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?

Totally agree re independent bookshops @ÚlldemoShúl !

I read Close Knit by Jenny Colgan this week - a romance novel my DD picked for me for Christmas. It came with a bonus knitting pattern for a bobble hat!

A late start for me on RWYO this year but have now read a couple:

Passing On - Penelope Lively which I bought in February 2024
and
Double Cross - Ben MacIntyre which I bought in June 2023

Both good reads so glad I got to them.

Having made some good progress last year, I am trying to RWYO with exceptions for book club books and series I am reading. 90+ on my Kindle and quite a few (but not as many physical books). Would be great to be below 50 on the Kindle by the end of the year......

I have Passing On as well @TimeforaGandT Hoping to get to it before too long.

I've finished The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith this evening . All 1180 pages of it. It was a marathon effort, via audiobook (and hefty paperback).

Hats off to JKR for her research into cults to produce a terrifyingly sinister one here, complete with charismatic leaders and brainwashed followers. You'd like to think you'd never be so gullible as to fall under the spell of a cult, but DH has a family member who was recruited whilst at university, just like one of the characters here.

I think, though, that I've had enough of cults for quite some time.

Another RWYO (I’m counting anything I got up to and including my birthday in early Jan). I finally got to 84 Charing Cross Road and I adored it.

I agree - lovely book @MamaNewtNewt .

Last Man Standing - David Baldacci

Bought in 2019. FBI thriller that needed more editing (600 pages long!)

Holes by Louis Sachar . It's a short YA book I had read it when DS2 did it at school, probably 15 years ago, and remembered enjoying it.
Engaging story of coincidence, morality and fate. A boy is wrongly convicted and sent to a youth penalty camp where the boys are made to dig holes in a desert. Historic wrongs are righted and it has a neat way of tying up the ends. A quick read.
I'm not doing well on RWYO but my plan was to re-read a few as I seldom do, so this was the first.

Finished Blitzed by Norman Ohler- this ended up being a library borrow but I owned the audiobook - it’s just that the narration was so bad I had to switch so I’m still counting it as RWYO The book wasn’t great either as it turns out…

I have just started re reading the Frieda Klein series by Nicci French because I cannot seem to settle to anything. Still have a few others on the go but am flitting about more than usual. No idea why!

Finished Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller, one of the oldest inhabitants of my wish list. A memoir of life with hoarder parents. ok but not a keeper.

@Boudy I reread the Frieda Klein series in December. I still think they're my favourite Nicci French novels. I'm not warming to their new series as much, but will carry on with it.

@CatWithThreeLegs That is really interesting and I agree re the Maud O'Connor ones. I think I have read 3/4 of first one although I have both. The 3rd is out in Feb. I think at some point I will start them again and see if I change my mind. I really enjoyed all the other Nicci French books as well. Weird how the Maud O'Connor ones haven't clicked thus far.

Finished my second RWYO and my fourth overall, so I'm sticking to my 50% plan so far! It was The Compound, by Aisling Rawe, which I'll review properly over on the main 50books thread - but it was only OK.

Have decided to DNF The Colour of Fashion by Caroline Young.

I honestly bought it for its cover and natty rainbow coloured internal bookmark ribbon but it's somewhere in between a coffee table book (some nice pics but not lots) and a serious book about dyes and colonialism and so on. It has ten colours and I've pushed through 2.5 of them but it's just not that good.

Have DNFed Isola by Allegra Goodman on audio. The narrator is annoying and the story is not strong enough to get me past that or to make me want to find it another format- standard hist fic.

Yeah…I read Isola @ÚlldemoShúl starts promisingly falls off a cliff

I think I'm going to dnf the sittaford mystery...I think I read it years ago so know the ending (which is fine if its a known re-read..)

Oh I’m glad to hear that it didn’t suddenly become marvellous. Right decision then 😊

Going back to read Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland. I’ve read it several times but not for at least a decade - I wonder if I’ll still like it as much 🤣

I've just finished "Factfulness" by Hans Rosling which I thought was a really interesting book that's made me really reflect on my understanding of the world and how I approach information.

I have set myself the challenge of reading 26 books I already own in 2026 and to motivate myself I've made a Storygraph challenge. So far I am at 2 out of 26 books so still quite a way to go. I am reading a lot that my brain just gets excited by new books all the time so I find it really hard to settle down to the ones I have on my shelf.

I currently have about four different books on the go depending what mood takes me when I sit down to read

Starting Camino ghosts by John grisham tonight...bought it a couple of years ago

Finished a book DH got me for Christmas so just about RWYO! The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb.