This blog post was written by a human.

Hello readers and writerly friends! If you’re new to the blog, welcome and thanks for stopping by! And if you’re a returning reader, welcome back! My name is Payton and I’m so glad to have you here. I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog post. If you find this blog post to be entertaining, informative, or helpful to you in any way, please consider leaving me a comment to let me know your thoughts! You can also join my very short, very occasional email newsletter list by signing up via the form at the end of this post!

I am once again participating in filling out the End of The Year Book Survey created by Jamie from PerpetualPageTurner.com! I am going off of her 11th annual End of Year Book Survey from 2020, which is the most recent version of the survey. It’s the only version I’ve ever completed, since I started participating in this bookish trend that same year. On another note, while I copied and pasted her survey into this blog post, there’s several minor additions I made to it, so make sure you check out her post and share it if you do decide to complete it for yourself!

Note: The survey is for books you read throughout the year, no matter when they were published, and is not limited to just books that came out in 2025! Previous years and related topics have been included at the end of this post!

A screen recording of my 2025 Read Books Shelf on Goodreads. In this video, you can see all 44 books I read in 2025, but those are also listed and linked (Goodreads) just below!

2025 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 44

Number of Re-Reads:0

Genre You Read From The Most: Self-Help / Productivity / Business: 7/44 = 15.9%

Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2025: Read 30 Books

All the books I read in 2025 (Goodreads):

Subgenre Breakdown

This year, I’ve decided to crunch the numbers for my fellow book nerds out there! Below are some percentages and pie charts and towards the end of this post, you can find some fun website stats!

Overall Reading

Fiction: 8/44 = 18%

Non-Fiction: 36/44 = 82%

**A pie chart of the fiction versus non-fiction books I read in 2025.** Overall, I read more Non-Fiction than Fiction books this year. Non-Fiction accounts for 82% of my total books read and Fiction accounts for 18% of my total books read.

**A pie chart of the fiction subgenres I read from in 2025.** The Fiction genre I read from the most is Fantasy (blue)—by a landslide—coming in at 37%. Following that is Horror/Thriller (red) 25%, Historical Fiction (green) and Literary/Experimental (purple) tied at 13% each, and Romantasy at 12% (cyan).

Non-Fiction Subgenres

Writing, Editing & Publishing: 8/44 = 18.2%
Self-Help / Productivity / Business: 7/44= 15.9%
Mental Health / Neurodiversity / Health: 6/44 = 13.6%
History, Culture, and Social Commentary: 5/44 = 11.4%
Memoir / Personal Essays: 3/44 = 6.8%
Hobbies & Crafts: 5/44 =11.4%
Tech / Design: 2/44 = 4.5%

Fiction Subgenres

Fantasy: 3/44 = 6.8%
Horror/Thriller: 2/44 = 4.5%
Romantasy: 1/44 = 2.3%
Historical Fiction: 1/44 = 2.3%
Literary/Experimental: 1/44 = 2.3%

**A photo of two books stacked on a mahogany side table.** The books in the photo are my paperback copies of *Another Word for Love* by Carvell Wallace and *Tiny Beautiful Things* by Cheryl Strayed.

2025 Best in Books

What was the best book you read in 2025? (If you have to cheat, you can break it down by genre, or by 2025 releases vs. backlist.)

This is a hard question to answer. I’ve read so many amazing books this year. Even if I were to break this question up by genre, I’d have a hard time deciding the best of each genre. For example, I read a few wonderful memoirs this year. It would be a serious toss up between Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace and Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner was pretty incredible too. If I had a gun to my head and had to choose, I’d probably say Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace was the best book I read in 2025.

Which book were you excited about and thought you were going to love more, but didn’t?

Several books ticked this box for me. These books were a bit lackluster after all the hype:

**A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table.** The book in the photo is my paperback copy of *You Are A Badass* by Jen Sincero sitting on a mahogany side table.

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
The Emotionally Exhausted Woman: Why You’re Feeling Depleted and How to Get What You Need by Nancy Colier
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity by Devon Price
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma

If you’re picking up on the unintentional theme here, I suppose self-help and mental health were not the genres for me this year, lol. I think the most disappointing read of all was The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma. This was frankly, one of the weirdest self-help books ever and its unconventional, even literary approach while novel, is just not doing the subject matter any favors. I DNF’d this book and I know I’m not alone in this, because immediately after putting it down, I ran straight to the comments of this book on Goodreads and found many, many other readers who had drawn the same conclusion that I had: The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma was not the book it was made out to be.

