Books Read In 2025
2025 was a good year for reading. It started out really strong and slowed dramatically toward the end, but I followed my interests and let myself take breaks from books when I needed to.
What I read in 2025 (favorites are highlighted):
- Wind and Truth, Brandon Sanderson
- Dry, Jarrod Shusterman and Neal Shusterman
- Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler
- Onyx Storm, Rebecca Yarros
- Book Lovers, Emily Henry (reread)
- Cello’s Gate, Maurice Africh
- The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins
- Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport (reread)
- Red Rising, Pierce Brown
- Stolen Focus, Johann Hari
- Golden Son, Pierce Brown
- Morning Star, Pierce Brown
- The Punch Escrow, Tal M. Klein
- Recursion, Blake Crouch
- Funny Story, Emily Henry
- The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
- Just For The Summer, Abby Jimenez
- Songlight, Moira Buffini
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V.E. Schwab
- Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson
- Real Self-Care, Pooja Lakshmin
- Beach Read, Emily Henry
- The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
- The Hero of Ages, Brandon Sanderson
- We Need Your Art, Amie McNee
- Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune
- Filterworld, Kyle Chayka
- The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo
- Love, Theoretically, Ali Hazelwood
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman
- The Alloy of Law, Brandon Sanderson
- Tusk Love, Thea Guanzon
Takeaways
I did a good job reading more of the books I had on my list at the beginning of the year. I said I’d get around to reading Mistborn and I did! I also started the Red Rising series and found myself loving that.
I read more romance books this year than I typically do. It was fun to try different authors - Abby Jimenez was really great and I might look for more books from her. I also loved Tusk Love from Thea Guanzon, which was a fun DnD/Critical Role fantasy romance.
I discovered Stolen Focus by Johann Hari last year and it low key inspired me to quit Instagram entirely. I also devoured We Need Your Art by Amie McNee. It was perfect for this season of life, where I had stepped away from my career as a designer to be an at-home parent for a while and needed to feel the creative itch again.
And, I found that I loved Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman and will be spiraling down that rabbit hole in 2026!
In all, I did exactly what I set out to do in 2025: I let my mood guide me, picking up books based on the season I was in. I didn’t force my way through books that didn’t hook me. I refused to meet an arbitrary end-of-year quantity goal, letting the rhythm of my day-to-day guide whether I read or not.
How does 2026 look?
Honestly, I haven’t made any plans for my reading in 2026!
And that feels pretty freeing.
I do want to continue to let my mood take me where it wants to. I have a feeling that this year will be a busy one, so I’m letting myself read ‘fluffier’ books to give my brain a rest occasionally. I’m also embracing rereads this year. I recently pulled Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman off the shelf again and it’s perfect for the beginning of a new year.
As for specific books I want to read, here are a few that I’d like to get around to:
- Finishing Dune - it’s really good so far!
- Catching up on the Dungeon Crawler Carl series
- Finishing Era 2 of Mistborn
- Reading the last half of the Red Rising series
- Picking up the next Wheel of Time book, The Dragon Reborn
Those feel like a good place to start.