2025 Mid-Year Review

In today’s 2025 mid-year review post, I’m looking back at the 2025 Resolutions I set myself at the beginning of the year. Overall, I feel like progress towards my goals is going well. We’ll see if the proof is in the pudding as I drill into each of my goals and update you on progress. 

Shall we take a look at where I’m up to?

Read 45 Books

In 2024, I completed 42 books. With a view to giving myself a little challenge, I set myself a target to complete 45 books. 

As of my 2025 mid-year review, I’ve completed 20 books total. That puts me a little behind schedule, but I’m not far off. It’s also important to note that as well as these 20 completed books, I DNF’d two books and I read part of Normal Women before putting it on hold. 

All in all, I think it’s fair to say I’m on track. I’m within one book of where I need to be even now, so I’m optimistic I can hit my goal before the end of the year. Let’s just hope I have fewer DNF’s and holds… 

Complete Goodreads Challenges Throughout the Year

With some new Goodreads Challenges available this year, I’ve wanted to invest some time and energy this year on reading to get some of these goals. 

So far this year, I got three challenges between January and May (Community Favourites) and a further three between May to July (Seasonal Challenge). So far in the Summer Challenge I’ve got three achievements. I confess I haven’t put too much emphasis on reading to meet these challenges in the last few months. Any progress made in them has been a coincidence. It’s something I need to get back on track with. Perhaps I could structure it like my 20 Books of Summer Challenge and almost formalise the challenge to make sure it happens?  

Finish or get up-to-date on 10 series 

Series have definitely been on my radar this year, so I’m pretty confident I’m giving this goal enough attention. 

As of my 2025 mid-year review, half the books I picked up were part of a series. In terms of completions, I have four series where I have either finished the series in full or I’m completely up to date. That’s nearly half! One of these will drop off before the end of the year unless I pick up September’s release (Among the Burning Flowers by Samanta Shannon). Otherwise, I’m looking good. 

The other books I’ve read contributing to this 2025 mid-year review, adding to this goal, include some new series “starts”. I wasn’t particularly planning on starting a lot of new series. However, some came up as they were book club reads. Others are trilogies I already own, for example, or I don’t have many books before they are ‘finished’. With this in mind, I’ve picked them up as ‘quick wins’. 

There are some slow burns on this list, such as Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series that I’ve read towards, but will take a bit longer. For these, I’m not aiming at completion this year, but maybe getting myself to a position where next year is a possibility. 

Read Out of my Comfort Zone

My work book club has been pretty influential in terms of reading out of my comfort zone. Picking up books that other people have chosen is a great way to do this. 

Notable book club books so far that were out of my comfort zone were Shuggie Bain and Little Fires Everywhere. However, I also drove some of those reads myself. A Promised Land, Crashed, and Ultra-Processed People are books I picked up of my own volition. 

I firmly believe that reading broadly is a great changer of perspective. I want to broaden my horizons, so I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far this year in regards to this goal. 

 

Summary

Overall, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made and could share in this 2025 mid-year review post. As always, there are some areas of improvement. My focus points will be hitting more Goodreads Challenges and finishing series.

Thanks for reading today’s 2025 mid-year review!

What reading goals are you focusing on in the second half of this year? 

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