In 2024 I read a total of 86 books, and totally exceeded my own expectations of just how much I can read. 10 of these books were non-fiction, which I didn’t track on my spreadsheet last year, so stats below are exclusively for fiction books.

My standout month was August this year, which is the month after I finished a very intensive course so I quite clearly took advantage of my free time! In June I participated in a Pride reading challenge and in July I was most likely avoiding my final deadlines… but we don’t need to talk about that. (As an aside, is anyone interested in more posts about the challenges I do alongside reviews?)

Overall I am really pleased with my monthly stats. Being able to read at least one book a a week, even while working and studying is an achievement in my eyes.

Once again, Fantasy is my top genre making up over half the books I read last year. I branched out a lot more into non-speculative genres during 2024, picking up some mystery and contemporary novels. This is definitely something I plan to continue as I had a great time reading more broadly and doscivering that I do actually like a little romance sometimes!

2024 was the year I chose to buy less physical books and it shows in my stats, at a smidge over half my books being physical copies. Honestly, I fell out of love with collecting special editions, and even hardbacks. Overconsumption is rife in the fantasy book space at the moment and buying less is something I am implementing in my life generally now.

A few other stats:

• 28 of the books I read were gifted to me in some way (publishers and eArcs)
• 51 books were written by women, 15 by men, 3 by NB authors and 8 had multiple authors
• 30 books had disability rep and 40 had LGBTQIA+ rep
• 6 books were translated
• I read from 49 new-to-me authors
• I started 18 series, finished 7 and decided not to continue 5
• My longest book was 951 pages
• My shortest book was 24 pages
• My average book length was 374 pages

Top Books:

I don’t star rate, as you may have noticed, but I definitely do have favourites! Aside from the first book in the following list, my top 6 aren’t in any particular order.

• Sistersong by Lucy Holland. (A total favourite of all time. I love it so much that I still haven’t formulated a review…)
• The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
• The Language of Trees by Katie Holten
• The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh
• We Are All Ghosts in the Forest by Lorraine Wilson
• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

And a few honourable mentions:

• The DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee
• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
• The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne
• Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

Overall, I had an absoloutely fantastic reading year in 2024 and I hope that 2025 is just as good, if not better! How did your 2024 go?