Happy New Year! We went to a neighbours’ party again this year and played silly games and chased their kittens until 1:30 a.m. It was a fun, low-key way to see in 2026.
I read 313 books last year. (2024’s total of 352 will never be topped!) Initially, I set a goal of 350, but by midyear I downgraded it to 300 and it was easy to reach. I can’t pinpoint a particular reason for the decline. In general, I felt like I was chasing my tail all year, despite having less work on than ever (but increased volunteering commitments). Often, I struggled with fatigue or being on the verge of illness. What a fun guessing game: is it long Covid or perimenopause?
Goodreads was glitchy for me all year, randomly counting books two or three times and falsely inflating my total by a whole extra 33 books at one point. It also has a lot of annoying, automatically generated book records that duplicate ISBNs or add the publisher to the title field. So I’m thinking about moving over to StoryGraph this year – I just imported my Goodreads library – though I always quail at learning new online systems. It would also be the next logical step in divesting from Am*zon.
The year that was…
2025’s notable happenings:
- Twice assessing the ‘proper’ (published) books as a McKitterick Prize judge
- Adopting crazy Benny (though that was after losing our precious Alfie)
- Acquiring a secondhand electric car for the household
- Holidays in Hay-on-Wye; the Outer Hebrides; Suffolk; Berlin and Lübeck, Germany
- A summer visit from my sister and brother-in-law
- Having the windows and door replaced in the back of our house; and the hall and stairwell/landing redecorated
- I got ever more into gin and cocktails, with tastings in Abingdon and Wantage (and in December I led two informal tastings for friends). I also acquired the taste for rum!
The reading statistics, as compared to 2024:
Fiction: 54.7% (↑3.3%)
Nonfiction: 31.6% (↓0.2%)
Poetry: 13.7% (↓3.1%)
Female author: 67.7% (↓0.2%)
Lydi Conklin was one of 10 nonbinary authors I read from this year. Had I read their novel earlier, this would have made it into my Cover Love post!
Nonbinary author: 3.2% (↑2.1%)
BIPOC author: 18.5% (↑0.1%)
How to get it to 25% or more??
LGBTQ: 20.4% (↓1.1%)
(Author’s identity or a major theme in the work.) It’s the first time this has decreased since 2021, but I’m still pleased with the figure overall.
Work in translation: 9.6% (↑3.6%)
Going the right way with this trend! 10% seems like a good minimum to aim for. I find I have to make a conscious effort by accepting translated review copies or picking them off my shelves to tie in with particular reading challenges.
German (6) – mainly because of our trip in September
French (5)
Swedish (4)
Korean (3)
Italian (2)
Japanese (2)
Spanish (2)
Chinese (1)
Dutch (1)
Norwegian (1)
Polish (1)
Portuguese (1)
Russian (1)
2025 (or pre-release 2026) books: 55.6% (↑3.2%)
Backlist: 44.4%
But a lot of that ‘backlist’ stuff was still from the 2020s; I only read eight pre-1950 books, the oldest being Diary of a Nobody from 1892.
E-books: 35.5% (↑3.4%)
Print books: 64.5%
I almost exclusively read e-books for BookBrowse, Foreword and Shelf Awareness reviews. The number of overall Shelf Awareness reviews will be decreasing because of changes to their publishing model, so this figure may well change by next year.
Rereads: 11, vs. last year’s 18
I managed nearly one a month. Like last year, three of my rereads ended up being among my most memorable reading experiences of the year, so I should really reread more often.
And, courtesy of Goodreads:
- 69,616 pages read
- Average book length: 221 pages (just one off of last year’s 220; in previous years it has always been 217–225, driven downward by poetry collections and novellas)
- Average rating for 2025: 6 (identical to the last three years)
Where my books came from for the whole year, compared to 2024:
- Free print or e-copy from publisher: 33.9% (↓10.9%)
- Public library: 18.8% (↑0.4%)
- Free (gifts, giveaways, Little Free Library/free bookshop, from friends or neighbours): 15.3% (↑2.9%)
- Downloaded from NetGalley, Edelweiss or BookSirens: 15% (↑7.2%)
- Secondhand purchase: 12.8% (↑1.3%)
- New purchase (often at a bargain price; includes Kindle purchases): 2.6% (↓0.5%)
- University library: 1.3% (↓0.7%)
- Other (church theological library): 0.3% (↑0.3%)
I’m pleased that 30.3% of my reading was from my own shelves, versus last year’s 24%. It looks like I mainly achieved this through a reduction in review copies. In 2026, I’d like to read even more backlist material from my own shelves (including rereads). This will be a particular focus in January, and then I’ll plan how to incorporate it for the rest of the year.
