2025 reads
- Holly G
- Jan 11
- 14 min read
What I read in 2025 and goals for 2026
Contents
The Horror Trifecta
The Hunger Games Series
Re-read and New-read
Series started, continued, finished
The Yellow Series
Summer reads
Non-fiction reads
Introduction
For three years now I have been tracking my reading using my own template on Notion. The main reason I started doing it was because it helped me actually remember the books I’ve read. I would go whole months reading as much as I could, only to not be able to recall any of it, let alone any details or my thoughts on anything. Since recording even a little bit of information on the titles I read, I’ve been able to remember much more about what I’ve read, and be able to make more connections across the texts I read.
Timeline view of my 2025 Reading database on Notion
What I like about Notion is that because I record all this information on a database, I can then calculate the statistics of my reading habits. So, here’s a little summary of what I read this year, a couple of reviews on my favorites, and some information I was able to gain from my database:
Stats
Total books read: 35
Dropped/Did Not Finish: 1
On Hold/To Be Continued: 4
More facts
Fiction: 28 / Non-fiction: 7
Sci-fi: 5 / Fantasy: 4
Graphic novel/manga: 3
Recommendations: 3
Kindle: 5
International literature: 3 (Swedish, South African)
Series continued: 4 / Series finished: 4
Favorite/Highest Rated ★★★★★ Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler | Least Favorite/Lowest Rated ★★✮☆☆ Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker |
4 series completed
| 4 series continued:
|
How I read this year
I started a new job in January of 2025, and so this year I have been blessed with at least 30-70 minutes of commuting time Mondays through Fridays, where I am not obligated to do anything but read. I love this part of my day, and it makes even the longest books easy to get through a chunk at a time. I am also extremely lucky to have a job where I can read during slow periods. The overwhelming majority of the books I read this year were finished on the Underground, with a small fraction of books being finished while traveling abroad, or at home sick.
Because I had the freedom to only read what I had the urge and desire to read (as it should be), I only dropped one book, Essays In Love by Alain de Botton. I’ve been trying to get through this book since I moved to the UK, and I cannot finish it to save my life. I genuinely like the premise of it, a series of anecdotes and reflections on love and relationships told in a style similar to Maggie Nelson’s Bluets. But with an accumulation of exciting and stressful things in my life around the beginning of summer, I was having an extremely difficult time focusing. I thought it would be a cute and easy read I could still engage with while not having to pay too much attention. After weeks of trying to finish 224 pages, I had to give up on it.
Overall, I read the most in the spring season, with April being my best month with 8 books read in total. This took a sharp down turn in the summer, with social plans and travel taking up more of my focus and having less downtime to read. Although one would think that lying carelessly on the beach is when I would be able to get the most reading done, it was in fact the opposite, my slowest month being July, with only 1 book started (not even finished!).
As the year went on, I became more tired and burnt out, and my reading time was steadily being consumed by sleep against my will. For example, I read Dracula in January of 2024 and read 402 pages in ten days, however, it took about two months when I was alternating between Profit over People and Power of Myth, which have a combined 439 pages.
In terms of genre, I mostly read novels and fictional stories. This year I prioritised prose, taking time to read more novels and essays. This resulted in a year with the lowest number of genres outside of this, with only 3 graphic novels, 1 play, and 1 short story collection.
Following are some reviews of my favorites this year, and goals for the upcoming year.
Reviews
The Classic Horror Trifecta
Dracula (★★★★☆), Frankenstein (★★★★★), The Picture of Dorian Gray (★★★✮☆)(Bonus: Carmilla; ★★★★☆)
I started off my year with Bram Stoker's Dracula as I was in full gothic horror mode thanks to the Nosferatu film. (If you want to read more of my thoughts from this period, check out my blog post on vampire narratives.) I read my new cloth-bound Penguin Classic edition I received for my birthday that includes an extensive index and historical context notes. I have read this book multiple times since I was twelve and was introduced to it through a book club for the first time. The first two-thirds of the story (Jonathan Harker at Castle Dracula to Lucy’s demise) always fulfils that craving I get when I want to read something gothic and unsettling. The last third (the team's pursuit of Dracula from London to Romania) should be the most exciting part, but every time I find that the ending feels anticlimactic. The final act, while there is a lot of movement taking place, never quite captures the tension that is built so strongly in the beginning. However, the opening scenes of the book make such an impression, that I always come back to it.
(Bonus: Shortly after Dracula I also read Carmilla to add to my gothic novel collection, and finally discovered one of the seminal homoerotic vampire texts.)
In the spring, I read the second gift I received together with Dracula, was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I can not believe it has taken me this long to read this book! I absolutely fell in love. I can see myself rereading this one many times over. I already have the craving to go back to it after watching Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation. Some of the quotes from that novel will haunt me. As a sci-fi fanatic, reading one of the founding texts of the genre was such a great experience. There are some chapters that genuinely had me gripping the book and what I imagined was scarier than any horror movie I had seen.
“I was dependent on none, and related to none. The path of my departure was free, and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them.”
-Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)
My last classic of the year was The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I also read for the first time. This text is much less dense, and didn’t make as strong an impression on me as the other two, but I do remember simply enjoying the reading experience. The way each chapter was structured made it easy and quick to read, and I loved the discursive debates about art and philosophy. This is another book in which the haunting descriptions of the portrait and the slow unraveling of the main character is described so well that you can’t help but feel shivers. This text is an obvious example for me of a book that I am glad I have come across organically as an adult rather than having it pushed on me through school. Coming across it on my own and being able to experience and appreciate it on my own definitely enhanced my enjoyment.
The Hunger Games series (★★★✮☆)
Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Sunrise on the Reaping
The fifth instalment of the Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping, was published on the 18th March. I purchased it at the closest Waterstones the next day.
I wasn’t expecting to get back into YA literature this year, but it happened against my will. I was dragged back into early 2010s nostalgia when dystopian young adult literature was one of the largest trends in literature and media. I had managed to miss all the fanfare around the new prequel to the Hunger Games until only the week before release, but obviously once I found out I couldn't let it go, I had to know what happens. Once I finished it, I of course fell down an obligatory rabbit hole of immersing myself back into the YA dystopian world. I even suffered a Tumblr relapse.
So, of course, I had to reread the entire trilogy, as well as the additional prequel, which was all of April 2nd - April 18th. (This is why spring was my highest reading month.)
One re-read, one new-read
Good Material (★★★★☆), The Great When (★★★★☆)
If the craving to reread a particular text hits, I always let myself give in to the impulse. In my experience, there is a reason that particular book is coming back to me now.
This past spring, I was going through a breakup, and to get some space I went on a trip to a small town in the countryside, three hours from London. For a long bank holiday weekend I went on hikes, saw some history and went to many different pubs. During this trip I read the entirety of Dolly Alderton’s novel Good Material, only a year after I read it the first time. It was exactly what I needed. It made me laugh out loud, it comforted me, and overall it guided me through the more frustrating parts of new singlehood. I find Alderton’s writing has only improved as she has continued, and I think this novel is one of her best works.
One of the new books I read this year was The Great When by Alan Moore, published towards the end of 2024. I have read many of Moore’s comics (Watchmen, Swamp Thing, and V for Vendetta), but I have never read his prose. I happened to find this at the Southbank Foyle’s, and immediately felt drawn to the gothic and macabre style, which was perfect for that time of year when the autumn air was starting to steadily encroach in the September air when I picked this book up. The descriptions of London made me fall more in love with the city, and made me pay attention more to my surroundings. The ending was melancholy and satisfying, and perfectly set the tone for the transition from the end of September into October.
“Was this, then, what life was really like? A thing that could plunge suddenly into unfathomable nightmare at a moment’s notice?”
― Alan Moore, The Great When
A series ended, one continued, another begins
Zero History (★★★★☆), Children of Dune (★★★★☆), Mistborn (-----)
“Something was unfolding within him. Like a brochure, he thought, rather than the butterfly he imagined to be the more common image. An unpleasant brochure, the sort that lays out symptoms all too clearly.”
-William Gibson, Zero History (2010)
This year, I completed a trilogy I had been reading for three years, the Blue Ant trilogy by William Gibson. Gibson is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to sci-fi. His offbeat and odd tone manages to illustrate tense and strange conflicts bubbling under the surface of society. The first book, Pattern Recognition, has been one of my top 5 favorite books since I read it in summer of 2023, and the conclusion to the series, Zero History, was the perfect finish to satisfyingly close out several years of build up. This is another text with stunning descriptions of London that make me further appreciate the city. This story came back full circle in a way I wasn’t expecting. I wish I could forget the whole thing and re-read it from the beginning all over again.
This summer, I also took another step in the Dune series, reading the third book out of six. This series continues to have me in a chokehold. Despite how dense they are I somehow manage to devour my way through them with a quickness. I am so excited to keep reading it (God Emperor of Dune is coming up in 2026 for sure).
For the last book I started this year (and still haven’t technically finished) I took a leap into the world of Brandon Sanderson for the first time with the first book of one of his most famous fantasy series, Mistborn. I was falling into a rut with reading (Am I the only one who feels like this around the holidays? You’re supposed to feel like you’re curled up, burrowing your way through books, but I only ever feel scattered and unfocused.) I was craving an easy-to-read fantasy adventure. I have always seen Sanderson’s books stacked impressively on the shelves and looked upon them in envy, wanting the pristine spines to be displayed on my own shelf. So far, I am about half-way through the book and while it’s easy to remain engaged, I was expecting a more high fantasy story than a YA fantasy story. The characterisations seem not much more detailed than archetypes, the main protagonist in particular is frustrates me. To be honest, this might be a series I start and may never finish. But there are intriguing elements, and the plot is interesting enough to keep me engaged for now.
My Yellow series
The Word for World is Forest (★★★✮☆ ), No one belongs here more than you (★★★★☆), Metamorphosis (★★★✮☆)
In May, I made a trip to my favorite Foyle’s on Tottenham Court road and happened to buy three yellow books in one trip, which then inspired me to just read them one after the other immediately after I bought them. (Is this rare for anyone else as well? I feel like I have almost never read the book I purchased at the book store immediately after buying it.)
