26ish books 2026

13: A Storm of Infinite Beauty by Julianne MacLean.

Women's fiction set in Nova Scotia and Alaska (my 2nd Alaska book this year; lots of great descriptions of the glaciers makes me want to go there). Valerie was set away to hide that she was pregnant in the 70s, later became a Hollywood star; Gwen, who curates the museum dedicated to her, investigates the "lost year" that had remained secret. Nicely done; easy read. 4/5

12: Glasgow Boys by Margaraet McDonald. I started this ages ago and was enjoying it but put it down for some reason (it's been a busy year and my brain is all over the place) but definitely didn't want it to be a DNF. Really enjoyed it, a coming of age story of two teenage boys in care who meet in a home, go their separate ways but whose lives are still entangled as they move towards independent adulthood, a really heartwarming tale, the subject matter is potentially disturbing at times but the author has done a great job of making the most difficult aspects implied rather than explicit.

20 Lost in the Garden - Adam S Leslie
I'm quite partial to a bit of folk horror (The Loney, Ghost Wall) so this sounded interesting, and more so given that it won the Nero book award for fiction in 2024. It's set in an alternative Britain where the dead have become ghosts, it's very hot all the time and the 3 main characters are on a road trip to the forbidden village of Almanby.
TBH I don't really know what I thought of this book. It was an easy read but with a very irritating main character (Heather) and not particularly scary. Very weird and a bit too long.

30 The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley.
I don't normally read Sci-fi and this was proper sci-fi but I found it really moving and not too gadgety though I think some of it seemed fudged - I'm not sure how the main character wouldn't have recognised Adela, for example.

19 A Family Matter - Claire Lynch

a quick read and heart wrenching story, cantered along but beautifully written

@drspouseyes it’s a book the requires you to put it down and have a break every so often. But I thought it was such a beautifully written book, how it captured the love amongst the neglect was pretty amazing.

Oh I loved Shuggie Bain, All the Light we Cannot See and educated , all 3 in my top books list!

18 The Girls Who Grew Big - Leila Mottley

wonderful book, might be the first time I’ve read a multi-narrative book and completely feel for each character equally and followed it seamlessly. Heartbreaking and soul soothing, highly recommended

14 Hamnet - maybe over written and over hyped not sure

15 Educated by Tara Westover - I did not expect this to turn into a misery memoir. I expected some difficult times from her family but not what it was. It gives me the rage. The abuse, her horrible, horrible parents, both of them, her brother... she was really very nice about them given how awful they are. I can see her relationships with them are complicated but objectively they are truly awful human beings and so selfish. It was very insightful into how people react in abusive relationships but I did not need that in my life.

I have started The Silence of the Girls but I might abandon it. If it is just a rape camp story, I have much better things to do with my time than read it.

11. King Worm by T. Fisher. Not a bad read. Avoid if you are squeamish about insects. The ending was disappointing but I liked the stuff about life in the deep South of the US.

11: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (audio, DNF book a few years ago). Thought I'd give this another try now I've seen and enjoyed the film, much better this time. Although still found there were rather too many minor characters to keep track of.

Book 19, Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. I LOVED this book. It's set in Syracuse in 412BC, after the Syracusan victory over Athens. The POWs from Athens are held in a quarry, left to die, but two unemployed theatre-loving potters find actors amongst them and set up a play at the quarry, using the encaptured Athenians as actors.

I don't think I've ever read a book like this, it's something of a tragicomedy, but the language is in modern irish venacular which makes it just splendid and also, accessible. Big recommendation

I'm part way through Shuggie Bain. Not sure I can finish!

14. Daisy Jones and the six - Taylor Jenkins Reid

this follows the story of a fictional 70s rock band. Written in interview style with the different members of the band and people close to them.

this isn’t one I was desperate to pick up but I wanted a good audio and after a bit of research this one kept cropping up and I do like TJR.
im so glad I did! The audio is narrated by a full cast and is almost like a documentary series. The emotions of the characters really gripped me and I actually shed tears at the end. loved it!!

