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A Year of Reading: 38 Books in 2025
How a simple 30-minute morning habit during a career transition turned into my most consistent year of reading.
- Authors
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-
- Name
- Liel Villa
- @lielvilla
- Data + AI Nerd | Working on something new | Let's talk!
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Between leaving Pagaya and starting to work full-time on my own projects and ideas, something unexpected happened: I found a quiet, consistent pocket of time almost every morning.
Roughly 30 minutes of reading. No agenda beyond that.
That small habit compounded. By the end of 2025, I had finished 38 books — my personal record.
This wasn’t a goal I set in advance. It emerged naturally from a period of transition: fewer meetings, fewer external deadlines, and more intentional control over my mornings. Reading became a stable anchor while everything else was in motion.
The setup
The structure was simple: about 30 minutes in the morning, most days.
I didn’t manage it every single day, but 5–6 mornings a week was realistic, and enough to make the habit stick. On some days, I also added another 30 minutes before bedtime, but the morning session was the foundation. If the day got busy or derailed, at least that part was already done.
I also read almost exclusively on a Kindle. Being able to get books immediately, read comfortably in any lighting conditions, and always have my library with me removed a lot of friction. No waiting, no logistics, no excuses.
Why the habit worked
The impact wasn’t just about the number of books.
Mental decompression
Reading became a reliable way to slow the mind before the day began, creating a clear boundary between rest and work.
Protected me-time
Thirty minutes was short enough to be realistic and long enough to matter - time without notifications, tasks, or optimization pressure.
Practicing English naturally
The habit was to read in English. In many cases, the original text is simply better than the translation, and over time this became a lightweight but consistent form of language practice.
Volume, expectations, and reality
I’m realistic about this: I probably won’t reach 38 books next year. Life changes. Work cycles intensify. Starting a new venture demands focus in different ways.
For 2026, my goal is deliberately lower: 20 books in a year. That feels sustainable. The habit matters more than the record.
The exceptional ones
A handful of books stood out as exceptional.
Not because they were flawless, but because they did something rare: they stayed with me, emotionally or intellectually, well after I finished reading.
Flowers for Algernon
An outstanding and deeply sensitive story about a man with an intellectual disability who undergoes an experimental surgery that gives him a chance to become intelligent. It uniquely blends emotion, joy, and an underlying sense of distress in a way that is hard to shake.
Wellness
A novel that subtly weaves technology and science into the story of a seemingly very average young couple. Beautifully written, sharp, and thoughtful - I loved it.
The Silent Patient
Very few stories leave you walking around the house with your hands on your head once you finish them. This is one of those rare cases.
The Wedding People
Probably the most controversial pick on this list. I simply loved the story and its flow, even if it won’t work for everyone.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
An emotional story with nerdy protagonists. Honestly, you don’t need to ask for much more than that.
A special mention: Recursion
Recursion has several scenes that lodged themselves deep inside me - moments I still find myself thinking about long after finishing the book. It came very close to making the exceptional list.
In the end, though, the story loses some of its focus toward the finale. The ideas remain strong, but the narrative momentum becomes less precise, which ultimately kept it just outside that category.
Closing 2025, keeping the habit
I don’t expect future years to look like this one - and that’s fine.
If anything, this year reinforced how powerful small, consistent habits can be, especially during moments of transition. Even if next year brings fewer books, the habit itself is something I intend to keep.
Appendix: Full Reading List (2025)
| Name | Completed On | Rating | Exceptional |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Friends | 12/23/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder | 12/1/25 | ⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Recursion | 11/17/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| None of This Is True | 11/10/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Margo’s Got Money Troubles | 10/30/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| KKK | 10/20/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Educated | 10/18/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Project Hail Mary | 10/7/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Fleishman Is in Trouble | 9/30/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Flowers for Algernon | 9/27/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Yes |
| Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine | 9/23/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Slow Horses | 9/10/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Now Is Not the Time to Panic | 8/20/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Nix | 8/14/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| ברור שיבוא אס | 7/22/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Wellness | 7/19/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Yes |
| After Dark | 6/19/25 | ⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Ocean at the End of the Lane | 6/15/25 | ⭐⭐ | No |
| Call Me By Your Name | 6/7/25 | ⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Norwegian Wood | 5/22/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Hate U Give | 5/11/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Paint It All Red (Mindf*ck, #5) | 4/30/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| All the Lies (Mindf*ck, #4) | 4/26/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck, #3) | 4/22/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Sidetracked (Mindf*ck, #2) | 4/19/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Risk (Mindf*ck, #1) | 4/17/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo | 4/14/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Verity | 3/29/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Silent Patient | 3/22/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Yes |
| ממלכת בלוף | 3/12/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society | 3/1/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Wedding People | 2/12/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Yes |
| The Power of Discipline | 2/6/25 | ⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | 2/4/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Yes |
| Read Write Own | 2/4/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Fooled By Randomness | 1/26/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| The Coincidence Makers | 1/9/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |
| Anxious People | 1/5/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | No |