Books #40

[mindlessness]

Felt like it may be time to resurrect the end of year questions! I think this may be the third year of having them in these threads? I love reading everyones responses to these.

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite audio book of this year?

What book/s surprised you good or bad?

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?

 

[Chocolategoggler]

It's strange isn't it when a book is like that. A slow start or it's just not the right book for that time for you, you keep picking it up, read a few pages and sigh and think "should I DNF?" Then one day you pick it up and the stars align (or whatever) and it's the best thing since sliced bread!

I'm glad it hooked you in the end.

It wasn't that kind of book. I just didn't have the time to read it, but I know what you mean about books like that.
Sometimes you have to be in the right mood for a book or read it at a certain pace.
I find things that put pressure on you to read so many books in a set amount of time or the library deluging you with too many books at once, can spoil the reading pleasure of a book.

 

[LaBlonde]

thank you @mindlessness i love doing these!

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?

can’t pick one, any of: on the savage side, shark heart, the great believers, sorcery and small magics, and the safekeep

What book/s surprised you good or bad?

all the colours of the dark might be the most disappointedly overhyped book i read all year. the boys of tommen books (of which i read about one and a half) also shocked me by just how trauma porn they are.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?

read 85 books, goodreads tells me my average rating was 3.1 which seems about right! a year of some very very good books and also some really poor ones.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?

aiming to read around 80 again, hoping to read some more non-fiction as i read precisely none this year. and also to stop buying so many romances in the works as i know i will not like them 🥲

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

Felt like it may be time to resurrect the end of year questions! I think this may be the third year of having them in these threads? I love reading everyones responses to these.

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite audio book of this year?

What book/s surprised you good or bad?

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Inspector Imanishi Investigates - Seichō Matsumoto
Nemesis - Patricia Wolf

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
The Race to the Future - Kassia St. Clair
Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner
Fire Weather - John Vaillant

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Very disappointed by both North Woods and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which had rave reviews but I found middling at best.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
I thought I'd had a poor year because I remember being disappointed by or disliking quite a few books, but my average rating this year is actually 3.9, which is very slightly higher than last year.

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
I honestly never look at what's to come. I just wait for things to pop up on Kindle and see what takes my fancy.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I'd quite like to beat my total for this year, but mainly I'd like to reduce my TBR....which I say every year!

Thank you for posting these, I love reading everyone's answers

 

[anniemouse]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Possibly The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah, as I thought about it a few times since and recommended it to a friend who also loved it.

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
I don’t really read Non-Fiction. The only one I think I read this year was Sociopath by Patric Gagne but I didn’t really think it was that good. Oh I did read Bad Mormon by Heather Gay and enjoyed that though.

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
I really loved Christmas Fling by Lindsey Kelk.

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
I read James by Percival Everett for a book club and was surprised how much I enjoyed it.

For bad I would say I was excited at the concept for A Heart for Christmas but it wasn’t that great.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
Probably 4 stars average, I tend to like most books I read. According to Goodreads 3.7 average.

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
None, I’m hoping to shop my shelves as much as possible. I’ve learned that preordering books isn’t really for me as I don’t rush to read them so I might as well wait and get them when I’m ready.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
Shop my shelves and sell/donate once read unless they are special.

Will set my Goodreads to 100 but likely won’t stick to it if past 2 years are anything to go by.

 

[Kerrie86]

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
My favourite was Good Spirits by BK Borison - I think it’ll be hard to top, it just made me feel so much.
What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
I dont read very much non fiction so I’ll have to say When Gavin Met Stacey
What was your favourite audio book of this year?
I only listened to one during a long drive (I find I lose concentration too easily otherwise) which was Good Spirits!
What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Got to say Good Spirits again because it’s the only time I’ve ever finished a book and started reading it again straight after. A thousand boy kisses surprised me though by how much I disliked it after seeing a lot of rave reviews.
If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
Average rating 3.3 stars!
Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
I’ve not pre ordered any but am looking forward to the next Ali Hazlewood and BK Borison ones
Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I will order atmosphere by TJR when it comes down in price, I’d like to read more of Ashley Postons books too and maybe complete a couple of outstanding series (mile high because I didn’t like it enough to pay full price for the last two books over my existing library, and Chestnut Springs which I didn’t really like at all but powered through with the first three)

 

[AllieBee]

Felt like it may be time to resurrect the end of year questions! I think this may be the third year of having them in these threads? I love reading everyones responses to these.

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?

What was your favourite audio book of this year?

What book/s surprised you good or bad?

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?

Favourite fiction - The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams and Death in the Spires by KJ Charles

Favourite non fiction - Suffragette by Emmeline Pankhurst

Don't listen to audio. Yet.

Bad Surprise - Demon Copperhead. It had such good reviews and I fully expected to love it. I found it a slog. Also cant let the year end without saying how much I hated a Heart for Christmas, I bailed at day 6. I was really excited to read an advent book as you all had such a good time with last years!

