December 21, 2025

This week, Australia announced strict new gun laws following the Bondi Beach shooting, Italy discovered dinosaur tracks weeks before the Winter Olympics, and TikTok signed a deal to give its U.S. operations to an Oracle-led investor group.

Best of NPR

by Ciera Crawford, chief culture editor

Good morning! It's Ciera Crawford, chief culture editor at NPR, filling in to bring you our best entertainment picks of the year. All year, our critics cut through the noise to figure out what's worth your time. We curated our favorite movies, music, books, TV shows and games of 2025. Poke around to find your next great read, watch or listen.

Drawings of characters from various films that NPR critics enjoyed this year.

Jackie Lay/NPR

📚 Best books: Books We Love is back with a new batch of hand-picked titles. Find 380+ reads recommended by NPR staff and book critics. Mix and match tags like Book Club Ideas and Eye-Opening Reads to filter results and find the book that’s perfect for you or someone you love. Plus, you can browse 13 years of picks in our archive of more than 4,000 recommendations.

✉️ Keep up with Books We Love: We'll help you find your next great read in NPR's Books newsletter.

🎶 Best songs: NPR Music's list of the best songs of 2025 goes way past the top 10, or the entire Hot 100 for that matter, because if you're willing to dig a little, there's so much thrilling music to discover. Our list of the best 125 songs of the year was curated by more than 60 writers and DJs across the NPR Music Network, and runs the gamut of sounds, scenes and styles. Also, check out our favorite albums of 2025.

✉️ Sign up for the NPR Music newsletters: Get weekly essays from our pop critic and updates about the latest Tiny Desk Concerts.

🍿 Best movies and TV: Whether you plan to head out to the theater or binge from the couch, our critics have gathered their favorite films and TV shows of 2025. You can search by genre and where you can see it.

✉️ Get the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter: The latest on the buzziest movies, TV and more.

🎮 Best games: 2025 was a year for the indies. From breakout hits to long-awaited sequels, small teams frequently outperformed established studios, as the wider industry lurched from massive strikes to landmark labor deals to deep layoffs. Despite the tumult, major companies still notched some significant wins. NPR staff members and contributors have explored the breadth of this gaming year. Whether you're looking for a short diversion or an epic 50-hour adventure, we invite you to find your next favorite game on this interactive and sortable list.

Check out more great reads from the NPR network you may have missed.

by Suzanne Nuyen, Up First newsletter editor

The U.S. has registered over half a million clinical trials since 2000, according to federal data. Max Barnhart, a former American Association for the Advancement of Science Mass Media Fellow at NPR, volunteered to be infected with dengue fever for one of them. He writes about his experience, giving readers a glimpse into the business and ethics of human medical experimentation through the eyes of a volunteer.

One year ago, being a federal employee meant, for the most part, job security with solid benefits and a chance to serve the American people. When President Trump returned to office in January, months of firings and buyout offers led to a mass exodus. More than 300,000 federal employees will be out of the government by the end of the year, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Some were fired, but far more retired or quit. NPR spoke with three employees, who shared their experiences of uncertainty and struggle — and how some have managed to thrive in the aftermath.

The village of Kwigillingok on Alaska's southwestern coast has navigated the effects of climate change for decades, and now residents have had enough. The village has sought to relocate to higher ground and further inland in hopes of keeping the community together, but has been unable to secure funding commitments. Hundreds of residents evacuated when the remnants of Typhoon Halong devastated the village in October. They hope that the destruction will open the eyes of state and federal officials and convince them to help.

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Pod club

Rob Reiner in a white baseball cap and glasses.

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Thanks for tuning in last week to the Short Wave episode “The closest thing to a cure for allergies," where host Regina G. Barber explores how immunotherapies work to lessen allergic reactions. Listener Frank Snepp praised Barber's delivery, calling the episode "Seductively informal but informative with no holds barred."

Today, we’re listening to a Fresh Air episode dedicated to Rob Reiner. The filmmaker and his wife, Michele, were killed in their home last Sunday. On the show, Terry Gross revisits an interview she recorded with Reiner in September. TV critic David Bianculli offers a tribute. Listen to the episode here.

Are you a fan of Rob Reiner's films? Share your memories of the director's work here. Your response could be featured in next week’s newsletter.

Love podcasts? For handpicked episode recommendations every week, check out Pod Club — a newsletter written FOR podcast fans BY podcast fans. Subscribe here!

Listen to today's episode of The Sunday Story from Up First before you stress out about how much time your kids are spending playing video games this holiday break. Host Ayesha Rasco —whose kids have been spending a lot of time lately playing Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite — sits down with researcher Eli Stark-Elster to clear up some misconceptions about the harms of screen time.

Give a little, get a lot with NPR+!

This holiday season, give a gift that keeps on giving: NPR+!

It’s the best way to keep public media fiercely independent as we face our first days without federal funding while getting perks from your favorite podcasts.

For just $8/month, you can unlock benefits like bonus episodes and archive access for over 25 podcasts in the NPR+ roster. That includes your favorites like Fresh Air, Planet Money, Pop Culture Happy Hour and even the Car Talk archives.

So consider joining in on the fun while supporting the fundamentals of our independent journalism. (See what we did there?)

Get NPR+ ➔

BE-D with two words

NPR

It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For this week's on-air challenge, every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word starts with BE and the second word starts with D. For example, a sauce often served with tortilla chips would be BEan Dip Test your skills here. Check the page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m. ET.

This week's online challenge is something different: I was at a library. On the shelf was a volume whose spine said "OUT TO SEA." When I opened the volume, I found the contents had nothing to do with sailing or the sea in any sense. It wasn't a book of fiction either. What was in the volume? Submit your answer here, and you could win a chance to play next Sunday's on-air puzzle.

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