26ish books 2026

I’ve finally finished book 4! I was on a roll but halfway through this book I lost my mojo and struggled to pick it up for a while - not because the book didn’t hold my interest, I’ve really enjoyed it, I will look to get the 3rd book in the Connie Woolwine series as I’m interested to see how the story arch develops and I did enjoy the institution when I read it.

1.Then she was gone - Lisa Jewell
2.Beautiful ugly - Alice Feeney
3.The Intruder - Freida McFadden
4.The Shadowman - Helen Fields

I need to decide what to start next, I’ve a big pile to choose from but I do get decision paralysis so I might have to try pick at random

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

1. When the cranes fly south by Lisa Rizden

I really struggled to move on from book 8, started a few other books but couldn't get past first chapter.

9.A midlife holiday by Carry Hanson, light hearted chick lit
10. Nesting by Rosie O'Donnell another highly emotional book and a woman trying to leave an abusive relationship.

@Citygirlrurallife that is very kind of you!

Book 5 finished.
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

Not sure what to try next. The names has been mentioned a lot. And another poster recommend Claire Douglas to me.

#7 Yomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow

loved this book, a friend has been recommending it for ages and I’ve held off a bit because DH works (and is obsessed with) video games but I found it very easy to read, very intriguing in terms of world building and story telling (I also work in games but don’t play them and it made me want to) and I just adored all 3 central characters which is rare, is it the greatest piece of literature ever? No. But it moved me and I scribbled out various brief statements that rang very true.

@MonkeyTennis34 wild dark shore was one of my top books of 2025

@icedpuddles that is genuinely the most honest and fascinating review of hee sting that I’ve seen

Well I ended up distracted by a book I’d thought I’d abandoned but I’d just shoved the bookmark back in and it took me a few pages to realise I’d already read it

have started The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay - will save Louise Penny for holiday!

Oh well! There is a good bit when she explains about what she means by "still life"

🤣 my mil loves Louise penny and gave it to me for my birthday so I’m obliged to read it!!

@Bruisername I would give Still Life by Louise Penny a miss. It was universally hated in my book club and I dont think any other book has been. I was probably most favourably disposed to it but, still, I wouldn't bother. You can tell it is a first novel and you can see she has potential as a writer but isn't there yet. I was told the series gets better at about book 5.

4, Rose Code by Kate Quinn - an enjoyable and easy read. I would happiily read more of her books. I have mixed feelings about it using real life people for fiction ie one story line is based around Prince Philip being a character's boyfriend. I felt this was an invasion of privacy. It also had the effect of making me think about a very old man when the character was young and in the prime of life. I felt it flagged a bit in place or two and some of the character develpoment ran out/went a bit funny. The gang rape scene where one woman fought off 3 attackers irritated me because women just cannot and do not do this and it is not their fault that they don't. Putting these scenes in books makes society think that this a realistic option for women, perpetuating rape myths, but it isn't.

5, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray - some of this is excellent. There was one paragraph about death which was exquisite. There is a thought provoking and well written speech by a politican about climate change that the uni students then describe as a real nazi speaking because he denied trans people existed. I thought the juxtaposition of the speech and what someone took from it was a hilarious social comment. I It has a very wide sweep of issues it encompasses. It writes from different characters' perspectives and with one character he doesn't use commas or full stops which I found a bit boring and trying. Some of what it covers it also very sordid/tawdry. It is undeniably good, thought provoking, it captures many things about past Ireland and now, society and new and old issues. I thought the ending was rubbish. I enjoyed it and also did not enjoy it. Overall, I think I would have been happier not having read it.

@MonkeyTennis34 i agree, I could really picture it as a film as I was reading it.

6 the hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu

i enjoyed it and would recommend

book 7 will be either Still Life by Louise Penny or Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut

Meant to add, this book needs to be made into a film! Emma Corrin to play the female lead.

3. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
What a book!
The writing was beautiful, the characters complex and the plot was exciting.
Very early to be calling it but I think this may be my book of the year! Will be hard to beat.

Finished book 3. The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves. I enjoyed this, I love the Jimmy Perez series.
And
Book 4. My Friends by Fredrik Backman.

Next up is Brimstone by Callie Hart.

Evening👋 Finished book four....

(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

Summary taken from the web:

All the Broken Places by John Boyne, the sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, follows 91-year-old Gretel Fernsby in London as she confronts her long-buried past as the daughter of a Nazi commandant. When a new family with a young boy moves into her building, she faces a choice between protecting her secrets and saving a child, mirroring a traumatic, guilty, and complicit decision from her youth.
Key Aspects of the Narrative:

• Present Day (London, 2022): Gretel lives a quiet, comfortable, and guarded life, having hidden her identity for decades after fleeing Germany. Her life is disrupted by the arrival of a new family and her growing, complex relationship with their son, Henry.
• Past (1946 & Beyond): The story alternates with flashbacks, covering the immediate post-war years in Paris with her mother and a later, turbulent period in Sydney.
• Themes of Guilt and Complicity: Gretel struggles with the shame and remorse of her childhood, where she failed to act against the atrocities she witnessed in Nazi Germany.
• The Turning Point: A violent, abusive situation involving Henry’s family forces Gretel to make a decision, forcing her to confront the,,complicity, that has haunted her.

I really enjoyed this book - couldn't put it down.

Onto the next...

Happy reading everyone :)

Book 9 finished - 1984
Incredible, haunting and ultimately harrowing. Feel like I need some time to process it all and will definitely be one to reread.

Next book when I have recovered is This must be the place - Maggie O’Farrell. I read Hamnet and The marriage Portrait a couple of years ago and loved them both so I’m looking forward to reading more from by her.

I started Demon Copperhead a few years ago but I could get into it, despite liking all her other books. Perhaps I should persist

I finished book 6 yesterday, All My Puny Sorrows by Mriam Toews. It was beautiful, sad and everything else possible. Big recommendation. I had started Milkman but left it at work by mistake so I picked this up in between. Back to Milkman now!

Book 4 for me finally finished - A Brief History of Intelligence - Why the Evolution of the Brain Holds the Key to the Future of AI by Max Bennett.

My god was this dense at points, but completely fascinating and also weirdly comforting at the state of the world and putting it in context. I would recommend it to anyone who's been caught slightly on the hop by AI and is interested in knowing about its background. Also if you have a passing interest in neurology/anthropology!

I think you'll enjoy Demon Copperhead @GreenSalon- I found it a slow burn at first and was tempted to give up at the part he goes to live on Creaky's farm (for some reason, I can't stand books set on farms) but the older he gets the more interesting it becomes and by the end I didn't want it to finish!

I was looking back through the thread to get inspiration for my next book and you’ve just reminded me @Confusionetdelay that I started Demon Copperhead, set it down months ago and forgot about it!

I read James last summer and totally agree. DH isn’t a big reader and loved it to. I read The Trees by same author as my first 2026 book and it was good but not as good.

No 3. The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Bought as a present for me so probably wouldn’t have chosen it. I found it to be a bit corny and tick box of all the things someone my age reading it would remember from 70s/80/ childhood.

No 4. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Translated from the original Dutch, this is a horror story in the vein of early Stephen King (whom I adore). As such, I loved it. Read quickly and genuinely blood pressure raising in parts.

on to number 5 now.

I read it last summer, it had been on my mean to read list for years and years. I loved it and it's stayed with me. That final paragraph where Scout lists what Boo had given them reduced me to tears.