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?

The School at the Chalet is the 1st one I think.Elinor M Brent-Dyer.

I first read them when I was about 10..am now 56! Do not have any on kindle or book form now and am now wishing I had not said I won't be buying this year( except for Cazalet one in sept) I was rash in the extreme.Agree with pp am adding to wish list becsuse of this thread😄

@Boudy I do sometimes jump around between books but try not to do it too much as I end up forgetting and restarting!

@SheilaFentiman ..oh yes,I agree. I have done that if too long between them

I am currently partway through The Dictator’s Wife but it is something of a nail biter so I have segued into a non-fiction - MI6 - on a related topic!

Finished number 2 so at least now I’ve read more than I’ve bought! Project Hail Mary- good audio. Nice light read.

I can't wait for the film! I loved the book and I loved The Martian (both book and film)

@LadybirdDaphne
The charity book sale is my nemesis too. I fear the lure is too strong. July is my version of Christmas.

@BeaAndBen @ÚlldemoShúl After I read it, I bought Project Hail Mary for my friend and they and their spouse flew through it and we’ve got a cinema trip planned. I absolutely loved it

Yes @EineReiseDurchDieZeit Ryan Gosling is great casting.

I loved PHM book but I am not sure how the film will translate as a lot of it is 'internal' re the thoughts of the main character.

I used to love the Chalet School books too as a child. Might give them a go again.

I’ve just finished Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois. A long one. I thought it was really interesting and quite liked it. Although some of the content is so sad. Also thought it jumped around a bit.

Finished Helm by Sarah Hall, hated it !

I've just finished Bookworm by Lucy Mangan and loved every word!
Unfortunately the book makes me want to buy some of the childhood books that I missed at the time. It's a book about her lifelong love of reading, particularly in childhood, and I found it fascinating and evocative.

I might have accidentally ordered a second hand copy of Private- Keep Out by Gwen Grant 😌

Strange Sally Diamond has been languishing in my Kindle , and now thanks to you I'm mindful to read it next .

@FrostyFlo I hope you enjoy it, although "enjoy" is maybe not quite the right word here. I thought it an incredibly good novel, but hard-hitting and quite upsetting.

It's fantastic, one of my favourites in 2024.

Have finished two books that have been on my kindle for years.

Peter Robinson - Watching the Dark - not one of his beat and I found it long winded - I bought that in 2013.

Faith Martin - Murder at Work from 2018.

Good going @SilverShadowNight

2 The Lady in the Tower by Elizabeth St John (bought at the very end of last year) followed by 3 The King’s General by Daphne du Maurier (which I’ve had for some time as it was a teenage favourite and finally decided to reread to continue the 17th century vibe).

I have at least one more 17th century RWYO on my Kindle, which I’m hoping to read soon to continue the theme.

I’ve just finished Factfulness by Hans Rosling which I started last year and which was a definite bold. I’ve decided to DNF another non-fiction book I started in 2025 The Romanovs The Final Chaper by Robert Massie as I thought this was about the last months of the Imperial family, but it’s actually about the identification of their bodies decades after their deaths. At 23% I’m finding it dull and a bit grim. I have two non-fiction books in my 2014 purchases folder and RNG has selected The First World War by Hew Strachan.

Finished a third book Different Class Joanne Harris

Been on my kindle since 2018. I didn’t realise it was the second in a trilogy so was a bit annoyed as might have preferred to read in order, though in reality that probably would have been another one that sat there unread for years! I really struggled to get into it for a long while, but ultimately I was staying up into the early hours to finish - it gripped me around the 50% mark. Some good misdirection and a twist I didn’t see coming but one that made you go ‘oh, of course’ when it happened.

That’s high on my list for this month- once I’ve finished my book club reads. I have read the first part though.

Read Love Forms by Claire Adam. Thanks to @MamaNewtNewt I’ve been able to do monthly Collections and so I can only do what’s in that Collection for the month. It really helps focus and No Buy.

What I’ve just bloody realised is that I had the first on my kindle all along! I hadn’t read it, but it didn’t come up when I filtered by unread and I’m not sure why. I’m not sure if I want to go back to it now, I didn’t enjoy Different Class quite enough to feel like I have to read everything in order, and I’m not sure how much having read the second has given away - there is a previous scandal/ case referred to which should have clued me in to the fact that there had been a previous book but I kept thinking that would be expanded upon at some later date.

Perhaps I’ll go back later in the year, apparently there’s a third too!