cătălin Ranco Pițu
2. The Psychology of Money — Morgan Housel
3. Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
4. Nexus. A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI — Yuval Noah Harari
5. The Mineriad Was Born out of the Revolution. The Events of June 13–15, 1990 — Cătălin Ranco Pițu
6. The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind — Gustave Le Bon
7. The Art of War — Sun Tzu
8. Scattered Minds — Gabor Maté
9. Sapiens. A Brief History of Humankind — Yuval Noah Harari
10. Woke Religion — Jean-François Braunstein

Personal Development

1. Nonviolent Communication — Marshall B. Rosenberg
2. Everything Is Fine in Me and in the World — Petronela Rotar
3. The Courage to Be Disliked — Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga
4. Atomic Habits — James Clear
5. The Five Love Languages (Ed. 6) — Gary Chapman
6. Healing the Inner Child — Stefanie Stahl
7. The Hour of the Heart — Irvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom
8. The Art of Manipulation — Kevin Dutton
9. When the Body Says No — Gabor Maté
10. The Life That’s Waiting for You — Brianna Wiest

Spirituality & Esotericism

1. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind — Joseph Murphy
2. The 5 Wounds That Prevent You from Being Yourself — Lise Bourbeau
3. Healing the 5 Wounds — Lise Bourbeau
4. Supernatural — Dr. Joe Dispenza
5. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari — Robin Sharma
6. Complete Works — Neville Goddard
7. The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book — Don Miguel Ruiz
8. You Are the Placebo — Joe Dispenza
9. The Big Book of Spells, Charms and Curses — Dan-Silviu Boerescu
10. Box Set: Conversations with God, Volumes I–IV — Neale Donald Walsch

Health

1. The Big Dictionary of Diseases and Conditions — Jacques Martel
2. The Brain and the Mysteries of the Soul — Leon Dănăilă
3. Healing Plants — Nicolae Onu, Mihaela Onu
4. The Glucose Revolution: Balancing Your Blood Sugar Can Change Your Life — Jessie Inchauspé
5. The Food Revolution and Heart Health — Gheorghe Cerin
6. The Vagus Nerve. Goodbye Stress, Inflammation, Digestive Disorders and Immune Problems — Yann Rougier, Marie Borrel
7. You Can Heal Your Life — Louise L. Hay
8. Health from the Lord’s Pharmacy. Advice and Verified Herbal Treatments — Maria Treben
9. The Second Brain. The Microbiome and the Gut–Brain Axis — Emily Leeming
10. Reflexology of Body and Soul. Therapeutic Guide — Gabriel Socaciu, Vasile Valentina

Top 10 Best-Selling Young Adult Titles

1. Fish in a Tree — Lynda Mullaly Hunt
2. The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger
3. Powerless: The Game. The Powerless Series — Lauren Roberts
4. The Giver — Lois Lowry
5. Fearless. The Finale. The Powerless Series — Lauren Roberts
6. A Pocket Full of Stars — Aisha Bushby
7. Reckless. The Chase. The Powerless Series — Lauren Roberts
8. Cuban Recipes for a Broken Heart — Laura Taylor Namey
9. The Monet Family. The Princess. Part 2 — Weronika Anna Marczak
10. The Last Cherry Blossom — Kathleen Burkinshaw

Top 10 Best-Selling Books in English

1. We Did Ok, Kid — Sir Anthony Hopkins
2. Alchemised — SenLinYu
3. Matilda. Special Edition — Roald Dahl
4. White Nights — Fyodor Dostoevsky
5. Once Upon a Broken Heart — Stephanie Garber
6. Fake Skating — Lynn Painter
7. Wonder — R.J. Palacio
8. Powerless. The Powerless Trilogy #1 — Lauren Roberts
9. Gangsta Granny. Gangsta Granny #1 — David Walliams
10. Fearless — Lauren Roberts

Top 10 Best-Selling Authors from the School Reading List

1. Ion Creangă
2. Ioan Slavici
3. Mark Twain
4. Ion Luca Caragiale
5. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
6. Mihail Sadoveanu
7. Mircea Eliade
8. Jules Verne
9. Petre Ispirescu
10. Ioana Pârvulescu

Top 10 Best-Selling Books from the School Reading List

1. Childhood Memories — Ion Creangă
2. The Big Recess — Mircea Sântimbreanu
3. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer — Mark Twain
4. Nobody’s Boy (Sans Famille) — Hector Malot
5. Ion — Liviu Rebreanu
6. Fram, the Polar Bear — Cezar Petrescu
7. Enigma of Otilia — George Călinescu
8. The Wonderful Grove — Mihail Sadoveanu
9. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas — John Boyne
10. From the World of Those Who Cannot Speak — Emil Gârleanu

About LIBRIS

A 100% Romanian business, Libris entered the book market in 1991 with the Șt. O. Iosif bookstore in Brașov. In 2009, Libris.ro launched and, over 15 years of online presence, became a reference name in Romania’s bookstore sector.

Over the years, Libris has actively taken on the role of supporting reading and has run numerous campaigns to promote it. Since 2019, Libris has developed the CarteTeca project, aiming to attract children and teenagers to reading by providing access to new and relevant books for school libraries. Every year, dozens of libraries receive—following a project competition—books most desired by children, as well as essential titles included in school reading lists, so that young readers can discover reading through new, colorful, and appealing books.

*This is a press release