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It’s time for the annual year-in-review, folks. (You can view past years here.) As ever, if these numbers are yawn-inducing, come back on Monday and we’ll review books again!

In 2025, I read 94 books (100 in 2024).

Of those I read this year:

• 88% were fiction (Last year, 84%). Boy, has this ever changed since I was a nonfiction writing student!
• 75% were written by female authors (69% last year). That’s a big one over the long stretch, too, although not a huge change from last year. I definitely used to read more men than women. I’m not even trying.
• Genre-wise, we are still guided by ‘contemporary’ at nearly 45% of the fiction I read. Next is fantasy/speculative fiction at 31%, historical at 18%, and LGBTQ fiction at 17%. Children’s/YA was 14% of my fiction reading, and it’s all single digits from there, led by mysteries, thrillers, coming-of-age stories, noir/gothic and dystopian. Last year the largest chunk was of course contemporary (24%), followed by double digits in fantasy, historical, LGBTQ, sci fi, and speculative. Larger single-digit groups included children’s/YA, mystery, and thriller. It looks like children’s/YA made a bit of leap, maybe because of the growing importance of a couple of younger folks in my life.
• Because of a big road trip and the addition of a bike trainer to my garage, I listened to four audiobooks, all late in the year (none last year). And one of them made the best-of-the-year list!
• Nearly matching last year (at 48%), 47% of the books I read this year were for my own pleasure. The rest were for assigned review.
• I purchased more than a third of the books I read in 2025, and more than half came to me for assignments, mostly from my lovely editors at Shelf Awareness. I’m buying a hair less since last when, when I purchased 49% of my reading.
• Last year I reread a whopping seven books. This year? Zero.
• I did 46% of this year’s reading via e-books (last year, 43%). Not a big change but gosh I wish it were a little fewer than that.
• I read 74% white authors this year, and just 12% Black authors (an aggregate 25% nonwhite). Last year 69% of the books I read this year were by white authors, but the Black authors numbered in the single digits. Still and always work to do. I continue to feel dismayed at how overwhelming the numbers remain unless I make a pretty hard effort. Part of this has got to be my own thoughtless selections, but I know part of it is still at the level of the publishing industry, too.
• 23% of the books I read were authored by people who publicly identify as queer (last year, 19%.) That one, by contrast, feels like a number that’s creeping upward through no conscious effort of my own.

New to last year’s accounting was an unusually high number of books I chose not to review because I did not like them enough. This year, there were six of them to 2024’s twelve. Improvement there, I guess.

And in the overall… nothing new that I feel I need to work on. Still chasing more diversity in the authors I read. That’s the world, friends. Any reading goals for y’all?

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It’s time for the annual year-in-review, folks. (You can view past years here.) As ever, if these numbers are yawn-inducing, come back on Monday and we’ll review books again!

In 2024, I read an even 100 books (99 in 2023). This was an accident but does make working out those percentages easy!

Of those I read this year:

• 84% were fiction (Last year, 75%).
• 69% were written by female authors (70% last year). 25% were written by male ones, and the remaining handful were nonbinary or multiple authors.
• Categorizing the fiction I read continues to be messy, with the largest chunk still being contemporary (24%), and double digits in fantasy, historical, LGBTQ, sci fi, and speculative. Sci fi, fantasy and spec have a great deal of overlap, of course, and is LGBTQ a genre or a content marker of another kind? I comfort myself by saying the categories need matter first and mostly to me… Larger single-digit groups included children’s/YA, mystery, and thriller. (Last year 23% were contemporary novels, 21% were fantasy/speculative/sci fi, 14% were children’s/YA and another 14% mystery, 11% were historical, and in the single digits were a smattering of others including horror, humor, literary fiction, short stories, thrillers psychological and otherwise, and romance. The remainder were small numbers of children’s/YA, fairy tale retellings and mythology, horror, mystery, thrillers, and short stories.) If the math gets funky for you here, know that I sometimes put one book in multiple categories!
• I listened to no audiobooks this year! (Four last year).
• This year, like last year!, 48% of my reading was for pleasure, and nine of those came recommended by Liz.
• I received two gifts and checked out two library books, and purchased another 49%, leaving about half that were sent to me for assigned reviews. (These numbers are very close to last year’s.)
• I reread a whopping seven books this year (last year, just one) – all of the Murderbot series!
• I did 43% of this year’s reading via e-books (last year, 28%). (Ouch.)
• 69% of the books I read this year were by white authors, but the Black authors numbered in the single digits. I really fell down on that one: non-white authors did okay at ~30, but I didn’t read enough Black authors by a long shot. (Last year the books I read were written by white authors at the rate of 72%. Another 15% were by Black authors, with 12% marked as ‘other.’)
• 19% of the books I read were authored by people who publicly identify as queer, which I feel okay about (last year, 11%.)

As I’ve said before, there’s room for improvement in reading people who aren’t white, and specifically this year, Black authors. There’s no shortage of excellent books that qualify; it’s just that I’m fighting against some persistent trends in publishing and admittedly in the places I gravitate, because it’s easier to read people who seem like they’re more like me, even if that’s subconscious. It takes effort to diversify my reading – effort that’s rewarded with great reading! but effort nonetheless. It’s easier to fall into the lazy habit of reading what comes more easily across my desk. I’m going to keep working.

A new trend for this year that I didn’t love: no fewer than twelve books displeased me enough that I did not review them. That’s a large number. In years past I’ve done much better at either avoiding those, or putting them down early. I’ve checked in with some other readers (and book review editors!), and I hear that others are noticing a trend of dealing with more ‘duds’ (as I’ve decided to politely call them). There are a few theories, like a post-Covid publishing quality slump. I don’t have any empirical evidence, but it’s interesting that I’m not the only one.

So, goals for 2025? Read more Black authors. Keep looking out for diversity in various forms. Follow what I love. Avoid ‘bad’ books! (Meaning only that they are poor matches for this reader in particular. Life is too short.) And let’s all share what we love.

Happy New Year. Thanks for sticking around for all this rambling.

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It’s time for the annual year-in-review, folks. (You can view past years here.) And don’t miss the best-of list I published the other day!

In 2023, I read 99 books–exactly the same as in 2022! Weird.

Of those I read this year:

• 75% were fiction. (Last year, 80% fiction, so that’s staying pretty steady.)
• 70% were written by female authors (80% last year).
• Of the fiction I read, 23% were contemporary novels, 21% were fantasy/speculative/sci fi, 14% were children’s/YA and another 14% mystery, 11% were historical, and in the single digits were a smattering of others including horror, humor, literary fiction, short stories, thrillers psychological and otherwise, and romance. (Last year, the largest categories were that nebulous ‘contemporary’ [38%], fantasy/speculative/sci fi [27%], historical [15%]. The remainder were small numbers of children’s/YA, fairy tale retellings and mythology, horror, mystery, thrillers, and short stories.)
• I “read” 4 audiobooks, up from just 2 last year. I took one pretty mammoth road trip, but the audiobooks I took on were long.
• This year 48% of my reading was for pleasure (last year’s 60%), and the rest were for paid reviews (minus one or two reviews I did for free). This reflects a change when I stopped teaching and made book reviewing a bigger part of my paid work.
• Nearly half, or 49%, of my reading were books sent to me for review. The other half were mostly purchased (38%), with the balance being gifts or loans or library books. (Last year I purchased 56% of the books I read and 40% were sent to me for review; just a few were received as gifts.)
• New this year, I tracked who recommended or demanded that I read a book. Liz was the big winner, accounting for 14% of my total reading, which is nearly a third of those I chose (not for review)! My parents were both in there, as well as my favorite soon-to-be-12-year-old.
• I reread 1 book this year (last year, 2).
• 28% of this year’s reads were e-books (last year, 21%). Again, that rise reflects an increase in paid reviews; I read as few e-books as possible by choice.
• The books I read were written by white authors at the rate of 72%. Another 15% were by Black authors, with 12% marked as ‘other.’* Last year, 33% were by Black authors, and 58% by white authors. I did not realize I had done such a lesser job this year of seeking out diversity. That’s something to work on.
• Just like last year, 11% of the books I read were authored by people who publicly identify as queer.*

*Those last two stats offer some obvious challenges when I categorize, but I do my best.

Wishing us all great reads in 2024.

Happy New Year!

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It’s time for the annual year-in-review, folks. (You can view past years here.)

In 2022, I read just 99 books (to 2021’s 108). This, to begin with, means I missed my goal of 100 by a hair. I made a big push there at the end, to read 10 books in 10 days, and I kept up that pace for a few days (winter break from school and all), but it proved unsustainable, especially after a truly uncanny and laughable series of illnesses and injuries in the final days of the year. All things considered, I’m happy to have hit 99. Also, Liz tells me I had to make a similar push last year – I don’t remember this but I trust Liz always. Although my records of 108 books show it wasn’t quite as bad as this year (scratches head). At any rate, my first observation is that I will back off my goal for the coming year. Say, 85 books? Set myself up for success.

Of those hard-won 99 books I read this year:

• 80% were fiction! That’s a big number compared to years past when I was a majority-nonfiction reader. The rest were split between nonfiction and poetry. (Last year, 85% fiction and the remainder nonfiction. No poetry?!)
• 80% were written by female authors (61% last year); 17% were by men (32% last year), with the remaining few being collections by multiple authors, or variously unidentifiable, or other. That’s a fairly large change considering I wasn’t making any conscious effort.
• Of the fiction I read, the largest categories were that nebulous ‘contemporary’ (38%), fantasy/speculative (30%), historical (15%), and science fiction (10%: hello, NK Jemisin!). The remainder were small numbers of children’s/YA, fairy tale retellings and mythology, horror, mystery, thrillers, and short stories. (Last year, 14% were mysteries or thrillers, 10% historical, 12% fantasy or sci fi, and equal handfuls were fairy tale/folktales, horror, and children’s or YA. The overwhelming 46% I labeled contemporary fiction – my largest and most nebulous category.) I am continuing to work on narrowing in that ‘contemporary’ category – mostly by adding a secondary label.
• I “read” just 2 audiobooks (last year 8, because of a little more road tripping).
• This year 60% of my reading was for pleasure (very close to last year’s 58%), and the rest were for paid reviews.
• I purchased 56% of the books I read and 40% were sent to me for review; just a few were received as gifts. In a big departure, I didn’t use my library at all. I had a hard time finding what I was looking for there! And also, I’m happy to be patronizing Gaslight Books. (Last year 14% were library books, and the rest were an even split between purchased books and those sent to me for review.)
• I reread two books this year (and last year, just one).
• 21% of this year’s reads were e-books (last year, 46%. Fairly pleased about this one).
• 33% were by Black authors, and 58% by white authors. (Last year, 19% were by Black authors, and 66% by white authors.)
• 11% were authored by people who publicly identify as queer. (Last year, 8%.)

Those last two stats offer some obvious challenges when I categorize, but I do my best. And I’m glad to inch those numbers up a bit.

All in all, as I type this post with a stuffy head and some bumps and bruises (2022 going out with a bang), I’m grateful to have read what I did: the number, the breadth and diversity in every respect, and the excellent quality. I’m especially grateful to have a lifestyle that allows me to continue these pursuits. And for those readers who’ve made it this far into this nerdy numbers post: thank YOU for following along. Wishing us all great reads in 2023.

Happy New Year!

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In 2021, I read 108 books (to 2020’s 103). Of those:

• 85% were fiction, and the rest nonfiction. This represents a real change, not only from 2020 (last year I read 36% nonfiction, and 6% poetry), but over the years. The world just got ugly enough that I needed more escapism than usual, I think.
• 61% were written by female authors (46% last year); 32% were by men (51% last year), with the remainder being collections by multiple authors, or variously unidentifiable, or other.
• Of the fiction I read, 14% were mysteries or thrillers, 10% historical, 12% fantasy or sci fi, and equal handfuls were fairy tale/folktales, horror, and children’s or YA. The overwhelming 46% I labeled contemporary fiction – my largest and most nebulous category. (Last year, 23% were contemporary, 23% historical, 18% mysteries, and 10% thriller.)
• I “read” just 8 audiobooks (last year 18).
• This year, as last year, 58% of my reading was for pleasure, and the rest were for paid reviews.
• I checked out 14% of the books I read from my local library, and the rest were an even split between purchased books and those sent to me for review. (Last year 13% were library books, 45% were purchased and 40% were sent to me for reviews.)
• Last year, I reread three books; this year, just one, if you count the graphic novel adaptation of The Jungle.
• A whopping 46% of this year’s reads were e-books (last year, 37%). I’m not sure how this happened. I mean, it’s because reviews moved to e-books after the pandemic, but I’m not thrilled that it’s gotten so extreme!
• Of the books I read this year, 19% were by Black authors, and 66% by white authors. This represents a slight improvement over last year, but not enough yet. (In 2020, 17% were authored by Black writers, 9% I marked other or unknown, and 75% were white.)
• Last year 10% of the books I read were authored by people who identify publicly as queer, and this year, only 8%.

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