I have an absurd number of review books to catch up on (42), some stretching back to 2022 – the year of my mother’s death, which put me off my stride in many ways – as well as part-read books (116) to get real about and either finish or call DNFs and clear from my shelves. Dealing with these can be part of the reading-from-my-shelves initiative.
What trends did you see in your year’s reading? What is your plan for 2026?
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
As always, an incredible reading total from you! Goodreads didn’t glitch for me this year but I can heartily recommend StoryGraph; its mechanics have never failed. The only issue I have with it is that there’s very little community, and no clear way to build some for oneself. I still use GR to see other people’s reviews, for that reason: SG gives me virtually nothing in that regard. Re. stats, your question about how to get your BIPOC reading percentage to 25%+ is one I’ve been asking myself for a while. One major strategy for addressing that in 2025 was making sure that all of my 20BoS picks were by authors of colour, and it almost worked (my final percentage was 24%). It may not work for you, but if you think it might, please feel free to borrow the tactic!
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I got an autoreply saying StoryGraph was experiencing heavy load but that my library should be imported within a few days, so I’ll hope to explore the site some more then. Yeah, I guess it’s missing the critical mass of users. I do enjoy noting which friends have read books I’m interested in and what they’ve thought, so I imagine I’ll still pop onto Goodreads to canvass opinion even if I switch to StoryGraph for tracking.
A few years back I pulled out all my owned books by BIPOC authors and put them on their own shelf. I think I was inspired by posts that said to create a “hold shelf” to try to encourage you to read your own books. However, it’s almost had the opposite effect: they stare at me from that shelf and I feel bad for not reading them but still don’t manage to. So I guess I’d be better off integrating them back into my collection? I did read over 1/3 by BIPOC (7 books) for my 20 BoS, but half or more would help for sure. Looking at statistics month by month, that challenge and November (novellas) are where I really bump up my reading numbers. Reading in translation would in some cases help with this stat, too.
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Interesting – I think making a dedicated hold shelf might have the opposite effect for me too (guilt! obligation!)
Let me know when you’re on StoryGraph and I’ll add you! It’ll be nice to have another friend on that site.
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I’ve joined! @beckfoster
I enjoyed their summation of my reading taste: “Mainly reads fiction books that are reflective, emotional, and informative. Typically chooses medium-paced books that are <300 pages long.” 😉
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A very happy 2026 to you, Rebecca! I hope your energy levels improve this year. I imagine the disruption of home improvements didn’t help. It took me quite some time to get over our new kitchen although it was well worth it.
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We crammed all the house projects into the earlier part of July, before my sister visited at the end of the month. They weren’t actually too bad, even with a curious kitten about.
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Happy New Year! 🥳 I partially migrated over to Storygraph at the end of 2024. I still use Goodreads as my main platform for posting reviews, reading friends’ reviews, and tracking my TBR, but in 2026, I’ll be using Storygraph as my main platform for tracking current reads. The learning curve is not so steep if you’re already familiar with Goodreads, and the stats tracking is convenient. I also like the buddy read and challenge features.
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I think I’ll do the same as you, tracking on Storygraph but engaging more on Goodreads.
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Wow, what an incredible reading year! I love all your stats. I’m too lazy to bother tracking my reading in such a detailed way. I used to be obsessed with it, but now I just go with the flow and as long as I’m reading a mix of non-fiction, translated and BIPoC, alongside my special interests (Australian and Irish) I’m happy. I rarely get review copies these days, so about 90% of what I read I own (I buy a lot of new and secondhand books) or borrow from my excellent local library a short walk away.
I wasn’t aware of your interest in gin. I was OBSESSED with artisan gin in 2016-19 thanks to my job working for a hospitality start-up and organised a lot of gin tours, tastings etc. I had something like 70 different gins at home. Alas, I couldn’t bring them to Australia, so they were given away to a friend. The gin scene here is pretty big (there’s a couple of distilleries here in Fremantle) but I just haven’t got into it in the same way. I have three bottles at home and rarely drink them.
Anyway, sorry for such a long comment! I hope 2026 is filled with lots of great reading for you! I look forward to following your bookish exploits here on your blog.
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I got the Excel template from Marcie (Buried in Print), tweaked it a little, and have been using the same thing for years now. It makes compiling statistics so easy.
I guess I’m a little late to the party. Has gin peaked? I have about 25 types in the cabinet at any one time. I particularly like coastal and smoky flavours, but I have all sorts. I really need more people to share gin with! Your lucky friend, inheriting that whole collection at once 😉
Happy new year and much wonderful reading to you! I’ll join in with at least one Iris Murdoch book.