What was the most surprising book you read in 2025 (in a good way or a bad way)?

The most surprising book I read in 2025 was probably Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. For one, I don’t usually read historical non-fiction that often. For two, I’m not usually one to read up on the history of diseases or the history of medicine. Despite knowing these things about myself, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Green took concepts I’d heard of but had no real meaningful ties to me or my life and made them matter in a way that anyone could make a personal connection. He approaches the storied history of the Tuberculosis disease, how it has affected generation after generation, and how it continues to be the world’s most deadly disease, even after modern medicine has found successful treatments for it. I wrote an entire book review for Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green!

Which book did you “push” the most people to read in 2025 (and they actually did)?

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas. Or Evermore by Alyson Noël. Or Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Or…

Can I pick three books for my answer to this question? I recommended several people several different books and while only a couple took my suggestions, no two people read the same books I’d recommended. My sister Haley read the first two books in the ACOTAR series, and my other sister Carly started the first book,but DNF’d it early on. My significant other, Jake and I started the audiobook version on a road trip in November, but we only listened to about thirty minutes of it before he told me it was putting him to sleep, lol. I also recommended Wild by Cheryl Strayed to both Carly and Haley, but neither of them read it before the end of the year. Carly started reading Evermore by Alyson Noël just before I started this post in 2026, so it doesn’t really count for 2025, but hey, there’s always next year!

What was the best series you started in 2025?

I didn’t start more than one series in 2025, so I think by default, The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard wins this one. I did read other books from a series, but this was the only series starter I read in 2025. And for the record, even if those other books did qualify here, The Red Queen wins by a landslide.

What was the best sequel you read in 2025?

The only sequel I read in 2025 was Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros so it wins by default.

What was the best series ender you read in 2025?

I didn’t read any series enders in 2025.

**A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table.** The book in the photo is my copy of a memoir called *Another Word for Love* by Carvell Wallace.

Who was your favorite new author you discovered in 2025?

New? Or new, as in, new to me? If so, Carvell Wallace is definitely on my list of authors to read more from. I am not super into sports—or really into sports at all—but I will be keeping an eye out for more writing from Wallace after reading his memoir, Another Word for Love in 2025.

What was the best book you read in 2025 from a genre you don’t typically read (or that was out of your comfort zone)?

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, again.

**A photo of an iPhone 14 Pro sitting on a mahogany side table.** On screen, The audiobook version of *The Red Queen* by Victoria Aveyard is open in the Hoopla app.

What was the most action-packed, thrilling, can’t-put-it-down book you read in 2025?

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. This book took me only four days to read.

Which book you read in 2025 would you be most likely to reread in 2026?

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

What was your favorite cover of a book you read in 2025?

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

Who was the most memorable character you read in 2025?

Andarna from Rebecca Yarros’s Iron Flame.

What was the most beautifully written book you read in 2025?

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. There were so many lines in this book that gave me straight chills.

What was the most thought-provoking or life-changing book you read in 2025?

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green.

**A photo of paperback and hardcover self-help books stacked on a mahogany side table.** The books in the photo are my copies of *DotCom Secrets* by Russell Brunson, *The 4-Hour Workweek* by Timothy Ferriss, and *You Are A Badass* by Jen Sincero.

Which book can’t you believe you waited until 2025 to finally read?

Several books on my reading log for 2025 have been on my TBR for actual years…

DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online by Russell Brunson
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life by Robin Sharma
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

I’ll admit, it’s kind of funny how it took me nearly a decade to read some of these and then they ended up being major letdowns. I’m officially letting myself off the hook for being late to the game for some of these. They’ve been sitting on my TBR for over a decade and taking up space on my IRL bookshelf too! Now that I’ve crossed them off the list, its officially time to buy some more books and donate the ones I won’t be re-reading.

What was your favorite passage or quote from a book you read in 2025?

It’s too long to quote here, but the “The Obliterated Place” in Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. I will read anything from Cheryl Strayed at this point, but this section of the book alone easily makes it worth reading.

