Read What You Own 2026

Finished another RWYO - Oh Miriam! by Miriam Margolyes. It's* *part two of her memoirs. Cheeky, rude, outspoken, very sweary, funny, and with lots of frank talk about her sexual exploits. She's unique, wise, and clever. I like her, despite the fact that some of her exploits made me cringe with embarrassment.

I have finished three more RWYO - Breathtaking by* Rachel Clarke, I* am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I keep starting books without finishing others so am going to try and tackle that this month as I currently have 8 books on the go (although that includes three readalongs).

ooh that's on my wishlist too and keep seeing it mentioned as a possible prize book.

I haven't posted much on here but have successfully RWYO 6 books in January. And this month's book club book is Wuthering Heights which my brother did at school so have found an ancient copy kicking around with tiny text.

This means I think I can treat myself to the Rebecca Perry ...

I just finished Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson.. didn’t like at first but got much better as it went along

Read The Truth about Melody Browne - Lisa Jewell which I bought in 2024. Enjoyed and will review on 50B thread.

Finished two more recently: The Wah-Wah Diaries by Richard E Grant, on the making of his semi-autobiographical film in the early 2000s, and The Guest List by Lucy Foley, a whodunnit set at a society wedding on a remote island. Both readable but as I’m in a ruthless mood they’re both going.

Just finished Death Around the Bend by TE Kinsey - bought in 2017. An easy to read mystery book with quite a bit of humour between Lady Hardcastle and her maid Florence as they investigate.

Finished A Voyage Around The Queen by Craig Brown.

Turned out a bit of a slog in parts, which was not in anyway the fault of Craig Brown, just that the Queen was genuinely not a very interesting person.

In contrast his book about Princess Margaret was awesome.

It is really fascinating to see how a family we think of as just being bound up with Tudor history is still relevant today. Prince William is descended from Mary Boleyn on both sides because the late Princess Diana was a descendant too. I really love this little snippet of history.

4th RWYO, 6th overall. However I have a bunch of library holds which have just arrived so that will knock RWYO % down I fear.

4th book was 1 Dead in Attic, by Chris Rose, a collection of newspaper columns from the year following Hurricane Katrina. I bought it in New Orleans in 2017 so it's definitely one of my older books!

@CatWithThreeLegs i never knew that about the line of descent, google tells me it’s through the late Queen Mother. How cool!

My last completed book in January is Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I by Tracy Borman.

I really enjoyed this exploration of the connections between mother and daughter - how Anne's intelligent, well-educated, progressive mind influenced her daughter's reign.

Anne was often a difficult woman, argumentative and quick-tempered and easily made enemies at Court, which brought about her downfall, but no-one can say that her short reign as Henry VIII 's second wife was unremarkable.

Interestingly, our current royals are descended from her sister Mary, so we still have Boleyns ruling this country.

That’s exactly the same with me. I carried on because I thought it would be worth it be a use I loved The Secret History and The Little Friend. There were bits of this one I enjoyed but overall I was really not a fan and should have been a DNF.

Finished a couple of Netgalley ones, 12 experiments that changed the world and Soyangi Book Kitchen.
I will get my rating up to 80% eventually!

I ended up hate reading The Goldfinch to get to the end. Having enjoyed The Secret History and The Little Friend, I loathed this one. Normally I would DNF a book I'm not enjoying, but stubbornly I persisted with it, thinking it would be worth finishing because it was Donna Tartt ... 🙄

I think what it did do was confirm to me that I really ought to have DNF'd it when I first thought it wasn't going well for me.

I will, however, hopefully finish Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I by Tracy Borman today. So far it's been a fascinating read. Good to be back in my favourite period of history.

FINALLY finished The Goldfinch. Ye Gods, it was so bloody long. Too bloody long.

Had an awful few days, lots of stress. Hoping to get back to it 😕😬

I dont think I'll finish anything else this month, so calling January as 24, however 12 were Chalet School, so its almost a 'false' 24. I finished 2 physical books, 5 kindles and 5 library books. So really, 19 in all. Pleased with that.

Finished Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah. - I felt this was better than the first book in the series, but didn’t fully ring true to Poirot. I may give another one a go.

@ÚlldemoShúl I'm also happy to read a bit less this year (average 20 books a month last year) - it feels a bit calmer!

Finally finished Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors last night.

Liked the book but was struggling towards the end as the print seemed quite small. Went for an eye test this morning and I have reading glasses ordered. Already have distance ones. So until I get my reading glasses I will be using my kindle!

Will pick one later that I’ve had for a while.