Average rating - 3.8 stars

Next year - the Hallmarked Man in paperback

Reading goal - introduce more classics to my reading and read every single day of 2026, current streak is 215 days for this year.

Thanks for this i love reading everyone's answers

 

[StephenTJackson]

2025 Reading Round Up

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Well obviously I have to comment on my love of The Strength of the Few - James Islington. I adored the first book and spent 2 years raving about it. The sequel didn't disappoint, expanded its world in a extremely ambitious expansion and landed it so well for me. I loved it and eagerly anticipate the final book of the Trilogy.

I will also mention The Count of Monte Cristo. I had it on the shelf for some time and was intimidated a bit by it's sheer length. But it was well worth reading. A story that really hasn't particularly aged either, it still feels so very fresh and again the scale and ambition of the story told was remarkable. Still so readable to a modern audience.

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
Not read much non fiction this year. But would say Let's Do It The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood by Jasper Rees. A remarkable woman taken way too soon. The depths and breadths of her talents and skills are still under appreciated by many. But learning more about her childhood, growing up, just how painfully shy she could be, all the things that contributed to make her the woman she was, really really fascinating to read more about Victoria Wood.

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
N/A

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
I was surprised just how current The Count of Monte Cristo still feels.

Disappointed in Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty, just didn't really go anywhere for me.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
N/A

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
Have a raft of books already pre ordered - thank you Triple points Waterstones black Friday deal.
Probably most looking forward to the next Eddie Flynn by Steve Cavanagh, the next Rob Rinder, Marlow Murder Club. My favourite series that returning to is like a warm familiar blanket of characters you know and love.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
Trying to work through more of what is on my shelves, be a bit more selective with what I buy, but also continue to work on my long term reading projects - probably just focusing on British Library Crime Classics series and Agatha Christie's bibliography as my main two reading projects. Maybe starting to work on the Agatha Raisin series by M.C. Beaton.

 

[superhero.birds]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Sunrise on the reaping - Suzanne Collins
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
Beartown - Fredrik Backman

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
Sociopath - Patric Gagne

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
I can’t get on with audiobooks

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Sunrise on the reaping - Suzanne Collins, a positive surprise, I’d loved the original Hunger Games books, but I never expect prequels or ones written much later to measure up
Orbital - Samantha Harvey, a bad surprise. How do you make being in space boring? It was just a lot of thinking about thinking.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
I averaged 3.7 over 108 books, my lowest rating was 2/5 (Inside Wakefield Prison a non-fiction book that included remarkably little information about Wakefield Prison)

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
I have too many books on my to read list to pre-order any

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I keep a list, currently of 111 books to read! But reserved on order from the library I have:
Us against you - Fredrik Backman
The Women - Kristin Hannah
My Friends - Fredrik Backman
Atmosphere - Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

[SaintLeo]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
In no particular order -
Atmosphere by TJR
My Friends by Fredrick Backman
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
Only 2 non fictions this year - When Gavin Met Stacey and Abroad in Japan. Liked both but the vote goes to Gavin & Stacey.

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
Not an audio person. I tried Wuthering Heights on audio this year and DNF’d! Could be more to do with the book than the format though!

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Good - The Husbands by Holly Gramazio, it seemed like a ridiculous premise but ended up being a really good fun read. Also Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, didn’t expect to like this as much as I did despite it always appearing on must read lists. Well worth tackling the 900+ pages!

Bad - All Fours by Miranda July. Not just the worst book I read this year but potentially one of the worst ever. A load of pretentious rubbish!

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
I don’t rate but overall a decent year. Quite a few other books that could have made the favourites list but didn’t. A couple of let downs but not too many and only one really bad one (see above!)

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
I’m a “wait for things to be on 99p Kindle deals” person so nothing pre-ordered. Hoping for more of my wish list to be reduced in 2026!

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I’ve always set my annual goal at 50 and will probably do the same again even through I’ve got through 65 books this year. Not sure how that happened as I’m normally only a couple over target.

I’m going to keep up with my at least 1 big book (800+ pages) per year goal and this year I think that will be The Count of Monte Cristo which I’m very excited to get into.

At the start of 2025 by Kindle TBR was creeping close to 120 and it’s now around 90 so going to keep working through it and get that number down even more.

 

[Tofino]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Wild at Heart / Forever Wild by KA Tucker
The Women

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
The Dose Effect by TJ Power. My only non-fiction actually but it was a 5 star read.

What was your favourite audio book of this yeah?
No audiobooks this year

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Powerless by Elsie Silver - bad. The normalisation of choking women during sex (especially without consent) is a big NO from me

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
Goodreads says 3.7 and that’s about right. I probably had fewer 5 star reads than I would have liked.
Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released? Not ordered yet but I will want to preorder the burned haystack dating method by Jennie Young. Otherwise I don’t tend to go for new releases very often.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I have been keeping a short list of books I want to prioritise which includes Running Wild (4th and final in the wild series), the nightingale, 1984, the great circle and the one I got for Xmas, the moth and the mountain. A few more too but won’t bore you with the full list. I think I’ll end up on 26 books for this year so might make next year a 30 book target. I slumped over the summer so if I can be more consistent then I should be able to meet it.