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Losing your Alfie, but gaining Benny. So hard, but Benny will be wonderful.
Remains of the Day was so good! I’m adding Diary of a Nobody to my TBR! Happy New Year!
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Happy new year!
After six months (and a rocky start) with Benny, things have finally evened out.
I really need to read older books more of the time — there are so many gems to discover.
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I moved to The Storygraph last year, and although it has its faults, limited statistics is the worst, I’m finding it less frustrating than Goodreads, and the staff respond to your comments.
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I imagine I’ll use both in parallel for a while until I figure out what I like best about each site.
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I sometimes wish I hadn’t switched over, but it’s mainly because doing statistics is frustrating. I got too ticked at Goodreads, and they did seem to leave out some of my books and do things like that to mess up my statistics. For example, I would mark a book as “read” but it wouldn’t appear in my list.
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Some great stats there wish I could read so much my plans is just carry on add a few new counties to the blog and try and read a few more books
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Can’t say fairer than that!
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Looks like a great reading year! I used to use Goodreads, then moved to Storygraph. And both didn’t quite hit the accuracy I was looking for in some of my stats. So I ended up creating a notion template for my reading log a year or two ago and love it! It calculates stats for me, and I can keep track of all kinds of the info I want and easily look up info. (like how many different countries I read from, how many re-reads, etc.). Then I use Canva to create charts for my stats. I’ve just finished putting my stats for 2025 together and am working on my spreads for it in my journal. I hadn’t thought to do some stats comparing this year to other years. I may do that! Happy New Year!
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I got a template for a friend that I use to track these various categories and do my statistics each year. But I do rely on Goodreads mostly for the thematic shelves I’ve created, and keeping track of my TBR. I’ll see how it goes with Storygraph!
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Hooray, you’re one of only two people I follow who read (even) more than me in 2025 (and the other one did lots of picture books). My key to reading more diversely (although I always read diversely, I can see going back through my reading diaries) was to be more intentional about NetGalley books, so I will only read about Disaster Millennials if they’re Queer or from Global Majority communities. The nonfiction I read helps, too. But you have decent totals – I try to “beat” the UK racial mix! Looking forward to reading many more interesting reviews from you in 2026!
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Ooh, now I have to know who the other person is! Marcie (Buried in Print) is usually the only one to beat me, but she hasn’t posted stats yet.
I don’t count picture books towards my year totals.
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Someone called Beverley A. Baird – I only recently started following her, I think because of Nonfiction November posts https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/end-of-year-summary-and-reading-goals-for-2026/
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Well, she’s retired 😉
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For me, it’s a game of “anxiety or perimenopause” and I don’t like it!! Also, why doesn’t WordPress know the word “perimenopause”, I’ve got a red squiggly line under it 😦
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The one could well be a symptom of the other! Heather Hirsch’s book on perimenopause was a useful one for me to skim from the library, if only for the long list of symptoms — 34 of them.
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I followed you on Storygraph! I’m @laila4343. I like the stats and charts on Storygraph but I still do Goodreads for my most up to date TBR list and the social aspect. Plus the “women born in the 1970’s” reading list every year. I enjoyed reading about your end of year stats! I still have to do my post on that.
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I must admit I keep reverting to Goodreads whenever I go to mark a book as finished or add something to my TBR. I haven’t spent the time yet to really investigate Storygraph, but I will hope to do so later this month.
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You know I always look forward to seeing your stat’s each year and thinking about how our habits are similar and different. My year was fairly typical for the most part (you’ll note the details) but, like you, I was really happy with some of my rereading too (which, as you’ve noted, is often the best reading, but we get pulled into the newer/fresh reads…irresistible!) and I just wasn’t hesitant to pull off bigger books into the stacks this year the way I often am, and I loved that. I really meant to take part in Doorstoppers this year but the end of 2025 was hectic, trying to make up for time lost to illness earlier in and through autumn (sounds like you can relate, somewhat at least). I love your year’s photos and your reminiscences. And I can relate to the discovery of new bevvies (perhaps in your family home, even more than mine, that kind of thing was frowned upon…it was amazing to have a more open-minded world, of different tastes and blends, appear… I loved discovering that too). Now that some time has passed, have you had any other reflections on your 2025? I often feel, as soon as I hit ‘publish’, that I should have said…
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True, my immediate family was teetotal for cultural and religious reasons, later for medical reasons. My mother had seen too much alcoholism in her wider family, I think.
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Fun stats!
Here are mine: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/01/02/year-of-reading-2025-part-2-statistics/
Have a great year of reading!
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