The number of books I've read year by year: 2016 to 2024

It's no secret that I love to read, but sometimes life has other plans, right? As I've been working behind the scenes on updating my blog over the past few weeks, I started looking at my reading statistics year by year since I began keeping track of my reading in 2016. I knew I'd had a few years where my reading had dropped off significantly, but it was interesting to see the actual numbers.

I'd love to know if you keep track of your reading and if you've ever noticed any patterns or anomalies. Leave me a comment and let me know!

I'm not sure when, but I a while back, I decided to only keep track of the books I actually finish and to ignore those that I don't finish (DNF). So, how many books did I complete each year since I began keeping track? Let's take a look:

2024: 41 

2023: 23

2022: 19

2021: 22

2020: 20

2019: 36

2018: 15

2017: 19

2016: 42

In 2016, I was feeling pretty good about life and things were looking up, but in 2017, my uncle who happened to be my best friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor (glioblastoma) and I suffered from a rare form of a bowel obstruction and had a pretty big surgery. By summer of 2017, my uncle had passed away and I was pretty depressed. My mom's dementia was also worsening and 2018 was extremely hard as a result. In 2019, life was still pretty hard, but I had started reading more as an escape from reality, thus the uptick. 

Then, the world basically shut down in 2020, followed closely by my becoming temporary guardian to a tutoring student and foster parent to his brother (they've since gone back to their bio-mom). That was one of the hardest but also most fulfilling things I've ever done, and I hardly had the time or energy to read. A lot of my reading during 2021 and 2022 involved children's literature as I read books with my student both for his schoolwork and just for the enjoyment of reading. 

2023 was hard for a variety of other personal reasons, and then in 2024, I found myself reading for enjoyment again. And, in 2025, I'm well on track to read well over 50 books for the year. 

I'd love to hear about your reading patterns and habits--drop a comment and let's chat about it!

Check out the best book I read each year from 2016 to 2024 HERE. And, check out all of the books I've finished from 2016 to 2024 HERE.