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20 Books I Loved in 2025 & Think You Should Read in 2026

I read 195 books in 2025. More books than ever, since I began tracking, and part of that increase is continuing to cut down on other types of entertainment. Some of it was being better at DNF’ing books (35!) that didn’t work for me.

Queer books and romances remain the strongest genres, especially in their crossovers. I challenged myself to read (or DNF) at least 90 books that I’d acquired by or earlier than December 31, 2024. I beat that goal at 140. But I did get 142 new-to-me books last year, and this year, I’m going to read 98, which is that 142 minus how many of those 2025 books I read last year.

I paired a lot of my physical or ebook reading with borrowing library audiobooks. It meant I could continue the journey while cooking, gardening, doing chores, and going on walks. (Though I am also a huge podcast listener.)

50 books (a little less than 25%) of the books I read I rated 5/5 stars. Continue reading “20 Books I Loved in 2025 & Think You Should Read in 2026”

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Books I Read in 2023 & Think You Should Read in 2024

Books I Read in 2023 & Think You Should Read in 2022 banner. Features the 10 book covers in the background

Overall, I read 160 books in 2023. This may be the most books I’ve ever read in a year, but as always, read at the pace that suits you and for the type of books you’re reading. Most books I read were under 500 pages, and a large chunk of them were under 300 pages. Read some pamphlets!

The vast majority of the books were fiction, with only 10% nonfiction. I made reading lists for history months: Black History Month, AAPI History Month, Pride Month, and Latinx Heritage Month. What this mostly did was intentionally focus on authors or books I’d been meaning to read from my shelf. I’m a mood reader, so TBRs often don’t work for me.

My most-read “genres” were LGBTQIA+ (81 books), Romance (73), and Fantasy (51). My top-read 7 authors were Kresley Cole (9 books), Mariko Tamaki and Ngozi Ukazu (6), Katee Robert and Tui T. Sutherland (5), and Adriana Herrera and Ilona Andrews (4). I really got into Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series, and I’ll likely finish everything in the unfinished series in 2024. Continue reading “Books I Read in 2023 & Think You Should Read in 2024”