books

2025, quantified

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For the third year running, I’m summarising all those end of year reviews that apps like Spotify and Goodreads offer you. You can take a look at 2024 and 2023 if you want.

Countries and counties visited

Unlike last year, I did manage to leave England a couple of times – Athens in June, and Wales in July. I also spent some time at Amsterdam Schipol Airport in the Netherlands, but as I was airside the whole time, I’m not really counting it.

Over the course of the year, I have spent at least some time in the following English counties:

  • West Yorkshire
  • North Yorkshire
  • South Yorkshire
  • East Yorkshire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Greater Manchester
  • Lancashire
  • Cheshire
  • Norfolk
  • County Durham
  • Merseyside
  • West Midlands
  • Oxfordshire
  • Northamptonshire
  • Staffordshire
  • Tyne & Wear

That’s a few more than last year – East Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire and Tyne & Wear weren’t on last year’s list.

Most distant points

The furthest compass points I have been to are:

  • Furthest North: Gateshead, Tyne & Wear (May)
  • Furthest South: Athens, Greece (June)
  • Furthest East: Athens, Greece (June)
  • Furthest West: Anglesey Sea Zoo (July)

My trip to Athens was something of an outlier, but we also went further west than last year. Not so far north this time, though.

Methods of transport used

For the first time since doing this, I can include planes in this (Athens again). There was also a lot of driving, in our old and new cars, and I continued to mostly take the train to work. No trips to London last year, but I did travel by train to and from Manchester Airport, when heading to Athens, and to Leeds. Apart from those Manchester trips, which included time on Transpennine Express, all my journeys were with Northern. Speaking of which, I had 8 successful Delay Repay claims, totalling £6.25 (78p on average).

I’ve been on a few buses and trams as well. No ferries last year, but I did spend some time on a boat in Oxfordshire.

Music listened to

A screenshot of my most popular bands and songs from 2025 from Spotify Wrapped

Over the year, I scrobbled 15,063 tracks on last.fm, which is more than the past few years. That’s a little over 41 songs per day, so on average I listened to six additional songs per day in 2025 compared to 2024. Assuming an average song is around three minutes, I listened to slightly over two hours of music every day on average. My ‘listening age’ was 42 – only out by a year, which is nice.

Whilst I don’t exclusively listen to music on Spotify, on there, trance was my top genre this year (it was pop last year), according to my Spotify Wrapped. My most-listened to song was Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra – look, a song that was released in 2025 – as it’s one of our (now) ten-year-old’s favourites. Similarly zeitgeisty was my top album – the soundtrack to K-Pop Demon Hunters.

My top artist was Alex Christensen, which is a weird outlier; he released several albums of classical cover versions of dance music which I marathon-listened to one day. Last year’s top, Armin van Buuren, was second.

A screenshot of my Goodreads Year in Books

Books read and listened to

According to My Goodreads Year in Books for 2025, I read 76 books this year, which is one less than last year (and 17 fewer than 2023). Unfortunately, I set my 2025 reading challenge at 80 books, so didn’t achieve it. Also, books ‘read’ include those that I have listened to as audiobooks.

The shortest book I read, at 64 pages long, was ‘Our Super Japanese Adventure‘ by Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins (not available on Amazon), who we met at Thought Bubble. Meanwhile, the longest book was ‘Rule of Cool‘ (sponsored link) by Matthew Siege at 479 pages, although I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Felicia Day over 12 and a half hours. The longest audiobook was ‘Neurotribes‘ (sponsored link) by Steve Silberman, which was over 20 hours and probably the longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to, although the print edition is 477 pages (two less than the Rule of Cool)

Overall, the average length of book that I read was 270 pages, which is 39 more than 2024. ‘A Brief History of Time‘ by Prof Stephen Hawking (sponsored link) was the most popular book that I read last year. Although, I found it a struggle in parts and, unsurprisingly, some of the science has changed in the 37 years since it was first published.

Beers and ciders consumed

I log the beers and ciders that I drink using Untappd, and these stats are from my year in beer. Like last year, I drank less than one per month (11 in total) and my main style was ‘non-alcoholic’.

Steps taken

My total steps taken was very similar to 2024 and 2023. Overall I took 3,455,761 steps, which is only slightly less than 2024. My average is 9,468 per day; January was my most sedentary month and July was my most active, but not by much.

Time spent learning French

A screenshot of my Duolingo stats for 2025

I started Duolingo’s French course on the 1st January 2022 (so I have a four year streak now), and in 2025, I spent 3,560 minutes learning – that’s 59 hours in total. Compared to 2024, that’s 11 hours less, but we didn’t go to France again this year.

My Duolingo Score for French is 118, which means that I’m in the medium B2 level (‘vantage’) of the CEFR for French. Currently Duolingo’s maximum score for French is 130, which is high B2 level and should be sufficient to study a university course taught in French. I was expecting to have reached 130 by now, but clearly not.

Still, not much further to go. I’m probably going to switch to German next – I got an A* in GCSE German in 2000, but a quarter of a century has passed since then and I’ve forgotten most of it.

Podcasts listened to

A screenshot of my most listened to podcasts of 2025

I listen to the majority of my podcasts through Overcast (with the remainder in BBC Sounds). My most listened to podcast was, once again, RHLSTP (RHLSTP!) with 40 hours over the year. The Guilty Feminist, The Comedian’s Comedian, The Bugle and a new entrant, Bugle spin-off podcast, Realms Unknown, make up the rest of my top 5.

Photos taken

A new stat that I tracked in 2024 was an estimate of photos taken, although it will also include some screenshots as well. In 2025, I took 1536 photos, so less than 2024 but more than 2023.

So, that’s 2025 quantified, and a useful summary of the statistics from various web services that seem to spend their December telling me data they hold about me but in a nice way.

My best children’s books of 2025

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Having written about my favourite adult fiction and non-fiction books of this year, it’s time for the books that we enjoyed reading with our nine-year-old the most this year. This is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

‘Murder! by Narwhal!’ by Alex T Smith

This was a Waterstones book recommendation that we picked up last year. Murder! By Narwhal! is, as you may have guessed, a kid-friendly murder mystery book where someone ends up deceased by the way of a narwhal horn. Our nine-year-old really enjoyed it, and there are plenty of twists and turns in the plot. Like all the best whodunnits, the perpetrator will be a complete surprise, and have made sense all along.

An as-yet untitled sequel to the book is due to come out in 2026.

‘Bunny vs Monkey’ by Jamie Smart

Our nine-year-old has been really getting into comic books this year, hence why four of the six books recommended here are comic books. This is book one of the Bunny vs Monkey series; so far, we’ve read five of them together this year, with others purchased but not yet read.

They are very silly books, which makes them perfect for their target age group.

‘History’s Most Epic Fibs’ by Athena Kugblenu

A non-fiction book! You may know Athenu Kugblenu as an occasional co-host of The Guilty Feminist Podcast, or as a stand-up comedian, or as a contributor to the recent Dead Funny History series on BBC Radio 4. History’s Most Epic Fibs is a kid’s book dispelling commonly believed fake facts from history, like how vikings never war horned helmets, or that Queen Cleopatra was not actually Egyptian. As well as being a source of facts, it’s also a way of teaching critical thinking, and not always taking everything someone says at face value.

We also read this year’s follow-up, History’s Most Epic Fails, about how things went wrong and changed the world – sometimes for the better. I recommend both.

‘Mega Robo Bros’ by Neill Cameron

Our nine-year-old got to meet Neill Cameron at Thought Bubble this year, and so we have a signed poster of one of their favourite comic book series from this year: Mega Robo Bros. Set in near future London, it tells the story of two humanoid robot brothers, who live with their scientist mother and her spouse. Whilst their parents try to let them have a normal life, when a mysterious evil Robot 23 comes onto the scene, their robot super powers suddenly become very useful indeed.

Unlike the Bunny vs Monkey books, which are anthologies of a series of short stories, each book is a complete story within an over-arching plot line. So far, we’ve read the first two books in the series.

‘Cooking with Monsters’ by Jordan Alsaqa

We bought Cooking with Monsters at this year’s Thought Bubble from Vivian Truong, who is the artist behind this comic book series. I should note that this is aimed at young adults, but our nine-year-old enjoyed it and there isn’t much in here that isn’t age-appropriate for younger kids. It’s also quite LGBTQ+ friendly; indeed, one of the main characters is non-binary. We liked the monsters such as the Bull Frog (a frog that is also a bull).

Currently, there are two books in the series – we’ve just read the first so far.

‘Unfairies’ by Huw Aaron

Another Waterstones recommendation, and a sign that comic books are moving into the mainstream, as this is published by Puffin Books. Unfairies is a similar level of silliness to Bunny vs Monkey, and follows the adventures of Pip who works in the storeroom at the bottom of a tree. As he makes his way up the tree, he encounters other fae creatures, all of whom seem to hate each other, until he gets to the top.

We only just finished this book last week. A sequel is due out early next year and was being promoted by Puffin at Thought Bubble, along with a new comic book from Olaf Falafel for which we picked up a free two chapter sampler.

Honourable mentions

We read the first of the Montgomery Bonbon books by Alasdair Beckett-King a couple of years ago, but read the rest this year. They’re good books – all whodunnits.

My best adult fiction books of 2025

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Between now and the day before Christmas Eve, I’ll be posting about the best books that I’ve read (or the best audiobooks that I have listened to) this year, just in case you need any last minute present ideas. On Monday, I wrote about my favourite non-fiction books, and today, I’m focussing on the fiction books aimed at grown-ups that I’ve read or listened to this year. All of these are books that I have awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

‘How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying’ by Django Wexler

Cover of 'How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying' by Django Wexler

This book was recommended to me by a couple of people. It’s told in the first person by Davi, who is stuck in a time loop. Every time she tries to defeat the Dark Lord, she ends up dead and back at the beginning of the loop. So, as per the title, this is How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying. It’s very funny, with plenty of violence, sex and swearing to boot. Christine and I listened to this together in the car, and the audiobook is very well narrated by Jeanette Illidge.

