YEAR IN REVIEW: A Breakdown of My 2025 Reads
It’s that time of the year again!
I love taking the time to reflect on all of my reads for the year, as there are always some interesting surprises. It turns out, I read 68 books in 2025! While this is down from 2024 and 2023, it aligns with my reading from 2022, 2021, and 2020.
I’m honestly surprised I read so many books in 2025. I’ve been running much less due to that ever persistent ankle injury (thus, listening to fewer audiobooks) and had a stressful/busy year overall, so I had expected the number to be much smaller.
Let’s get into the specifics!
2025 Reading by the Numbers
- Out of the 68 books, the split was 72% fiction and 28% non-fiction. Interestingly, it seems like I read most of my non-fiction earlier in the year and then gravitated more toward fiction later in the year.
- About 68% of the books I read were written by women. This is pretty close to previous years.
- My top three genres of the year were fantasy/romantasy at about 26%, thriller/suspense/horror at about 21%, and self-improvement/psychology at around 13%. (Yes, I’m bad at categorizing books… don’t judge.) This aligns with my top genres from 2024, 2023, and 2022. I guess I just like what I like!
My Top Picks from 2025
Non-fiction (not in any order):
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
- Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen
- Relentless Forward Progress by Bryon Powell
- The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins
- Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness
Fiction (not in any order):
- Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (Fantasy)
- The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (Fantasy)
- Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (Fantasy)
- The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Contemporary Fiction)
- Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano (Contemporary fiction)
Notable mentions: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck and I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. Both books were slower reads (and, at times, rather bleak), but also ones that I find myself thinking about and recommending to others months later.
Final Thoughts
I don’t like to make goals or New Year’s resolutions around reading as I don’t want to make reading feel like a chore, but as I’ve reflected on my reads this year, I do want to challenge myself to expand my horizons in 2026. That’s not to say I can’t enjoy the latest romantasy book (because I absolutely will!), but I want to truly make an effort to read books that aren’t being talked about as much.
There’s a quote I think about from a book by Haruki Murakami: “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
So, what will this intention look like exactly? I’m not sure. It may involve a trip to the library to wander the aisles and pick a book at random. It may involve choosing different genres I don’t see talked about as much. I think it would be interesting to check out some narrative non-fiction as this isn’t a genre that I’ve read much in. If you have any recommendations, please drop a comment!
I also hope to read more classics in 2026. After reading The Grapes of Wrath this year, I plan to tackle some of John Steinbeck’s other works next year.