I checked my Goodreads 2025 Reading Challenge goal the other day. I knew I’d gone over my goal of 95 books, but then I saw this:
Whoa! What in the world?
Yes, I’ve read some novellas this year, but not that many! And yes, audiobooks have upped my reading totals the last couple of years, but not by that much!
So what happened?
It isn’t as if I’m neglecting other things. I wrote a book this year. I edited several clients’ books this year. I read my Bible through one-and-a half times and spent some prolonged time studying and memorizing various books and passages.
I’ve even been able to go to sleep earlier (thank you, melatonin!), which means I haven’t been staying up late and reading.
I started doing a little investigating and right off the bat came up with something interesting: the total number of the books marked as “finished” on my 2025 spreadsheet (I’ve been keeping one for years!) isn’t the same as my Goodreads total for 2025. It’s off by about 25 books! Isn’t that odd?
I tried to compare, to see if I’d missed logging books somewhere, but I didn’t find any discrepancies! Even then, I’d be more likely to forget putting them on Goodreads than in my spreadsheet!
Still, my spreadsheet says 140 (at the moment), which is far and above my goal and 20 more than my highest year (2024).
Maybe I read more books with fewer pages?
The mystery will likely remain a mystery. But it has been a great year for reading!