This book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and so there’s a second book, Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me, which also comes recommended. I think Christine enjoyed both books more than I did, but they’re still amongst my books of the year.

‘Human Rites’ by Juno Dawson

Last year, the other two books in the Her Majesty’s Royal Coven trilogy were in my best of list, so it’s no surprise that this third and final book, Human Rites, is here too. These books almost feel like they were written specially for me, as many of the settings are places around Hebden Bridge that I know well. Plus the various pop culture references.

Dawson manages to bring the overall story arc to a really satisfying conclusion, without making it feel like it was a foregone conclusion. The audiobook is, once again, excellently narrated by Nicola Coughlan, who is able to give each character a unique and distinctive voice.

‘Rule of Cool’ by Matthew Siege

Cover of 'Rule of Cool' by Matthew Siege

This was my first foray into the world of LitRPG – fiction books that incorporate role-playing game mechanics. So, in this book, Rule of Cool, the characters level up, and as events happen, you can read how their stats change. Attacks are on the basis of dice roles. It’s a whole genre of books.

The story is an idea I’ve come across before, in Drew Hayes’ book NPCs. Characters in a game find a way to break out of their pre-defined non-player character roles, and get to be the heroes for once. Whilst Hayes’ book was a little disappointing, I found the story in Rule of Cool much more engaging.

I picked this up on the basis of its narrator, Felicia Day, whose career I have followed since she released the first series of The Guild. Which is approaching its 20th anniversary, somehow.

‘The Fireborne Blade’ by Charlotte Bond

Cover of 'The Fireborne Blade' by Charlotte Bond

I met Charlotte Bond at this year’s Sci-Fi Weekender, as one of the invited authors. She’s from Leeds, and when I read the dedications for this book, The Fireborne Blade, one of those was to a mutual friend. As well as a signed copy of this book, she also gave me some Yorkshire Tea.

It’s a dragon-slaying fantasy book with a few unexpected twists. There’s some humour in here, and overall, it’s quite a short book. Which, if you’re like me and wanting to hit an ambitious reading challenge target for the year, is welcome.

There’s a follow up – The Bloodless Princes – but I haven’t started this yet.

‘When The Moon Hits Your Eye’ by John Scalzi

Cover of 'When The Moon Hits Your Eye' by John Scalzi

Last year’s best of list featured two honourable mentions by John Scalzi. As with Human Rites, mentioned earlier, this is one of two books that I read which were actually published this year.

In When The Moon Hits Your Eye, the moon suddenly turns to cheese. The book is essentially a series of short stories, where different characters all react to the same events, including teams of scientists, eccentric billionaires, and cheese shop owners.

Whilst my favourite John Scalzi book remains Starter Villain, this is good, and what you would expect if you’ve read Scalzi’s other books. The audiobook is once again well-narrated by Wil Wheaton.

On Tuesday, I’ll focus on the best kid’s books that I read this year with our nine-year-old.

My best non-fiction books of 2025

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Between now and the day before Christmas Eve, I’ll be posting about the best books that I’ve read (or the best audiobooks that I have listened to) this year, just in case you need any last minute present ideas. Today, I’m focussing on the non-fiction books that I’ve read or listened to this year. All of these are books that I have awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

‘You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here’ by Dr Benji Waterhouse

Cover of 'You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here' by Dr Benji Waterhouse

Released last year in hardback, You Don’t Have to be Mad to Work Here is written by psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse. He writes about his first few years in psychiatry, both in hospital and later in community roles. We are introduced to some of Dr Waterhouse’s more notable patients and their struggles with poor mental health. It’s funny and heartwarming, but also lays bare some of the challenges in psychiatry and health and social care as a whole. I really enjoyed it, although my wife, a healthcare worker, found it hit a little too close to home in places.

I picked this up as an Audible daily deal back in July; Dr Waterhouse narrates the audiobook himself and does an excellent job of it too. I also listened to this Richard Herring interview with him back in January.

‘Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things’ by Pierre Novellie

Cover of 'Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things' by Pierre Novellie

A second mention for this book this year, as we went to see Novellie discuss this book with Robin Ince at the Bradford Literature Festival this summer. I have now finished this book (it took me from June to November), and have shared many quotes from it with friends. The book is subtitled ‘A comedian’s guide to autism’, and it follows his diagnosis of being autistic in his thirties and how this has informed his comedy.

As you’d expect from a comedian, it’s a funny book, but I also found it useful too. I’ve previously blogged about how I’m (probably) neurodivergent, and reading this book has certainly reinforced that.

