Holiday Reading List for 2025: Top Books on Investing, Geopolitics, & Great Escapes Recommended by Nexus

For many of us, that means enjoying the simple pleasure of a good book. This holiday season, we hope our clients can give themselves permission to tune out the noise and enjoy a well-deserved break. With that in mind, we’ve put together a few of the books on our own reading lists this December, ranging from thoughtful fiction to gripping biographies, big-picture geopolitics, and last but not least, books focused on our favourite topic: investments.

Fiction to Escape With

Our Chief Executive Officer, Dianne White, recommends “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Atmosphere is set in the early 1980s and follows Joan Goodwin, an astronomy professor who is selected as one of the first women accepted into the NASA Space Shuttle program. As Joan trains alongside other astronaut candidates – including Vanessa Ford, a brilliant aeronautical engineer – she wrestles with ambition, discrimination, familial responsibilities (especially toward her niece), and the high-stakes demands of life at NASA.

Recommended by Marsha Coombs, Senior Operations Associate, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is a book about following your dreams and listening to your heart. It’s the story of Santiago, a young shepherd who embarks on a journey to find a hidden treasure he saw in a dream. Along the way, he meets mystical guides, faces challenges, and discovers that true treasure lies not in material riches, but in personal growth, courage, and self-discovery.

Senior Client Service & Wealth Planning Associate, Eileen Firth, recommends “Broken Country” by Clare Leslie Hall, which is even Reese Witherspoon-approved! It’s a haunting tale of first love and buried secrets. When Beth’s long-ago lover returns to her quiet village, old passions resurface and a simmering love triangle ignites into a murder mystery that shatters lives and forces a reckoning with grief, guilt, and the past. Once you’ve read it, Eileen says she welcomes all messages about who you’d cast in a movie adaptation, because she has lots of opinions.

Vice President, Marketing, Nicole Louthe recommends “The Thursday Murder Club” series by Richard Osman. This is the perfect series if you are looking for a light hearted murder mystery to escape with over the holidays. A charming and witty mystery series about four unlikely friends in a British retirement village who meet weekly to solve cold cases, and soon find themselves tangled in real ones! This book also came out as a Netflix show earlier this year, making it a great pick if you enjoy reading the story and watching it come to life on screen.

Unexpected Curiosities

Vice President & Wealth Manager, Denys Calvin, our in-house bike aficionado has recommended “The Brompton: Engineering for Change” by Will Butler-Adams and Dan Davies. Denys found this a fascinating read, both about the bike and about running an enterprise. A compelling history-meets-manifesto that tells how a compact folding bicycle became a global icon, and argues that smart urban design and bicycles like the Brompton can reshape the future of city transportation. He can’t be blamed for purchases made after reading! You can read more about Denys’s adventures with his Brompton here.

Geopolitics, Power and People Who Shaped History

John Stevenson, Chairman & Chief Investment Officer, recommends “Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing life of Power, Seduction and Intrigue” by Sonia Purnell. Kingmaker is a vivid, deeply researched biography of Pamela Churchill Harriman, who was once dismissed as a socialite and courtesan. It reconstructs how she quietly shaped global politics across decades. Through charm, ambition, and savvy relationships, she went from aristocratic debutante to a behind-the-scenes influencer in World War II, a key fundraiser for the Democratic Party, and ultimately U.S. Ambassador to France under Bill Clinton.

Alex Jemetz, Vice President, Head of Client Service & Wealth Management, recommends “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West” by David E. Sanger. While not exactly a short read, it provides an insightful look at how China’s rise and Russia’s aggression have reshaped global power dynamics, creating a new era of strategic competition with the West.

Finance, Risk and the Behaviour Behind Markets

Vice President, Portfolio Manager on the Investment Team, Devin Crago, recommends Peter Bernstein’s “Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk”. This book traces humanity’s intellectual journey from superstition-based views of fate to the modern science of probability and risk, showing how the development of tools like probability theory, utility theory, and modern finance transformed the way we understand and manage uncertainty. While reading, should your enthusiasm for probability theory drop below the 95th percentile, Devin also recommends having a strong cup of coffee nearby.

A timely pick, recommended by Harsh Narsinghani, Vice President, Portfolio Manager on the Investment Team, is “Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles” by William Quinn and John D. Turner, especially relevant as headlines increasingly speculate about whether we’re in a bubble today. The book examines past financial manias, from the Railway Mania of the 1840s and the Roaring Twenties to Japan’s 1980s boom and the Dot-Com era. The authors introduce their “Bubble Triangle” framework, comparing bubbles to fires: marketability as oxygen, money and credit as fuel, and speculation as heat. Importantly, they argue that not all bubbles are purely destructive; some, like early railroads or the internet boom, leave lasting infrastructure and meaningful advancements long after the crash.

Our ex-Wall St. Vice President, Wealth Manager Kathleen Peace, recommends “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis. A sharp insider account of 1980s Wall Street where Michael Lewis reveals the greed, ego, and explosive rise of the bond-trading culture at Salomon Brothers. This was Michael Lewis’s first book that launched his writing career and is also the book that made him leave Wall Street for good!

Finally, a personal recommendation, “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. The Psychology of Money explores one core idea: financial success isn’t determined by knowledge or intelligence alone, but by behaviour, how we think about risk, patience, fear, greed, and long-term consistency. In many ways, Housel’s insights read like a behavioural foundation for what Nexus has always believed: patient, disciplined investing – paired with thoughtful planning – is what truly builds long-term wealth.

Whether you pick up a new favourite book from this list or simply enjoy well-earned moments with friends, family, and the traditions you cherish, we hope your holidays are restful and meaningful. All of us at Nexus want to say thank you for your trust, partnership, and conversations throughout the year.

Wishing you a healthy and happy 2026!