26ish books 2026

That sounds excellent @PinkOrangeRed. Off to pop it on my TBR list.

14 Everything We Do Is Music - Elizabeth Alker
How 20th-Century Classical Music shaped Pop.
After finishing Tracy Thorn's memoir, I decided to continue with the music theme and read another RWYO. I love Elizabeth Alker's "Unclassified" radio show and this book was so interesting. Now off to create a playlist of her recommended listening.

Yes, it took me way longer than it should have to get through the 136 pages!

Hope you like it. It was my first Kristin Hannah. I'm a sucker for great settings and it does that so well😊

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

now going to try and stay The Great Alone which I got for 99p on kindle after seeing @beginwithasinglestep had read recently

This took me ages to read last year despite beibg so short

6: Mongrel by Hanako Footman
One of those books that had a promising start, got lost in the middle but pulled it together at the end. It is the story of three women who are all trying to find their way in the world having lost someone close to them.

@ItalianChineseIndianMexican your post has just reminded me that I bought Orbital on kindle and it's still unread (along with Hamnet).

Good to see I'm not the only person that didn't like it, but I didn't even finish it, gave up half way through.

Been on a fantasy kick lately, read Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. I enjoyed them, but not desperate to read the next one when it comes out.

19 How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin.
I think "a good read" sums this one up. Interesting premise, quite well done though a few too many stereotypes of small village life.

DNF for me: Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan. Prose is beautiful but I just could not get into this book. Restarted every chapter several times but too many character names and unconnected backstories.

5 Orbital by Samantha Harvey

A short novel about 6 astronauts orbiting the Earth, completing one rotation every 90 minutes, looking out onto their planet, thinking of home, of people, of space, of geography, of history and the past and the future.

Winner of the Booker Prize 2024 and beautifully written.

But just not for me 🙃

2.5 stars out of 5

This literally word to word how I'd describe too

#14 Saturday by Ian McEwan. Forgettable. Too impressed with his own intelligence. Shame really as I love child in time and atonement but this was bloated and overwritten and full of entitled boring characters

no. 7 Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty - audiobook - I quite enjoy her books, I think this is an early one and some things are a bit repetitive if you have read a few. It was enjoyable. They are long too and I did get a bit bored at one point but I always do with audio books!

No 8 Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V E Schwab - this was for a book club. Not my usual sort of thing. It is well written, has a good pace but I did tire of the horror aspect involved. Some bits had a bit of a Bridgerton flavour and she did manage to cover many genres. She has written an impressive amount of very well selling books for her age, so kudos to her!

no 9 The Road to Station X by Sarah Baring This is a short autobiography and was noted in the afterword of the Rose Code by Kate Quinn. I think it is fair to say some parts of the Rose Code are borrowed very heavily from this book. It is less than 200 pages, it is about her life just before WWII and during the war, including some about her work at Bletchley Park. It was insightful and I learnt some things about the war as well as finding it quite moving even though it was unsentimental. She was a deb, had an interesting privileged family and was growing up to be an adult during the war. I love an autobiography, it is written in a very straightforward way which I like, very interesting. I enjoyed it so much. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an autobiography.
It is part of a sort of collection of books which are autobiographies of different people's experienced during WWII. I might have a look at some of the others in the future.
Sarah Baring must have had an interesting life in other respects and it is a shame she did not write an autobiography covering some other aspects too as I am sure it would have been brilliant. Maybe she couldn't given who her ex-H was and her son.

Finally finished 9. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir on Audio. I had read so many reviews that the audio was so much better than the book but I really struggled with it and I’m disappointed I didn’t read the book.
I do think it’s because I have an audio on in the background whilst I’m working and there was some pretty scientific technical terms that went totally over my head and the switching between past and present was hard to keep up with on audio.
that said it was a good story and I’m looking forward to watching the film

Finished book no 9 - Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris. This is a sequel to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true story. It follows the life of a woman who went from Auschwitz, straight to the camps in Siberia, as she was unjustly charged with collaborating with the Nazis. The suffering was so hard to read, but Cilka's strength was amazing. A really good read.

Book 8 - Verity Colleen Hoover. Picked this up in tesco on a whim, and really enjoyed it! No difficulty getting into it at all, quite sinister at times and a crazy twist.

I only read 14 books all year last year, at least 2 of them were very short. I think its safe to say Ive got my readibg mojo back!

Just finished book #5 - we begin at the end by Chris Whitaker.

Amazing read, it took me a few chapters to get into it but I was hooked. Loved all the characters and development of the story.

Book 6 - things we do not tell the people we love.

10 - The Strange Case of Jane O - Karen Thompson Walker
This isn’t necessarily a book that id normally pick up but I really enjoyed it. It was a page turner with a clever element of sci-fi alongside psychology, memory and love. Good read.

@icedpuddles Middlemarch was one of my A level English Literature texts many years ago and has stayed with me. It's really good. I've recently been listening to it on audio book.

I haven’t but will have a look!

It worked well although stupidly because I found it so easy I started again! Argh!

6 Middlemarch - the title had put me off in younger days as it just sounds so boring. I thought the insights that it had into married life and people's personalisties and relationships were marvellous. I really enjoyed it. I do like the classics. I would highly recommend it.

Book number 10 Satantango by Laslo Krasznahorkai. Very weird book, not sure how I feel about it to be honest.

The Astral Library, by Kate Quinn.

This was a book club pick, and it sounded really good, however it didn't live up to expectations. An easy read though.

Book 7 - Heated Rivalry Rachel Reid.

Second in the series, enjoyable easy read. Quite explicit!

Onto book 8 - Verity, Colleen Hoover. Flying through them this year! (For me).