My Year in Books: 2025 Reading Reflections and 2026 Intentions

Hello from Florida! It's been a couple of weeks since I last checked in here, but we've made the annual trek south, opened the house, and are settling in for the season. We arrived later than usual this year, but I'm very happy to be missing the snow in CT today! 

As promised, I'm back with one final 2025 reading wrap-up post. (I posted my 2025 favorites here.)  Today I'll share statistics and reflections from 2025, plus my intentions for 2026. I expanded my tracking spreadsheet last year and came up with some interesting (to me, anyway) bits of information. Feel free to skip right to the reflections and intentions.

2025 By The Numbers

57 books read 

79% fiction, 21% nonfiction 

11% books in translation

16% classics

16% rereads (an all-time high!)

45% new-to-me authors, 55% repeat authors

70% female authors, 30% male authors

format:

print/ebook only - 27%

audio only - 1%

read/listen combination - 73%

source:

own/purchase - 50%

library - 50%

year published:

frontlist (2024, 2025) - 54%

backlist (2023 and earlier) - 46%

2000s - 84%

1900s - 13%

1800s -  3%

length:

under 400 pages - 86%

over 400 pages - 14%

average rating: 

4.2  (Same as last year. I typically don't finish or rate books I'm not enjoying.)

2025 Reflections

2025 was my second year of skipping the goodreads challenge and, at this point, I'm ready to consider that a permanent change.

One book per week continues to be a comfortable reading pace and I think this year's numbers are slightly higher because I read several shorter books. However, without the goodreads challenge I am not actively avoiding longer books. 

I continued to stay active in the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club in 2025. Between the monthly selections, community reads and projects, and a small World Literature book club, MMD drove nearly 55% of my reading selections. Community reads were especially successful.

I did a lot of rereading 2025. This was especially enjoyable for classics (Mansfield Park, The Enchanted April, The Great Gatsby) but probably not necessary for book club selections I'd read just a year or two ago.

I leaned even more into read/listen combinations in 2025! I tried to obtain an audio version of every book I read and was mostly successful thanks to hoopla, libby, and audible. Most of the books I chose to listen to, I ended up also borrowing a print copy to check quotes, photos, maps, etc.

I was shocked by the number of new releases I read in 2025! No wonder there are still so many unread books waiting on my shelves...

2026 Intentions

My primary intention for 2026 is to read fewer new release while concentrating on backlist tiles, especially books I already own.

The slow, real-time read of Dracula with a few MMD members last summer/fall was a very successful reading experience. I'd like to try a slow or chapter-a-day read of War and Peace  in 2026. [Our travels this month have already set me back, but I am attempting to get caught up. I'm not fully committed yet...]

Try all of the MMD book club main selections, but feel freer to DNF if they're not working for me. I can always go back and finish them later if the author talk inspires me.

Continue making a monthly list of  reading possibilities. This helps guide my reading in a planned direction while still allowing for spontaneity. 

I'm feeling ambivalent about The Storygraph. I experimented with it last year and found it didn't add much to my reading life beyond an attractive monthly graphic. Plus, my reading community is all on goodreads. I think I'll give it up.

How did your 2025 reading year go?  Will you be making changes in 2026?

 

My Year in Books: 2025 Favorites

Happy New Year, friends! 2026 is here and I'm ready to share my favorite books of 2025. Overall, it was a very good reading year and I slightly exceeded my average pace of one book per week. I had a record number of rereads in 2025, including several classics, and initially decided not to include them when considering favorites... but I had to make an exception for The Enchanted April! 

By the way, the cold beach above is in Connecticut. We're still here, but you'll be seeing photos of palm trees and seashells soon!

FICTION FAVORITES

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Heart the Lover by Lily King

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower

(Vol 1-5 read, so far)

You Are Here by David Nicholls

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

This Motherless Land by Nikki May

NONFICTION FAVORITES

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris

The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City, 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler

HONORABLE MENTION

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection 

by John Green

 I have one more wrap-up post in the works. I'll share reading stats and reflections on 2025, plus my intentions for 2026. Look for that around mid month once we're back in Florida.

What was your favorite book of 2025?

 

A December Wrap-Up and January Reading Possibilities

Happy New Year's Eve! As we wind down the final few hours of December, I can't help but think about what an unusual month this has been. I spent much of the first half at home with an awful cold and sinus infection. We missed two holiday parties in one weekend, did most of the Christmas shopping online, and I never baked a single cookie! 

