26ish books 2026

Book 23 The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard.
This was so good I've moved straight onto the next in the series. One of my books of the year.

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
(11) All the Light We Cannot See by By Anthony Doer
(12) The Book of Lost Names' by Kristin Harmel
(13) The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin Harmel
(14) The Names by Florence Knapp
(15) The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
(16) Her Husband's Lover by Patricia Crouch
(17) Here One Moment by Liane Moriarity
(18) The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas
(19) Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
(20) One Day by David Nicholls
(21) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
(22) My Brother's Secret by Maggie Hartley
(23) Us by David Nicholls
(24) You are here by David Nicholls

Latest Book.....

(25) The Understudy by David Nicholls

Enjoyable book - bit disappointed by the ending....

Onto the next :)

Happy reading everyone :D

Book 38: The Inmate by Freida McFadden
A typical Freida book, absurd plot and crazy characters, definitely need to suspend reality when reading this but it was a quick light read and didn’t disappoint with the insane twists!

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

Read 3 books while on holiday, very good going for me.

Didn't love any of them, but they were all quite easy to get into.

Margo's Got Money Troubles

A woman starts an Only Fans account after having a baby.

Queenie

The aftermath of a break up

Lily

The life of a girl after she was abandoned at birth.

I did not finish Butter, just couldn't get on with it despite requesting it on Libby, returning it and requesting it again!

58 Solito by Javier Zamora. Deeply moving - about a boy who is trafficked into the US because his parents are there and he can't join them legally. It's the author's own story and he went through years of therapy to process what had happened to him. He was from El Salvador and his dad was a political refugee.
59 Kin by Tayari Jones. I liked An American Marriage, but this didn't feel at all original.
60 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Like a lot of people, this was a quick and fairly easy read. I really felt for her daughter - I have previously cut my mum out of knowing things she didn't need to know, not because she cut me out but because she made everything about her. I think we were supposed to feel sympathy with Sybil. It also made me think about what I might lose if I went blind like her.

22: Less - Stop Buying So Much Rubbish by Patrick Grant
Really interesting book. Main premise is to buy less, buy local and buy the best quality you can. However, for me the balance was too heavy on the history and not enough on the local producers and practical steps for going forward.

23: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Absolutely loved this one, as recommended on this thread (or maybe even last year's). Fantastic mood, and would be a perfect Autumn/Winter read.

Ooooh hurrah @PinkOrangeRed Relieved that you liked it! Feeling that recommendations are more responsibility than I thought 🤔

Book 37: The Girls by Lisa Jewell
I really enjoyed this book and the doubt that was spread about the integrity of some characters as more things happened. I was super frustrated at the ending though and how no one was held accountable for what happened.

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

32 Children of Radium by Joe Dunthorne I think others on here have read it. It is a family memoir with the slant that the great grandfather who is the focus of the book was involved in chemcial weapons and a jew. I didn't find the bit in Germany that interesting but the rest was very interesting and thought provoking. I like a family memoir. A short book at 300 small pages with wide margins.

33 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier This was a very good book. I had avoided it as I get a bit queasy about fiction based on real people. It seems like an infringement of their self. It tells a life story based on fossil finding in Lyme Regis and a friendship between two women. It subtly highlights all the restraints on women at that time (1800/1820) such as a lady not being able to even walk down the street in London alone. It includes how fossils were slightly dangerous because they challenged the world view that god created everything in 7 days and nothing would be extinct becuase god didn't make mistakes.

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
26. Honey by Imani Thompson
27. The way back by Sara Cox
28. The rest of our lives by Benjamin MarKovits
29. Why fish don't exist by Lulu Miller
30.Queenie by Candace Carty Williams
31. Queenie is working on it by Candace Carty Williams
33. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
34. Good People by Patmeena Sabit
35. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
36. Here one moment by Liane Moriaty

I agree about Butter @PinkOrangeRed I also found it too long and in fact DNF although the topics were interesting it was not as marketed

30 Butter by Asako Yuzuki
Finally got around to reading this from my book shelf. I think the UK publishers got their marketing totally wrong. I was expecting a crime thriller but it really wasn't - more about being a woman in Japan, the cultural expectation that you remain thin, and the experiences of women in the workplace. An interesting read, but too long I felt.

31 Children of Radium by Joe Dunthorne
As recommended by @Philandbill earlier. Excellent and very thought-provoking.

32 Witch Trial by Harriet Tyce
A court room drama that centers around the death of a teenager in an Edinburgh park and the trial of her two best friends. Harriet Tyce used unique aspects of Scottish law so that you didn't know what was going to happen in the trial. Enjoyed this book and surprisingly did not guess the ending, which was so not what I was expecting.

