26ish books 2026

Book 12 - Heartburn by Nora Ephron
This was excellent, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's very much of its time - 1970s Washington and New York - and it's funny as well as sad. Nora Ephron was so sharp and witty and insightful. Thoroughly recommend.

42 Missing Sam by Thrity Umrigar. I picked this as the "least worst option" from a Goodreads list but ended up really enjoying it. It's part mystery, part gentle love story, part cultural memoir. It's also set just before COVID so has that feel of "everything will be fine oh no it won't help!" panic stations.

Book 21: The Divorce by Freida McFadden
A typical Freida book, easy to read but not my favourite of hers, most of the characters were not very likeable so it was hard to root for anyone, with a last minute curve ball. It was recommended to me by someone so just goes to show how different everyone’s tastes and perceptions are!

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

15 Yesteryear - Caro Claire Burke
I wasn’t sure if I would like this as quite a lot of recently hyped books have not been for me. But, I really enjoyed this - I found it interesting and very original, and I was impressed by the twist and ending.

9 The Party by Tessa Hadley

A 115 page novella about two sisters coming of age. The first half seemed to take forever to get into but once it got going, I sped through it.
Never read anything by this author before but I liked her writing style so might check out some of her other work.
3 stars out of 5

1. The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
2. The Marriage Portrait* - Maggie O’Farrell
3. The Safekeep* - Yael van der wouden
4. The Coral Bones - EJ Swift
5. The List Of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey
6. Hex - Thomas Heuvelt
7. Demon Copperhead* - Barbara Kingsolver
8. I’m Glad My Mom Died - Jenette McCurdy
9. The Names - Florence Knapp
10. The Wall - Marlen Haushofer
11. Penance -Eliza Clark
12. Bloody Awful in Different Ways* - Andrev Walden

Haven’t caught up with this thread in ages and so many good reads being noted but I’ve been much slower than I’d planned. Going to keep going though and try to stick to reading from my own stock of books. * = particular favourites so far.

1.One of us by Elizabeth Day.
2.The Backpacking Housewife by Janice Horton.
3.The Hike by Lucy Clarke
4.Postcards from a stranger by Imogen Clark
5.Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
6.Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby van Pelt
7.Sleeping Tiger by Rosamund Pilcher
8.When the cranes fly south by Lisa Rizden
9.A midlife holiday by Carry Hanson
10. Nesting by Rosie O'Donnell
11. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
12. Ripeness by Sarah Moss
13. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
14. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
15.Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
16. We begin at the end by Chris Whittaker.
17. Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho
19. What will people say by Sahaj Kohli
20. Strangers by Belle Burden
21.Yesteryear by Caro Burke
22. Table for one by Emma Gannon
23. Tilt by Emma Patte
24. The court of thorns and roses by Sarah Maas
25. We are here by David Nicholls

I went through my to be read list and took inspiration from @u3ername and read this which worked well as I was on long train journey to and from a couple days away hiking in Devon.

I also loved this! Brought back memories of those times.

19 The list of suspicious things by Jennie Godfrey

I loved this book. Set in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher came into power and the Yorkshire ripper was on everyone's minds. It's about a girl who wants to solve the ripper case by suspecting all the men she comes across. But the book isn't about that at all, it's about the trials of living in the 70's when domestic violence, racism, abuse and emotional neglect were part of every day life. It's so relatable. I loved the mention, all the way through, of all the music I listened to as a teen.

Beautifully written, and like most books, it got better as it went along.

23…..Counterfeit - Kirstin Chen

bookclub pick, not what I’d usually go for, only bothered because of bookclub, it was fine, I’m not bothered about chick lit so while it wasn’t atrocious it was def not something I’d choose to read and pretty forgettable

27. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf

Part of my large TBR; I read this in French in high school but I remembered barely nothing of t. It did come back to me somewhat. It is a challenging book but I've always loved her stream of consciousness writing.