What were the shortest and longest books you read in 2025? (Tip: In Goodreads, sort your read books by page count and find the shortest and longest you read that year.)

Shortest Book: Feast of the Dragon Cookbook: The Unofficial House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones Cookbook by Tom Grimm (160 pages).

Longest Book: The Chicago Manual of Style 17th Ed. by The University of Chicago Press Staff (1,013 pages).

Which book shocked you the most in 2025 (plot twist, character death, jaw-on-the-floor ending, etc.)?

Probably the sibling betrayal in The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I had a gut feeling, but there wasn’t enough groundwork laid prior to this even for it to seem like it wasn’t coming out of left field.

What was your OTP of the year in 2025 (you will go down with this ship)? (OTP = “one true pairing.”)

Cal (Tiberius VII) Calore and Mare Barrow from The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I expected them to get together from the moment Cal was introduced to the story, but I hope they stay together, despite Maven and his actions.

What was your favorite non-romantic relationship of the year in 2025?

Violet Sorrengail and Andarna from Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. I absolutely adore the dragons in this series, and I don’t think Yarros gets enough credit for her refreshing take on dragons in her trilogy.

**A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table.** The book in the photo is my paperback copy of Cheryl Strayed’s *Tiny Beautiful Things*.

What was your favorite book you read in 2025 by an author you had read before?

Easy. My favorite book I read in 2025 by an author I’d read from before was Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. I was introduced to Strayed’s work in a 2024 creative writing class at the University of Central Oklahoma and I’ve been keeping up with her work ever since. (The book we read was her memoir, Wild, pictured above.)

What was the best book you read in 2025 solely because someone recommended it (peer pressure, Bookstagram, etc.)?

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green—thanks to Ariel Bisett’s praise for it on the Books Unbound podcast.

Who was your newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2025?

Honestly, I didn’t have one for 2025. None of the book characters from the novels I read this year were particularly interesting to me. I am still obsessed with Rhysand from Sarah J. Maas’s (ACOTAR) series.

What was the best 2025 debut you read?

A photo of an iPhone 14 Pro sitting beside a paperback book on a mahogany coffee table. On screen, the audiobook version of *The History of the World in 6 Glasses* by Tom Standage is open in the Hoopla app. The book in the photo is my paperback copy of *The History of the World in 6 Glasses* by Tom Standage.

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green—which I think also wins by default since it was the only 2025 debut I read.

Which book had the best worldbuilding or the most vivid setting you read in 2025?

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, though The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is a close second for this one.

Which book put a smile on your face and was the most fun to read in 2025?

The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. My boyfriend, Jake recommended this read to me a couple of years ago and I finally got around to reading it this year. I always enjoy reading recommendations from friends and family because after I read them, we get to gush about the details, character, and all the things! I read this book in paperback and audiobook!

Which book made you cry (or almost cry) in 2025?

This question’s answer is going to be another toss-up between Another Word for Love: A Memoir by Carvell Wallace and Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed. I don’t think either of these books made me cry or come close to crying per se, but they both had so many breathtakingly beautiful lines sprinkled throughout.

**A photo of two books sitting next to each other on a mahogany side table.** The books in the photo are my paperback copies of *Another Word for Love* by Carvell Wallace (left) and *Tiny Beautiful Things* by Cheryl Strayed (right).

What was your hidden gem of the year in 2025?

I have two. The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage and Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World by Michael Pollan.

Pro tip: Read these two back-to-back, in this order.

Which book crushed your soul the most in 2025?

The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins. This gut-wrenching page-turner of a horror/thriller will have you tied up in knots, waiting to see what happens next. It’s the worst-case scenario of the question “would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear?” that swept across social media this past year.

Spoiler alert: the answer is both.

What was the most unique book you read in 2025?

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams was probably the most unique book I read this year because it was the only literary book I read this year. But by that logic, perhaps Exploring the Power of ChatGPT: Applications, Techniques, and Implications by Eric Sarrion (the only book about AI I read in 2025), or Nail Artistry: Creative Designs for Perfect Nails by Violet A Handicraft (the only Nail craft book I read in 2025), or Wordslut: Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell (the only Feminist book I read in 2025) would be solid contenders for this one.

