It's time for reading stats!
This is always one of my favorite posts because I find it really fun to look at all of the fine details of the books I read in a year and see how things change from year to year and get a better understanding of my reading--and see if there are any changes I'd like to make. (Last year's post can be found here.)
For these posts, I usually grab a few of the graphics from the Goodreads 'Year in Books' page since they are so handy, and the rest are from my own spreadsheet where I've compiled various bits of information about each book I read in the year, such as publisher, year of publication, genre, page count, etc.--you get the idea. I then pick some of the most interesting ones to share here with you all! I also decided to try out Fable this year, so I might share a few of the graphics from their yearly wrap-ups as well, just to see how they compare.
Without further ado, let's dive in my 2025 reading stats!
This is always one of my favorite posts because I find it really fun to look at all of the fine details of the books I read in a year and see how things change from year to year and get a better understanding of my reading--and see if there are any changes I'd like to make. (Last year's post can be found here.)
For these posts, I usually grab a few of the graphics from the Goodreads 'Year in Books' page since they are so handy, and the rest are from my own spreadsheet where I've compiled various bits of information about each book I read in the year, such as publisher, year of publication, genre, page count, etc.--you get the idea. I then pick some of the most interesting ones to share here with you all! I also decided to try out Fable this year, so I might share a few of the graphics from their yearly wrap-ups as well, just to see how they compare.
Without further ado, let's dive in my 2025 reading stats!
Yearly Totals:
This year was pretty crazy and stressful and altogether not a fabulous one for me, haha, so I'm incredibly surprised that I managed to still read 139 books. Audiobooks have definitely contributed to that and I'm so glad I've been enjoying them these past couple years, as it really is nice to take in stories and information in different formats and experiences.
Slightly higher average than last year, but I don't tend to think too much on this one. I think around 300-400 pages is probably the general average of book pages (at least in the genres I read), so this seems about right. Although I do feel like page counts are still getting a bit shorter overall on average in the industry, lately.
I honestly am not sure why I include this one these days since I hate the start system and also use .25, .5, and .75 ratings, but you know, it's here.
To all my body horror and Substance fans: go read Carapace!
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about The Body Keeps the Score--it has some great things, it has some not as great things, but I'm glad I finally gave it a read.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about The Body Keeps the Score--it has some great things, it has some not as great things, but I'm glad I finally gave it a read.
Those Dungeon Crawler Carl books are certainly chunky, I'll give them that!
I'm pretty sure last year's highest rate read (per Goodreads users) was also a Dungeon Crawler Carl book, so I feel like that has to say something about this series and its fanbase.
I'm pretty sure last year's highest rate read (per Goodreads users) was also a Dungeon Crawler Carl book, so I feel like that has to say something about this series and its fanbase.
And lastly, my "reader summary" from Fable:
I do read pretty much whatever sounds good to me, so this feels accurate enough to me 🤣!
Stats:
Okay, time for the details! In this section, I'll take a look at genres, page count, format, etc. I tend to compare it to my previous year's post to see how things change year to year. So, let's have a look:
Okay, time for the details! In this section, I'll take a look at genres, page count, format, etc. I tend to compare it to my previous year's post to see how things change year to year. So, let's have a look:
Genre
To begin, let's look at what genres I read this year! I read more fantasy this year (48.2%) than last year, when it made up 38.3% of my reading. Nonfiction made up 9.4% of my reading, which fits what I'd expect, though I'd love to increase that a bit more this year. Sci-fi was apparently only 7.9%, which feels very surprising to me, and horror made up 23%, which also feels surprising. I think a lot of the books I read this year had a lot of genre overlap, so I tried to just list them as the genre that felt more dominant, but it's a little difficult to get a really clear boundary sometimes, so I take these numbers with a grain of salt. I also forgot to sort out graphic novels/comics from the rest, but I'd assume it's a fairly small percentage as well. I also sorted out thrillers (1.4%), historical fiction (4.3%)--the one I'd love to increase next year--classics (1.4%), and contemporary fiction (4.3%), which pretty much means literary fiction and I'm not sure why I accidentally renamed it this year.
Target Audience
Once again, this one is not a huge surprise. I mainly read books written with an adult audience in mind (87.1%), but I do love some middle grade (7.2%) books as well. I very rarely read young adult (5.8%), as reflected here, but there are still a few here and there that usually pop up and intrigue me enough to pick up. I think I read a few more middle grade and young adult this year, but overall these tend to stay fairly stable.
Format
Okay, now let's take a look at the format of the books I read this year! Honestly, there are very few changes here from last year! eARCs (17.3%) and ALCs (2.9%) are about the same, just slightly increased from last year. Hardcovers (16.5%) and paperbacks (8.6%) are also very similar. I also read slightly less audiobooks (30.9%) and physical ARCs (18%) than last year, but that's still a fairly significant amount. I've really enjoyed having audiobooks, but I'll always prefer physical books when I have the chance.
Book Source
So, where have I been getting all the books I read? Fortunately, >80% were free! This appears to be fairly consistent with previous years--the amount received directly from publishers (24.%), for instance, is almost exactly the same as last year. NetGalley (18%) is also fairly similar (and I realize NetGalley is also technically the publisher, but I like to see how much is coming from NetGalley vs. my communications with publishers). I read less books I already owned (18%) this year, but I did get about 5% more the library (36%) this year, so that makes me glad. I really love the library and it's one of those things that is crazy to think about--you can indulge in a hobby/entertainment for free! I also have been trying to accept more books directly from indie authors (2.2%) as well, but that number is still on the lower side. All in all, I'm not mad at these numbers, though I could probably stand to read more of the books I already own, haha, but it can be hard to balance new releases/ARCs from publishers with backlist titles on my shelves already.
Page Count
And lastly, what length of books did I read this year? I find that the page count amounts are often fairly in line with what page counts are most common in the publishing industry, though fantasy often skews towards high page counts (although these days I think they are pushing shorter fantasy books). There's not too much difference compared to last year, but I did seem to get to a few more bigger books this year than last year.
Tell me about your year in books! Do you keep track of information for stats like this? If you do and you made a post that I haven't seen–or any type end of year post–leave me a link below because I love checking them out!
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