26ish books 2026

31 Us by David Nicholls

I've read some fantastic books this year, and this was one of them. It's narrated by an educated man who lacks emotional intelligence, exploring his marriage which is in trouble, and his relationship with his teenage son, which seems beyond repair. Dispite the subject matter, the story telling is pretty funny and I loved it. A good book if you're into self-analysis.

Bought the series - got it for £15

Looking forward to starting it - thank you for the recommendation :)

Just finished this today and was trembling by the end. Agree, best book I've read for ages. The way it builds is so clever and the descriptions of the natural world are magical.

🤦 I was literally looking at the book while I wrote that mistake too 😅

It's taken me quite a while too - it's Mary Lawson! 😀Thanks for the recommendation ...

Seconded!

Great book!

31 - A Town Called Solace - Mary Watson
This kind of book is why I read! Absolutely loved this - very character driven, well written, beautiful setting in rural Canada. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to find this author - looking forward to reading her previous novels now and she also has a new once coming in November.

It reminded me of The Paper Palace a bit of you’ve read that - self-indulgent female protagonist cheating on a husband that appears not to deserve it, and a silly and unlikely ending and characters doing unbelievable things 😅 but, I do think she writes well in this case! I need to learn my lesson really as I don’t often gel with the bestsellers.

This is interesting, I found it very enjoyable but in an implausible tosh sort of way snd have requestedanother by the authorfrom the library. I know what you mean about the protagonist, a few other characters were ones I'd avoid in real life too! I can very much see that if I'd tried it on another day or time or year I might have hated it.

24 my Name Is Mackenzie Bly by Lissa Evans. I think this is aimed at a much younger audience BUT it references bands like The Longpigs and has very strong Aidrian Mole vibes - it's narrated by a dungeons and dragons playing 14 year old with lesbian mums and a stoner dad who all embarrass him frequently and make him go on mass camping holidays with kids called Lovage and Reed instead of Malga in a hotel.

Very quick but funny read, quirky and the hardback I have looks fabulous. I would recommend it and can see it being a hit at Christmas for the person you might normally get a jokey book for. To give you the flavour, one mum is plumber with "let me end-a-drain you" on her van, the other teaches at his school and sings in assembly, which is embarrassing, and his best friend is devising a parrot IQ test.

30 Broken Country - Clare Leslie Hall readable enough but didn’t really like it. Struggled to like the protagonist and found it all implausible

Goodreads 🙂

@DecafSoyaLatteExtraShotPlease
Is that an app? Looks interesting.

23. The Man In The Wooden Hat by Jane Gardem. I did go straight on to the next in the Old Filth trilogy and it was wonderful. I love her style. I can't think what the word is but it's really fluent and she skewers character so well. Well plotted and from the perspective of Filth's wife so there's some story overlap which was satisfying. I loved it but I can't work out how much I'd have liked it without the dynamic of knowing what was going on in parallel for him - overall I think it would work a stand alone.

Guess id better up it again next year!

35 Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
This was a re-read, to remind myself of the story as there's a new film adaptation coming out, directed by Taika Waititi. However, I've just read the reviews and they are uniformly bad, so I won't be going to see it!

Yes, the Karen Pirie books are not like that at all. I like them.
I also can't read any Karin Slaughter books for the same reason - too dark and graphic.

Interesting about the Val Mcdermid, I tried one of the Tony Hill books a couple of years ago and it was as you say very dark, it also seemed dated in the way men treated women (not in a good way). Might try Karen Pirie.

One of my favourites too @h0rsewithn0name though I don’t think any of her others are as good! Several of them are good, just that I read Great Alone first and thought they’d all be that brilliant! Nightingale comes close as does The Four Winds

1. 37 Snare - Lilja Sigurdardottir

Can’t get rid of that random 1.! Quick and different read for me, I read a lot of Icelandic fiction but not normally crime, picked this up in an oxfam bookshop and devoured it. Apparently it’s the first in a trilogy so I’ll look out for others in charity shops

30 The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

This book surpassed all my expectations. Kristin Hannah is such an amazing author - I didn't want this book to end.

The story follows a family of three who start a new life in desolate Alaska. The man of the family suffered with PTSD from the Vietnam war - the violence and abuse on his wife and child were off the scale. A really harrowing read.

36 Circe by Madeline Miller

taken me a long time to get round to this one but I thought it was beautifully written

33 Silent Bones - Val McDermid
The latest Karen Pirie. I enjoy this series, unlike the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan books which are far too dark and graphic for me. The Karen Pirie books are much better than the TV series (I think the actress playing KP is too young).

34 The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths
First of a new series about time travelling Detectives, also solving cold cases! A quick read but not very convincing. Also, the plot was left very open-ended, meaning you have to read the future books in the series to find out what happens.

LemonPandaCub · 02/10/2026 15:36
Book 39 Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney
Loved this book, I do think that Alice writes characters that are hard to warm to but I really enjoyed how this story developed and the twists and turns, the ambiguity of the last page threw me a little but it didn’t make me want to throw the book at the wall like beautiful ugly.

2026 books so far:
then she was gone
beautiful ugly
the intruder
the shadowman
the family upstairs
Rock Paper Scissors
The Family Remains
The House we Grew up in
It Should Have Been You
Dont Let Him In
Daisy Darker
Someone In The Attic
The Tenant
One Click
The Other Side Of The Wall
No One Saw A Thing
Ward D
My Husband’s Wife
The Silent Patient
The Night She Disappeared
The Divorce
Hide And Seek
None Of This Is True
I Found You
Such A Nice Girl
The Couple Next Door
It Could Have Been Her
It’s Not What You Think
Watching You
The Last Party
I Let You Go
The Sleeper Lies
The Couple At No.9
Everyone Here Is Lying
Famous Last Words
The Third Wife
The Girls
The Inmate

22. Old Filth by Jane Gardem. Filth is the nickname of a lawyer / judge who we meet in his 80s. The book flits back and forth telling his (very eventful) life to date. I like Gardem's writing and the way she drops something darkly funny in here and there, and the plotting flowed well. I found it really sad somehow and I don't think you are meant to. There is a lot of grief played out which I wasn't expecting at all.

There are two more books from other characters' perspectives and I am trying to decide if I want to move straight on to the next one, or not. Part of me would happily spend more time with them and in their world so I guess that means I recommend Old Filth.