Read What You Own 2026

[ÚlldemoShúl]

This is a brand shiny new thread for those of us who want to continue reading what we own in 2026.
My aims for 2026 are:

• At least half my reading will be from books I already own on 1st January 2026
• I will buy less than a quarter of my reading new including kindle deals😱 and book club books
• I will wait when prize lists are released to see if the books appear in the library within a week. I will not read full longlists unless I love the sound of each and every book on it.
• For the first two months I will only read what I own- focusing on the older books on my kindle while allowing myself to read newer (but already owned) physical books

What are your RWYO aims for 2026?

Well I just finished The Poisonwood Bible and loved it. I did a mixture of audio and Kindle, and both were great.

I was going to do Ben Reads Good 2026 reading challenge on Storygraph which has a prompt for each month. January is read a book with food in the title "Scran-uary," so will look through RWYO for something that fits the bill.

hmmm the closest I can find is Skippy dies....

Not sure if that's quite right, should've picked up Cursed Bread!

I also have Open Water and at a stretch The Silkworm!

Operation Mincemeat? Apples Never Fall? Before the Coffee Gets Cold?

😀

@Stowickthevast I’m reading Milkman for it.

@Stowickthevast
A movable feast?
My favourite Hemmingway

Im doing a reread of Last Night at the Lobster for Scran-uary

I’m trying to finish Death at the sign of the rook .. latest Jackson Brodie by Kate Atkinson. Had mixed reviews but quite enjoying

I really liked it too, I listened on audible at some point last year and at first was a bit baffled by it all, it’s been so long since the last (and by definition even longer since the first ones) that it took me ages to remember who everyone was. I think a reread of the series is in order, although rereads seem a little indulgent now I’m committed to this RWYO endeavour - too many not even started to clear 😀

Im about half way through The Lost Bookshop - it’s very far from what I’d have chosen for myself but I’m quite enjoying it, it’s not great literature and is quite silly in places whilst not necessarily recognising its own silliness if that makes sense? But it’s zipping along. My 5 year old DD chose it for me - she insisted DH buy it for my birthday because mummy likes books and she thought the picture on the front looked like a dolls house. She mentioned at Christmas ‘mummy you didn’t read the book I got you for your birthday’ so I knew I had to, she was beyond excited when she saw me reading it haha. So this is one I had to do.

Some great suggestions but I'm trying not to buy anything new.

We eat a lot of Skippy PB here so may just go run with that!

It was ok. Not as good as her previous JB books imo

I didn’t rate Death At The Sign Of The Rook it was for me a big letdown.

I have finished Paper Cup by Karen Campbell and decided to DNF The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, I soft DNFd it twice then tried again on audio and it just isn’t computing for me, I was finding it hard to follow. Don’t know whether to give it one more try??

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I think you have given it more than enough chances 😀

@SheilaFentiman I was really looking forward to it as well

I am planning to read Nutshell by Ian McEwan for the Good Reads scran-uary prompt - it is also the oldest book on my Kindle!

Would you recommend project hail Mary on audible?

It was great as audio I definitely recommend it

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit
I'll buy that one this month 😊
I recommend the garth marenghi audio books (if any of you are old enough to remember dark place on channel 4 - its him)
Very funny.

I did a clever thing and returned any recent kindle purchases in the last month or so on Amazon. The ones I DNF and it let me I have a ipad coming tomorrow so I can use libby on there too. My general aim is to not accumulate many (if any) physical books because it's no longer practical with my fibromyalgia finger pain.
Currently reading what I own number 2 but only 22% in

Good idea @sunshineandkindle
Ive finished my third RWYO book- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall- liked the feminist aspects, didn’t love the overly pious heroine.

Finished my first RWYO, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (a reread), a keeper.

Did DNF and put in charity bag an I’m Turning into my Mother type book. Not as funny as it thought it was.

The First World War by Hew Strachan is a DNF. It’s too just too dense, and scholarly and just boring. It’s more about the imperial powers and not a great deal about the soldiers. I made it 20% of the way through and when I saw I still had 9hrs to go I just couldn’t face it. Onto the last NF book remaining in my 2014 folder - Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son. The Untold Story of Prince Leopold by Charlotte Zeepvat I seem to remember this being a soft DNF so my hopes are not high.

I’ve finished Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Also finished The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

still loads on my TBR pile 😁

Finished The Glass House by Eve Chase. Bought on a whim last month, as the blurb sounded intriguing. I'm really glad I did as I really enjoyed it. A good twisty family drama with plenty of secrets right to the satisfying end.

Next up The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith. This could take a while, at over 1000 pages.

I've got that in my pile...I really enjoyed the ink black heart

I really enjoyed the Running Grave