I’ll also offer an honourable mention for Robin Ince’s Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, which Christine and I listened to as an audiobook whilst in Wales and enjoyed. It gets a strong recommendation from me, especially as Robin was forced to quit the BBC’s Infinite Monkey Cage as studio executives were not happy about his views on social media about trans people being deserving of dignity, respect and inclusion.

‘My Thoughts Exactly’ by Lily Allen

Cover of 'My Thoughts Exactly' by Lily Allen

Another Audible Daily Deal, but one I picked up way back in 2019 shortly after the paperback was released. I now regret that I left it six years before I read My Thoughts Exactly, because it’s excellent. It covers Allen’s early life – I had no idea that Harry Enfield was essentially her step-dad for a while – and how she was one of the first major artists to use MySpace to break into the mainstream.

There’s also a lot about her personal life in here, including how she handled a stalker (subsequently convicted) and her relationships. Indeed, I finished it just before she released her latest album, West End Girl, with some very raw lyrics about her latest partner.

‘Brutally Honest’ by Melanie Brown

Cover of 'Brutally Honest' by Melanie Brown

This isn’t the first book from Mel B from the Spice Girls, but Brutally Honest is a really important read. It’s her account of her relationships with Eddie Murphy, and her second husband, Stephen Belafonte, who she accuses of emotional, financial and physical abuse.

Mel B wrote the book in conjunction with Louise Gannon; she mentions a midlife diagnosis of dyslexia, and the audiobook is also read by a professional voice actor, albeit one with a Leeds accent. The audiobook also features a bonus interview with Mel and Louise at the end. Anyone in a relationship needs to read this to know what not to do.

‘Tits Up’ by Sarah Thornton

Cover of 'Tits Up' by Sarah Thornton

Yes, a book about breasts is in my top five best books that I consumed in 2025. Tits Up starts with a discussion about Thornton’s own breasts; removed to avoid breast cancer, and replaced with prosthetics that ended up being larger than her previous natural breasts. There’s also a discussion about the phrase ‘tits up’; Thornton is Canadian but has spent time in the UK, and it means different things on either side of the Atlantic. In the UK, if something has gone ‘tits up’, it means it’s gone wrong, but in the US, I gather it means something on the lines of ‘put your big girl pants on’.

What is notable is that almost everyone interviewed for this book is a woman – you won’t find anything about men publishing topless photos or producing porn in here, although there are interviews with sex workers themselves.

Honourable Mentions

As well as Robin Ince’s and Mel C’s books above, I also enjoyed these books this year:

Next time, I’ll be writing about the adult fiction books that I’ve most enjoyed this year.

Robin Ince and Pierre Novellie at BradfordLitFest

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Pierre Novellie (left) and Robin Ince (right) taking part in a discussion about Thinking Differently and Laughing Loudly at Bradford Literature Festival

A couple of Sundays before, we went to see Robin Ince and Pierre Novellie at the final day of the Bradford Literature Festival. They’re both stand-up comedians, who, as adults, have received ADHD (Ince) and Autism (Novellie) diagnoses, and written books about them. The event, entitled Thinking Differently and Laughing Loudly, had Ince and Novellie talk about their experiences both pre- and post-diagnosis, and their books.

The Bradford Literature Festival has been going for a few years now, and – full disclosure – my employer, the University of Bradford, has been one its major funders from day one. Indeed, this event took place in the university’s Great Hall, which, combined with an Open Day the day before, meant I spent quite a bit of my weekend at work in some capacity. Ashamedly, this was the first event I had attended, although I put this mainly down to issues arranging childcare in previous years. This event was in the late afternoon, and so we dragged our nine-year-old along along with their iPad and headphones.

The following paragraphs include sponsored links to Amazon for the books mentioned.

A photo of two books, 'Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal' by Robin Ince and 'Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things'

Robin Ince – Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal

I’ve seen Robin Ince a few times before. These include a couple of ‘Uncaged Monkeys’ events in 2011, which was sort-of a live show for nerds as a spin-off of the Infinite Monkey Cage show that he co-hosts with Professor Brian Cox on BBC Radio 4. We also saw his ‘Bad Book Club’ show in Hebden Bridge, again in 2011, and we’ve seen him at a couple of shows in Leeds and in Huddersfield. Finding out that Ince has ADHD was not much of a surprise – his comedy sets would often go off and tangents and he would frequently go over time.

Robin Ince has written quite a few books now, and I’ve read Bad Book Club (related to the aforementioned show), I’m A Comedian And So Are You (one of my books of the year for 2019) and The Importance of Being Interested. His latest is Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, published in May, and this was the book he was here to promote. I haven’t read it yet, but we picked up a signed copy and I also have the audiobook to accompany us on our upcoming holiday. We also had a couple of Robin’s other books signed, including Bibilomaniac, which I haven’t yet read.

Pierre Novellie – Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things

I haven’t seen Pierre Novellie before, but I follow him on social media as he’s popped up on a few podcasts that I listen to. Pierre was born in South Africa, moved to the Isle of Man in childhood and then went to Cambridge for university. He was diagnosed as being autistic in his thirties, and in the discussions on stage, he said he’d realised that autistic observations made up much of his comedy even before he was aware.

