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?

Finished another RWYO The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker which was as good as everyone said! I found it harrowing but brilliant.

I have finished Pandora - Jilly Cooper - I read it when it was published years ago but since then acquired it in a 99p Kindle deal so pleased to have finished. Good fun. Full review to follow on 50B thread.

How is everyone going? I think I’m finally emerging from a prizelist related book slump and it’s RWYO that have taken me out the other side. I’ve recently finished Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Volume 5 of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson- I enjoyed all three. Currently reading one new read and a couple of oldies Alive (the story of the plane crash in the Andes) and Skippy Dies by Paul Murray.

I’m trying to read through my paper books and have ended up DNFing or donating some! I DNFed Fury by Salman Rushdie because the protagonist was so awful!

I’ve been focusing on Kindle Unlimited books while I was on holiday, but now back on the RWYO bus!

I am also distracted by my three cheap months of KUL @MamaNewtNewt

But I’m currently on a 2024 purchase - Blood and Sugar - and I’m enjoying it!

How are you finding Kindle Unlimited @SheilaFentiman? I find it worthwhile as I use it a lot for ‘easier’ reads like crime and romance. I keep an extensive wishlist and it’s easy to see what has moved in and out of kindle unlimited from there.

I'm getting my money's worth from the trial :) but I don't think it's worth £9.49 a month to me after this first period. I've read mostly easier things with it too.

I finished my first RWYO for a while, after working my way through some of my kindle unlimited wishlist. Dear Reader by Cathy Retzenbrink which is similar in concept to Bookworm by Lucy Mangan but is far better than that, in my opinion.

I’ve just finished The Wedding People which I bought in Jan so not classing it as a RWYO
for this year, but glad I at least got to it and didn’t leave it for next year’s thread! Not sure what’s next.

I need to focus on some of my physical books I think, I’ve got quite a big pile (well let’s be honest and say a couple of shelves) of unread ones. I find kindle so much easier especially being able to read on the actual kindle but also on my phone those odd times when I find myself with a few minutes spare, having to wait etc.

I’m the same @AliasGrape my kindle is so convenient that I don’t even get to my physical books. I need to make more of an effort to read those.

The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer. Does it count as RWYO if they are old favourites you return to regularly? Things are a bit stressful so I have a stack of Heyers with me to see me through.

I have been a bit distracted by library books recently but have finished two short RWYO to pick up the momentum! Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins & The Fell by Sarah Moss. This takes my RWYO for this year to 32 which is halfway to my target of 64.

Agree @AliasGrape and @MamaNewtNewt - my kindle is always in my handbag (unless it’s under my pillow!) and thus I am never without it, unlike paper books.

Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones - a paper book! Got in 2024. I enjoyed it, review on 50B thread.

I love my kindle too. Makes reading so easy.

Ive finished Verity Bright - The French for Murder, Michiko Aoyama - What You Are Looking For is in the Library and WJ Burley - Wycliffe and Death in a Salubrious Place.

I’m another kindle fan- I can take hundreds of books on holiday and on the bus to and from work, I don’t need my glasses or the bedside light. I can carry it everywhere in my pocket. Audio has all the same advantages and I can listen to it while doing boring stuff like brushing my teeth and doing the housework.
But I do still like a real book too so I need to RWYO in all three formats

Finished Mansfield Park - Jane Austen which had been on my Kindle since 2014. Improved as it went on. Full review on 50B thread.

Kindles are so good for travelling whether for a fortnight away or just buses/trains. I do like real books and do read some still but I would struggle without a Kindle now.

A DNF - Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club. The irony does not escape me…

Finished Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K Massie. Review to follow on 50B.

I noticed in the Deals that he’s also written “The Importance of Being Interested” which seems to further tempt fate 😀

Just finished The Man in the High Castle by Phillip K Dick which was odd and mid. Full review on the 50 bookers chat.

Finished Bad Actors - Mick Herron which I bought in 2022. Review on 50B thread. I have fallen off the wagon and bought two books.....

My name is Eine and I’ve fallen off the wagon

I think I’m DNFing Dungeon Crawler Carl at 23% it just isn’t for me

Recently read London Falling and Strange Houses. London Falling is brilliant and Strange Houses is fairly easy reading for a dark topic and therefore worth the look

Trying to pick my next book!

I’m outing myself as off the wagon with you Eine. I’m so far off the wagon it’s miles away. I am reading what I own and enjoying reading my backlist, but at the same time I’m ordering books off audible and Waterstones and kindle. So I don’t know if my number will be down at the end of the year or up!