26ish books 2026

25 John of John by Douglas Stuart

a slow burner. Not one of my favourites of his, the readers learns everything literally years before the characters and while I adored almost all of these broken oppressed people, the lack of drama because were told everything meant stakes never felt that high and in truth nothing really happens. Worth it for the quality of writing but I preferred his other two books

17 Lonesome Dove - an epic about cowboys and settling the western frontier. I really enjoyed most of this and I can see why people love it. Some of the writing about characters is quite remarkable

18 Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov - this is about a man who lives in the grey area of Ukraine after the first Russian invasion and he his travels one summer. I thought it raised many interesting issues to consider and was insightful and thought provoking whilst appearing to be quite a gentle read.

19 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - I was not sure about this to start but by the end I thought it raised many issues (none of which I can mention without spoilers) and was remarkable.

20 The Romantic by William Boyd - a fictional account of quite a remarkable life. I haven't read any other William Boyd. His writing style is clear, not overly descriptive (which I like). It was a sort of manly perspective which I do not think you get from many books these days, or maybe the ones I read! I enjoyed it and am going to read a few more of his.

All of these were well worth reading and I recommend them!

Book 21 was Chokepoints by Edward Fishman. It was a nonfiction book all about the US (and to a lesser extent EU/UK) undertaking economic warfare via sanctions and was super interesting.

I've also been struggling through Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang - it might be my first DNF in a long time. Can't put my finger on it but I just do not get on with it and it has really slowed my reading down!

I love that book, have read it many times

23 The Lost Continent - Travels in Small Town America - Bill Bryson
One from my bookshelf that I haven't re-read since it first came out. Funny and sarcastic. His views on the American way of life and the direction in which it was going were very prescient.

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

This is a beautifully written book that opened my eyes to the war in Syria and the trauma of seeking asylum. Five stars from me.

1. The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
2. James by Percival Everett
3. The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
4. As long as the lemon trees grow by Zoulfa Katouh
5. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. I am I am I am by Maggie O’Farrell
7. Lord of the flies by William Golding
8. The midnight library by Matt Haig
9. All the broken places by John Boyne
10. Cilka’s journey by Heather Morris
11. The outside boy by Jeanine Cummins
12. How to stop time by Matt Haig
13. All her fault by Andrea Mara
14. Dominion by C J Samson
15. The light between oceans by M L Stedman
16. A better life by Lionel Shriver
17. The husbands by Holly Gramazio
18. Small pleasures by Clare Chambers
19. The list of suspicious things by Jennie Godfrey
20. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
21. The Beekeeper of Aleppo

Book 25: Such A Nice Girl by Andrea Mara
Love the way Andrea Mara writes, this was particularly good, lots of different paths crossing in unexpected ways. Some things didn’t make sense until nearer the end but I found all the questions I had were answered in roundabout fashion

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

44 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - absolutely loved this. Really well written, funny and interesting.

2026 Books Read

1. When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker
2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The High Country by John Jackson Miller
3. Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
4. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
5. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
6. Scythe by Neal Shusterman
7. The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
8. The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
9. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
10. Dead Lions by Mick Herron
11. Late Fragments: Everything I Want to Tell You by Kate Gross

Just started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

I've recently put about 4 books on my Goodreads DNF shelf. It's very freeing.

@Illbefinejustbloodyfine let me know what you think, if you read it! I always go for a deep dive on Reddit after finishing a book and it seems to be one that a lot of other readers enjoyed

@LemonPandaCub After slogging through my last book I need a page turner so scrolled back to see what others have enjoyed, so may well be None of this is true next!

Book 13 - Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Took me about 2 months to read. Would not recommend! I wish I could stop reading books that I am not enjoying!

I’ve finished book 11 The Forever Home by Erica James.

Not read any of hers before and will try another. It has a fairly “Chick Lit” type of cover but was a bit darker in places than the cover would suggest and had a couple of points in the plot where it turned and didn’t take the obvious route.