2026 reads

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)

Morning :)

Books read so far:

(1) The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy
(2) The Outside Boy by Jeannie Cummins
(3) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
(4) All the Broken Places by John Boyne
(5) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
(6) Crooked Branch by Jeannie Cummins
(7) Nesting by Roisin O'Donnell
(8) Never Lie by Frieda McFadden
(9) All Her Fault by Andrea Mara (Audio book)
(10) The Locked Door by Frieda McFadden

Latest book....

(11) All the Light We Cannot See by By Anthony Doerr

Synopsis taken from google:

Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See (2014) is a historical fiction novel set during World War II, tracing the converging paths of Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl, and Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy. The non-linear narrative explores themes of morality, humanity, and survival as they both experience the destruction of war before intersecting in the occupied French town of Saint-Malo.

Key Characters and Plotlines

• Marie-Laure LeBlanc: Growing up in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, she goes blind at age six and learns to navigate using detailed scale models built by her father. When the Nazis occupy Paris, she and her father flee to Saint-Malo to live with her reclusive great-uncle, Etienne, bringing with them a dangerous and rare jewel known as the Sea of Flames.
• Werner Pfennig: An orphan growing up in a German mining town, Werner develops an aptitude for engineering and radio technology. This talent earns him a spot in a brutal Hitler Youth military school, eventually leading him to the German army where his expertise is used to track down illegal radios.
• Intersection: The story alternates between the two characters as they grow up during the war, eventually culminating in their meeting in Saint-Malo in August 1944. Werner, tasked with uncovering the radio transmissions used by the French resistance (including Marie-Laure and her uncle), becomes conflicted in his loyalty to the Nazi regime after discovering Marie-Laure and recognizing her humanity.

I enjoyed this book - however I do not feel that I truly understood the message it was trying to portray - might have been too intellectual for me lol

Onto the next 'The Book of Lost Names' by Kristin Harmel - 43 pages in an really enjoying it so far!

Happy reading everyone :)

@Orangebadger Personally I wouldn’t bother, just watch the TV series! You’re in for a real treat.

@drspouse I’m reading Ministry of Time and finding the writing quite irritating. It inspired me to start another thread about time travel books! I loved Doomsday Book as a teenager but re-reading it as an adult via audiobook I found the quality of the writing so poor it was almost excruciating listening to it being read aloud. It’s a brilliant story, though!

Finished book number 13 - All her fault by Andrea Mara.

This followed the lives of several women, as they face the trauma of a missing child. Initially I didn't think the book would be too challenging, but there were plenty of twists and turns, and lots of suspense. Would definitely recommend.

7.Nesting by Rosin O’Donnoll
Overall enjoyed this read. Parts harder to read, but not to the same degree as Shuggie Bain was.

Lovely book.

Such a lovely book. I read this and have gone in to read quite a few of his books. I have My Friends saved for my holiday reading.

18 The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes
This was our latest book club choice. A short novel about memory, time and regret. Well-written. Reminded many of us of "On Chesil Beach".

19 Fates and Furies - Lauren Goff
A DNF for me. Had chosen this as it was previously Barack Obama's book of the year in 2015. It tells the story of a marriage, seen from both sides. Unlikeable and unrealistic characters. Overtly flowery language. Gave up after 80 pages.

Book 15 was A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman. I absolutely loved this and bawled my eyes out at the end - very gentle read, understated and poignant.

Book 10: Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell - superb book, lots of twists and i enjoyed that different chapters were told from the perspective of different key characters, didn’t see the ending coming at all.

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

I think it is similar but it was a few years since I read it. Worth it though as is the third in the series.

I am currently listening to/reading two books about time travel (The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, and The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley). Both due back at the library soon so I'm persisting but I'm confused!

6 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

I had been wanting to read this for a while, now I finally finished it 5 weeks later. It was a long hard slog. In 2 minds, parts were brilliant and other parts dragged. Some parts very difficult to determine what was actually going on and so many characters!!! But overall enjoyed. Now going to watch the TV series.

Has anyone here ready the sequel Bring up the bodies? No plans to read just yet but curious is others found it easier to read than Wolf Hall?