His book is called Why Can’t I Just Enjoy Things? and, if I remember correctly, Novellie self-published it before it was picked up by a publisher and released in paperback in May. I picked up the Kindle edition when it was on offer, and had started reading it on the plane on the way back from Greece. It’s very good; it’s funny, but it also makes you think. I’ve not finished it yet – probably a combination of being busy and my undiagnosed ADHD – but we picked up the paperback to have that signed as well. I mean, I could have asked Novellie to sign the iPad that I’m reading it on, but I’m looking at replacing it later this year.

As for the Bradford Literature Festival, it’ll be back next year. It’s a really good festival, with a huge range of activities and a real commitment to diversity.

Authors I’ve read 5 or more books by

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Last weekend, on Bluesky, there was a meme going around where you listed the authors where you have read five or more of their books. I duly complied, but felt it was also worth a blog post to provide a bit of commentary on top.

The ordering of these is essentially the three authors that came to mind, and then the rest were from my Goodreads profile. Also, when I say ‘read’, this includes books that I have listened to as audiobooks. Indeed, this is primarily how I consume books, but I do try to fit in e-books and paper books where I can.

Terry Pratchett

I have read a lot of Terry Pratchett over the years. As a teenager, I read the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, and then started with the Discworld books in 2017. I’ve now read every core Discworld book (all 41 of them), as well as some of Pratchett’s non-Discworld works like The Carpet People, his Long Earth series with Stephen Baxter, and Truckers, the first book in the Bromeliad Trilogy. I tried to get our nine-year-old into the latter, but they weren’t interested and didn’t get a lot of the references, alas.

John Scalzi

Although I’ve not yet read any of his Old Man’s War series, for which he is best known, I have read a number of John Scalzi books. This includes the Lock In series – well, the two books and the prequel – Starter Villian, The Kaiju Preservation Society and The Android’s Dream. I picked up the majority of Scalzi’s books in a previous Humble Bundle, so they’re there for me to read in due course. I’ll also be picking up his latest novel, When The Moon Hits Your Eye when my next Audible credit is available. It’s once again narrated by Wil Wheaton, who does an excellent job – especially in the newer books.

Scott Meyer

Scott Meyer wrote an inventive fantasy/sci-fi series called Magic 2.0, and I’ve read all of those that have been published so far. If you like Pratchett and Scalzi, then you’ll like this series. I haven’t read any of his other books yet though.

Yahtzee Croshaw

Yahtzee Croshaw made a name for himself doing fast-faced and highly sarcastic video game review videos, in a series called Zero Punctuation which ran until 2023. But he has also had seven books published to date (plus two unpublished works available from his web site) and I’ve read five of them. They are, once again, mainly sci-fi, and include the humour that you would expect.

Roald Dahl

I think I’ve read every Roald Dahl book. More recently we’ve started reading some of them to our nine-year-old, hence why they’re showing up in my Goodreads lists.

Juno Dawson

Last year, I started reading Juno Dawson’s Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series. The first two books are fantastic, and I need to read the prequel soon before the final book, Human Rites, is published this summer. I’ve also read several of Dawson’s non-fiction, including The Gender Games and What’s The T? – I recommend both.

Terry Deary

As a kid, I wasn’t into reading fiction so much, so instead I read a lot of books like Horrible Histories. We’re now reading some of these with our nine-year-old.

Matt Haig

As with Juno Dawson, I’ve mainly read Matt Haig’s non-fiction works, like The Comfort Book and Reasons to Stay Alive. But last year I also read The Midnight Library and it fully deserves all of the accolades it received. Just an excellent novel. I need to read more of Haig’s novels in future.

Adam Kay

I remember seeing Adam Kay when he was performing comedy songs in a double act with Suman Biswas, as The Amateur Transplants. We saw them in Manchester – Christine and I were in the early months of our relationship and still lived apart. Back then, Kay was still a practising doctor with comedy and writing as a side-hustle.

Then he published This Is Going To Hurt which was both hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure. Since then, he’s written a follow-up, Undoctored, but the reason why he features here is that he’s also written a very good series of science books for kids, starting with Kay’s Anatomy. We’ve read all of them to our nine-year-old.

Caitlin Moran

Another author who is here because I’ve read her non-fiction books. Indeed, How To Be A Woman was the first audiobook that I listed to on my Audible free trial, 12 years ago. I’ve also read her follow-ups, More Than A Woman and What About Men? as well as her collections of previously published columns for The Times newspaper. I would recommend them all, although I scored More Than A Woman highest.

Jay Rayner

I think I’ve read all of Jay Rayner’s books – mostly through the audiobooks which Christine and I listen to in the car. Rayner’s dulcet tones have accompanied us on many a long-distance drive over the years.

Gill Sims

Gill Sims is known for the Why Mummy series, of which I’ve read the first four books. There’s also the Saturday Night Sauvignon Sisterhood, which is a free-standing book that tangentially takes place in the same universe. All the books are very relatable if you’re a parent.

