26ish books 2026

27 Sisters under the rising sun by Heather Morris

An informative book, based on true accounts, of women who were held as prisoners of war in Indonesia by the Japanese. I have mixed feelings about the book. Firstly, the vocabulary and writing style was not very challenging. In fact, it was quite simple. Also, whilst the underlying theme is one of sisterhood, I feel it's a bit twee and overly optimistic. I'm sure not all the women in the camp were sacrificial, favouring their sisters, but the book implies that they were. That aside, I learnt a lot about the period and I'm glad I read it.

@PinkOrangeRed Thank you, I have added that to my birthday list 😀
@Citygirlrurallife I loved Capital so much I couldn't watch the adaptation in case they got it wrong....

Book 32: The Sleeper Lies by Andrea Mara
this was a book with a slow build up, the main character is snowed in so it kind of feels that there is no escape and something is coming, what was coming wasn’t what I expected, I’d completely focused on the wrong person being the stalker and the nod to the actual culprit was made with subtle references throughout the book. I’ve read all of Andrea Mara’s books now sob I really enjoy her writing.

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

This is now on my reserve list. Loved Submarine, both book and film adaptation.

27 The Artist by Lucy Steeds
Set in Provence in the 1920s this is about an aspiring journalist, Joseph, who arrives at a remote farmhouse to try to interview fabled painter Edouard Tartuffe – Tata, “the Master of Light” – who lives with only his niece Ettie for company. It explores how the myth of the "eccentric male genius" has historically been used to excuse the emotional control and suppression of talented women, and also questions the value of art. Very atmospheric, with very lush and sensuous descriptions. It won Waterstone's debut novel prize for 2025 and is on the shortlist for several other book prizes. Reminded me a bit of The Muse by Jessie Burton.

@Scout2016 @Philandbill @Citygirlrurallife If you enjoyed Capital, I can recommend John Lanchester's latest - Look What You Made Me Do. It was my book 22.

@Scout2016 @Philandbill i don’t realise this was a book! I watched the mini series last year and it was fab - I love John Lanchester so will add it TBR

No, I took against him same time as Ian Mcewan because I felt they just got a bit too middle class bubble and hit and miss. IIRC I saw them at a book event and got the fan ick. But I loved Green Dophin Street, Engleby and at least one other I can't think of the name of, so I'm open to accepting I'm being unreasonable and trying that book. Might be one for the friend who lent me Capital too, thank you!

@Scout2016 I loved Capital too. Have you read A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks? It follows a group of Londoners over a week and their stories gradually link up. It's excellent.

I’m so sorry for your loss and hope you get to relax a little on holiday

19. Capital by John Lancaster. I very much bought into the premise of this and was engrossed. The backbone is a fancy street in London and the novel takes up the storylines of several characters who either live or work there, including an elderly widow, rich banker and his wife, Pakistani shop owners, young footballer and his dad brought over from Senegal by a rich club, a Zimbabwean traffic warden who lives in a hostel, Hungarian nanny, Polish builder... you dip in and out of each character's circumstances over around a year and I did care what happenedyo all of them. Well, the banker's wife was horrible but fascinating in an awful way.

Another angle linking them is that the residents start receiving anonymous postcards stating "we want what you have" and it seems there's a campaign building against them. That's intriguing enough and worked, but it wasn't necessary as a plot device and it's not a thriller or crime novel.

Usually in these type of books I'm tempted to skip backand forth to see what happens to my favourite characters but this flowed really evenly despite being nearly 600 pages.

22 - The God of the Woods - Liz Moore
This was available through prime reading on my kindle and one I had thought about reading for a while. I found it very well written - enjoyed the multiple viewpoints and shifting timelines but I often enjoy these types of structures, and I thought that aspect was well handled. I’m not usually one for mysteries but this one was layered well, and I didn’t guess before the end so from that perspective it was also enjoyable. I loved the setting in upper New York State which also happened to be the setting of the last book I read and makes me keen to visit the area one day.
I found the conclusion a bit implausible - particularly the actions of the policewoman. And one of the characters I felt was not really needed and was unlikely to have behaved the way he did. But that aside it was a solid read and it kept me hooked for a couple of days.

@drspouse so sorry for your loss. Sounds like you need a good deal of me time.

So sorry for your loss @drspouse

I've kind of lost my reading mojo I think (so much going on, kids home from school, house in a tip due to renovations and in the middle of sorting my mother's funeral) . I have a couple of things out on Kindle from the library and don't really fancy going any further with either of them.
Might try and find something a bit lighter as we are going on holiday at the end of the week. Really need a break!

Book 31: I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
this was a library reserve so it pushed itself to the top of my TBR pile!
I loved the story although it was heartbreaking in places. The surprise of who the narrator was in part 1 was a shocker, and the 2nd narrator forcefully embedding themselves into the story in part 2 fit with his character and made me dislike him even more. I didn’t really enjoy the side story of the detectives and the DI’s family, it felt like it slowed the story and didn’t add anything. Absolutely clincher of a twist at the end!
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

30 Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

picked this up because initially looking for a different pick for book club then decided actually I wanted to pitch something else but read this on my own. I don’t usually go for gothic and I assumed there would be more horror. Definitely it has the subject matter of horror but I don’t know if this is true of the gothic genre of a fault of the writer there just wasn’t a build up of tension and fear that I would have expected. The main character was one of those sassy women who get things done b it she didn’t really change and grated me a little. I enjoyed it enough to finish it though and would give it a 2.5 maybe 3 out of 5

Yes, it's a while since I read it (listened to it on audible) but I remember thinking I'd like to know more about various aspects.

@EnchantedDays Hurrah, a fellow reader of 0this. I'm trying to persuade DH to read it. It's not like the usual 'person writes about family history book' at all. The writing style is great and the content very thought provoking. I wanted to hear more about Elizabeth (great great aunt) and the great grandmother.

I really enjoyed this one too, it caught my eye in a bookshop window. Very thought-provoking.

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

Latest Book....

(22) My Brother's Secret by Maggie Hartley

Description taken from amazon....

'They made me do it, it wasn't my fault!'
When three brothers come to live with Maggie, she knows that it's going to be challenging. They are all already struggling with rejection after their dad abandoned them, their mum having died several years before.

While four-year-old Billy is a delight, eleven-year-old Keegan is quiet and withdrawn, and teenager Cooper is a whirlwind of destruction. His behaviour at school is disruptive and Maggie struggles to get through to him, especially when he's in danger of being expelled.

But when a shocking discovery turns everything on its head, Maggie begins to realise that what she believed to be true is completely wrong.

Danger is lurking, but is it too late for Maggie to help?
From Britain's best-loved foster carer, a new and emotional true story of bonds, brothers and family.

Flew through this - foster carers give so much in society and are not recognised enough for all their hard work!

Onto the next,
Happy reading everyone. 😀

Book 20 - Children of Radium by Joe Dunthorne
I loved this, it was one of those unexpected finds in a bookshop when I hadn't actually intended to buy anything but got sucked in.
This is the story of the author's great grandfather who was a German Jew who left Germany in the mid 1930s. It's also about much more than that and was at times eyebrow raising. It made me laugh aloud and also brought a tear toy eyes.
Surprising and highly recommended, I can see why the reviews are so good.

Book 29: Watching You by Lisa Jewell
Not my favourite book by Lisa Jewell, I found it very slow and back and forth, I didn’t really like any of the characters.

Book 30: The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh
This was the first in a new detective series DC Ffion Morgan, I really enjoyed the characters, found it crazy that literally nearly everyone in the book had a motive for the murder but it kept me guessing!

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

@PinkOrangeRed I really loved Wild Dark Shore - I feel like it was quite widely read on this thread last year?

@Philandbill ugh I am NOT fan of Yesteryear, just found it contrived and lazy to be honest and since finding out it basically has had a film deal since before it was written I’m afraid I’m put off by the idea that the book is just a big fat marketing ploy to build an audience for the film. Though it is probably a good book club book and lots to discuss

@PinkOrangeRed hope you enjoy it. I think you'll find it generates plenty of discussion at the book group 😀

18. Fun Home A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. Graphic novel memoir. Bechdel grows up around the family funeral home business and with rather remote Intelectuals as parents. At uni she realises she is a lesbian only to learn that her father is also gay. Started well but I found myself getting bored by the crowbarred in Proust /Joyce and co references and there was far too much focus on her undiluted arse of a father. I know that's obtuse of me because he and literature are clearly massive influences on the author but it got so repetative.