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?

Unread on Kindle? 505! Would like to get it under 400 but I need to not buy even one book and I don’t think that’s going to happen!

I had a big full on my Kindle books last year .
I deleted loads but then realised ( and although it's the one account ) that it only deleted on the kindle you are deleting it off , as I'm sure they remained in my other one .

There is a 'permanent delete' option rather than 'remove download' option.

I have my first DNF of 2026. I expect to have a lot of those this year as I get to books that have been left hanging on my kindle, for 13 years in some cases. I gave this one until the 30% mark and I’m just finding it too dull and badly written (there are spelling and grammar errors all over) to continue. I got RNG to select another book from 2013 so I’m now starting Pandora’s Box by Giselle Green. Hopefully this will be better (not feeling hopeful as this doesn’t sound like my kind of thing so not sure what 2013 me was thinking), but if it isn’t I have no problem with adding it to the DNF pile.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit you are flying along- I think it’ll be the end of the week before I finish anything. Ridiculously, getting back to work and my commute will help me read more.
I have about 200 physical books 1200 kindle books and 100 audible on my TBR. I’ll be lucky to finish them in my lifetime. Like @MamaNewtNewt I suspect my kindle will hold a lot of DNFs.

Due to my fibromyalgia I am only reading on my kindle. I would love to join this thread please. I have 267 unread and currently reading The Expected Joy of the Ordinary by Catherine Gray. So far , so good!

Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
A paperback - don't know how long I have had this but I bought it at Waterstones for £6.99 so definitely a while! This is a day in the life of Maggie Moran - in her late 40s - and her husband Ira, as they head to the funeral of the DH of one of Maggie's schoolfriends and as Maggie reflects on her life, marriage and family.

Did you enjoy it? A friend in NZ bought me her earlier book, The Axeman's Carnival which I really enjoyed. Don't let the fact it is told from a bird's POV put you off.

@BuffysBigSisterSorry, I put all my reviews on 50 Books. I thought it was very accomplished!

I'll check over on that thread 🙂

I don’t own tons of paperbacks so have stacked the ones I was gifted and never got to over the last few years and am hoping to get through them this year so can pass them on/ put them in the charity shop or shelve them!! Kindle ones are easier for me, I find it easier to read on an e-reader!! Thanks for this thread!!

My tbr pile is almost load bearing at this point 😬
Going to continue with Clown Town by Mick Herron

DNF number 2 is Pandora’s Box by Giselle Green. I suspected this would not be for me, and it definitely wasn’t. I gave this until 20% but the terrible characters, and the dodgy romance between a 14 year old girl and a 19 year old man being glossed over confirmed that this is not the book for me. Reading some reviews it looks like I have made the right decision.

I’m going to consider any reduction in TBR mountain, because a book has been read, or because I have identified that it is not for me, is a step in the right direction. Clearly there’s a reason some of these books have been lying neglected on my kindle for 13 years! Moving onto book 3 from 2013 - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt given that I loved The Secret History and liked The Little Friend I’m feeling optimistic.

I’ve a big drawer full and haven’t read for a month. Need to get back into the habit.

@MamaNewtNewt I think you win the TBR pile? You mentioned kindle unlimited. I've noticed so many books on there but couldn't justify the cost. I do have prime though and get a fair few on loan with prime reading.

Not a RWYO exactly but I valiantly resisted a 99p deal today, it was the first Poldark book which I really fancied.

Spent a couple of hours culling and being quite savage now 276 .

Oh wow- good going @FrostyFlo

My aim - donate to charity all those books on my 'to be read' shelf that I pick up and think 'no I don't want to read that right now'. Will probably sort out at least 90% of them. Then, read books on a one from my 'to be read' shelf, one new, basis.

Just to add, I have 78 unread books, some dating back to a jumble sale I went to in around 1979.
I don't have a Kindle which seems fortunate as it looks far too easy to impulse buy!

This is me @VikingNorthUtsirebuying a kindle book or browsing the lovely local Oxfam book shops for more books I don’t need!!! My 12yo son has got me hooked on collecting Pokemon cards (don’t ask!) so aim to get my quick fix there instead 😂.

