Read What You Own 2026

I have got back onto RWYO and finished Brooklyn - Colm Toibin which I enjoyed. I bought it in September 2024. Review to follow on 50B thread.

I’ve finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and Breakneck Point by T Orr Munro.

👍

Elizabeth's Rival - Nicola Tallis

Physical book! Though more of a RWYDMO - with great restraint, I gave away many of Mum's books when she went into a care home but I kept this one so I'm counting it.

This is about Lettice Knollys, who was (probably) the granddaughter of Henry VIII, through Mary Boleyn's DD Katherine (Carey). Very good, fuller review on 50B.

I did enjoy! Thank you 😊

I am trying to attack my physical book pile in June. I have some that have been on my shelves unread for years - quite a few of them were presents and some are not the first in a series. I am going to try the 'read 50 pages and DNF if not grabbed' as I feel too guilty to give away presents without trying them. But also have always struggled with DNF-ing (more guilt!).

So far I have read two - How to be Invisible by Tim Lott ( a readable YA book) and Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris which was part Memoir, part observation. Amusing in places but not laugh out loud funny for me. I have also DNF two - Let Me Go On by Paul Griffiths which tells a story of Ophelia after she dies using only the 400 odd words she is assigned by Shakespeare in the play. I really liked the premise of this and it reads very lyrically but in reality I don't know enough Shakespeare to follow the references. Also DNF The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde which is the second in his YA series about magic/dragons. I love Jasper Fforde but not that fussed about dragons and not sure how it ended up on my shelves. I probably bought it to encourage one of my kids to try it (they have since left home!).

Finished another one Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh

Finished two more: Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkis, a Victorian-era gothic heist, and The Usual Suspects by Ernest Larsen, an examination of the 1990s film. Reviews to follow on 50B in due course.

As I’ve said on 50 Books, I recently finished The Grapes of Wrath. This has got to be a record for this thread because I’ve owned a copy since the 90s. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it

I have DNF The Wych Elm by Tana French - it was becoming more and more of a chore just to pick it up.

I remember liking TheFuture Homemakers of America @InTheCludgie.

I am hoping to tackle my unread physical book pile this month. Some have been unread on my shelves since the 90s. I am going to try 50 pages for each book and DNF if it doesn't grab me.

I've recently finished The Future Homemakers Of America by Laurie Graham. I DNFd this a couple of years ago, only got a few pages in then gave up. It came up again on my random number generator so thought I'd give it another go and so glad I did, I could hardly put it down.

This follows a group of US forces wives whose husbands are stationed on a UK base at the start of the story, around 1950 or so. Their lives diverge as they then move around to different places and the decades pass. A bold for me.

@AliasGrape go on treat yourself! (I am a terrible enabler 😊). I finished another RWYO that I bought back in 2013! It was called Toward Yesterday by Paul Anthony Jones and the central concept was interesting (a science experiment causes everyone to wake up 25 years in the past, in the bodies they had then, including everyone who had died in the intervening years) but the author didn’t execute it very well unfortunately.

I have finally, finally finished The Children’s Book - having to use an audible credit so that I could do a mixture of kindle and audio and that way make progress when ironing or walking back from the school run etc.

Time was I’d have inhaled this in a week, but my attention span is not what it was, and for some reason this one tripped me up that bit extra too. It ultimately rewarded the time taken though, I went from debating DNF to really loving it by the end.

Well done everyone else making amazing progress! I do feel tempted to reward myself with something trashy and frivolous, and probably new. A little palate cleanser from childhood trauma, abuse and the horrors of WW1. We go away tomorrow for a family wedding and then a few days holiday in a caravan by the sea (in the rain it looks like!) so I fancy some mindless romance or otherwise something just ‘nice’ !

Finished Carrie Soto is Back - Taylor Jenkins Reid which I have owned since beginning of 2025. Review will go on 50B thread.

I have finished 3 more RWYO- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Soldier, Sailor by Claire Kilroy and How to be Invisible by Tim Lott.

I have a kindle TBR mountain too in the 1000s @MamaNewtNewt.

Well done @MamaNewtNewt - that is definitely a good reduction! I also love I, Claudius and Claudius the God. When I get through my TBR mountain- I am hoping to have time for re-reading old favourites.

My personal Mount ToBeRead is 90% paperback, 10% hardback. Why do I keep starting series that are gigantic tomes??? I just don't have the shelf space for my book addiction.

I read the first two of the Napoleon and Wellesley quarter by Simon Scarrow this week at about 600 pages each.

I'm currently 500 pages into an 1100 page leviathan by Brandon Sanderson (The Way Of Kings) which is the first of at least five. It counts as RWYO because I was given it on my last birthday.

@ÚlldemoShúl oh I love I, Claudius and have Claudius the God on my TBR mountain.

@TimeforaGandT I’m just here to make everyone else feel better about their TBR lists. I haven’t even included physical books or audio books in the that total…

@MamaNewtNewt - that is one helluva TBR mountain! Makes me wonder what I am worrying about......