straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2026-01-03 04:08 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2026-01-03 04:08 pm
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337.
My usual gaming and writing wrap-ups for the year will be coming at some point—hopefully soon?—but before then, I thought I’d drop off this book-related ask meme that I saw on tumblr. I read quite a bit, but usually do my reading-related wrap ups in real life or real life-adjacent spaces instead of over here—but this is a meme, not a full wrap-up, and it looks quite fun, so I’m making a quasi-exception.
I think everyone knows how these work, but for formality’s sake: leave a comment with the numbers of any of the questions you’re interested in knowing the answers to, and I’ll answer them! Feel free to ask as many as you like.
I think everyone knows how these work, but for formality’s sake: leave a comment with the numbers of any of the questions you’re interested in knowing the answers to, and I’ll answer them! Feel free to ask as many as you like.
1. How many books did you read this year?
2. Did you reread anything? What?
3. What were your top five books of the year?
4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
5. What genre did you read the most of?
6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
7. What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate?
8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?
9. Did you get into any new genres?
10. What was your favorite new release of the year?
11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
12. Any books that disappointed you?
13. What were your least favorite books of the year?
14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?
15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?
16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?
17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?
18. How many books did you buy?
19. Did you use your library?
20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?
22. What’s the longest book you read?
23. What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?
24. Did you DNF anything? Why?
25. What reading goals do you have for next year?
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4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
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I don’t think I have a good answer to this one? I definitely read books that I enjoyed by authors who were new to me, but in the sense of “I enjoyed this particular book” or “I’m interested in continuing this particular series” rather than “I want to read more by this author in general”, if that distinction makes sense—and I feel like “I want to read more by this author in general” is what this question is actually asking.
But in the interest of having a slightly more interesting response to this question: My favorite new-to-me author in terms of “I enjoyed this particular book” was Shalini Abeysekara with This Monster of Mine (apparently this is the start to a series, but I was surprised to learn that, because to me this book felt very much like a standalone novel), while my favorite in terms “I’m interested in continuing this particular series” was Maiga Doocy with Sorcery and Small Magics.
20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
There were two books that I was particularly looking forward to in 2025: The Knight & the Moth and A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping.
With The Knight & the Moth: I was looking forward to this one because I’d enjoyed Rachel Gillig’s debut duology (it had its flaws, but also some very fun worldbuilding concepts and a good atmosphere) and was intrigued by the concept/summary of this newest release. Upon actually reading it... I struggled a bit with the beginning—it wasn’t quite what I expected, in a way that I wasn’t sure worked for me—but after that initial roadbump it hooked me, and I ended up really loving it!
A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping interested me because: there was a fox on the cover and in some ways I am very simple woman, I like witches, and I’m always down for magical inn-related worldbuilding. Unfortunately, I ended up really disliking this book. This was the inverse of The Knight & the Moth in that I actually found the beginning fairly promising, but the further I read, the further it fell apart.
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I’m not sure what counts as “a while”, so I’m going to arbitrarily define it as “anything published pre-2020”! Most of my older faves were rereads, but there were a few new-to-me “older” books that I really enjoyed as well.
One of my favorites was Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey (2017). This was my second time reading the Odyssey—but my first time reading it was also in 2025, by a different translator. I didn’t particularly enjoy my first read much, but I loved Wilson’s translation, and it was a striking demonstration of what a difference the right translator can make in regards to one’s enjoyment of a book.
I’ve also been slowly making my way through Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse series over the past few years, and in 2025 I read three books from that series, all of which I very much enjoyed: The Murderer's Tale (1996), The Prioress' Tale (1997), and The Maiden's Tale (1998).
17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?
I no longer remember why this was the case, but I remember that I was pretty skeptical going into Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy, and it ended up being one of my favorite books of this year!
I also tend to have mixed feelings about Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books—sometimes I like them, sometimes I don’t, but even the ones I like tend to have something missing from them, so I went into The Bewitching thinking it would likely fall into the “liked it, though there was something missing” category, and instead I absolutely devoured it. Hands down my favorite book by this author, and another one of my favorite reads of the year.
Finally, I also picked up Katabasis with a fair amount of skepticism—I have mixed feelings about R.F. Kuang, and I tend to dislike narratives centering around anything involving heaven, hell, angels, or demons, and this is a book where the main character goes to hell, so. But I ended up having a really good time with it! Not a top favorite of the year like the other two, but still a solidly enjoyable reading experience.
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A friend and I read Wilson's Iliad last year and really enjoyed it; we had plans to read (re-read in his case!) her translation of The Odyssey but it's on hold for now. Someday...
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I also read Wilson's translation of the Iliad last year! I'd tried a few times in the past to read The Iliad, but never could get into it, and I'd reached the point where I'd given up on ever reading it in this lifetime. But after I fell so in love with Wilson's version of The Odyssey, I thought to myself, "if anyone could make the Iliad readable for me, it would be Wilson", so I decided to give the Iliad one last chance—and it turned out that my instincts were correct! I didn't love it the way I loved the Odyssey, but I read the whole thing and even enjoyed it, which I would never have believed if you'd told me that back in 2024. I also really appreciate her introductions; I think she does such a great job with them, in a way that enhances the reading experience of the actual translation. Basically, tl;dr, I'm a massive fan of hers now, lol.