I found Jamie’s End of Year Book Survey through Jana @ The Artsy Reader Girl two years ago and I’m doing it again this year, albeit really late! Please feel free to do this too if you haven’t already, and leave a comment with your link so I can check out your answers!
You can also check out my 2023 End of Year Book Survey and 2024 End of Year Book Survey if you’re curious!
2025 Reading Stats
Click here to check out My Year In Books in detail. You can also use it to check yours.
Number of books you read: 124
Number of re-reads: 24 out of 124!
Number of books you DNFed: I didn’t keep track of them!
Number of pages you read: 50,837
Most read genre: Fantasy at 63 books
Number of new-to-you authors you discovered: 53
Firsts and Lasts
First book you read: Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Last book you read: Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
Best In Books
1. Best book you read in 2025:
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. Maybe I’m cheating because it’s a series, but they are just so good! If you want to see the top ten best books I read in 2025, I have a Top Ten Tuesday post featuring them!
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t:
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan. I was so excited about a Malaysian author writing Malaysian historical fiction, and it could’ve been good except the characters weren’t believable at all. One character’s behaviors in particular was so implausible that I would’ve dnf’d if it was any other book.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read:
Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum. This is one of those stories that you think you know because it’s well-known in pop culture, but it’s the first time for me reading the book and whole collection, and I’m so suprised by how much more there is to the stories! I never really cared for the story we know, but now I’m a fan of the books!
4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did):
The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo. This is one of my all-time favorite books by a Malaysian author writing Malaysian historical fantasy, and I managed to get my bookclub to read it! They all enjoyed it (at least they said they did! 😂) and we had a great discussion about it.
5. Best first book in a series you started in 2025. Best sequel of 2025. Best series ender of 2025.
Started: I’m not counting Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman here because I read it in 2024 first. So The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal is the next best one!
Sequel: The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal.
Ender: I’m not counting Book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl because it’s not the end of the series, and I’m also not counting Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, because it’s not a series ender even though it was written last, so The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal is the next best one!
It just so happened I read the whole Lady Astronaut series in 2025, and the other series contenders didn’t qualify for one reason or other, but I had a good year of finishing series in general!
6. Favorite new-to-you author you discovered in 2025:
Fredrik Backman and/or John Scalzi. Backman’s book that I read was just so heartwarming and beautiful, and Scalzi is so much fun. I’m going to enjoy so many more books by these authors!
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone:
I actually read a variety of different genres but there was one subject matter I read in 2025 that I’m most ignorant about and that’s art, so The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. There were other nonfiction I loved more, but this was a topic I don’t typically read about.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year:
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman. No question. I can’t get enough of them, I still can’t. I love them all so much! I loved the first book and I thought the rest couldn’t keep getting better but they did! I am obsessed and I want more!
9. Book you read in 2025 that you are most likely to re-read in 2026?
I don’t think there are any books I read in 2025 that I’d want to read again this year except the Dungeon Crawler Carl series if I need a refresher before reading the next book. Heck, I might reread them just for fun anyway!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2025:
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst. It’s gorgeous!
11. Most memorable character of 2025:
Oooh, this is tough! I have so many if we count the rereads because I reread so many favorites in 2025, but if we stick to only new reads, it’s definitely Cathy Ames from East of Eden. She kind of haunts me!
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2025:
Stoner by John Williams. I don’t know what it is about it but it’s just so well-written. It reads so easy, flows so well, it’s just beautiful.
13. Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2025:
It’s surprising to me too, but What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I think it was the way he talked about his life; the writing, the running, the audacity of assuming success – which I found both so arrogant but also admirable. It made me wonder how I would live my life differently if I assumed success for everything I do, and it made me want to live that way, so we’ll see how that changes my life!
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2025 to finally read:
Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum. I cannot believe I have never read any of the Oz books until 2025! They are so good and I think I would’ve loved them as a child.
15. Favorite quote from a book you read in 2025:
I have so many! But these are some of the ones I’m trying to take to heart;
“Nobody can take care of you the way you need to take care of yourself. It’s your job to take care of yourself like that.” – The Wedding People by Alison Espach
“Don’t cheat your friendships. Don’t ask them to mean less to you than they do, or think they only have value if they’re a stop on the way to a *real* relationship. All relationships are real. Friendship can be as deep as the ocean. It’s all a kind of love, and love isn’t any one kind of thing.” – Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
“I’m the kind of person who likes to be by himself. To put a finer point on it, I’m the type of person who doesn’t find it painful to be alone. I find spending an hour or two every day running alone, not speaking to anyone, as well as four or five hours alone at my desk, to be neither difficult nor boring. I’ve had this tendency ever since I was young, when, given a choice, I much preferred reading books on my own or concentrating on listening to music over being with someone else. I could always think of things to do by myself.” – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
16. Shortest and longest books you read in 2024:
Shortest: The Main Dish by Michael Ruhlman (1hour 11mins)
Longest: Oz: The Complete Collection by L. Frank Baum (1796 pages)
17. Book that shocked you the most:
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. Perhaps I should say that it shocked me with how blatant the killings were when I read it early in the year, but we are now in January 2026 and have had some shockingly blatant killings happen already and I’m just numb at this point.
18. OTP, One True Pairing, of the year (you will go down with this ship!):
Emily Wilde and Wendell from the Emily Wilde books!
19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year:
I answered Carl and Donut from Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman last year, and I’m going to answer them again this year. It counts because I read the majority of the series this year and reread the first two books too. What I said in 2024 and still think for 2025: “I love their dynamic, I love their chemistry, I love the way they work together, I love how hilarious they are! I love them!”
20. Favorite book you read in 2025 from an author you’ve read previously:
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. This was an incredible book and one that sticks with me.
21. Best book you read in 2025 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else:
Stoner by John Williams. This was recommended by a bookclub member. I resisted reading it for so long until I finally read it and was surprised by how well-written it was.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2025:
Nicole from The Relentless Moon, book 3 of the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal. Nicole appears in the other books but is not the protagonist of the series except for in book 3, but she really shines in book 3 and I fell in love with her.
23. Best 2025 debut you read:
I don’t think I read a single debut in 2025!
24. Most vivid setting you read this year:
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I mean, it was such a great book, but so vivid and brutal.
25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read:
The Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman was definitely the most fun, but in the interest of giving other books a fair chance, The Dispatcher series by John Scalzi was really fun too!
26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2024:
I am a crybaby and an emotional reader. Everything makes me cry so I’m sure there are a lot more than these but these are just the ones I remember most; A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, The Relentless Moon, book 3 of the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal, and seriously, almost all the books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman.
27. Hidden gem of the year:
This is a reread but I have to plug it because it’s just so good and not well-known enough. I need more people to know about it; The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo.
28. Most unique book you read in 2025:
Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. It has the most unique premise, I’d say. The MCs are newlyweds, but the husband had just been diagnosed with a condition that will slowly transform him into a shark. It sounds funny, but it’s a serious book and quite heartbreaking.
29. Book that made you the maddest (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it):
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, for obvious reasons that I’ve already mentioned.
My Blogging/Bookish Life
I am forgoing this part of the Survey because I feel like I haven’t been very present with my blogging life at all and don’t have answers for them. Hopefully next year will be better.
Looking Ahead in 2026
1. Book you are most anticipating in 2026 (non-debut):
Some of the books I’m anticipating for 2026 made it to my Top Ten Tuesday post, but Book 8 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series didn’t make it to the list because the cover image wasn’t out yet at the time. It’s out now (just the cover image!) and the book’s expected release date is May 12, 2026, so I am just giddy with excitement!
2. 2026 debut you are most anticipating:
If Books Could Kill by Kate Eberle, releasing June 18, 2026. I am so excited for this because I love bookish books and I love the whole idea for this book – a reader wishes for her favorite romance author to write her life into a book, and gets her wish, except the author is writing a thriller this time, and the MC has to live it!
3. Sequel you are most anticipating in 2026:
I answered All Hail Chaos by Sarah Rees Brennan, the sequel to Long Live Evil last year, but it didn’t come out last year unfortunately. But it’s expected to be released May 12, 2026, now, and I’m still very excited for it!
4. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2026?
I am really hoping to get my reading life more manageable; read more intentionally, write my reviews more promptly, be more present on the blog, make more connections with other bloggers, maybe write a few discussion posts, maybe write a couple of posts about my other hobbies outside of reading. Fingers crossed!
What are your answers to these questions? If you do this survey, let me know so I can visit your post and check out your answers. You can also leave your answers in the comments!