Book 10 We Are Here, David Nicholls
A lovely, engaging story. Loved the main female character.

1.One of us by Elizabeth Day.
2.The Backpacking Housewife by Janice Horton.
3.The Hike by Lucy Clarke
4.Postcards from a stranger by Imogen Clark
5.Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
6.Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby van Pelt
7.Sleeping Tiger by Rosamund Pilcher
8.When the cranes fly south by Lisa Rizden
9.A midlife holiday by Carry Hanson
10. Nesting by Rosie O'Donnell
11. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
12. Ripeness by Sarah Moss
13. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
14. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
15.Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
16. We begin at the end by Chris Whittaker.
17. Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho
19. What will people say by Sahaj Kohli
20. Strangers by Belle Burden
21.Yesteryear by Caro Burke
22. Table for one by Emma Gannon
23. Tilt by Emma Patte
24. The court of thorns and roses

Tried this as it was mentioned up thread and I will definitely read more in the series. A bit predictable at times but interesting world seeing and characters kept me intrigued

12 The hand that first held mine by Maggie O’Farrell

Loved this so much. Very clever weaving of stories and timelines. Made me blubber though.

13. Nella Last's War Diaries.
Probably you all already know but in case - Nella wrote diary entries throughout WW2 as part of a mass observation scheme. Years later they were edited into this book.
I really fancy watching the Victoria Wood adaptation but thought I'd best read the book first and it has been sitting in my bookcase for years.
I wanted to like this more than I did. It was well written, I enjoyed a lot of the details and observations but found it got a bit repetative (I know, I am being unreasonable given her circumstances). I do think it's a remarkable archive to have and a valuable resource. And I can see why it appealed to Victoria Wood.

It tickled me that she never named her husband, just refers to him as her husband all those years.

Love this thread too, I’ve only been on it about 3-4 years as well

Book 11 - The Eights by Joanna Miller.
A good, easy read. It's about four women students in 1920s Oxford.

I'm very glad of these threads. This is the first one I've ever joined, and I've loved getting the recommendations.

18 Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

I loved this book. Set in the 1950's about a single female journalist who follows up a lead from a mother who believed her child was conceived despite being a virgin. It sounds odd, but it trust me, it's a good read. It was a very gentle book, but the slowness reflected the dull and dreary existence of the main character, who was trapped by her dependent mother.

Book 20: The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

I think this is my favourite book I’ve read this year, such a well written story, with fantastic characters, I couldn’t put it down

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

It wasn't me, I've been here for 3 or 4 years.

17: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (audio). I tried reading this in hard copy last year and got bored about a third of the way through and sent it to the charity shop. However I read on another thread that the audio version was really good and as it is one of those I felt I should have liked I got it from the library and tried again. What a difference! I listened to it in a couple of days and thoroughly enjoyed it this time.

I started one year but I was repeating an idea that was already going!
Come on, own up, who started the first one??

23 Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

very short classic but dove straight into the story, very atmospheric - I’d have loved it to be longer!

1.One of us by Elizabeth Day.
2.The Backpacking Housewife by Janice Horton.
3.The Hike by Lucy Clarke
4.Postcards from a stranger by Imogen Clark
5.Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
6.Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby van Pelt
7.Sleeping Tiger by Rosamund Pilcher
8.When the cranes fly south by Lisa Rizden
9.A midlife holiday by Carry Hanson
10. Nesting by Rosie O'Donnell
11. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
12. Ripeness by Sarah Moss
13. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
14. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
15.Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
16. We begin at the end by Chris Whittaker.
17. Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho
19. What will people say by Sahaj Kohli
20. Strangers by Belle Burden
21.Yesteryear by Caro Burke
22. Table for one by Emma Gannon
23. Tilt by Emma Patte

both 22 and 23 were kindle 99p purchases, which I enjoyed think Tilt still available at that price

trying to load up my kindle for plane tomorrow so scrolling back through this thread for recommendations and good reviews