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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.

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?

Comments

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11. What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

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.

[scytale]

Ooh, thank you! What translation of the Odyssey did you read in 2025 that you didn't enjoy as much? (and I'm glad you found one that worked better for you!)

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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It was the translation by George Herbert Palmer! In the spirit of fairness, I will say that it did have its moments; I would never go back and reread the whole thing from start to finish, but there are individual sections that I would (and have) reread, and I'm keeping my copy on the shelf. Still, overall, it didn't hold a candle to Wilson's version.

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.

[scytale]

Agreed on her introductions. Both those and the footnotes are great!

I looked her up trying to find some things she'd written about translating while translating the Iliad and sadly could not, but I did find she has a new book coming out June this year on translating! Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea

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she has a new book coming out June this year on translating! Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea !!! Thank you for bringing this to my attention, because I had not heard about that and it sounds like something that I'd absolutely want to read.