My Year in Reading
How I read 80 books in one year
This year was the first time I diligently tracked every book I read. I was surprised to find:
I READ 80 BOOKS THIS YEAR.
How did I do it? I began with a list of reading resolutions.
These reading resolutions appear in I WILL JUDGE YOU BY YOUR BOOKSHELF, a perfect book for your 2026 reading list.
Each time I finished a book, I scribbled the title and author into a notebook. No review. No five-star rating system. Not even a thumbs up or down. If I loved a book, I’ll remember.
Finally, I made a spreadsheet to organize and count my list, sometimes struggling to decipher my own handwriting. I was shocked by the result.
I READ 80 BOOKS THIS YEAR???
And I didn’t even include the countless picture books I read to my kids—if I did, my number might approach infinity.
Okay, it’s not as difficult as it sounds.
Here are some ways to supercharge your reading:
Read middle grade.
Read graphic novels.
Read poetry.
Read in the bathtub.
Read for a book club.
Read while watching football (with the sound off).
Smash your phone or put it far from reach before you start reading.
It’s time to reveal…
My 2025 reading list.
Some of my favorites were books by R.F. Kuang, Elena Ferrante, Riad Sattouf, Brian Doyle, and Nicholas Day. Italics denotes a reread, which means I enjoyed the book enough the first time to dive in again.
I started the year on a middle grade reading binge but slowly tapered off as summer progressed. I listed books for my long-running fiction book club separately, since I did not choose the titles. More about the joys of book club here.
Nearly all of these were print or ebook versions—I love podcasts, but I for some reason I can’t make it through an entire audiobook.
The first book on my 2026 reading list for book club? THE ODYSSEY.
Fiction
Babel - R. F. Kuang
Katabasis - R. F. Kuang
Nine Stories - J. D. Salinger
Get in Trouble - Kelly Link
Pretty Monsters - Kelly Link
The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay - Elena Ferrante
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
Strange Pictures - Uketsu
The Baron in the Trees - Italo Calvino
The Cloven Viscount - Italo Calvino
The Nonexistent Knight - Italo Calvino
Piranesi - Susanna Clarke
Nonfiction
One Long River of Song - Brian Doyle
A Book of Uncommon Prayer - Brian Doyle
Everything is Tuberculosis - John Green
How To Write One Song - Jeff Tweedy
World Within a Song - Jeff Tweedy
The Running Ground - Nicholas Thompson
Barbarian Days - William Finnegan
The Heart Aroused - David Whyte
Consolations - David Whyte
A History of Sketch Comedy - Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key
I Hate Running and You Can Too - Brendan Leonard
Have Fun Out There - Or Not - Brendan Leonard
Paper Lion - George Plimpton
Walking - Erling Kagge
Ordinary Men - Christopher Browning
Never Play it Safe - Chase Jarvis
Imagination in Place - Wendell Berry
Tao Te Ching - Laozi
The Art of Spending Money - Morgan Housel
Adventures in the Screen Trade - William Goldman
Graphic Novels
Ginseng Roots - Craig Thompson
The Arab of the Future #2 - Riad Sattouf
The Arab of the Future #3 - Riad Sattouf
Esther’s Notebooks - Riad Sattouf
Paul Has a Summer Job - Michel Rabagliati
Paul at Home - Michel Rabagliati
Seconds - Bryan Lee O’Malley
Scott Pilgrim #1 - Bryan Lee O’Malley
Lost at Sea - Bryan Lee O’Malley
The Cartoonist’s Club - Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud
Tunnels - Rutu Modan
The Handbook to Lazy Parenting - Guy Delisle
The Owner’s Manual to Terrible Parenting - Guy Delisle
Even More Bad Parenting Advice - Guy Delisle
How To Say Goodbye in Cuban - Daniel Miyares
Middle Grade
Baseball in April - Gary Soto
Jesse - Gary Soto
Local News - Gary Soto
The Afterlife - Gary Soto
Buried Onions - Gary Soto
Accidental Love - Gary Soto
The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963 - Christopher Paul Curtis
Bud Not Buddy - Christopher Paul Curtis
Hoops - Walter Dean Myers
The Mona Lisa Vanishes - Nicholas Day
A World Without Summer - Nicholas Day
Mockingbird - Kathyrn Erskine
How To Steal a Dog - Barbara O’Connor
Hidden - Helen Frost
Keesha’s House - Helen Fost
Applesauce Weather - Helen Frost
Diamond Willow - Helen Frost
Criss Cross - Lynne Rae Perkins
All Alone in the Universe - Lynne Rae Perkins
Imaginary Creatures - Katherine Rundell
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
The Wildcat Behind Glass - Alki Zei
Amaze Me - Naomi Shihab Nye
House Arrest - K.A. Holt
Frindle - Andrew Clements
Stargirl - Jerry Spinelli
Other Words for Home - Jasmine Warga
The First State of Being - Erin Entrada Kelly
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Leguin
Clementine - Sara Pennypacker
Dory Fantasmagory - Abby Hanlon
Out of the Dust - Karen Hesse
Fiction for Book Club
Brighton Rock - Graham Greene
Demons - Fyodor Dostoevsky
That Hideous Strength - C.S. Lewis
The Once and Future King - T. H. White
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Thanks for reading! And thanks to author Jon Acuff for inspiring me to track my reading. Maybe next year I’ll get to 100?
This is great!:
"Smash your phone or put it far from reach before you start reading."
Challenge accepted. More books in 2026!
Great post.