So my ‘Yellow Series’ consisted of sci-fi novella, The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of my all time favorite authors; No One Belongs Here More Than You, a series of erotic short stories by Miranda July that even had the passengers on the seats next to me on my morning commute raise their eyebrows; and Kafka’s Metamorphosis (and other short stories). These were all relatively short and all very engaging. Switching between these three very different texts helped keep me interested and allowed each one to stand out to me in its uniqueness.
“He was always disagreeably surprised to find how vulnerable his feelings were, how much it hurt him to be hurt. This story of adolescent sensitivity was shameful, he should have a tougher hide than that.” -Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word for World is Forest (1972) | “i always become paralyzed in this place, and Ruth has to draw me out with questions, like, what is the worst thing that could happen? We could never have sex again. But that's very unlikely. Well, it feels like i might never want to have it again. Like i wouldn't even care.” -Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You (2007) | "A long time ago, he gad determined to observe everything precisely [...]. Now he remembered this long since forgotten resolution, and quickly forgot it again, like someone pulling a short thread right through the eye of a needle.” -Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis (1915) |
Summer reads (what I read on the beach)
Yellowface (★★★✮☆), Silence of the Girls (★★✮☆☆), Skuggliljan (★★★✮☆)
This year, I took two weeks of travel to visit friends and family abroad. I started with one paperback (one of my only international lit read this year) given to me by my grandmother as a gift: Skuggliljan, a mystery that takes place on the island that I was staying on.
I took my Kindle with me so I could have access to anything I wanted to read while I was out there. So when I wanted something of a similar theme and tone, my mother recommended Yellowface.
This book has of course been on the front displays of bookstores everywhere since it came out. I have it on my TBR list, I’m just late to the party. Any book that becomes as popular as Yellowface is bound to receive some criticism. After I finished the text, I wrote in my personal notes:
“As Terry Nguyen writes in this critique ('The Diversity Elevator: On R. F. Kuang’s Yellowface’, it is true that Kuang rests too much on the “ethical” quandaries of cultural appropriation rather than the very real consequences it has on people and communities of color, which are in the background of this text.”
There is some truth to the fact, however now after some time I think that whatever critiques one can make about the text is more based on the fact that it’s written from the limited perspective of an extremely unreliable character, which is bound to step on some toes. Overall, the story was entertaining and though provoking. The ending was very satisfying, and the critique on the publishing industry is very accurate. I think people just like to hate because it’s so popular.
However, now I have to become one of those people, because the final book I read on holiday, Silence of the Girls by Pam Baker, was a huge disappointment. This was a surprise to me because her books, as well as the whole trend of retelling Greek and Roman stories from a new-age feminist perspective, have been so incredibly popular I was expecting it to be something transformative. I was at least expecting to think, Wow, I wish I had read these when they came out. But to be honest, I was considering dropping it after about 50 pages. I started the book because I was in Greece with my friends and was inspired to read about greek myths and history, but I only continued because I wanted so desperately to like it. The opening chapter is so good I believe it was the only thing the publishers read before signing her a book deal, not even bothering to read the rest. This is the only book I rated less than 3 stars this year.
Non-fiction reads:
I’m Like a PDF but a Girl (★★★★☆), Deeping It (★★★★☆), Profit over People (★★★✮☆), Fear of Black Consciousness (★★★✮☆), Power of Myth (★★★★☆), Born a Crime (★★★✮☆)
I won’t dive too deep into the non-fiction texts I read this year because many of them have been – or will be soon – highlighted in my essays that I post on the blog. For example, I’m Like a PDF but a Girl inspired my essay on anti-intellectualism, and adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism was a foundational text for Pleasure Activism as a Tool of Resistance.
My essays are often inspired by an overlapping of similar themes I am noticing across the books and media I consume in the present and the research I've collected over time. I follow the impulse, reading similar or referenced texts, steadily and organically building a bibliography.
This year most of the texts I read were focused on black history and culture, information systems and infrastructure, and music and art as liberatory practices.
Reading Goals for 2026
Read at least 5 non-english/international texts (easy)
Finish a series you’ve been working on (easy)
Read 40 books (moderate)
Implement 30 mins reading before bed (hard)
2026 reads
I have a birthday very close to Christmas, and so the holidays always mean a lot of new books in my life. I currently have a stack of books that I have received as gifts or picked to read over the holiday season, and it towers next to my bed so high it blocks my reading lamp. Looking at some of the titles, I am excited for what 2026 holds!
Summary
Overall, I am really proud of my reading progress this year. I’m glad I took a step out of my comfort zone and read from a few genres I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. Many of my books this year were recommended to me by others and I am grateful I took their advice! I am also extremely proud of keeping my commute time dedicated to reading (before it got taken over by sleep). I have very few books I dropped or didn’t finish, and it’s because this year was a year where I focused on only reading books I had the impulse and desire to read, rather than what I felt like I should be reading at the time.
Hopefully, you have all read books that have entertained and inspired you in 2025, and I wish that everyone encounters the books they desire in the upcoming year.
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