Listing

Last year was a tough one for reading. I legitimately had a lot going on, between a house hunt that took the better part of seven months and the move that followed. But I also struggled to stick with books, even after I’d unpacked them in my new home. I often wantered from shelf to shelf, piling books in my bed in an attempt to select something that would stick. I felt unmoored.

For unrelated reasons, a wise friend suggested I talk to my doctor about resuming use of SSRIs. Because this conversation took place in December, my appointment was several weeks out. As I waited, I wondered: Would getting back on anti-depressants help me return to my typical reading habit?

I’ve tracked my reading since the mid-aughts, and it was made that much easier when I joined Goodreads. I don’t currently set numerical goals because I found they stole the joy from my reading. But tracking my habits offers other benefits, primarily serving as a record of my year.

If my numbers skew high, I check in to see if there’s some other aspect of life I’ve been avoiding. (Of course, my top year was 2020. I’m sure you can guess why I finished 150 books that year.) Reading significantly fewer books than usual can suggest other challenges.

In 2024, I finished 44 books, my fewest in more than a decade. But just a week into my newly medicated year, I texted a friend to tell her I’d finished more than 140 pages that day.

I was back.

I don’t expect 2025 to be an exceptional reading year, although the number of books I’ve preordered might suggest otherwise. But a few weeks ago, I realized I was on track for a distinctive goal: In the first six months of 2025, I read 44 books. I’ve matched last year’s total in half the time.

I still had quite a few books to go when I realized this was possible. I set my focus on clearing my Goodreads “currently reading” shelf (although I didn’t complete all the climate change books I had underway). I read a mix of what I wanted, books for review and books for book club.

When I finished book 43 on June 29, I decided to select something short and familiar to carry me across this mid-year finish line. I pulled Anna Quindlen’s “How Reading Changed My Life” off the shelf and revisited a favorite essay collection.

A friend gave me this slim book as a birthday present 15 years ago, and I’ve extended the same gift to others throughout the years. My copy bears notes from each time I’ve read the book. It’s seen me from my late 20s into middle age, and each version of me feels at home within these covers.

At 82 pages, “How Reading Changed My Life” felt like the perfect way to reach this milestone. I track the quantity of what I read, but the volume isn’t really my point. The quality these pages add to my days is what I seek.

I’m approaching 20 years of tracking what I read each year, an obsession made easier thanks to bookish social media. (I’m a regular GoodReads user though I really favor Storygraph, thanks to its data visualization and lack of Amazon affiliation. Old habits are hard to break.) Quantity is only one indication of how the year of reading has treated me, but it’s always telling. In 2020, when we had nothing but time, I read 150 books for the first time. And in 2024, when time and attention both felt elusive, I clocked in at 44 books.

Each year my dear friend Rachel Burchfield Appling invites me on her podcast, “I’d Rather Be Reading,” to discuss the year in books. Our fourth-annual year in review is live now. And though this was one of my slimmest reading years since I started tracking, we still found plenty to discuss.

I’m linking to my favorite books of 2024 below, but you’ll have to listen to the full episode to learn why I loved them. You’ll also hear Rachel and I discuss orange cats (of course), the books I reread this year and the books we’re looking forward to in 2025. And I’d love to hear from you! What were your favorite books this year? What’s at the top of your TBR?

• Meditation for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman (Listen to Rachel’s interview with Oliver!)
• Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music by Rob Sheffield (I interviewed Sheffield for BookPage, and it was one of the most fun interviews I’ve conducted in my 20-year career.)
• Just Like Glass: A Family Memoir by Amy Wight Chapman
• Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley (OK, you don’t have to listen to the episode to learn why I loved this one. I also reviewed it for BookPage.)
• The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
• Sandwich by Catherine Newman

Past year in review episodes:

• 2023 in review (My favorite book was The Quickening: Antarctica, Motherhood and Cultivating Hope in a Warming World by Elizabeth Rush, which I reviewed for BookPage.)
• 2022 in review
• 2021 in review

I’ll note that I’ve linked to Bookshop.org whenever possible; they don’t have Just Like Glass. You can select your local store on Bookshop.org and they’ll receive a portion of the proceeds from your purchase. I prefer this to shopping with Amazon, though I recognize that sometimes shopping at a significant discount is the only way buying books is accessible for someone. But my first choice is shopping locally! If you can, do. And don’t forget about your local library!