Neil Gaiman

I almost didn’t include Neil Gaiman here because, whilst I had read more than five of his books, I won’t be reading any more. I touched on this last week, but following the allegations that surround him, I can’t bring myself to read any more of his work. And that’s a shame, because Anansi Boys was one of my favourite books of all time.

What does this say about my taste in books?

Firstly, I was surprised that I had read five or more books from as many authors as this. Logging what I read on Goodreads has helped here. But I’m also a little disappointed that the majority of authors are straight white men. Admittedly, some of those straight white men, like Pratchett and Scalzi, are/were good allies, but I need to read more books by women and people of colour.

Also, I definitely have a thing for stories with humour, ideally in the sci-fi and fantasy realms, and most of the books that I read have been published relatively recently. Indeed, as I write this, all the authors bar Pratchett and Dahl are still alive.

2024, quantified

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I did this last year, and found it interesting to look back at the various statistics of things that I have done over the year. So, here it is again for 2024. It helps that loads of web sites now offer their own version of Spotify Wrapped.

Countries and counties visited

In 2024, I didn’t visit any countries besides England where I live.

Over the course of the year, I have spent at least some time in the following English counties:

  • West Yorkshire
  • North Yorkshire
  • South Yorkshire
  • Lincolnshire
  • Greater Manchester
  • Lancashire
  • Cheshire
  • Norfolk
  • Northumberland
  • County Durham
  • Merseyside
  • Greater London
  • West Midlands

This doesn’t include any counties that I have passed through without stopping. Compared to last year, I didn’t go to Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey or Hampshire, but I did go to Northumberland, County Durham, Merseyside, Greater London and the West Midlands which were all counties that I didn’t go to in 2023.

Most distant points

The furthest compass points I have been to are:

For context, I went as far east as 2023, but further north and (slightly) further west. However, as we didn’t go to France this year, I went significantly less far south.

Methods of transport used

Because we didn’t take our car to France, I didn’t drive as much this year – about 8000 miles, or 20% less than last year.

However, I have done more train travel. As well as my commute to work, we took the train to London in March. I have driven once in London and vowed never again; not least because our car is a diesel and therefore subject to additional charges inside the ULEZ. I also took our nine-year-old to Leeds last week on the train.

We’ve also been on trams a couple of times in Manchester – we tend to drive to Hollinwood tram stop and use Metrolink as a park and ride service. And whilst we didn’t cross the channel by ferry this year, we did cross the Mersey by ferry instead. Once again, no aeroplane flights in 2024.

My top 5 songs from Spotify Wrapped, which are 'React' by Switch Disco, 'Since U Been Gone' by Kelly Clarkson, 'Melodies of Hope' by Patty Gurdy, 'On The Floor' by Jennifer Lopez and 'What The Hell' by Avril Lavigne

Music listened to

Over the year, I scrobbled 12,671 tracks on last.fm, so slightly down on the 13,194 from 2023 (and 13,447 from 2022). That’s almost 35 songs per day, again down by about one a day from 2023. Assuming an average song is around three minutes, I listen to almost two hours of music every day on average. Spotify reckons that I listened to 436 minutes, or just over 7 hours of music on the 25 October.

Whilst I don’t exclusively listen to music on Spotify, on there, pop was my top genre, following by trance, rock, pop dance and Europop this year, according to my Spotify Wrapped. My most-listened to song was ‘React’ by Switch Disco featuring Ella Henderson and Robert Miles, which I listened to 14 times. Which is unsurprising as it’s one of our nine-year-old’s favourite songs, and samples Robert Miles’ ‘Children’.

My top artist was Armin van Buuren, which surprised me but there’s almost always one of his songs in my weekly Release Radar playlist. The rest of my top five were Patty Gurdy (blog post), Madam Misfit (blog post), David Guetta and Dua Lipa. I listened to 4,235 different bands and artists over the course of the year.

Books read and listened to

According to My Goodreads Year in Books for 2024, I read 77 books this year – 16 fewer than 2023. This amounts to 17,845 pages (although many of these were listened to as audiobooks).

The shortest book I read, at 32 pages long, was ‘The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me’ by Roald Dahl (sponsored link) – clearly, one of the books that I read to our nine-year-old this year. Meanwhile, I listened to 15 and a half hours of Nicola Coughlan reading ‘The Shadow Cabinet’ by Juno Dawson (sponsored link), which translates to 528 pages and the longest book. That’s longer in terms of pages than my longest book last year (‘What Just Happened?!’ by Marina Hyde (sponsored link) – 472 pages) but shorter in terms of listening time (17 hours).

Overall, the average length of book that I read was 231 pages, which is 11 more than 2023. Matt Haig’s ‘The Midnight Library’ (sponsored link) was the most popular book that I read last year.

A downloaded image from my Untappd Year in Beer, showing my average rating, checkins, and top rated beers.

