50 Books Challenge 2026 Part One

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2026, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Sorry I just realised my TBR list categories have gone wrong. Sigh

Happy New Year everyone! Looking forward to another year of book chat. Thanks for organising southeast.

Tbr here is also books bought (or borrowed), there’s a (slight) measure of guilt attached as they’re a sort of backlog.

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner For personal reasons I do enjoy a a misfit novel and this 1926 gem is wonderful. Put-upon maiden aunt Lolly Willowes was born without ‘the social gift’ and goes into daydreams when she should be socialising. She has always had an inkling of some sort of calling. At 50 she suddenly shrugs off childcare duties and moves to the countryside where she meets like-minded people who don’t mind if you are a little odd in your ways. This was the perfect read while hiding from family on New Year’s Eve.

For me yes, TBR is only what I own not what I intend to read!

I’m another one who things of TBR as books I already own, although with kindle, audible and an ongoing habit of buying physical books I’ll probably never get round to it’s probably even narrower than that - the ones I own that I still actually want to read (I definitely need a cull on my kindle which I’ve started and to start a donation pile from physical books).

I have a ‘want to read/ have been recommended’ list too, though I kind of abandoned that in the last few years given how little reading I’m actually accomplishing - hopefully if I manage to pick it up again this year with being part of this thread I might be able to make some headway on all of the above!

Same here.

Me too

@HagCymraeg I really enjoyed Ministry of Time, even though there were flaws, I still found it charmed me, due to all the wonderful historical characters and their reaction to the modern day world. I recommended it to a friend who loved the TV series Ghosts, as in places it gave me that vibe!

My TBR pile, or rather multiple shelves of shame, is definitely books I own but haven't read.

2. The History of My Sexuality by Tobi Lakmaker

This is translated from Dutch and I found it witty and very engaging. Sofie Lakmaker is a young woman making discoveries about her sexuality and, as the book continues, her gender expression. I believe this is autofiction but it took me a while to work out how a writer with male pronouns was writing such a believable female narrator.

I am aiming at a few quick and accessible reads to start the year after a bit of a slump in December and this certainly fitted the bill. It deals with some serious topics such as loss, prejudice, mental health etc, but the pace, tone and humour lightened the story throughout.

Hmm, to me tbr covers books I have borrowed from the library and books I own - at least, the subset of owned books that I envisage getting to on the near future.

Same for me :-) (as @MamaNewtNewt who I failed to quote!)

Thank you for the recommendation!

Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers is currently 99p, so I bought that and it’s now on my list to read.

Interesting discussion about TBR. My main TBR consists of two physical piles in my bedroom: one of books I own and the other of library books. (I'm a weirdo who hasn't yet acquired a kindle.) These piles go up and down a lot but always seem to remain high! However, I sometimes also refer to my wishlist as a TBR as well (though the term wishlist is more accurate!). That's a LONG list of books 'saved for later' in my Amazon basket. I don't necessarily end up buying them from Amazon; I just use the list as a reminder to myself of books I'd like to read at some point. This list grows much faster than it ever diminishes, thanks to the MN threads!

I also have a lot of unread books on my shelves, mixed in with the ones I HAVE read, so those are a kind of aspirational TBR as well. I used to buy books compulsively, especially secondhand, until I realised some years ago that I was out of space and needed to stop purchasing books with the vague idea of 'that looks interesting and I might read it one day'. !!! I now try to reserve 'new' books from the library instead of buying them.

My TBR are unread books on my Kindle (approximately 90 but down from last year because of RWYO) and physical unread books - not counted but maybe around 15/20.

Wishlist is a whole new level ....

I don't keep books I've read separately from those I've not read (except library books which I keep separately from my own as I need to be sure I can find them to return them to the library). I tend to use tbr to refer to individual books that I've bought or borrowed in some form and have yet to read. For an example my response to a review of a book which sounds interesting might be that it's reminded me that I already have that book tbr. Also, I own lots of books that I read 10/20/40 years ago and would like to read again - I've not counted my rereads from last year but there were probably 10+ (out of 228), and my second book finished this year was a reread of a book first read in 2013, because it was a choice for the book group at my local library.

My TBR books are the ones I have immediate access to either physical books I own or books on my Kindle. I have a whole other wish list on an excel spreadsheet....

Thank you @Southeastdweller

Happy New Year everyone! I know its late, but I’ve had a busy few days. Hello to all the newbies

@DontGoJasonWaterfalls – I really enjoyed Weyward. I’d also recommend The King’s Witches by Kate Foster if you haven’t come across that.

