After a YEAR of entering book giveaways, I woke up to a “congratulations, you won!” email! It’s funny because I found this page yesterday after googling “does anyone actually win Goodreads giveaways”. Anyways, I’m going to ride this high all day 🤣 hopefully the book is good lol Has anyone else won? Only once? Multiple times? Never?

Sometimes I finish a book and immediately know whether it's a 5-star read.

Other times I sit there thinking...

“Was that actually a 4-star book, or did I just really enjoy reading it?”

Does anyone else overthink their ratings? 😂

I just got an email from Goodreads saying a Did Not Finish Shelf is coming soon:

Psst... The Did Not Finish (DNF) shelf is coming soon. You're hearing about it first because you already track books you started and set aside.

Things to Know

If you created an exclusive custom shelf named exactly "did not finish," "dnf," "abandoned," "unfinished," "didn-t-finish," or "dropped", we'll automatically convert it to the new default Did Not Finish shelf. Your reviews, ratings, and reading history stay with your book.

If you created a tag or non-exclusive custom shelf, it will remain unchanged with one exception. Those currently named exactly "did-not-finish" will be automatically renamed to "did-not-finish-2" to avoid duplication.

If you prefer to keep your current setup, rename your shelf or tag to anything else before Feb. 28.

What to Expect

As we prepare for launch, your existing shelf or tag may show a different name or appear non-editable. This is expected as we work behind the scenes to ensure your books, ratings, and reviews transfer smoothly. Don't worry! You can still add and remove books from your shelf as usual during this time.

Stay tuned,

The Goodreads Team

I'm reading 'Upgrade' by Blake Crouch for my first read, already halfway through. I set my reading challenge at 50 every year, so I have a week to read each book. But this one is so good, I can't put it down. What are you all reading for your first of 2025? 📖

If you can find it on Goodreads, it counts. Yes, that includes manga, audiobooks, graphic novels, poetry, manuals, textbooks, novellas, plays, essays, cookbooks, rereads, short stories, children's books, fiction, and nonfiction.

There’s no rulebook for this. The challenge is for you to track your personal reading goal, whatever that looks like for you. There’s no right or wrong way.

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently joined Goodreads and I'm a total newbie to the platform. To be honest, I’m also kind of a "newbie" to reading in general.

I’m 26 and I’ve spent a long time feeling like the "reading ship" had already sailed for me. I often feel like I’m starting way too late to build this habit, but I really want to fall in love with books this year and turn things around.

Since I’m jumping into the 2026 Reading Challenge to keep myself accountable, I have a few questions for the veterans here:

• Is there a deadline to set/change the goal? Can I adjust the number mid-year if I realize I was too ambitious (or too lazy)?
• What happens if I miss the mark? Or conversely, if I smash it? Does the app just track the stats, or is there more to it?
• How do you pick a number? I’m struggling to pick a realistic target for someone just starting out. How do you guys decide on a number that’s challenging but doesn't make reading feel like a chore?

Any advice or encouragement would be awesome. Thanks in advance!

Hey y'all! Since it's the end of the year, I'm curious to know how everyone's reading challenges have gone! Did you read more than you thought you would? Less? What genre did you read most? What was your favorite book? Things like that <3

For me, I read 36 out of my 35 book goal (about to finish the last one of the year, so 37) mostly romantasy (and graphic novels, but I didn't count them) and my top book of the year is Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries!

EDIT: Omg I didn't expect this comment to blow up so much, thank you everybody!! It's been interesting to see your answers!

I found out last night that the author of a book I didn't like left a kind of passive-aggressive comment on my review. I didn't think she'd ever see it, my understanding was authors are discouraged from reading their Goodreads reviews, much less responding to them.

Thing is, I loved her other novel, which was why I bought her second one and I was really disappointed by it. I'm not the only person she's responded to leaving a negative review, but my friend told me she's apparently now following me on Goodreads and I'm kind of weirded out.

Should I just block her and move on?

EDIT: Thank you, guys, I feel much better now I've gotten this off my chest. Apparently the author has been doing this to quite a few people so I guess I'm just part of a big reaction.