Beers and ciders consumed

I log the beers and ciders that I drink using Untappd, and these stats are from my year in beer. However, I only logged 11 such drinks this year (compared to 58 in 2022). I just haven’t been particularly interested in drinking beer and cider this year, and it’s notable that my favourite style was ‘non-alcoholic’.

Steps taken

My total steps taken was very similar to 2023. Overall I took 3,526,369 steps, which is 5% less than 2023 and means that, on average, I walked just under 10,000 steps per day. Overall that’s almost 2,600 kilometres (again down by around 100 compared to 2023). These are all tracked using my Fitbit Versa 3.

A screenshot from my Duolingo Year in Review which states that I am a top 1% French learner

Time spent learning French

I started Duolingo’s French course on the 1st January 2022 (so I have a three year streak now), and in 2024, I spent 4,228 minutes learning – that’s 70 hours or an average of 12 minutes per day. Again, slightly down on 2023, but then we didn’t go to France this year. I also managed to remain in the Diamond League for the entire year, and successfully completed every friends quest and monthly challenge.

My Duolingo Score for French is 100, which means that I’m in the low B2 level (‘vantage’) of the CEFR for French. Currently Duolingo’s maximum score for French is 130, which is high B2 level and should be sufficient to study a university course taught in French. I’m hoping to achieve that by the end of 2025, although there’s a possibility of us going on holiday somewhere else which may see me switch languages for a bit.

A shareable image from Overcast showing my top 6 podcasts this year

Podcasts listened to

I listen to the majority of my podcasts through Overcast (with the remainder in BBC Sounds). My most listened to podcast was RHLSTP (RHLSTP!) with 78 hours over the year. The Guilty Feminist, The Comedian’s Comedian, The Bugle and The Infinite Monkey Cage make up the rest of my top 5. ‘Reasons Revisited’ is the now defunct podcast which was hosted by Ed Milliband and Geoff Lloyd; now that Ed is a government minister again, there are no more new episodes.

Tracking my podcast listening is a relatively new feature in Overcast and so this is a new statistic that I didn’t track in 2023.

Photos taken

Another new statistic that I didn’t track in 2023 was number of photos taken. It’s an estimate – basically it’s the total number of images backed up from my phone to Dropbox over the year. That could also include screenshots, memes and a few videos. Overall, it was 1,813 in 2024, compared to 1,417 in 2023. So whilst I may have been less active, listened to less music and not been abroad, I did take around 28% more photos in 2024.

So, that’s 2024 quantified, and a useful summary of the statistics from various web services that seem to spend their December telling me data they hold about me but in a nice way. I suppose I need to get a bit active in 2025 then.

Merry Christmanoëlavidad!

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Photos of the two books that I bought Christine for Christmas: A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett, and Designing Terry Pratchett's Discworld by Paul Kidby

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, a Joyeux Noël and a Feliz Navidad, should you be celebrating today.

Once again, we’re staying with my parents in York for Christmas, having arrived last night. Whilst I’ve been lucky enough to work somewhere that closed at 4pm last Friday, for Christine, Christmas Eve was a normal working day. We’re here in York for a few days.

As per usual, we’re not having turkey – it tends to fall to my mum to cook Christmas dinner and she’s not a fan of turkey. Instead, we’re having pork.

Pictured above are the gifts that I bought for Christine:

Yes, there’s a theme. My gift to her last year was Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch (sponsored link), written by Rhianna Pratchett about her father’s characters, and required a bit of a mad goose chase around the various bookshops of West Yorkshire to find a copy. Thankfully, the glorious Waterstones in Bradford came up trumps.

I’ll have probably opened my presents by the time you read this, but I’m writing this ahead of time.

My best children’s fiction books of 2024

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Between now and Christmas Eve, I’ll be posting about the best books that I’ve read (or the best audiobooks that I have listened to), just in case you need any last minute present ideas. On Thursday, I wrote about my favourite non-fiction books, and yesterday, my favourite adult fiction books. Today, I’m focussing on the fiction books that I’ve read to our soon-to-be nine year old this year. All of these are books that I have awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

Luna Wolf: Animal Wizard by Alesha Dixon

The cover of Luna Wolf: Animal Wizard by Alesha Dixon

Our eight-year-old picked this out of the school library, and wasn’t aware that I used to listen to Alesha Dixon’s music as a teenager, from when she was part of the girl band Mis-teeq.

Luna Wolf: Animal Wizard is co-written by Dixon in collaboration with Katy Birchall, and is about a girl called Luna who has recently moved to London with her father, following her mother’s death. Through her volunteering at a local animal rescue centre, and her bond with one of the rescue dogs, she begins to uncover her mother’s exciting past, and a plot to capture some very special animals that her mother worked with.