Joining this thread, as I have a terrible TBR pile, both on kindle and on various bookshelves. Happy to report I’ve joined a reading group last year, focused specifically on ‘All the books you wanted to read but haven’t got around to’ and have chipped off a couple that way too.

Plan to do a shortlist of a few ‘next reads’ and do a clearout as well.

Finished an audiobook of Al Pacino’s memoirs but not really counting audiobooks. My audiobook stash is not excessive

Checking in & thanks to @ÚlldemoShúlfor the new thread!

RWYO is my reading conscience as I really don’t want to give up buying the deals. Reading has become immensely more enjoyable for me since joining the 50 books thread due to the recommendations (which means I’m no longer running out of interesting books to read which is an unusual position for me). I also really like that lots of people pick up the recommendations & the posts about whether or not a book is any good.

But… lots of the deals are the fun books that are easy to read in the evening (which is when I always read). I also have books on my Kindle & bookcases that I ought to read as I bought them for a reason. These tend to be books that are hard to read at night as I need to use my brain a bit more to engage with them. RWYO targets help with that.

So I have 2 goals:

1. Keep count of RWYO as I do for 50 Books - I would like to get into double figures this year (& ideally much higher).
2. Sort out my bookcases - I need to send a haul books to charity as my bookcases are too full (so I’m banned from buying new books with a few exceptions such as the odd cookery book or a guidebook for a holiday). Inevitably, that’s going to involve some RWYO as there’s some I want to read before getting rid of them.

Les Mis is actually an RWYO for me as it has sat on my Kindle for ages - so as I’m up-to-date with my 2 chapters I feel I have made a promising start!

Wonderful Anne Tyler - I loved Breathing Lessons. I think Ladder Of Years was my favourite of hers.

I am feeling pretty good about my decision never to read on a Kindle as I read this thread - hundreds and hundreds of unread books would freak me out, I think. I'm a physical books only kind of reader.

When I was in my 30s and early 40s I was like@FrostyFlo and bought lots of new books that I didn't read. I had a kind of epiphany around 45 that I never have to read a book that I'm not enjoying, never have to read one because I feel I ought to or because it was being talked about everywhere. It's been rather liberating!

I don't let myself but a novel if I have three or more novels unread. This is an extension of the House IKEA Rule (that we can't go to IKEA unless we hav build/hung up/installed whatever we bought last time we were there). It's hard to stick to sometimes but it's definitely reduced my impulse buys!

(Nonfiction doesn't count, I rarely finish those. They are for dipping in and out of.)

My variant on RWYO, inspired by this thread, is to only read the books I have plus library or second hand books for the first 3 months of the year. Thanks for in inspiration, @ÚlldemoShúl !

I’ve finished 2 books I already owned yesterday -
1 The Christmas Appeal - Janice Hallett
2 The Book of Christmas- Jane Struthers

To be fair I only owned both since last month though - the first I bought as a festive/ seasonal read and planned to read in the run up to Christmas but didn’t get round to. It only took me a few hours on a lazy NYD though. The second I picked up on the 23rd in a second hand book shop when we’d gone to a national trust place. I was obviously in a headspace for anything festive, but then things got busy and I didn’t really look at it again so rather than put it away unread with the Christmas things (including several similar books acquired over the years) I decided to plough through it last night so I can pack away guilt free.

My target was 3 in Jan, I’d like to extend that to 4 now. I’ll aim to read one more physical one which I’ve already decided will be one I received for my birthday back in October. The Lost Bookshop - Evie Woods. I don’t think it’s completely my sort of thing but the giver has asked a few times if I’ve got round to it/ liked it so I want to get it out of the way and then I can pass it on.

There’s absolutely hundreds on my kindle - I can’t sort them very well since I upgraded my kindle and I think I did something wrong in the setting up process so everything just became ‘unread’ even stuff I had finished. But there’s definitely some really old stuff there from the days of first having a kindle (2012 for me I think) it would be good to clear at least one off.

@AliasGrapeI saw a suggestion to do a ‘next/shortlist’ collection on your Kindle to help with targeting your next read. I have deleted some very old purchases, but need to do another purge.