Reading: A Year in Review

[rocky41_7]

This year I read 63 books, which will sound like a lot to some people, and not very much to others, but it's a lot for me at this point in my life. I was a huge reader growing up. Like, regularly getting called to the front of the classroom to fork over the book I'd been reading under my desk during the lesson. But in high school I got into internet and fanfiction and then I was moving around so much that books were never a priority item to haul along with me and I just sort of...stopped reading.

But I've gotten back into it--I've had an active library card again since 2023, which I initially got solely to check out Nona the Ninth XD--and it's been such a joy. I've never been an audiobook person, and I still prefer physical books, but having Libby and audiobooks in my car has made my work commute SO much less unpleasant.

I wanted to reflect on what I've read this year, so I compiled this list of titles and ratings. Asterisks by books I did not finish, generally because I disliked them too much (that's another thing--I've been trying to accept giving up on books I'm really not enjoying more), with the exception of Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, which wasn't bad, just for too young an audience for me to enjoy. Unrated books I either found too hard to pin a rating to or just didn't get around to rating.

I feel like I got a great spread of books this year, though I've failed to whittle down my TBR list at all thanks to very compelling recommendations. I'm really looking forward to another year of stories!

The actual written reviews can be found on my Dreamwidth or Storygraph.

Comments

[merricatb]

That's a hell of a list! I loved Agatha Sharpe by the way. Thanks for the rec :)

[rocky41_7]

Omg I'm so glad to hear it!! I had so much fun with that book; the sequel went immediately onto my TBR.

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That looks like a great year.

goals_on_dw has a post about Reading Challenges for 2026, including a few from Storygraph, if you want future inspiration.

Re: Wow!

[rocky41_7]

Oh that's great, thank you! Challenges are such a fun way to guide your reading habits for the year I think ♪(^∇^*)

Re: Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yeah, I try to find things for each month, and some bingo cards, so it's not all year-long stuff. Big projects can be fun, but I found that I got frustrated when almost all my goals were "do X all year" so I felt like I wasn't making much progress. I wound up adding one-day goals, and then seasonal goals. I think for 2026 I'll try "finish at least one goal each month." There are a lot of very different goals this time, including some from other DW members like duckprintspress.