Which book made you the angriest in 2025 (this doesn’t necessarily mean you disliked it)?

I don’t remember any of the books I read in 2025 making me angry, but books such as Wordslut: Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell and Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green definitely made me feel more informed and empowered after reading them.

Blogging/Bookish Life (Online)

What was your new favorite book blog, Bookstagram, or YouTube channel that you discovered in 2025?

This isn’t a new one for me in 2025, but I have really been enjoying the Books Unbound podcast hosted by Ariel Bissett and her friend Raeleen Lemay. I am a long-time follower of Ariel Bissett and have been subscribed to her YouTube channel for years. I found her through our shared love of books, but I have also found her home renovation journey to be extremely entertaining too, so basically TL;DR: came for the bookish videos, stayed for the home reno content.

This year, I haven’t really found many new bookish blogs, channels, or socials, but I did start following a few other book editors on YouTube an Instagram, including Alyssa Matesic, Dana Alsamsam, and Natalia Leigh! Alyssa has tons of fabulous writing craft advice for writers, Dana puts together the most calming and aesthetically pleasing vlogs and Day-In-The-Life videos, and Natalia covers all kinds of topics from the author side to the freelance editing side of the publishing industry through a personal lens.

What was your favorite blog post you wrote in 2025?

“Book Review: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green” which came out on November 4, 2025. It was also the only blog post I wrote in 2025, so it’s another winner by default.

If this blog post counted, I’d pick this one, due to the fact that I took nearly every single photo used in this post and it honestly was a lot of extra work, but I’m so proud that all the media in this post is mine! Alas, this post will only count for 2026.

**A photo of two black and white books sitting beside a glass of red wine on a mahogany coffee table.** The books in the photo are *The Copyeditor’s Handbook* and *The Copyeditor’s Workbook* by Amy Eisohn and Marilyn Schwartz.

What was your favorite bookish-related photo you took in 2025?

The only bookish-related photo I took in 2025 was a flat lay photo of a glass of wine next to my copies of The Copyeditor’s Handbook and The Copyeditor’s Workbook by Amy Eisohn and Marilyn Schwartz—which I posted to Instagram on March 14, 2025. Yet another win by default. I’m definitely going to have to step up my posting game in 2026!

Check out the original Instagram post and feel free to follow if you want to connect with me over there!

What was the best bookish event you participated in during 2025 (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?

I didn’t really participate in any bookish events in 2025, which is such a bummer! It is now going to be my mission—or at least one of my missions anyway—to go to more bookish events in my hometown this year!

What was the best moment of your bookish or blogging life in 2025?

The best moment of my bookish/blogging life in 2025 was reaching the 10-year anniversary for the Story Binder Printables Packet which I redesigned, revamped and re-released as an e-Book during the summer! It was a lot of unpaid work for sure, but it was so fun giving my beloved book bible a much-needed makeover and it seems my hard work is paying off in other ways. I’ve had several subscribers reach out to let me know they love the new and improved e-Book and that honestly just warms my heart so, so much. The Story Binder was initially just a little lead magnet I’d created back in my first year of college and now, a decade later, it’s 100x better and I am so incredibly happy that writers are using it to bring their books to life!

Check out the Story Binder Printables e-Book!

What was the most challenging part of blogging or your reading life in 2025?

Without a doubt, the most challenging part of my blogging life in 2025 was getting myself to sit down and write because my website left me so uninspired. There were just so many issues—and there are still so many issues—to fix and updates to make and it’s just kind of been bringing me down. I’m slowly working my way through a seemingly endless to-do list of tasks for my website and socials, and I am hoping to get caught up in the first half of 2026 so I can get back to book blogging and writing articles with advice for authors this summer!

What was the most popular post on your blog in 2025 (by comments or views)?

The most popular post on my blog in 2025 was actually a post I published on November 1, 2022—“Writing Exercises from Jeff Tweedy's Book, How To Write One Song.” Below this paragraph is a screenshot of the traffic my website saw from specific search keywords (Squarespace Analytics). Since this post was released, it consistently performed better than my other blog posts year-to-year—that is, until recently when my “Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel” blog post (published on January 1, 2021), started randomly getting a ton of attention and bumped it down to second place.