The Day My Dog Got Famous by Jen Carney

The cover of 'The Day My Dog Got Famous' by Jen Carney

We picked up The Day My Dog Got Famous from our local library, and it’s written and illustrated by Jen Carney. It follows the story of Ferris, who lives with his two mums, his dog Aldo, and a revolving door of foster brothers and sisters. Alas, despite Ferris’s attempts to make Aldo appear amazing, by drawing comics, Aldo is anything but, and this presents a problem when his next-door neighbour Destiny challenges him to a video contest.

I’ve read many books to our nine-year-old over the years, and this stood out because it’s a bit more inclusive than others. It’s nice to see families represented that don’t fit the standard 2.4 children pattern.

Rainbow Grey by Lauren Ellen Anderson

The cover of Rainbow Grey by Lauren Ellen Anderson

Another book which is written and illustrated by the author. Lauren Ellen Anderson is probably better known as the writer of the Amelia Fang books, which we haven’t yet started.

Rainbow Grey follows the character of Ray Grey, who is a ‘weatherling’ and lives high up in the clouds. But whilst every other weatherling has powers to control the weather, she doesn’t. Until one day, when she ventures down to earth, and encounters a mysterious artefact.

There are now three books in the Rainbow Grey series and we’ll be on the lookout for the others.

Honourable mentions

Whilst the above books were deserving of five stars, these are the four star children’s fiction books that I also read this year:

That’s the end of my 2024 lists of best books; hopefully, if you were stuck for ideas for Christmas presents, these will have helped you. Obviously, it’s cutting it a bit tight to order anything in time for Christmas now…

My best adult fiction books of 2024

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Between now and Christmas Eve, I’ll be posting about the best books that I’ve read (or the best audiobooks that I have listened to), just in case you need any last minute present ideas. On Thursday, I wrote about my favourite non-fiction books, and today, I’m focussing on the fiction books aimed at grown-ups that I’ve read or listened to this year. All of these are books that I have awarded five stars on Goodreads.

The links below to buy the books are all sponsored links to Amazon, but you’re welcome to borrow these from your local library, or buy them from an independent book shop.

Baby Does A Runner by Anita Rani

Cover of 'Baby Does A Runner' by Anita Rani. It's mostly pink at the top and green at the bottom.

Okay, slight conflict of interest time: Anita Rani is our chancellor at work, although it’s a largely ceremonial role and no, I haven’t actually met her in person yet. In 2021, she published her memoirs, The Right Sort of Girl, which were great – having spent some of my formative years in Bradford, I related to a lot of Rani’s experiences. Baby Does A Runner is fiction, and is about a young British-Asian woman who sets off to her family’s ancestral home in India to uncover a family secret. Whilst it’s not a true story, there’s a lot about topics like the Partition of India which certainly wasn’t taught to me in history lessons at school. It does well to tackle colonial-era views of India.

Rani reads the audiobook herself, and does an excellent job of it, giving each character a unique voice and accent.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven and The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

The cover of Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

I’ve grouped these books together as they form the first two books in a trilogy; book three, Human Rites, is due out in summer 2025. Book one, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, follows four witches, Niamh, Leonie, Elle and Helena who knew each other from school, and now each have their own professional working lives. Only Helena remains part of the secretive government department, Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, and there are rumours that a ‘sullied child’ will bring forth Leviathan and a terrible disaster.

The Shadow Cabinet picks up from the same cliff-hanger scene at the end of the first book, and sees Leonie take off on a wild goose chase around Europe. Meanwhile, we find out about The Shadow Cabinet, a board consisting of witches, warlocks and so-called ‘mundanes’ (non-magic users) in government. Again, there’s a cliff-hanger at the end of this book, and I’ll have to wait several more months to find out how it ends.

The cover of The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

In the meantime, there’s a prequel, Queen B, set in Tudor times, which I’ve yet to read.

Both books come highly recommended. Again, I relate to the settings, as many scenes take place just up the road from us in Hebden Bridge, and Hardcastle Crags in particular. They’re also the first fiction books that I’ve read/listened to by Juno Dawson; I’ve previously enjoyed her non-fiction books, The Gender Games and What’s The T?

Both audiobooks are read by Nicola Coughlan, known for her roles in Derry Girls and the later series of Bridgerton, and her narration is excellent.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The cover of 'The Midnight Library' by Matt Haig

Another author for which I’ve only really read their non-fiction before. I believe I picked up The Midnight Library cheaply in an Audible daily deal, and my only regret is that I didn’t listen to it sooner. It goes to some dark places; consider this a trigger warning for suicide, and a subject that Matt Haig has written extensively about in his non-fiction books.

The story follows Nora, who’s reached rock bottom and sees no way out. Except, she ends up in a mysterious library, seemingly staffed by the librarian from her school days, and each book shows her a possible life that she could have lived, had she made different decisions. The ending wasn’t quite as predictable as it could have been, which kept the book interesting, and it is very well written.

The actress Carey Mulligan narrates the audiobook and does a decent job of it.

Honourable mentions

Whilst the above books were deserving of five stars, these are the four star fiction books that I also read this year:

Tomorrow, I’ll focus on the best kid’s books that I read this year with our eight-year-old.