35 The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa

a collection of short stories, all quite unsettling but intriguing and unputdownable

now have to prep a book for work but don’t count those

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
26. Honey by Imani Thompson
27. The way back by Sara Cox
28. The rest of our lives by Benjamin MarKovits
29. Why fish don't exist by Lulu Miller
30.Queenie by Candace Carty Williams
31. Queenie is working on it by Candace Carty Williams
33. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
34. Good People by Patmeena Sabit

@Yuja recommended Good people in the thread and it is a really interesting narrative technique

Book 36: The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell
I found this quite a sad book, i enjoyed the story but found the main character Adrian to be quite annoying and self entitled, I don’t know how they put up with him! No big twists and definitely not a thriller.

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

34 A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham

picked this up at a friends house and I really enjoyed it. Follows mostly the narrative of two boys who grow into men together, who have a sexual relationship as teenagers then grow apart when one moves to NY for college and stays, the other moves into his friend’s home and becomes almost a surrogate son for his parents, then follows to NY and they create a sort of family with their female roommate mate. Follows the AIDS crisis on a very small, localised level but mainly just a story of people trying to find their way in world that doesn’t quite fit them. Gorgeous writing

29 - The Midnight Train by Matt Haig I was looking forward to this as really enjoyed the midnight library. I did enjoy it, was very well written with some lovely, reflective moments. It was, however, somehow a bit samey and also very clichéd! Kept me reading though and I got quite invested in the characters.

17. The distance between us. Maggie O’Farrell.

Chatiry shop find and working my way through all of her books. Loved this. I really liked the main characters and as ever how she weaves the story in such a clever way.

29.The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

I loved this book, which was a series of letters written by a prolific letter writer. As the book develops, the trials and tradegies of life unfold. A great read and would definitely recommend.

28 - The Mercy Strep - Marcia Hutchinson this was such a moving read. The main character Mercy is constantly let down by the people who should love and protect her - she is so tenacious, funny and resilient in the face of all of this and I loved reading her journey from birth to 11. I’m hoping for a follow up one day about mercy’s life as an adult!

18: The Accidental Footballer
19: Football and How to Survive it
Both Pat Nevin (audio).

Pat never wanted to be a footballer despite loving playing the game and being excellent at it. But ended up playing at international level for Scotland. These books are the story of his football career, his other interests and his family life, interesting and entertaining.

20: Sober by Tony Adams.
More football but also the story of Tony's life since becoming dry and overcoming the alcohol addiction that was destroying his life, also of the charity he founded to help other players with addiction issues.

21: The Last Voice You Hear by Mick Herron

The second in the Zoe Boehm detective series. Started well, but by the final third or so I was losing interest rapidly.

So I think these are
56 Crook o Lune by ECR Lorac. Classic mystery set in the fells in my neck of the woods. Gave it to my dad to read next, he's read EVERYTHING and hadn't heard of it so that was a bonus.
57 An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi. Most of this was very interesting but the ancient history of North Africa dragged a bit. Apparently there was a TV series so I'll have to see if it's on iPlayer.

Book 35: Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
I thought this started off strong but the middle dragged, I don’t think it helped that I had a week without being able to read and I’m not good at picking books back up. Saying that it kept me intrigued and guessing but the ending was a little disappointing, felt rushed and was unrealistic. I’ve heard that Wrong Place, Wrong Time is good so I’ll try her again.
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

41 - Between you and Me - Lisa hall

Pretty much guessed it from the start, maybe because I listened to it rather than read it? Wasn’t a huge fan of the book. 3 ⭐️

42 - The Devoted Wife (audible exclusive) - Sarah. A. Denzil

Again, I had an idea of the outcome from early on. Not a bad story but fairly predictable. The narration was good. 3 ⭐️

14 Hex by Jenni Fagan

A powerful, fictional retelling of the North Berwick witch trials in 100 pages.
An ok read though I expected more from this award winning author.

2 stars out of 5

15 Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy

I didn’t make time for reading in the last couple of months. I was back to overdoing doomscrolling too. This book helped me read again. I found it very engaging. I expected a certain ending because of something I saw in an online review. Luckily, it didn’t spoil it for me. 4 out of 5 stars.

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, Woo-Kyoung Ahn
6. One of Us, Elisabeth Day
7. You’ve Got This, Michaela Dunbar
8. James, Percival Everett
9. Manifest, Roxie Nafousi
10. We Are Here, David Nicholls
11. How to Focus, Thich Nhat Hanh
12. True Love, Thich Nhat Hanh
13. An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro
14. How to talk to absolutely anyone, Mark Rhodes