Interestingly, if I collapsed similar keywords such as “jeff tweedy word ladder” and “jeff tweedy songwriting exercises” or “station eleven book review” and “station eleven review” it becomes clear that up until recently, my review of Tweedy’s guidebook consistently outperformed my review of Mandel’s novel. The left screenshot showing a spike in February 2025 shows that my review of Tweedy’s guidebook got 54 total clicks and my review of Mandel’s novel got 24 total clicks. The right screenshot showing a spike in December 2025 shows that my review of Tweedy’s guidebook got 28 total clicks and my review of Mandel’s novel got 103 total clicks. So, not only did my review of Mandel’s novel make a comeback, outperforming the other review, but it also garnered nearly twice the amount of clicks my review of Tweedy’s guidebook got.

I am not really sure why these posts have continued to perform so well over the years and then went on to gain more attention recently, but hey, I’m not complaining. I would love to see more engagement though, so, consider dropping me a comment with an answer to your favorite survey question to let me know you made it this far! 😉

My best guess is that Mandel’s novel is more popular than Tweedy’s songwriting book, because Emily St. John Mandel is a well-known novelist and Tweedy is a songwriter. Duh. But it’s interesting watching my own blog posts experience spikes and dips in popularity since they’re secondary sources.

Which post do you wish had gotten a little more love in 2025?

Well, since it was the only post I published to my blog in 2025, I’d have to go with “Book Review: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green” once again. As far as I could tell, this post didn’t get much attention at all, and it seems it didn’t even carve out a spot for itself in my analytics. I think this has to do with some of the website issues I’ve been dealing with lately and the post has been mostly invisible up until now. If you like John Green’s work, have read his most recent release, or enjoy reading my reviews, please consider stopping by that blog post to give it some love!

What was your best bookish discovery in 2025 (book-related sites, bookstores, etc.)?

My best bookish discovery in 2025 was probably the day I learned the Hoopla app exists. Between Hoopla, Libby, and Libro.FM, I have no real reason to keep my Audible subscription and make Jeff Bezos any richer.

Did you complete any reading challenges or goals you set for yourself at the beginning of 2025?

Yep! My Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal was to read 30 books in 2025! I ended up reading 44 books! I usually match my yearly reading goal with the last two digits of the year—so for 2024 my goal was to read 24 books—but in recent years I have been surpassing my reading goals with ease so I decided to up the anti just a little by setting my goal at 30 for 2025.

I also managed to collect all the seasonal reading challenge bookmarks! I thought this was such a fun way to motivate readers and I wish Goodreads would have done this much sooner, but better late than never! I am thinking of making my own IRL bookmarks, inspired by the Goodreads bookmarks too. If you’d like me to chronicle that project and make a blog post about it, leave me a comment below!

**A photo of a book sitting next to a reading schedule on a short, white bookcase.** In this photo you can see my custom, self-paced course outline and the texts I will be studying—*The Copyeditor’s Handbook* & *The Copyeditor’s Workbook* by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz.

Looking Ahead

What is one book you didn’t get around to reading in 2025 that will be your number one priority in 2026?

I did start reading The Copyeditor’s Handbook and The Copyeditor’s Workbook by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz in 2025, but I did not finish it. This is going to be my number one priority for 2026, and I have designed my own independent study course for working my way through these two editing craft books. I got the idea to create my own self-paced course from Elizabeth from the Plant Based Bride channel on YouTube. Her video “How to Create a Personal Curriculum 101 🎓 My First Term of Self-Directed Learning” is an incredibly thorough and helpful guide for creating your own lesson plan on any subject.

Which non-debut 2026 release are you most anticipating?

I am so excited to read Jenette McCurdy’s novel Half His Age! Her memoir was a deeply moving, relatable, and inspiring personal story and I am excited to read her first foray into fiction this year! However, I do have to agree with a comment made on a recent episode of the Books Unbound podcast, where either Raeleen or Ariel shared their excitement about reading this novel too, but how they were not quite as excited about sharing the provocative book cover on social media.