The holidays began early when our NYC daughter, son-in-law, and Winnie the Whippet arrived on the 20th for an extended stay. Our CT daughter and SIL joined us on Christmas Day, and for several other meals and activities, too. Everyone left yesterday afternoon... and I took a nap! Today we clean, regroup, and prepare for a quick visit to my parents (weather permitting) before our trek south.

Despite the sickness (or maybe because of it?) December turned out to be a pretty good reading month.

BOOKS READ IN DECEMBER 

The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler

nonfiction, ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 4 by Beth Brower

historical fiction, group reading project, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas

nonfiction ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

literary fiction, ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Merry by Susan Breen

holiday, ⭐⭐💫

Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

holiday, ⭐⭐⭐💫

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5 by Beth Brower

historical fiction, group reading project, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

JANUARY READING POSSIBIILITIES

Sipsworth by Simin Van Booy (reread, in progress) 

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

This is an ambitious list for January, typically a slow reading month for me, but we'll see how it goes. I hope to be back in the next few days with my 2025 wrap-up and list of favorites. But if I run out of time, look for it in mid-January instead.

How was your month? What was your favorite December read?

 

Three Mini-Reviews for the End of December

Hello, friends. These quieter days between Christmas and New Years are among my favorites each year. We still have family here, the house has that post-Christmas cluttered feel, and there’s been plenty of reading, napping, and grazing on leftovers. Mother Nature even delivered a post-Christmas snowstorm for extra coziness! As the month, and year, are fast coming to a close, I wanted to share three quick mini-reviews before I write my wrap-up posts.

Merry by Susan Breen

I don't usually read Christmas/holiday books (except for that year I tore through three of Elin Hilderbrand's Winter Street novels in a week), but this one came in The Bookshelf's Book Lover's Advent Box my family gifted me this holiday season. Based on the particulars - family drama, London setting, an heirloom copy of A Christmas Carol, and the ghost of Charles Dickens - it should have worked for me. But it just didn't, and probably should have been a DNF. 

⭐⭐💫

Bright Lights, Big Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

This title appealed to me because it has a premise similar to Christmas on Jane Street by Billy Romp. A brother and sister duo travel to NYC to run the family’s annual Christmas tree business in Greenwich Village, while living in a tiny camper for the entire month. I loved the NYC neighborhood setting, their interactions with the locals, and the holiday vibes. 

⭐⭐⭐💫

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 5 by Beth Brower 

Have I mentioned lately how much I'm enjoying this series? A small group at Modern Mrs. Darcy is reading one per month and we are slated to read volume 5 in January. When I discovered that Volume 5 actually takes place over Christmas, I couldn't help myself and settled in with it on the 26th. Once again, I loved Emma's wit and antics. This was a perfect holiday weekend read.

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'll be back in a few days with a December Wrap-Up. Meanwhile, I hope you're enjoying a peaceful week between holidays.

 

Mid-December Review Round Up

Thanks to an early season cold and sinus infection, I've finished four books in December and the month isn't even half over! (Pease don't ask how my Christmas shopping is going.) 

The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler

This was a page-turner! Ed Koch's final term as NYC mayor was marked by turmoil. This book chronicles those years, rotating between several main stories as it moves forward in time: crime/race relations, Wall Street/financial crisis, AIDS, the homeless, and Donald Trump. I lived in CT and upstate NY during those years and remember much of this, but it was fascinating to have it presented chronologically in a single narrative.

The final paragraph:

The existential questions that New York faced as it entered 1986 were answered. The great working-class city was gone, and so was any realistic expectation that it might ever be bound by a singular civic culture. A new city, or, rather, an infinite number of cities had been born. Rich, poor, very rich, very poor -- for better and for worse, everyone would now live in their own New York.

I could not put this book down. Highly recommended. ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 4 by Beth Brower 

Readers say the books in this series keep getting better, and now I'm convinced. Volumes 1-3 were very good, but I really loved Volume 4! Our group is scheduled to read Volume 5 in January, but I'm not going to be able to wait that long. I think it would make for perfect Christmas weekend reading! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen

by Jose Antonio Vargas

This book was mentioned in a couple of Nonfiction November wrap up posts, and I was happy to find both the ebook and audio available from my library. Dear America is not a book about the politics of immigration, but rather an account of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and undocumented citizen Jose Antonio Vargas' lived experience. 

When he was twelve years old, Vargas was sent from the Philippines to live with his grandparents in California. He didn't discover his “illegal” status until years later when he used his visa to apply for a driver’s license, only to discover that it was fake. Vargas decided to keep his status hidden, went on to becomes a journalist, and eventually set out to discover what it means to be American.

