I finished 72 books this year, my highest year since I started tracking back in 2020. (And by a substantial amount––in 2024 I read 52 books and that was my highest year at the time as well), I wasn’t working Jan-June, but my reading was actually consistent the entire year (no spike for those months). I have a toddler and a slightly-more-than-half-time job, so I’m really proud I was able to carve out time for reading despite more non-negotiable obligations than I’ve ever had.

Now for some stats:

  • 8 books from the 1800s. Last year it was 9. It’s usually around this amount, but less percentage-wise this year.
  • 31 books published in the 1900s (up from 15 last year). Of those 31, 15 were published before 1950.
  • 3 nonfiction books. That’s typical for me, as I really have to gear up for a nonfiction book. I finally read Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power and loved it. It sat on my shelf for almost five years.
  • The oldest book I read this year was Pride and Prejudice (1813), a reread. Close behind that was Ivanhoe (1819).
  • The newest book I read this year was Palaver, published in November. I read 4 other books published in 2025.
  • 5 rereads this year
  • March, May, and November are a three-way tie for most books read in a month (8)
  • No 1-star books, three 2-star books: Wineburg, Ohio, The Turmoil, and City of Night Birds.

25 5-star (not counting rereads). It was a good year for good books! Of those 25, the five I loved the most were:

  • Cold Comfort Farm (1932)––girl moves in with cousins she’s never met after her parents die. She proceeds to meddle in everyone’s lives. Written in 1932 but set around a decade in the future, a future where there is no WWII (wild to read now). Tone and characters remind me somewhat of I Capture the Castle, one of my favorite books of all time (I’m due for a reread).
  • Heart the Lover (2025)/Writers and Lovers (2020)––impossible not to discuss these together. I read Writers and Lovers first, an excellent love triangle set in 1990s Boston. Heart the Lover is fascinatingly both a prequel and a sequel to Writers and Lovers. The titles are bad. The books are great.
  • Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2017)––I was full-on obsessed with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a kid. As an adult, I’ve read a lot of Western and indigenous fiction. This book pulled together those things, providing the historical and family context behind the novels.

Looking ahead to 2026. I don’t like to set number goals because it makes reading less enjoyable for me. But next year I’d like to read at least a couple of books from my backlog shelf. Maybe 2026 is the year for Comanche Empire?