 

[Hannahebee]

2025 Reading Round Up

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Shouting the Odds by Jon Franklin
A Child For Sale by Pam Howes
Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams by Sue Watson
Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown *If I could make a TV series of the Lord Edgington Investigates series I would do it with immediate effect*

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
Bomb Girls by Jacky Hyams

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
N/A

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
Good surprise- The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright by Beth Miller just a heartwarming book that had me fully engaged and wanting to continue on to see what was going to happen next.
Bad surprises- Dancing at the Victory Cafe by Leah Fleming due to the fact that so many things were missed out and that it moved from one thing to the next within either a paragraph or the next page so as a result of this I couldn't feel a connection to the characters, The Case of the Hidden Flame by Alison Golden nothing was good about this book and The Swimmer by Graham Norton where I liked the start of it but the rest fell completely flat.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
A mixed bag where some were good and some were not so good.

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
Like @superhero.birds I have too many books on my tbr to pre-order any.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
Reducing my tbr by reading the books that are on my bookshelves so I can make room for the others that are on my bedroom floor. Therefore, I don't plan to buy any books until I have read my other ones first.

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

loving these round ups. Will do mine soon!

 

[Mamacita]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?

The Will of the Many and Strength of the Few were the only ones i gave 5 star.

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?

Everything is Tuberculosis
Careless People

What was your favourite audio book of this year?

Honestly, as above Everything is Tuberculosis was great as an audibook

What book/s surprised you good or bad?

None really. Most were as expected

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?

3.4!

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?

hoping for next ACOTAR book tbh

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?

My year of reading was not great, only read 27 books which is the least since i got back into reading regularly and also about 5000 pages less than last year. Not surprised, I've started new hobbies and also my phone addiction has reached it's peak I'm not setting any massive goals for next year. I will give myself a target for the goodreads challenge but tbh as long as i continue reading regularly (as in always having a book on the go, even if it takes me 3 weeks to read it) then that's fine. Want to read some more non fiction.

 

[ahkrin]

Anyone else done the Penguin quiz today? Absolutely OUTRAGED they didn't accept Bertram as Bertie Wooster's first name.

 

[Jellycat369]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Alchemised - SenLinYu
The Girls Who Disappeared - Claire Douglas

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
I only read one non-ficton book this year, Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken, and his writing style was so annoying I couldn't finish it. He literally repeated the same story every other page, it was frustrating!

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
I don't listen to audio books.

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
I couldn't finish Dead Ends by Jeffery Deaver, which is a shame because I liked some of his other books in the past. I couldn't even get past the first chapters of either The Bee Sting by Paul Murray or The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.

If you rate books what was your average rating and/or sum up your year of reading?
3.7

Have you pre-ordered any books for 2026 yet / which books are you most looking forward to being released?
I haven't pre-ordered any books, I don't buy physical copies.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
I have a reading list in my library app. I pick up recommendations from here as well as social media. Current reading list:
Aphrodite - Phoenicia Rogerson
Katabasis - R F Kuang
Don't Let Him In - Lisa Jewell
The Cabin at the End of the World - Paul Tremblay
The Silence Factory - Bridget Collins
Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten - Lisa Unger
The Women - Kristin Hannah
The Girl Beyond the Gate - Becca Day
It Should Have Been You - Andrea Mara
The Good Daughter - Karin Slaughter
Later - Stephen King
Fable at the End of the World - Ava Reid
Lady Macbeth - Ava Reid
Bunny - Mona Awad

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

Goodreads year in books. I’m now on 31/25 books read and that will be 32 by NY.
Irritates me a bit that they send it out a few days before the end of the year

 

[ahkrin]

2025 READING ROUND UP

What was your favourite fiction read of this year?
Maybe Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie. The Will of the Many was also a contender.

What was your favourite non-fiction read of this year?
Don't think I've read a non-fiction all the way through this year.

What was your favourite audio book of this year?
I have enjoyed picking back up The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch via audiobook.

What book/s surprised you good or bad?
The Strength of the Few, I pre-ordered it after finishing TWOTM and I felt it was a bit of a let down.

Do you have a list of books you are aiming to read next year or do you have any reading goals for the year ahead?
No specific goals, just reducing my physical TBR shelves (got a Kindle for Christmas so anticipating the e-book TBR to grow at pace).

 

[Harlot O'Scara]

My Goodreads year:

(Annoyingly, one my 5* books is missing an image on GR for some reasons so it spoils the look of everything :/)

 

[AllieBee]

My Goodreads year:

(Annoyingly, one my 5* books is missing an image on GR for some reasons so it spoils the look of everything :/)

How do you get to these pages on GR? All i have is number of pages and books read?