His account offers a look at circumstances which can lead to undocumented status - circumstances I hadn't previously considered - and further illustrates how broken our immigration system actually is. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Stone Yard Devotional  was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2024, published in the US earlier this year, and the New York Times recently crowned it one of the 5 best novels of 2025. I couldn't resist.

A middle-aged woman, for reasons we never learn, leaves her married life in Sydney for a small, isolated religious community in rural Australia. This rest of the novel is very light on plot. Three main story lines include the skeletal remains of a murdered nun are finally returned to the community,  a mysterious visitor, known to our narrator through troubling childhood events, accompanies those remains, and finally, the community is plagued with a near-apocalyptic mouse infestation.

The book mostly consists of beautifully written, haunting reminiscences of our narrator's childhood, her parents, and meditations on grief. The audio edition narrated by Ailsa Piper is especially lovely (and available for instant download via hoopla) and added to my reading experience. What a beautiful surprise!

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

 

A November Wrap-Up and December Reading Possibilities

Hello, friends, and happy December! November turned out to be a busy month for us. It was packed with family events, celebrations, and milestones. It started on November first with our nephew's wedding in central New York. From there we moved on to my husband's birthday dinner here in CT, and then back to central New York for a combined 90th birthday celebration for both of my parents. The long Thanksgiving weekend was a blur of activity. Our daughter and son-in-law hosted for the first time (a delicious dinner for 12!) in their new home. It all ended on the 30th as we marked our 40th wedding anniversary. Whew!

As you might have guessed, there wasn't much reading. I did finish four books -  all were on the shorter side, two were rereads, and one was a slow group read that actually began last summer.

 

BOOKS READ/FINISHED IN NOVEMBER

Dracula Daily by Bram Stoker

This was a long term, real-time reading project that began back in May and concluded in early November. I hadn't realize Dracula consisted of a series of journal entires. The novel itself was not at all what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed this reading experience. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Promise by Damon Galgut

I  reread this 2021 Booker Prize winner for my World Lit book club. It was a 2022 favorite and, since I was already familiar with the plot, I was able to focus more on the structure and writing this time. Still a solid 4-star read.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 3 by Beth Brower

I continue to enjoy this delightful series, reading one volume per month with a small group of friends from the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club. These books are the perfect light read after a more serious literary fiction or nonfiction title. I may end up reading both volumes 4 and 5 in December! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

This novella is the December/holiday selection at MMD book club. It was also a reread of an old favorite. It may not have been quite as magical or funny this time around, but still a very enjoyable reading experience. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

DECEMBER READING POSSIBILITIES

• The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990 by Jonathan Mahler (in progress)
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 4 by Beth Brower (in progress)
• Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
• The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol 5 by Beth Brower
• Sipsworth by Simon Von Booy (reread - MMD January selection)

My basic plan for December is to abandon the tbr list and read whatever strikes my fancy. The books listed above are either in progress, borrowed from the library, or currently on my nightstand. But we'll see where my mood takes me!

Also in December, we have plenty of holiday activities, concerts, and parties. At the end of the month we'll be closing up here and preparing for our annual trek to Florida. There will be one more visit with my parents around New Years, and we'll head south from there.

How was your November? What was your favorite book?

 

Nonfiction November: My Year in Nonfiction

Nonfiction November has been happening all month and I'm late to the party! November has been an exceptionally busy month for me (in a good way, thankfully) and I've barely even checked in here. But before the month comes to an end, I would like to talk about the nonfiction titles I've read in the past year. 

MY YEAR IN NONFICTION

For Nonfiction November, I consider my reading year to run from November 1, 2024 through October 31, 2025. Overall, I've had a very good reading year. Here are the bullet point takeaways for nonfiction:

• my overall percentage of nonfiction was down - 19% vs an average of 25% 
• my overall satisfaction/rating for nonfiction titles was about average
• after a disappointing 2024, I selected more titles from my go-to nonfiction categories 
• I opted for read/listen combinations whenever possible

My nonfiction selections this year included memoir, essay, medicine/public health, history, and humor. Noticeably absent was social justice, the Supreme Court, and foodie memoirs. Here is my list:

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've Tried Being Nice: Essays by Ann Leary - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oranges by John McPhee - ⭐⭐⭐

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain - ⭐⭐⭐

How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key - ⭐⭐⭐

A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green - ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

The Jane Austen Insult Guide for Well-Bred Women by Emily Reed - ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (reread) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

2025 NONFICTION FAVORITES

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris

Honorable Mention

Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection 

by John Green

What was your favorite nonfiction title this year?

The collection post for Nonfiction November Week 1: Your Year in Nonfiction can be found here.