i read 73 books last year, which was pretty neat. here’s a colorful goodreads mashup:

there’s around 10 children’s books in there, courtesy of the little niece, and these were practically the only books i’ve read in paper this year (plus contos da montanha, which was a nice find at the bakery’s free bookshelf). the rest were mostly digital loans from libraries, either for the kindle or audiobooks. i went fewer times to our local library here, which is a pity and something i want to change in 2025.

i tried to do a A-to-Z of book titles last year, in which i would try to read at least one book whose titled matched a different letter of the alphabet. i didn’t manage it, in the end: U, Y and Z were missing. i plotted a graph with the frequency of title names, and this is how it turned out:

the letter A was the winner, followed closely by S (courtesy of the scum villain series). i though for sure E would have more books, but turns out not.

last year, i also had the vague goal of wanting to diversify the nationalities of the writers i read… but i ended up doing worse than in 2023. 😅

the US is still about a third of my reads, with the Uk taking second place. i shall try to improve!

overall, i think i learned that i don’t really want to be reading books that i don’t feel like reading at the moment, just to fulfill a duty or some random goal. my readings this year were very much guided by whatever the vibe was at that moment, what my friends are reading and talking about, my comfort series and some interests that i wanted to explore. it felt right, and i hope it will continue that way!

this post is already getting long and i think i’ll end it with a quote from just ride, which i hope will work as a kind of motto for 2025:

Over-deliver politeness and appreciation for whatever you get, even if it’s only time. Actually, it’s not possible to be overly polite. Send a handwritten thank-you letter even if you’ve already said thanks in person, over the phone, and by e-mail. Be “1950s polite.”