26ish books 2026

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, a blend of memoir and self help book around mental health is disaporia communities.

I read this last one for a book club I joined inspired by the fun I have had in this thread. Thank you! It has reminded me how much in like reading and talking about books.

Book 17: Ward D by Freida McFadden

I’ve really enjoyed this book, the characters were intriguing and the plot was fast paced.

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

Just finished listening to 26. Atmosphere - TJR. Wow what an emotional rollercoaster that was! It took me a while to get into but I think that’s because I was listening whilst sunbathing on holiday and I may have drifted off in some parts. The duel timeline confused me a little but once this got going I could not stop listening!! Julie Whelan is such an emotive narrator, I felt like I was right there beside Joan at the end and the relationship between her and her niece was so touching!! Definitely had a bit of suncream in my eye moments with this one!!

also realised I haven’t updated for a while. The last time was for book 18! So a quick review of 19-23

19. The One - John Marrs - my first John Marrs book and it was brilliant!! Can’t wait to read the next ones in the series!

20 . The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard (audio) - this was ok. Didn’t really grip me

21 . A court of silver flames - Sarah J Maas - the last in the series so far. Good but not as great as some of the others in my opinion.

22 Long Time Gone - Charlie Donlea - seen some decent reviews of Charlie Donlea recently so thought I’d give this a go. Was ok. Nice quick easy twisty thriller holiday read.

23 Good Girl bad blood - Holly Jackson - was supposed to be buddy reading this with my daughter on holiday but she blew me off for the pool so I finished it before her. Was ok. A good follow on from the 1st but wouldn’t be my usual book choice.

2026 reads so far

1. What a Way to Go - Bella Mackie
2. All the Colours of the Dark - Christopher Whittaker
3. The Briar Club - Kate Quinn
4. The Names - Florence Knapp
5. None of this is True - Lisa Jewell (audio)
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
7. James - Percival Everett
8. Daisy Darker - Alice Feeney
9. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (audio)
10. A court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J Maas
11. A Good Girls Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson
12. A court of wings and ruin - Sarah J Maas
13. The Cut Throat Trial - The Secret Barrister (audio)
14. Daisy Jones and the six - TJR (audio)
15. Fourteen days - various authors
16. The Family - Mario Puzo
17. A court of Frost & starlight - Sarah J Maas
18. The Correspondent - Virginia Evans
19. The One - John Marrs
20. The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard (audio)
21. A court of silver flames - Sarah J Maas
22. Long Time Gone - Charlie Donlea
23. Good Girl bad blood - Holly Jackson
24. Atmosphere - TJR (audio)

That’s should be book 8! The full list -

1. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
2. Life Impossible, Matt Haig
3. Atomic Habits, James Clear
4. The Unfinished Business of Eadie Browne, Freya North
5. Thinking 101, Prof Woo-Kyoung Ahn
6. One of Us, Elisabeth Day
7. You’ve Got This, Dr Michaela Dunbar
8. James, Percival Everett

7 James by Percival Everett
Very fast paced and easy to read.

@Tinkhasflown my 2 favourite Du Maurier books!

Book 20 was Mere by Danielle Giles about a cursed abbey in 990 Norfolk. Haven't quite decided how I feel about this book - I did find it gripping and read it quickly but some parts fell flat for me.

Book 9 is We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare. This is a non fiction book about asylum seekers who try to cross the channel in small boats. Very interesting.

@Philandbill
Through bitter experience I now only have 2 post-read routes for my books.
The Keepers are books that I’ve loved and have stayed with me for a long time so…they get to stay with me on my bookshelf.
The Also Rans. Books that I’ve either disliked or thought were just ok. They end up at the charity shop.
I still lend books to my parents who I can trust to return!
I’ve lent books to friends and then they’ve either forgotten to return them or I’ve forgotten that I’ve lent them!

Didn't realise The Roommate was a short story! So I've read that already and now onto The Woman Who Lied by Claire Douglas.

