Reading Audit: Common Themes in My 5* Reads Between 2020-2026

 

Hello, everyone! I have been thinking recently of what kind of reader I am. So, I thought that I'd do a reading audit that I'd seen many booktubers do. To achieve that, I decided to go back and look at the books I'd rated with 5* in the last 6 years. Considering that I usually give 5* to 7-11 books each year, I ended up with a list of 65 books. And as I was looking at them, I started noticing some interesting things.

Here are the themes that I gravitate towards according to the books I've loved:

#1 Fragile Realities & Fragmented Shelf

This is probably the core theme of my reading, and the one I was expecting to appear. These are mostly quiet and esoteric books, with most of them being stories that have changed me as a human being. 

Memory disappears. Language breaks down. Identity fragments. Perception becomes unreliable. The self is assembled through narration, emotion, or trauma.

The are books dealing with how identity survives when memory, language, and reality themselves become unreliable. To be honest, I could fit more books to this graphic, as these themes also appear in several other books.

#2 Intimacy, Dependency & Emotional Survival

At the start of 2026, I made my bookish resolutions, where I mentioned that I wanted to find a 5* romance book. But seeing this category, made me think that the type of romance I enjoy is more literary, exploring more the relationships as a survival mechanism. 

These are books that deal with emotional dependency, loneliness, failed communication, class and social performance, and even showing intimacy as negotiation. And most importantly, it's about all kinds of relationships, both romantic and platonic. I think that "found family" is also a trope present in numerous books on this list, across all categories.

#3 Cosmic Perspective & Human Insignificance

I was surprised to find that speculative fiction, and mostly hard sci-fi, was that present in my 5* reads. Combining those with the science nonfiction I usually pick up, they create this category.

Despite their scale though, there is still a connection to the intimate literary books that we've already seen in previous categories. These books don't tend to be escapist, but they repeatedly ask What does human meaning look like at cosmic scale?, What survives across deep time?, How fragile is civilization?, How limited is human understanding?. In this sense, I believe that they fit perfectly along the books in the first category. 

#4 History, War & Inherited Trauma

Before doing this reading audit, I would never have told you that this would be one of the most prevalent themes in my reading. But here it is. The interesting thing about this category is that it includes many Greek classics that deal with Greek history. They tend to show the violence and make collective memory their central focal point. In addition to this, we have some books that showcase trauma and revenge, immigration, and powerful narratives of perseverance. 

#5 Hidden Systems, Secret Worlds & Manufactured Reality

This category contains books where the visible world is governed by concealed structures. I could even go as far as to say that they could become the base for the fragmented perception of the first category. These books tend to show the unstable reality that grows within a structured and sustained system.

#6 Violence, Horror & Social Decay

This is a mostly new category, as it emerged along my love for horror. In these books, we notice themes of institutional failure, social alienation, moral exhaustion, and buried historical rot. Do these sound familiar? Even Fortune Favors the Dead that looks the odd one out of these, it still features an outsider protagonist and crimes that the damaged social system. I'm looking forward to adding more books to this category! 

#7 Art, Language & Meaning-Making

I created this category to fit my nonfictions and my love for lyricality. And now that I'm looking at the graphic, I could add plenty more from the other categories. It's no secret that I love lyrical books with stunning prose. Moreover, I've mentioned numerous times that I love to read about art. These 5* reads are proof enough that both these things are true, and that I'll probably continue reading similar books. 

#8 Feminst, Gender & Body-Centered Discourse

The final category I noticed in my 5* reads has to do with all things feminism, gender, body autonomy, and the like. I enjoy reading about these themes in both my fiction and my nonfiction. It is a category that I'm always actively looking to grow, so if you have any recommendations, please leave me a comment. 

#9 Functional Dysfunction, Social Misfits & the Workplace

In my previous category, I mentioned that it was the last one, and that's practically correct. But the presence of I Hope This Finds You Well, made me think of this particular category. When I had read it, I immediately thought that it reminded me of books like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Convenience Store Woman, i.e. books about dysfunctional characters in the workplace. So, I had to create it even if I'd read both in 2018-2019. And then, Death in Her Hands also made so much sense with the rest. 

There you have it! My reading autid comfirmed my love for certain themes. Now, my task is to find more books that could fit into these categories.

What is your favourite theme to read about?