Last year, I read 13 books! This year I read 15. Still over my usual goal of 10 books per year. I also listened to a lot of podcasts, which I have included at the end of this list.
Stats:
7 fiction books (last year: 4)
Broken down into: 2 contemporary, 2 classic, and 1 part of a series, and 1 YA/childrens
1 of these was the second book in a trilogy; 3 were re-reads; 1 was by someone I know
6 non-fiction books (last year: 8)
Broken down into: 3 memoirs/autobiography, 2 academic/history, 1 psychology
3 were by someone I know
1 book of poetry (last year: 1)
1 play (last year: 0)
I read 5 non-American authors this year from the UK, South Korea, and Ukraine (though written in English as the author is based in the UK); last year it was 2. This year I read 9 female authors with 2 being a woman of color (I am counting the Thornton Wilder Journal as 1 female author); last year I read 8 female authors, with 2 being women of color. 6 books were for book clubs (last year it was 5): 1 of those was for the fiction book club at work (last year 2), 2 were for the ERG discussion groups at work (last year 2), 1 was a re-read for both the Thornton Wilder Society group (also 1 last year), and 1 was for the Barnard friends book group (0 last year). Usually I try to read at least one book by someone I know, and this year I read 4. Last year I read 1 books related to something I was writing/working on, and this year I read 2.
These stats are fairly similar to last year’s with slightly more fiction books and slightly fewer non-fiction books, but it’s pretty even. I kept my good mix of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, including one theater book, which I did not read last year.
I also read 5 New Yorkers and 5 New York magazines, two less in each from last year.
Goals:
Last year my goals were: “Make sure to read a theater book (I’m sure I’ll have no problem with that), continue to read memoir/autobiography but try to read an actual biography, read the next book in both series, read one book of poetry, re-read one Wilder fiction or play and one Wilder non-fiction. Continue to read more than half by women authors and have half of those be women of color, and half of your overall selections be authors of color. Read 7 New Yorkers and 7 New York Magazines again.”
I did so-so with these goals. I read the 1 theater book, continued to read memoir/autobiography books, 1 poetry book, and 3 Wilder books: fiction, non-fiction, and play. However, I also only read one of the next books in the series I had started (the Book of Dust series), but I had to skip the other (the Tree of Life series). I had had to skip the Book of Dust series last year, so this year I made the choice to read the 2nd book in that one and not finish the Tree of Life. I did not read a biography per se, but I did read autobiographies. I count those, but I’d like to get back to biographies again. 9/15 of the books were by women, which is definitely more than half, though only 2/9 were women of color, which is less than half. This was similar to last year. And I only read 5 New Yorkers and 5 New York magazines (and I’m still finishing those up, don’t tell anyone).
My goals for 2026 will be: Read a real estate book again, at least 1 Wilder fiction and 1 Wilder non-fiction, continue to read memoir/autobiography but try to read an actual biography, finish the Tree of Life series, read one book of poetry, and at least one theater book. Continue to read more than half by women authors and keep trying to have half of those be women of color, and half of your overall selections be authors of color. Read 7 New Yorkers and 7 New York Magazines again.
This year, I also did what I could of the online poetry course ModPo in the fall, which included listening to all the live webcasts and attending one in person. I also read two pilots this year.
My favorite book(s) of the year:
The Big Parade: Meredith Willson’s Musicals from The Music Man to 1491by Dominic McHugh
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
And re-reads:
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (audiobook)
