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 need to join too! I keep looking at Audible's Daily Deal and probably succumb once a week.

I regularly drive long distances so listen then, but it means that my physical books hardly get read. But i also buy secondhand books a lot (both fiction and non-fiction) and they're just in piles in every room in the house 😬

I'd like to join too please. I started to cut back on buying books last year and read more of what I own. This year I shall be doing more of the reading and a lot less of the buying (unless it's on my wish list or the library waiting list is too long).

First book underway this morning is one of my Christmas presents, Winter by Val McDermid.

I had the dregs of an Amazon gift voucher left so I bought 2 of the Kindle daily deals today. I've been waiting for Katabasis to be 99p, I've heard very mixed reviews so was determined to only get it if it was a bargain.

I’ve just finished The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page which was an Amazon Prime book. I think I’ve had it since 2022.

Have just started The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois which I have had since June 2022.

Just had a look at Kindle Deals and The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith is 99p. I paid full price for it a few days ago. Annoying!

Also joining. Thank you for the thread!

99p kindle deals and charity shop paperbacks always feel like a guilt free way to treat myself. Which they are. But like a pp, I have piles of books in various rooms and a sprawling, invisible digital TBR pile.

My birthday is in the summer so I'm aiming for no new books until then. I'm also going to make an effort to weed out the books I've bought that I think I "should" want to read but have never picked up.

If you haven’t started it, you may be able to return it?

I’ve just tried @SheilaFentiman so fingers crossed! Gave reason as “found better price elsewhere” and then promptly bought at 99p!

This is such a good idea - I am not doing well at reading much of anything lately yet I keep acquiring more! I’m going to commit to not buying anything new in January, and reading at least 3 books I already own in some format or other in that time.

Will reassess from there based on how successful I’ve been!

I did that last January @EineReiseDurchDieZeit and @MamaNewtNewt . It made for a great start to the year.

This year I am trying to finish at least two of the four books I have on the go : The Man who Spoke Snakish. The Plague, A Spy Alone and Anna Karenina before I go back to work on Monday.

I am also joining the Les Miserables readalong on here and have signed up for two other ones online (Midnight's Children and The Brothers Karamazov).

The Love Songs…was a good book for me last year but not a standout

I don't know, if this is a weird quirk of mine or if there are others out there that do this :

Buy something ( books , shoes , clothes ) but then they go unread / unworn because you carry on reading / wearing the old stuff ?

So because it's new year, new start etc I've just been through my tbr pile of books beside the bed and removed the books in the category of I'll read them one day , and left the ones I want to read alongside the 4/5 I got for Christmas . These will be my RWYO first books .

I'm in! I've got about 180 unread books on my kindle plus maybe 30 or so physical books...I do read about 150 books a year so it's possible to make a good dent in that this year!

I've made a list of 26 in 2026 to tackle first. I'll try to limit new books to one a month and avoid making reservations at the library.

Starting today with The Shipping News Annie Proulx, on my kindle since July!

I’ve organised my kindle books into the years I bought them and got RNG to select one from the first year I had a kindle - 2013! First up is Officer Jones by Derek Ciccone.

Very impressive 😀

Am so glad I found this thread. I specifically didn't ask for books for Christmas as 2024's books are all sitting unread.

My goal is to reduce the number of unread books taking up space in my house.

I've started with A Voyage Round the Queen by Craig Brown which I was very excited about last Christmas and then didn't read.
So far it's a finisher but not a keeper. The format worked brilliantly for Princess Margaret but she's just a much more interesting personality.

I'm in 👋
Last year's thread did help me get going, even though I started late so I'm pleased to be in at the beginning this time!
I have way too many kindle books.

I have just finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

By the end of the year I intend to have read any that I'm going to read and have got rid of the rest 😎

I’d like to join in please. I have lots of physical and kindle books sitting unread, and a fair few on audible too. My reading was at an all-time low in 2025 and I’m really keen to get back on track and reduce my tbr pile. Plus finances mean I can’t buy new books anyway.

The only exceptions I think I’ll make are library books, and if I find any particularly desired books in a charity shop. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching books, and if I see a copy of The Names by Florence Knapp I’ll get that as I’ve heard good things.

Is there an automatic way to do this?

Ooh I like that idea.

Not that I could find unfortunately but someone else may know better.

I definitely need to get on top of my TBR pile so this looks like the place for me. I have already joined the read-along of the Odyssey here so that's one down. I also plan to re-start my Eurovision challenge (read a book from each of the countries in the Eurovision) which will include some of the books I already own. I am aiming for one from the TBR pile a month.

I've just counted my Kindle stash - 412 and thats not counting the complete book sets amongst them . Maybe I won't manage all of them plus my physical books which I want to concentrate on .

DH & I were looking through our kindles yesterday (we share an account) and realised we had over 400 unread books on there, dating back to 2012 when we first bought kindles. Some of the books were free ones. I deleted quite a few that realistically we were never going to want to read, leaving still far too many. Just shows how easy it is to get sucked into the 99p deals and click buy 🙄

We do have a regular clear out of paperbacks and hardbacks, once we've read them, if we have no plans to re-read, so the bookcases don't appear overwhelming.

I'm holding myself very accountable this year. If I buy a book I must read it this year.

Finished The Book Of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey