In 2025, I read a total of 15 books. That’s a lot for someone who hasn’t touched a book since June.
Everything I read in 2025
I read a lot less this year
In 2025, I read 3 books in January, 7 books in February, 2 books in March, and then 1 in each month of April, May, and June. 11 out of 15 of the books I read were from the “Slough House” series of books, and given that I have very fond memories of the storytelling in those books I’m not surprised.
For comparison, I read 45 books (!) in 2024 and 41 books in 2023. Looking back, those 2 years were massive outliers. I had more free time than I knew what to do with, and reading was an easy way to occupy that time. Of course, I read some of my all-time favourite books in that period too, so that made it easier to stick with the habit.
In 2022 and earlier, I averaged close to 0 books per year (outside of whatever was being read at school, I like to think of this time period as a drought in my reading life), so I still consider the 15 books I read in 2025 as a win (better than nothing).
Why did I read so much less this year?
The main reason why my reading levels dropped this year was simply that I didn’t have enough time. I started consistently working out, which meant that between work, hitting the gym, spending more time with friends and family, doing the bare necessities to live, my addiction to Reddit, and university (once that started again in September), I basically had no time left over for recreation, let alone rest.
I don’t know what to expect for 2026. I’m not sure what I want either. I’d like to read more, yes, but I’d also like to spend more time doing other things. I’m still working out how exactly I want to be spending my time in my life (going through a quarter-life crisis right now, as many young adults do). I like to think that I’d like to read more, but I’m not sure.
My feelings towards reading have changed over the years. Having abstained from engrossing myself in a book for so long, my gut reaction is to think that reading fiction is a low value activity, something akin to watching television. Obviously I understand that reading is important, but that’s not how I feel. Because my time should be spent on higher value activities than mere reading stories, no?
Regardless, I remember the good times of reading books that I really enjoyed, and I’d like to recapture some of that back into my life, even if in short bursts. And I know exactly which book I’d like to begin again with: “Clown Town” (the latest book in the “Slough House” series, released just 4 months ago).
Funnily enough, way back in March when I finished reading the last book (at that time) in the series, I was really glad that the next book would be released this year. Life got in the way, and by the time that book did get released I had completely forgotten about. It’ll be nice to revisit that world. Despite what I’ve written above regarding my perceived “low” value in reading, I still enjoy the escapism.
It will nice to get lost in a good book again.