Check out episode #312, “Our 2026 Reading Goals,” of the Books Unbound podcast.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not a prude, but I do try to keep my personal life and sexuality/sexual expression (especially in my artwork) separate from my editorial business and blog online. So, in a way it kind of feels like two worlds are colliding, but in an effort to challenge that and channeling my inner Wordslut, I will say that I think this cover is fabulously cunty and it absolutely accomplishes what it has set out to. She did that. 💋💅🏻✨

Which 2026 debut are you most anticipating?

I am not anticipating any debuts as of right now, but I am hoping to put together a reading list of the most highly anticipated 2026 releases on my TBR, later this month, though so keep an eye out for that!👀

Which series ending or sequel are you most anticipating in 2026?

Honestly, I am not really anticipating any sequels or series endings for 2026. I have a few authors on my “Please finish this series before you perish” list and my “I will perish if I have to wait much longer for the next book” list, but I don’t have high hopes of any of those authors releasing their next installments in 2026.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish in your reading or blogging life in 2026?

One of my personal bookish goals for 2026 is to read more books from my personal library. I am already making progress toward this goal—I’m halfway through Blue Moon, the second book of Alyson Noël’s The Immortals Series, which has been waiting on my living room bookshelf and my TBR for over a decade!

Another personal reading goal I have for 2026 is to read more of the recommendations I’ve received from friends and family! I’ve been getting my sisters into reading again and since they’ve been reading and enjoying the books I’ve suggested to them, I want to return the favor and read some of their favorites. The same goes for a handful of other books I’ve been recommended by other members of my family, coworkers, and my friends. By completing this goal, I am hoping to find more common interests with the people in my life and build deeper connections over the media we both consume. This goal will also help me to complete my goal of reading more books from my home library because some of the recommendations I’ve gotten from loved ones were also books given to me as gifts.

What is a 2026 release you’ve already read and would recommend to everyone (if applicable)?

While I may have already read 1/36 books as of January 13th, I am not that dedicated, lol.

If you’re not already subscribed to my mailing list and would like to stay in the loop when new posts go live, you can sign up via the newsletter form below!

If you could, please share feedback on any questions you’d like to see on this survey in the future that aren’t included here, or you could leave a comment on Jamie’s original post from PerpetualPageTurner.com.

Bibliography

Hayes, Payton. “Some of the books I read in 2025.” Thumbnail, January 13, 2026.
Hayes, Carly. “A photo of a book sitting on an oak coffee table (Wild by Cheryl Strayed).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting next to a reading schedule on a short, white bookcase (The Copyeditor’s Handbook & The Copyeditor’s Workbook by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz).” Image, January 13, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table 1 (You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table 2 (A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table 3 (The Immortals, The Beginning (Evermore (Book 1) and Blue Moon (Book 2)) by Alyson Noël).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table 4 (Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace). Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of a book sitting on a mahogany side table 5 (Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed). Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of an iPhone 14 Pro sitting beside a paperback book on a mahogany coffee table (The History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage). Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of an iPhone 14 Pro sitting on a mahogany side table 1. (The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard Audiobook)” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton.“A photo of paperback and hardcover self-help books stacked on a mahogany side table (DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson, The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, and You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of two black and white books sitting beside a glass of red wine on a mahogany coffee table.” Instagram photo, uploaded by @lifeasalyric, on March 14, 2025. Accessed January 13, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A photo of two books stacked on a mahogany side table (Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton.“A photo of two books sitting next to each other on a mahogany side table (Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed).” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A screen recording of my 2025 Read Books Shelf on Goodreads.” Video, January 13, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “Fiction Subgenre Breakdown Pie Chart.” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “Non-Fiction Subgenre Breakdown Pie Chart.” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “Overall Reading: Fiction vs. Non-Fiction Pie Chart.” Image, January 21, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. “A screenshot of my website’s Traffic from 1, 2022 to January 13, 2026 from Squarespace Analytics 1 (February 2025 Traffic Spike).” Image, January 13, 2026.
Hayes, Payton. ““A screenshot of my website’s Traffic from 1, 2022 to January 13, 2026 from Squarespace Analytics 2 (December 2025 Traffic Spike).” Image, January 13, 2026.
Jamie. “11th Annual End of Year Survey – 2020 Edition!!” Perpetual Page Turner. December 22, 2020. Accessed January 13, 2026.

Bookish End of The Year Survey (2025)