The Gothic Library

It’s been a weird year, both in my reading life and in the world beyond. I felt pulled in too many directions at once, and wound up feeling less productive than usual—both in terms of how many books I read and in general. That said, I still had some good times and some great reads. And I’m aiming to be more intentional and more focused in 2026. 

As of this writing, I have read 43 books out of my stated goal of 50 books for the year, with maybe time to squeeze one or two more in before the year ends. This will be the first time since 2022 that I haven’t met my numerical goal—though if we were counting books I started rather than books I finished, I’d have hit the mark! Aside from one or two that I intentionally DNFed (did not finish), there are at least five books that I got partway through and was enjoying but wound up inadvertently abandoning. This happened largely because I’ve been reading to a lot of deadlines—either book club meetings or something work-related—and not giving myself enough time. Then when those deadlines passed, I set the half-finished book down in favor of something else that felt urgent. This also happened with books that I was excited to read and brought on vacation with me, but then felt that I had to return to my obligation-books when my trip was over. I’ve been trying to finish as many of these as I can before the end of the year, but I definitely want to try to avoid ending up in this situation in the future. To do that, I think I need to give myself more time to start a book ahead of book club meetings and also try to avoid spreading myself too thin.  Continue reading My 2025 Reading Recap