This graph lies just a tiny bit because I read a book already in July and it’s captured by this bar. In 2025, I’ve read 33 books of the 42 goal so far. At the required 50% date, I was 78% towards my annual goal. If I stay 10 books ahead of goal for the entire year, I will return to my lifelong annual average of one-book-per-week and that will be my goal next year. But that’s getting ahead of myself.
What did I read?
In the second quarter of 2025, I read seventeen books–one book more than the first quarter. (That accounts for subtracting out the book I already read this week that shows up in the above graph.) I read primarily in audiobook, but it accounted for over 5,000 pages, and it took an average of 11 days to finish a book. It took me two months to read Jane Eyre, which artificially elongates the average.
My moods were far fewer this quarter compared to the beginning of the year. This quarter, I primarily read adventurous and dark books, followed by mysteroius and emotional books. Tense, funny, reflective, and inspiring stories round out my moods.
Two-thirds of the books I read were medium-paced, and one-third fast pace. A sliver was paced slowly.
My non-fiction reading dove down to 6% (from 20% in the first quarter.) I’ve been doing award reading for Nebulas, Locus, Hugos, Ignyte, and Endeavor which means I’m reading a lot of fiction.
These awards are usually science fiction and fantasy awards, which means I read a lot of fantasy this quarter. And then for reasons unrelated to award reading at all, I went on a Seanan McGuire reading kick, catching up on the Middlegame series, the Wayward Children series, and the Up-and-Under series. Again, all are fantasy and two of those series are considered middle grade.
Best Books of the Quarter
Of the seventeen (17) books I read last quarter, I gave three (3) 5* ratings.
Conveniently, the three books all encompass the above discussion.
Starting with the ARC I read that released in June is Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell. I love Wiswell’s stories, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I was thrilled to be granted an eARC through NetGalley.
During my awards reading, I read A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. This is the first novel I’ve read by Kingfisher and I see why it made all the awards ballots.
Finally, during my Seanan McGuire catch-up reads, I read another Wayward Children book that checked all the boxes of why I read these books and love her work, Lost in the Moment and Found, Wayward Children #8.
If you’re curious about my reading habits and other books I’ve loved, please read my past Reading Reflections. I’ll see you in three more months. Same bat time, same bat channel.