It’s time once again for my yearly reading retrospective. Last year I set my goal for 2025 at at 26 books; or, one book every two weeks. I did not meet this goal, despite heroically plowing through three (!) books on New Year’s Eve. I ended up at 16, or a little over one book per month. That’s fine! This year, I found myself feeling more excited about using my free time to create, rather than consume. That’s not to say one is better than the other, just that they fulfill different parts of my brain. I hope you’ll hear a bit about those creative projects in the coming months. (Edit: You have.)
Anyway, here’s the list!
| Title | Author | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Breaker Queen open_in_new | C.S.E. Cooney | Feb. 8 | Feb. 8 |
| I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter open_in_new | Isabel Fall | Feb. 11 | Feb. 11 |
| Sea of Tranquility open_in_new | Emily St. John Mandel | May ?? | May 15 |
| Nettle & Bone open_in_new | T. Kingfisher | May 15 | May 16 |
| Annihilation open_in_new | Jeff VanderMeer | May 29 | May 29 |
| Authority open_in_new | Jeff VanderMeer | May 31 | Jun. 1 |
| Spent open_in_new | Alison Bechdel | Jun. ?? | Jun. 18 |
| The Dawnhounds open_in_new | Sascha Stronach | Jul. 5 | Jul. 6 |
| Too Like the Lightning open_in_new | Ada Palmer | Jul. 7 | Jul. 13 |
| Seven Surrenders open_in_new | Ada Palmer | Jul. 13 | Jul. 27 |
| Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City open_in_new | K.J. Parker | Aug. 9 | Aug. 31 |
| Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic open_in_new | Alison Bechdel | Sep. 23 | Sep. 23 |
| Pollen From A Future Harvest open_in_new | Derek Künsken | Sep. 25 | Sep.25 |
| A Real Emergency open_in_new | Joanna Sokol | Dec. 31 | Dec. 31 |
| Strange Houses open_in_new | Uketsu | Dec. 31 | Dec. 31 |
| Strange Pictures open_in_new | Uketsu | Dec. 31 | Dec. 31 |
When I did read, I still tended to finish books in a day or two. Of the books I read, I really enjoyed the Terra Ignota open_in_new series by Ada Palmer, a philosophically heavy take on post-scarcity human civilization. The conceptual density meant I burnt out a bit after tearing through the first two of the four-book series, but I hope to finish it in 2026. This reveals a more general pitfall in my reading habits, which is that I put a lot of pressure on myself to read a full series back-to-back. For example, I picked up the new Southern Reach open_in_new novel that I talked about at the end of last year’s post, but decided that I should reread the rest of the series before diving into the new entry. What’s that you say? You only see Annihilation and Acceptance on my list? An astute observation, reader. I burnt out on the series and never even got to the new book.
I have this idea that I won’t be able to appreciate the next book in a series unless the previous books are immediately fresh in my mind, but I really won’t appreciate the next book in a series if I never read it. So in 2026, I’d like to give myself a little more flexibility when it comes to picking up series I have enjoyed previously, even if I might not perfectly recall all the preceding action and characterization.
Do you approach series this way as well, or is this just a weird rule I made up for myself and never before examined? Anyway, short post for a short list. Going to return to a goal of 18 books for 2026. Bye!