Picking one author to 'complete' in 2026

[atiaofthejulii]

My daughter (a grown up!) heard someone talking about this and is now thinking of reading all of one author's work in 2026. Preferably someone with not too many books, lol, so she's not just reading them constantly. Looking for someone contemporary or fairly recent (e.g. not Jane Austen), would probably prefer a female author. Not into fantasy/sci fi.

At the moment I think she's leaning towards Maggie O'Farrell (9).

Wondered what suggestions other people might have, for interesting authors, and trying to hit that sweet spot of about 7-10 novels!

If this is High and Low, it's due out in May 2026 - perhaps a bit late for Christmas.

Liz Moore - 5 novels I think, not a series.

So it is. Thanks. I saw the picture of the book and didn't check the publication date.

I am continuing my Amanda Craig re-read and am currently on one of her very early ones, A Private Place.

I’ve read all Kate Atkinson. Great novelist!

I can’t recommend Ottessa Moshfegh enough.

How about Helen Dunmore? That’s 15, but the good thing about it is that they are very different. Some sad ones in the mix.

Love all her books and sadly there will be no more!

The Siege is so sad!

Brilliant book!

Deborah Levy - there’s a great mix of novels (several with a young woman protagonist) plays, essays and autobiography.

You could definitely read all 26 in one year. In fact, you could probably read them in six months (and I’m a slow reader). It’s amazing how addictive she is. It’s also amazing how quickly you can tear through her novels. Even though she is a real highbrow, she seems to draw you in and hold you like no other writer I have ever known. My only criticism is that her characters are constantly falling in love with one another in ways that hardly seem convincing. Wonderful, wonderful novelist though.

Ishiguro? 8 novels, none of them too long.

I’ve always wished I had the time to immerse myself in one great writer. You know, someone like Tolstoy or Proust or Virginia Woolf. To take a whole year off and do nothing but read the works of that one genius. When my mother retired, she read all of Dickens’ novels. The whole lot in chronological order. I was so proud of her (and so impressed).

If I ever had that opportunity, I’d choose someone great but joyful and life-affirming (i.e not Kafka or Thomas Hardy). Maybe William Blake or D H Lawrence or Jane Austen.

As a teenager I loved Thomas Hardy, my favourites were the saddest ones like Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure! I remember reading Under the Greenwood Tree and thinking this is so different as it’s happy!

Ooh, doesn't meet your criteria as not contemporary, but it has prompted me to think 2026 might just be the year I "finish" Stella Gibbons (the novels at least)!

Not female and not 7-10 novels but I would go for Ian McEwan. Some of the authors mentioned essentially write a similar book with the same tropes and recognisable phrasing. There is little sense of progression over time. So reading the same author can be boring. It’s easy to read McEwan back to back as each novel is gripping but unique and his early work lays the ground for later more mature works.

Ali Smith - 13 novels
Sarah Moss - 9

Just came here to say Clare Chambers - just looking on good reads and if that’s reliable it says she’s written 7, which I think I’ve read all over over the years! Read “Learning to swim” many years ago (published in 98) and Shy Creatures within the last few months, I feel like she’s probably underrated but consistently great.
is the challenge to read them all in the same year? Just checked on Maggie O’Farrell and think I’ve read all of hers now bar Hamnet (which I saw the preview of, and am not quite over yet!!) so I could easily also tick her off this year if “completing” over a longer time frame would be allowed!