50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Six

Thank you @GrannieMainlandwill be a perfect holiday read for me so going to download it now. I also have The Forbidden Notebook with me after all the Alba de Cespedes love from @cassandre and others

Born To Run by Christopher McDougall

A re-read as I am having a midlife crisis and started trail running.

I am not sure the science stacks up, the barefoot or barely there trainers seem to have been a fad or remained niche, as in all the shops my only option were for very cushioned trainers.

I am not all bothered by if the theory that we were born to run is right or not, this remains one of the most inspiring books I have ever read, and I will be thinking about it as I lace up my trainers in a bit. The misfits who wander into the copper canyons to race the Tarahumara warm my heart, the unforgiving terrain sounds beautiful and I want in on the adventure!

And of course I smiled all the way through knowing that at least @Tarahumara must love this book as much as me!

I didn’t love the Mary Kelly although I think I’m in a minority of one. I dug my review out and whilst I recognised the quality of the writing and especially the use of landscape, my ultimate thought was, “It made me feel a bit grubby”. Grim and bleak as fuck. Maybe it didn’t help that I read it in a post surgery, drug-induced haze.

Excellent, thanks @GrannieMainland

I left my last book club when the choice was to read a Caitlin Moran - we were supposed to be able to blackball a book if we wanted to, but no one listened to me! This was the last straw for me - the books were becoming increasingly not my thing and one woman was dominating everything and everyone else seemed entirely in her thrall. I don't miss it tbh - too much talk of schools and not enough of the books.

Yay another for the MBF fan club!
I found all the books and audio books easily available on BorrowBox and Libby if you have access to those.

74. Hekate by Nikita Gill - read this for my in person book club. Mine is a Chapter 25 club and the books are chosen by head office based on the genre group members have voted for. This has led to quite a varied selection but though I read widely across genres, many of them have not been very impressive. This one is a verse novel about the Greek goddess. I believe it is for YA audiences and it really shows. The poetry has some lovely parts but is mostly pedestrian. The themes - women's identities, how power corrupts - are very clearly stated, leaving nothing for the reader to do. There is no thinking or reflecting required and I find I need at least a little of that from my reading matter. Overall, underwhelming.

Great review @RazorstormUnicorn! I last read it 10 years ago - maybe time for a re read.

I love my book club. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary. 3 of us started it when our kids were leaving nursery, and we each invited one other person to join. We've had various iterations over the years but we've had a solid 8 for the past 5 years who all truly love reading. We take it in turns to chose a book and generally read literary fiction, but have done non fiction too, and one play and one graphic novel. It's definitely been one of my favourite things about the last decade. We do make sure we discuss the book properly, but then do tend to chat about children, menopause, TV and various other things!