Book 24: I Found You by Lisa Jewell
Another corker, Ive had such a range of emotions reading this and having the different threads come together

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

Morning. Book 13 completed.

Push by Sapphire.

This was a quick read as it’s a relatively short novel but my goodness it wasn’t an easy one. At times it felt like it was too much and it’s hard to write about the content and narrative without a trigger warning. It was made into the film Precious which I think won its leading actor an Oscar so some may be familiar with it.

It was part of reading out of my own unread collection and I’ve had it since the Vintage reissue in 2021. I’m glad I read it but couldn’t say I “enjoyed” in the traditional sense.

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

Latest book.....

(15) The Stationary Shop of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Short Summary
1953, Tehran. In a small shop in a country on the brink of unrest, two people meet for the very first time.

Roya loves nothing better than to while away the hours in the stationery shop run by Mr Fakhri. The store, stocked with fountain pens, shiny ink bottles, and thick wads of writing paper, also carries translations of literature from all over the world. Bahman, with his burning passion for justice, is like no one else she has ever met.

But all around them, as their relationship blossoms, life in Tehran is changing.

Suddenly, shockingly, violence erupts: a coup d'etat that forever changes their country's future, as well as their own.

Marjan Kamali's beautiful novel explores themes of love and loss, and delivers an unforgettable ending.

I enjoyed this book a lot - so glad I have time to read again!

Onto the next!

Happy reading everyone :)

43 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.
This is a really unusual teen book which I looked at to see if it was suitable for DD (it might be a bit graphic but it's very funny). I enjoyed it though! It's about a boy who is Indian and lives on a reservation but decides to go to high school in the nearby White town.

14: A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
Really not sure why I persevered with this one. I enjoyed about the first 1/6th of this book but then I totally went off it. I need to give myself permission to give up if I'm not enjoying it!

15: What I Wish People Knew About Dementia by Wendy Mitchell
Really interesting book written by a woman who has young onset dementia.

13 An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro

This is a book I had on my bookshelf from a very long time ago. I’m happy I finally gave it a proper chance. I found it gripping even though not fast paced or particularly eventful. Not an easy read (for me) and too much space was given to things that didn’t go anywhere, when at the same time some things leading to the conclusion of the book were rushed over. It did keep me interested throughout and I read it quickly.

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

Book 23: None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
I’m glad I had a day off today because I could not put this down, I started it last night and was hooked. Probably the best book I’ve read in years, really well written, I loved the characters and didn’t know who to root for. Didn’t see the end coming and enjoyed the bonus chapter
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

Book 22: Hide and Seek by Andrea Mara
this was such a great read, I didn’t see the twists coming, loved the characters and the ending. It kept the pace even with chapters jumping from present day to 1985

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

13. The Secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Such a lovely book despite lots of sadness. Beautiful book that I really enjoyed getting lost in.

I loved this book also - also learnt so much about a period of history that I knew very little about.

With my exam marking finally done and the end of the school year upon me I cannot wait to get back into reading!

Aim for this summer is to be much more productive, enjoy my reading and less dom scrolling rubbish on my phone!

Happy reading everyone

Claire :)

20 The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
I loved this book, I couldn't put it down. It was set in the Great Depression in the USA and has a theme of poverty, prejudice and survival. Great book.

• The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
• James by Percival Everett
• The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
• As long as the lemon trees grow by Zoulfa Katouh
• To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee
• I am I am I am by Maggie O’Farrell
• Lord of the flies by William Golding
• The midnight library by Matt Haig
• All the broken places by John Boyne
• Cilka’s journey by Heather Morris
• The outside boy by Jeanine Cummins
• How to stop time by Matt Haig
• All her fault by Andrea Mara
• Dominion by C J Samson
• The light between oceans by M L Stedman
• A better life by Lionel Shriver
• The husbands by Holly Gramazio
• Small pleasures by Clare Chambers
• The list of suspicious things by Jennie Godfrey
• The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah