Riot Headline Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge
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The Headline

Introducing the 2025 Reading Log!

Keep track of all things to do with your reading—from author and genre to book source and publisher—with our 2025 reading log.

Erica Ezeifedi

Associate Editor

Erica Ezeifedi, Associate Editor, is a transplant from Nashville, TN that has settled in the North East. In addition to being a writer, she has worked as a victim advocate and in public libraries, where she has focused on creating safe spaces for queer teens, mentorship, and providing test prep instruction free to students. Outside of work, much of her free time is spent looking for her next great read and planning her next snack. Find her on Twitter at @Erica_Eze_.

View All posts by Erica Ezeifedi

While I’ve been a lifelong lover of books, I’ve also been a serial not-finisher of them. I know we all have a DNF pile by the end of the year, and I still do, but it wasn’t until I started at Book Riot that that pile got a lot less substantial.

Now, my attention span is still raggedy, but I am finishing significantly more books than before, which I can chalk it up to a few things, but the main thing I’d say that made a difference was reading more diversely. Turns out, I was tired of the same old same and didn’t even realize it, but once I started intentionally branching out of not only the most popular books but also my own comfort zone? Pages got turned, okay?

I want this for you, too, friend.

If you’ve found yourself struggling with finishing books or in a bit of a rut, I promise, all things being equal, that using our 2025 reading log and paying more attention to the types of books you read will breathe fresh life into your reading. And listen, even if you already read very diversely, seeing how your other reading habits shake out—like, for instance, are you more of an Amazon or a Bookshop.org girlie?—could be illuminating in other ways.

Another great thing about tracking through our reading log is all the customization it offers. The template we share is a result of years of careful consideration and revision, but it can still be edited to fit your particular tastes.

How to Use the 2025 Reading Log

  • Make a copy of the log from our locked template and make sure to save
  • You do this by going to File–>Make a Copy–>[save as chosen name]
  • Become familiar with the book categorizations on the first tab [which include everything from Author to Genre to Diversity (“POC”) to Disability Rep and Book Source]
  • Next, look through the other tabs, which include Stats, Charts, the Read Harder Challenge, and the Book Spending Log, keeping in mind that the Charts tab will populate visual representations of your reading statistics as you fill them out, (also…you technically don’t have to look at the Book Spending Log tab if you are delulu like me)
  • Our 2025 Read Harder tasks are already filled out in the Read Harder tab, which is another great way to expand your reading

And that’s it!

If you used our 2024 reading log, the one for 2025 is largely unchanged (though the older article also includes a video, if you’d like more of a visual), so there isn’t much new to go over.

If you’re new to the reading log, welcome, and we hope to hear of all the marvelous ways the reading log has impacted your reading in the year to come.