38 The People You Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.
I am not sure how but I've ended up reading or listening to about 5 Emily Henry books recently. This was fun and a lot like the rest of them!

6-heart the lover lily king.

I really enjoyed this, found it easy reading after a difficult few months and it flowed well

23 Writers and Lovers by Lily King

So, I had this book on my bookshelf and I was convinced I had read it. But after reading Heart the Lover, I picked this one up and leafed through it and realised that I hadn't. That's possibly the downside of a busy life and a large bookcase!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this - King's storytelling flows so easily. There was a little narrative trap which didn't align with Heart the Lover which annoyed me. The protagolist sometimes feels like an outline, I found it hard to conjure her up. All in all, a beautiful book about what we love and who we are.

1 Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
2 God of the Woods by Liz Moore
3 A Time for Mercy by John Grisham
4 The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
5 His and Hers by Alice Feeney
6 Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
7 Local Girl Missing by Claire Douglas
8 The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
9 invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
10 The Cut Throat Trial
11 Death Row by Frieda McFadden
12 The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
13 She Didn't see it coming by Shari Lapena
14 My Husband Next Door by KL Slater
15 Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
Next is Andrea Mara, The Roommate

Book 8. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue.
Easy read, bought for me as a present by a kind friend. Lots and lots of characters which did mean I needed to do a bit of flicking between pages to check who was who. Glad I read it but will probably offer it to a friend rather than keep it.
Books I read tend to fall into four categories once read- so good I can't bear to lend them in case they're not returned/ happy to lend but will pursue to get back if the friend forgets / will happily give because it's good but friend can pass it on / charity shop as someone else will enjoy it because we all have different tastes. There's also the Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle category but better not to speak of that...
Anyone else have passing on categories?

Book 16: No One Saw A Thing by Andrea Mara
My Andrea Mara craze continues! I really enjoyed this, I was apprehensive at first as some of the characters seemed a little OTT in their characterisation but it was fast paced and everything unraveled nicely, an easy not too deep read.

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

22 Sister in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami

it ended up taking me ages to finish this after rattling through the first 2/3rds, it dragged in the last few pages particularly but otherwise I really loved this, second book by this author this year, she’s a very fresh voice in the better known male dominated Japanese literature (not including all those cosy books about cats and coffee shops)

And Away, Bob Mortimer

I'm trying to read more non fiction this year, and this was a lovely biography to read. You could really hear his voice in it.

It's been a while tried to read The book of two ways by Jodi Picoult but I gave up as too heavy.

1. Silence of the girls
2. By Any Other Name - Jodi Picoult.
3. We live here now - Sarah Pinborough.
4. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult.
5. We begin at the end - Chris Whittaker
6. Things we do not tell the people we love - Huma Qureshi
7. Names - Florence Knapp.
8. I have never known men - Jacqueline harpman

Now reading Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy.

16 - A Better Life by Lionel Shriver

This was such a compelling book! It's about an American woman who takes in an immigrant on a government scheme. I won't give the plot away, but suffice to say it didn't end well. LS is such a brilliant writer, I can't get enough of her books. I find her vocabulary pretty challenging - sometimes I have to reread a page as I can't keep up, but her books are just top notch.

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, this was a bit bland and predictable but was a nice holiday read.
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho another romantic-ish easy read.

Neither of these last two reads were inspiring and I need to find something with more substance and story for next.
I tried to read The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji but that was a DNF for me, I got about a third through and might go back sometime as it's annoyed me I didn't either give up earlier or finish but I just didn't enjoy it.

I have been listening to The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah (I'm staying to realise her genre is tough women in inhospitable environments with unsupportive men) on audiobook which I wish I had read instead of the three I chose as actual books.

36 How to say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair. Really amazing book, her life was very unusual (but very recent events) and in a culture I knew nothing about.
37 The World's Greatest Detective And Her Just Ok Assistant by Liza Tully. Average murder mystery, slightly cozy/rich people problems.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave has a new book out as well kiranmillwoodhargrave.com/book/the-dance-tree/