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.

Ow! Get well soon @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. It’s not your dominant hand I hope.

@Frannyisreading if you don’t put a full stop after the number they don’t reorder (on mobile site)

Yes, it really wants any numbering to start at the top of a list 😀

Happy New Year & thanks to @Southeastdwellerfor the new thread!

1. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt - this was a RWYO which I bought as a Kindle Deal when the book got a lot of media coverage. It deals with a frightening rise in mental illness amongst children and makes the case that this is linked to use of smart phones. This isn’t exactly unknown, but what is interesting is the analysis of the issue and the statistics used to support. It’s sad reading and also made me very angry that children have been so badly let down. However, while that part of the book got lots of attention, the book also looks at how childhood has transitioned from and outdoor, risk-taking one to a virtual one, and the factors preventing children from being outdoors are also important in tackling this issue. This is an important part of the issue and one that deserves more attention. It was really striking that the book advocates without hesitation various road safety measures (eg safe streets for walking & cycling, places to play outdoors, school streets) that my council is currently failing to progress.

@SheilaFentiman The Anxious Generation refers to Johann Hari’s book as an important one, which I was a bit surprised by.

@FruAashild- great username from one of my favourite books of last year.

@MamaNewtNewt- Happy Birthday! That’s a great haul!

Really sorry to hear about your wrist @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie- I hope it’s not too painful.

You poor thing @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
Sending sympathy and best wishes to you 💐

I finished Prophet Song by Paul Lynch last night which I certainly don't recommend as a comfort read.

I usually go for an Agatha Christie when I want something easy. I know the plots of most of them by now, but I still enjoy M. Poirot and Miss Marple.

Aw no, hope you recover soon @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

First book finished - The Safekeep
Loved it but not quite convinced on the ending.

Just finished
2 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (audio)
Grace wakes up on a spaceship not sure why he’s there or where he’s going. Little by little his memory comes back. He’s a middle school science teacher who is trying to save the world. The narration was great on this fun read. Love Rocky. The science bit bored me a bit. Overall enjoyed though.
Remus good light read if you haven’t read it before.

Is there a DNF Wolf Hall group? I really tried...I love the Tudors. But I didn't love Wolf Hall.

Hope your wrist heals quickly Remus, sounds nasty.

I only got about a third of the way through Wolf Hall. I keep thinking I should give it another go but haven’t been able to face it yet!

Get well soon @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I read both Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies when I was on maternity leave, but looking back they didn’t make much of an impression. I suspect that was more to do with constant sleep deprivation and exhaustion, so maybe I should try them again.

I read Wolf Hall a while ago (three years ago maybe) and am planning to read the other ones this year.
I think I'll enjoy them once I get stuck into them.

Sending best wishes @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie 💐
I haven’t read Wolf Hall but don’t think I will. Sounds quite a mammoth book

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie ouch. Hope you mend quickly.

Bit of escapism based in earlier times?... I loved The Artist by Lucy Steeds published last year (1920s Provence, food and art, of course). Or how about Elizabeth von Arnim - The Enchanted April (1920s Italian riviera) or EM Forster - A Room with a View (part set in Italy pre-WW1).

De lurking to say that I read Wolf Hall some 12 years ago & was swept away by the beauty of her prose:

Referring to Cromwell's first sight of the sea:

"He will remember his first sight of the open sea: a gray wrinkled vastness, like the residue of a dream."

Talking of the river Thames:

"A wash of sunlight lies over the river, pale as the flesh of a lemon".

I really envy anyone who has their first read of Wolf Hall ahead of them.

Much sympathy @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - hope it heals quickly.

I read 47 books in 2025 so aiming for minimum 50 in 2026.

I am currently 210/720 pages in to ‘A Little Life’ and about 40 minutes in to the audiobook version of Ruth Jones and James Corden’s ‘When Gavin Met Stacey: and everything in between’.

Interested in your thoughts on A Little Life and I like your username @youredeadtomesteven

Just to add to the Wolf Hall chat, I can highly recommend the audiobooks read by Ben Miles. I typically prefer to read a physical book but I really struggled when attempting WH years ago. Last year I did WH and Bring up the Bodies on audio and they were so good, both bolds. I’m currently working my way through The Mirror and the Light.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie hope your wrist heals quickly!

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt ! And @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie , hope your wrist heals as quickly as possible.

I’m still nowhere near finishing any books this year but enjoying the thread! I read Wolf Hall years ago and think I enjoyed it but don’t remember any detail, and in no rush to read the sequels. It reminds me that I’ve got Middlemarch on my TBR at some point down the line - even more daunting than Wolf Hall! 😂

I read Wolf Hall years and years ago, I adored it. I read Bring Up the Bodies in the Jan after my mum had died at Christmas - on the one hand it was helpful to have something so immersive to escape into, on the other hand the heaviness of the subject matter at such a time definitely took me to a weird mental place.

The third one, I struggled so much more with. I think that’s less a reflection on the work itself and far more to do with how much more I struggle to focus in general these days.

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt

Happy birthday @MamaNewtNewt and get well soon @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I am still traumatised from breaking my ankle 3 years ago, hopefully you are made from sterner stuff. I am going to recommend the Mapp and Lucia series for twee English nonsense - at some risk, given I think we’ve only ever had one book favourably in common 😄.

Love du Maurier and couldn’t let @Terpsichore’s mention of Frenchman’s Creek go without showing some 😍I did read The Scapegoat last year and whilst it’s no where near her best, it’s still better than so much else.

i read Prophet Song last year and enjoyed it - I do like a bit of dystopian fiction. Agree that it is not a comforting read though.

I second the Wolf Hall audiobooks. I DNF the actual books but loved listening to them. I find this approach works for Dickens too.
Adored the TV series too.

Best wishes to @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie for a speedy recovery.

Wishing you a speedy recovery @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and Happy Birthday @MamaNewtNewt

I am nowhere near finishing anything and just watching everyone else flying off the marks at the start of the year!

Hope you are on the mend soon @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie !

Book 1 done for me, Weyward by Emilia Hart. Outstanding, highly recommend. It's going straight to my list of favourites. It reminded me a lot in places of Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, which I read and loved last year.

Next up, The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton.