2025 in books
Or, a bibliophile's annual ramblings
Back at the beginning of 2021, I started logging my books on GoodReads, and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Previously I had operated under the idea that tracking my reading would take away from the enjoyment of it, but I actually found that, for me, it greatly added to it. Since then, I’ve loved processing the end of a year through the books I’ve read, and I thought I would share some of that here as well.
2025 was a great reading year for me! I ended at 114 books for the year (my yearly goal since joining GoodReads has always been one hundred books in a year), which is ten more than any previous non-pregnant years (I distract myself from pregnancy sickness by reading, so with my last two pregnancies, I ended the year in the low 120s). I read a lot of books I loved in 2025, both new to me and re-reads, and I shared many of those in my annual Top Books posts yesterday on Instagram. I’ll link those below, and previous years’ posts are saved to my “Top Books” highlight on Instagram, so check that out if you want any recommendations.
Top Books of 2025: Non-fiction Edition
Top Books of 2025: Fiction Edition
Tops Books of 2025: Re-reads Edition
Along with at least one hundred books for the year, I had some smaller reading goals for 2025 too. I wanted to up my non-fiction percentage to at least 30%, and always have a book of poetry going. I ended the year at 33% non-fiction, and while I always technically had a poetry book going, I often went for long periods of time without reading from it (though I did finish, and really enjoy, eight different poetry books in 2025).
My extra (beyond one hundred books for the year) 2026 reading goals are similar: I want to up my non-fiction percentage to 35%, and I want to try to read some poetry every day, or at least multiple times a week (I’ll be starting with Mary Oliver’s Devotions, which I’m very excited about). Over Advent, Aaron and I started reading aloud and discussing poetry and its accompanying commentary in the book Haphazard By Starlight, and it’s a connecting habit we want to continue into the new year. So that should help my daily poetry habit.
I’m also purposing to try to read more hard copies of books or read them on my Kindle, instead of defaulting to the Kindle app on my phone. When I’m nursing a lot, reading on my phone is SO much easier because it’s smaller and can be easily held in one hand. And while I’m still nursing my two-year-old, it’s much more consolidated than when she was younger, so I want to move away from reading on my phone.
So that was 2025 in books for me, and if you want to see all the titles, you can check out my GoodReads 2025 shelf, or they are also in my “Year in Books” Instagram highlight. I’m so looking forward to reading in 2026; I’m a part of four different book clubs now (two of which I co-lead) and those books, plus the many others waiting on my TBR make me positively giddy. A book girl to the core!
I’d love to hear what you read in 2025, and what your reading goals for the new year are: let’s all book-enable each other. Happy reading!