I did not enjoy Tomorrow x 3. I put it down to my age. But I absolutely LOVED The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. I put off reading it as I disliked Tomorrow so much.

@inthekitchensink – I’d recommend When The Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope (NF) and anything by Maggie O’Farrell or Sara Sheridan. Might be worthwhile having a look at the Womens Prize for Fiction/Non Fiction shortlists for inspiration?

I will have FOMO too @AgualusasL0ver but I’m doing a slow read and just don’t have the discipline to do two at once.

My TBR is my actual physical pile of books plus whatever I have on my Kindle, which is only currently 18. I’ve worked really hard to get the Kindle number down from around 100 to a manageable point. My plan is to do the same for my TBR which is around 38, but I’m not 100% certain. I use the library a lot. My local library is great. Reservations are free and usually, if a book isnt in stock, they will order it in for me. I also have a wish list, where I make a note of books, mostly recommended on here!

1 Memento Mori – Muriel Spark. As recommended on here. Memento mori is Latin for Remember to Die. A group of friends in their 70s and 80s receive anonymous telephone calls, telling them ‘Remember to Die’. I did not enjoy it. I didn’t like any of the characters. I found some of the plotlines just bizarre. The creepy guy going round to the girl in her 20s, to look at her suspender clips and paying her a £1. Yuck. Odd things happen, but there isn’t any explanation or maybe I’m just too stupid. Meh. Fun fact, I googled the book and found out that it was adapted for tv for the Screen Two series. I tried to get hold of it, but that particular episode isn't on the iPlayer. Maggie Smith is in it ❤

The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith
Hmmm. Until about 70% in, I was really enjoying this, much as I had expected not to.

Then it got very slow and repetitive (just how many times can Robin get threatened by nasty men without it all just becoming tedious?) and the reveal all felt rather Scooby Doo-ish.

There were too many characters and the ending was very annoying. In the last 10% or so, I felt cheated and grubby, which is how the last books had made me feel but which I’d thought this one had managed to avoid.

Joining this thread for the first time! I’ve quite a few half-finished carryovers from 2025 so hopefully I can knock out quite a few titles in January.

First up will be a re-read of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as DH treated me to the lovely Folio Society edition for Christmas.

@Zilla74 Shy Creatures is good, clever structure, felt slow to start, but I got into it. I think I preferred Small Pleasures though, that was one of my top reads last year. I have several more of hers on my Kindle TBR! My other TBR is physical piles on bedside table, and in lounge, and then I guess the RWYO on the bookshelves. I don't consider TBR as have to do this year, more just at some point before I die?

Just dropping in to alert any Michael Connelly fans that The Proving Ground, his most recent Mickey Haller book (autocorrect really wants to turn that into 'Mickey Mouse') is down to 99p today.

Birthday book haul including an emergency request of Les Mis for the readalong as I though I had this already but don’t. And a big thank you to the person (can’t remember who) who mentioned the Mitford graphic novel that I had no idea about. I mentioned to DH and lo and behold it was one of my birthday books!

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt Lovely book haul.
Thanks @Terpsichore for the heads up on the Michael Connolly, that one’s on my wish list so is my first book bought this year.

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt! Nice haul 😊

Happy Birthday @MamaNewtNewt 🎈
Have a lovely day!

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt!

1. Leonard and Hungry Paul - Ronan Hession

A gentle read to ease into the new year. If you’re after fast paced plot this is not the book for you!; instead a meditation on the lives of two best friends, quiet people who look at the world differently. Leonard has just lost his mother, Hungry Paul is still living at home where preparations for his sister’s wedding are in full swing. There is little plot apart from the upcoming wedding, Leonard’s writing endeavours and stumbling new relationship, but is all the better for it with detailed episodes in the main characters’ unusual lives. I loved it and didn’t want it to end: starting the year’s reading with a bold.

1. There are Rivers in the Sky - Elif Shafak
2. Bad Apple/ Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage. A mother struggling with her mute 7 year old discovers the inner world of her child is frightening and dark. I didn’t love it. Very hyped in 2018 but didn’t think it was particularly well done. However I was intrigued with how Hanna would grow up so I read the sequel straight away (it was the middle of the night and child would not sleep) I much preferred the follow up.
3. Dear Hanna - Zoje Stage. Decent thriller, real page turner. Strangely enjoyable to spend time with an unremitting psychopath.