![\"\"](\"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jan-Apr-26-reads.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTotal Books Read So Far This Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My total so far is 15 books, and my goal for the year is 36. That puts me just about halfway to my goal already \u2013 which feels pretty good for this point in the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s everything I\u2019ve read so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Favorite Genre: Historical Fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If I had to pick just one genre to read for the rest of my life, it would be historical fiction \u2013 no question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love learning about different time periods and imagining what everyday life looked like for people in the past. I even considered majoring in History in college. I didn\u2019t go that route, but reading historical fiction feels like the next best thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s one of my favorite genres for both entertainment and learning, and it consistently shows up in my best book recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Average Ratings So Far<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the books I\u2019ve read this year have landed around 4 stars, with a few 3-star reads mixed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, I don\u2019t have a true 5-star read in my 2026 reads \u2013 but I\u2019m hopeful that will change as I work through the rest of my TBR pile. Sometimes the best books are still waiting at the bottom of the stack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surprises, Favorites and Disappointments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Top Favorites So Far<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My two standout favorites this year are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recommend both of these constantly and would absolutely re-read them if I didn\u2019t already have a huge TBR pile waiting for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My husband and I recently watched the movie adaptation of A Man Called Ove<\/em> starring Tom Hanks. It was sweet, but like most book-to-movie adaptations, the book was far better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m also very excited for Remarkably Bright Creatures<\/em> to come to Netflix soon! I may or may not sign up for a month\u2019s subscription just to watch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Disappointment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1984<\/em> by George Orwell was my biggest reading surprise in a not-so-great way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was recommended by several people, and I knew it was a classic. I even picked it up at Goodwill for $2, so I figured it was worth trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue wasn\u2019t the writing \u2013 it was my expectations. I didn\u2019t fully understand what I was getting into with dystopian fiction, so I went book, so I went in completely unprepared for the tone and themes. That definitely impacted my reading experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How I Track My Books<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I track all my books using Goodreads<\/a>. Every time I finish a book, I add it to my \u201cRead\u201d shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This simple system helps me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019m in a bookstore or thrift store, I just pull up the Goodreads’ app and search my shelves \u2013 it saves me a lot of guesswork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to read more about how I use Goodreads to organize my reading life, check out this post: 500 Books Later: How Goodreads Helped Me Track My Reading Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re interested in tracking books or setting reading goals, you might also like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, this has been a solid reading year \u2013 lots of good books, a couple of surprises, and a clear favorite genre showing up again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m curious: what\u2019s your favorite book you\u2019ve read so far this year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\udca1 Join the daily bookish conversation on my Facebook page<\/a> or Instagram<\/a>! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We\u2019re more than a quarter of the way through the year, and I thought it\u2019d be fun to share my current reading states, favorite books so far and how I\u2019m tracking everything. If you love seeing other readers\u2019 progress, book recommendations, or using Goodreads to track your reading, this one\u2019s for you. Total Books Read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[221,18],"tags":[100,17],"class_list":["post-687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-tracking","category-reading-goals","tag-goodreads","tag-reading-goals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":693,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions\/693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/readersgottaread.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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