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?

I'm half way through my goal to read 26 books I already owned before the start of 2026.
Hugely helped by breaking my arm and having to spend a lot of time resting
To my shame though I have actually read 40 books since the start of 2026 which means 27 of those were newly purchased/downloaded/borrowed . I might have to up my RWYO goal I think!

Two more RWYO done -
May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry. Loved this. It was innovative, cleverly constructed and a pleasure to read.

The Woman In Suite 11 by Ruth Ware. This was not a pleasure to read. Ridiculous plot, stupid behaviour from characters who ought to have known better, and a terrible narration of the audiobook that only served to make me loathe the stupid characters and daft plot even more.

Another RWYO fiI shed, this time a non-fiction, Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror First Queen of England by Tracy Borman. Unfortunately it was pretty poor and I didn’t enjoy it much.

Read John & Paul by Ian Leslie - strongly recommend

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit that was one of my favourite books from last year. I thought it was brilliant.

I have read two more RWYO.- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent and The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan to take me to 20 RWYO. Have so far resisted this. month's Kindle deals.

Finally a RWYO from 2015

The Amateur Marriage - Anne Tyler
Michael and Pauline meet and marry in haste at the start of the Vietnam War, then Michael enlists but is soon invalided home and there is plenty of time to repent at leisure as we go through their lives. Very good.

A RWYO from 2024 I think: The Rest is History by Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook. Bits from their podcast. Entertaining enough but a bit of a slog TBH.

Just finished Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer which I bought in 2023. Review will go on 50B thread.

Just finished The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin which I thought was absolutely brilliant. I loved it.

i feel slightly guilty posting this, but strictly it comes under RWYO - I owned it, I’ve read it, and it’s going to charity: Five go Parenting by Bruno Vincent.

Just finished Land of Snow and Ashes by Petra Rautiainen, set in the north of Finland at the end of WW2. Enjoyed it - its part of my Eurovision Challenge.

1. Madam, Will You Talk? - Mary Stewart

On my kindle since 2019 - really enjoyed this romantic mystery. Full review in 50B thread.

This is lurking on my Kindle too!

Recommend reading it 😀

I read and loved John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs which was not a RWYO as I bought it this year. I loved it so much, I almost didn't want to read anything else for a few days afterwards.

Now reading another RWYO, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain - Victoria Mackenzie which I bought in Jan 2024, as a result of the 50 book thread. Really enjoying it so far.

Read and did not love Night Waking (bought it in 2012). But glad it’s off the TBR!

Finished The Trouble With Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden

Read The Worst Street in London by Fiona Rule. Fascinating social history of the East End through the viewpoint of one street. Really enjoyed it.

Finished Jeremy Clarkson - Diddly Squat, Pigs Might Fly and Richard Osman - The Bullet That Missed

Completed another this evening as I was near the end of two Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors which I’ve had about 2 years

That’s on my kindle from a similar time too!

@SheilaFentiman I DNF’d Night Waking, just really didn’t like it.

Did you enjoy? It’s been on my shelf about 2 years too!

@SnowFrogJelly yes and no, when it was focusing on the two main characters it worked but there were too many supporting characters that you really didn’t care less about given long POV chapters for no reason