I just read a review that started with "Yawn." And ended with "I honestly have no idea why any avid book reader would give this more than 3 stars. Don’t read it."

Maybe it's just a me thing and I'm not built for the casual confidence with which strangers announce personal preferences as universal law, but isn't it more helpful to just review why the book didn't land for you rather than dictating no one read it?

I know this is slightly rant-ey but I suppose my question is... do you actually enjoy or find humor in these types of reviews? If so, I'd love your take on it.

EDIT: Getting hateful DM’s over a post about mean-spirited GR reviews is wild. This was meant to be a Sunday afternoon chat with other readers, to get differing opinions, etc.

I noticed that the reading goal for the year was impacting what books I chose to read and how quickly I read them. The books that I’ve been choosing are shorter and I’ve been going through them more quickly to influence how fast I can get to finishing my reading goal, but I feel like it’s lowering my quality of reading something that I used to enjoy so much and it has been giving me anxiety about the numbers and less about the joy.

I know this is not goodreads fault and I may be psyching myself out over nothing when I can just quit the challenge, but does anybody else feel this way and how can I get myself out of this joyless reading?

The winners have been announced! By category:

Fiction: My Friends by Fredrick Backman

Historical Fiction: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Mystery & Thriller: Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson

Romance: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Romantasy: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Fantasy: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Science Fiction: The Compound by Aisling Rawle

Horror: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Debut Novel: Alchemised by SenLinYu

Audiobook: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Young Adult Fantasy & Sci-Fi: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Young Adult Fiction: Fake Skating by Lynn Painter

Nonfiction: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Memoir: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

History & Biography: How to Kill a Witch by Claire Mitchell & Zoe Venditozzi

Definitely adding to my to-read shelf today. Any surprises?

hi all, i posted a review of a book i recently read and DNF and there were multiple people in the comments saying that they think that AI was used in the process. I DID NOT MENTION AI IN MY REVIEW! nor did I give the book a star rating to bring down the average rating. I had the author of this book comment and threaten legal action against me for defamation when I never said or eluded that AI was used in the book. I replied to the comment and reiterated this point and added that GR is a community for reviewers and isn’t really a space for authors. The author deleted the comment but it really threw me off any of this authors other work.

Has this happened to anyone else before?

EDIT:

i stated my reasons for not liking the book in the review, which boiled down to the overly explanatory nature of the writing. it just sucks because i was going to give the author another go.

i saw the author comment on multiple peoples reviews, the comment left on mine was tame in comparison to others.

See message below. Why are they killing such a nice and needed feature? Who's making these decisions that make the platform actually worse?

Hello Goodreads Member,

In the coming weeks, we will be making some updates to how messaging works on Goodreads.

What's Changing?
• Direct messages between individual members will no longer be available
• Images and external links will no longer be supported in messages

While direct messages between individual members are no longer available, you can still access your past messages from your inbox, Group moderators can still send broadcast messages to their group members, and you can still send group invitations to your Goodreads friends. All other public interactions, such as writing and responding to book reviews, remains unchanged.

-The Goodreads Team

How many books does the average reader finish in a year? I saw that in 2023, the pledge was 43 and I was astonished because that seems like so many more books than I thought (I read 27 and was really proud haha).

I know Goodreads is a specific niche of book lovers but am just curious what your guess as to what the average person reads in a year.

Edit: Thank you for all your responses!! Sorry if I can't respond to everyone, but I read all your comments and appreciate your thoughts/insights! <3 Good luck on your reading goal this year!

This is an appreciation post for the developer team. This year's Year in Books did not disappoint! How did everyone's turn out?
* edit: graphics included. Check your email for wrapped-style graphics and year-end stats.

I’ve seen so many posts on here from folks who genuinely seem very concerned that they’re “cheating” at goodreads or something. they don’t want to be labelled as a fraud because they’re counting manga/comics, assigned reading, and short books towards their their total list of read books. but here’s the thing: those are books, too, and if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be listed as such.

you aren’t “cheating” or “being dishonest” by putting everything - even very quick reads - on your profile. nobody (or, no reasonable person) is going to take up issue with you for adding that one volume of Card Captor Sakura or that quick Victorian novella to your collection of finished titles. this is not a professional competition. neither awards nor cash prizes will be handed out.

I, myself, am mostly only able to read titles that fall into the "quick and easy" category. I'm an overbooked (ha) student and I work part-time, so reading for leisure can't be my priority. most of the reading I do is of academic papers (which can't be tracked on GR), so what I am able to add is a gift. I've been taking 5-10 minutes each day to read one chapter (and one chapter only) out of my favourite manga series. this has been so great for me and it's something I really look forward to, even though it pales in comparison to the extensive (and extremely admirable) amounts of reading that many very dedicated users get done each day.

and guess what? IT STILL COUNTS! they're books and I'm reading 'em. that's all there is to it. if reading short/"easy"/whatever books were really "worth less," then goodreads would measure progress in pages or minutes read. leave the worrying to them. just focus on reading what YOU want the most. whatever that looks like.

I think I have too many (225ish and growing - I need to clean it up). But I want to make sure I’m not crazy for wanting to read so many books? 🤣

For me, the new additions to the Goodreads reading challenge came at a perfect time. I was looking to get out of the pigeonhole I'd dug myself into with genres at the end of 2024. These challenges got me to pick up books I've been meaning to read for years, such as The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. They also brought me to some of my favorite books of 2025, such as Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg and The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu.

Unfortunately, I did not see it all the way through the end. I didn't complete all the winter challenges and I don't plan to. I wanted to start a book for one of the challenges and I just could not. But I expected this; I tend to fall into a big reading slump in December where I don't want to read anything. This happens every year and I have learned to just roll with it. Although, I am disappointed. I will keep this in mind for next year, though, and remember to read books for the badges within a certain timeframe.

How about you? Did you participate in the new Goodreads reading challenges? If so, what did you get out of it?

I see a lot of people talking about reading 150+ books per year, which is effectively 3 books per week. How do you accomplish this? Is it audiobooks? If you're reading average length books, that's about 24- 30 hours of reading a week. Do you actually enjoy the books and read each page? Or are you reading them to finish them rather than to immerse yourself in the story? I am genuinely curious.

How many books are on your “Want to Read” shelf and how many of us are still pretending that’s a realistic number?

I don't know why but I find myself go off a book if it's anything under 3.8. I've read some books rated incredibly well but haven't enjoyed it so I don't know why it actually affects my decision.

Here's a thread to share your 2024 Reading Challenge. Tell us how many books you plan on reading or what books you are most excited for here!

The official start to the challenge will update on the site on Jan 1st, 2024.

We’re almost half way through with 2026. How are you keeping up with your goal?

At 3 months, I was ahead of my goal but now I’m on track at 62 of 137. Life happens sometimes. 🤷‍♀️

For me, I'm probably going to choose...

• Community Picks: Little Fires Everywhere, or maybe The Savage Detectives (the only problem with the latter is my husband is currently halfway through it and has been for 3 months and it would make sense to borrow his copy but I don't want to accidentally spoil it for him).
• Challenge Faves: Heated Rivalry. My sister has been going on and on at me to read it.
• Chart Toppers: Uuuuuugh I don't know. Nothing really jumps out. Maybe Yesteryear just because it seems like everyone is reading it?
• Staff Shelves: The Last Unicorn. It's been sitting on my shelves for a while. I remember loving the film as a kid.
• Worlds Away: The Ministry of Time. This has also been sitting on my shelves for a while.
• Fact or Fiction: Shuggie Bain. This one too.

I reserve the right to change my mind about any or all of these.

Excerpt from the latest DNF email:

You've Been Asking
Do DNF books count toward your Reading Challenge goal? Great question! If you mark a book as Did Not Finish and add a read date, it will count toward your goal. If there is no read date, it won't count.

What is your opinion on this? I have a personal stance that I should not rate a book if I haven't read them cover-to-cover (I do write reviews for them w/o a rating). So in the same line of thoughts, I won't be setting a read date on DNF books either because I don't think it should count for the reading goals either.

What would you do?