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.

@TeamToeBeans she's one of the special friends I can be a complete freak with so I am touched she felt this was a fitting gift 😁
I read the back and thought "gosh yes!"

Whereas DP, who knows I love birds, bought me a horrific sounding novel about an evil bird that menaces a young child. He was so close but so wrong 😅

@Frannyisreading have you read any Sara Maitland?

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage- Ben Macintyre is so good at balancing both the historical significance of the event with letting the reader discover the personalities of the people involved as well as having a very readable style. He’s also really good at structuring his books, which I find can be a problem with biography / history as real life inevitably lacks the tight structure of a well-plotted novel. I’m surprised he hasn’t written about that murder given the rest of his work.

Hard agree about the ending of Martyr.

@Confusionetdelay I loved Home Fire. Interestingly I have just been looking round 6th forms with Dd1 and one of them had it on their English A level syllabus, which I was impressed by.

@Zireael I haven't read The Mars Room, but wasn't that enamoured by Creation Lake, though it did grow on me.

@MamaNewtNewt hope you're ok. Have had a few ageing parent issues here too recently.

4. The List of Suspicious Things - Jennie Godfrey. RWYO. This is mainly narrated by a young teen Mav at the start of the 80s when the Yorkshire Ripper is in full swing. Mav, who is having a difficult home life with an ill mother, decides to try and discover who the ripper is with her friend Sharon by suspecting various people they know. It's a bit formulaic, they suspect someone and generally realise they're actually quite nice, and all end up being friends, but there is a darker undertone. It wasn't really my kind of book but can see it making a good TV show.

💐to all 50 Bookers who need them this week.

@Purrpurrpurr thanks for the lovely review. It seems like all Japanese fiction has to contain either cats or bookshops or both in the title (I read somewhere that the titles are often changed for the English language versions, to shoehorn in these elements where they weren't in the original Japanese) and I would never have considered reading this one if it wasn't for your review. I've added it to the ever-long wishlist.

5 The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Margareta Magnusson

I'm probably one of the last people to read this book. I knew what it was about (sorting out and clearing your crap, so your kids don't have to do it after you die). But I was expecting more of a "how to" whereas this is a gentle, rambling (although short), set of concise chapters written by an elderly Swedish lady, holding forth on old age, grief, loss, and possessions. Not a comprehensive philosophy, and certainly not a manual.

It was OK. It didn't change my life. I am sure that Margareta Magnusson is/was very nice but on paper she came across rather preachy (also determined to give her things away to younger generations - I wonder how many of them actually wanted her cast offs? Then again, it was probably well-defined, beautiful and sturdy Swedish stuff, and a joy to inherit, unlike the junk that my own dear mother tries to offload on me)

Another huge fan of Home Fire here. A brilliant book.

😄 @SheilaFentiman always a relief to not feel compelled to buy a newly-reviewed book! I’ve got over a year of kindle purchases to catch up on (I bought the Umbrella Murder in November 2024) so need to resist the “ooh that sounds good!” feeling!

Thanks @Southeastdwellerand Happy New Year to all.
So far, this year, I’ve read The King’s Curse by Philippa Gregory (about Henry VIII - I enjoy reading about the women and family relationships rather than battles and dates); Ten Teacups by Carter Dickson (one of the British Library crime classics - this one hasn’t translated well to today); and Katherine by Anya Seton, which* *I loved and found surprisingly emotional - it’s about the long-lasting love/relationship between John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford.

13 . The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Suicidal Phoebe checks herself in to a hotel to end her life following a divorce. The hotel is otherwise full of people attending the same wedding and Phoebe finds herself sucked in to its whirl.

I don’t know what went wrong for me here. I enjoyed it when I was reading it but I really had to motivate myself to come back to it. I wasn’t dying to keep reading. I also didn’t find it especially believable.

That said it’s a perfect passable mass market litfic which I did ultimately like. There was some good dialogue and characters you could root for, despite the central subject matter it’s also fairly light, a good one for reading on a flight or by a pool.

Solid, but not a standout

DNFed Who’s that Girl by Mhairi McFarlane- really enjoyed some of these ‘chick’ lit books years ago- this one stretches the incredulity too far with a Hollywood actor as the potential love interest. Got 27% of the way in and realised I didn’t give a damn what happened to any of them.

@Stowickthevast I'm also really impressed by Home Fire being on that syllabus! Makes me feel really hopeful about education.

@SheilaFentiman no I don't think I've read any Sara Maitland. Would you recommend?

7 Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner a recovering alcoholic travels the USA finding missing people. The best I can say about this was meh
8 On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwen a honeymoon couple , she finds sex disgusting, they split, years later he wonders if he would be better of in life of he had just accepted it and stayed married. Again I found this just not interesting, didn't care about either of them

7 The Ghost Fields by Elly Griffiths

The 7th Dr Ruth Galloway book, involving a body found in a buried WWII plane, and more Ruth pining for Nelson. Better than recent books in the series but nowt special.

4 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith Inspired to do a reread by the discussion upthread. A semi-autobiographical novel, published in the early 1940s and set in the Brooklyn tenements of the early 20th century. Mostly narrated through the eyes of Francie, around 11 at the start of the book, and telling the story of her early life and that of her family, including her hardworking and determined mother and lovable but alcoholic father. It’s a fascinating insight into life for poor immigrants of the time, told in a manner that doesn’t sugar coat the realities but manages plenty of warmth, affection and understanding too. The main female characters are strongly drawn, and they and numerous incidents in the book have really stayed with me ever since I first read it over 40 years ago. It’s always interesting to reread and see how one’s perspective of a novel changes with age. @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie sorry that it didn’t work for you.

5 The impossible fortune by Richard Osman The latest in the Thursday Murder Club series, and a quick light read after A tree grows. The plot was a bit less silly and OTT than some of the previous novels. I enjoyed it and overall I like the way the characters have developed. But great literature it is not.

Your description of Botanical Daughter reminded me of couple of her short stories 🙂

I love her as an author, but most of her books aren’t on Kindle. I would recommend Three Times Table, as a depiction of mother/daughter/granddaughter all in one house, with some fantastical elements woven in.

8 The Witch’s Egg by Donya Todd

DH got me this graphic novel for Christmas. I loved the artwork, it’s just a shame about the story. Although calling it a story is a stretch, it was just a load of nonsense rambling from someone who clearly thought they were being delightfully weird, whimsical, and off-beat. I really, really hated this.

Goodbye to All That - Robert Graves (2)

This is his memoir of the first part of his life - his experiences at public school and then mostly WW1. I found it really interesting to have a first hand account of what it was like to serve in France, though as he went in as an officer he probably had a slightly easier time of it than those who didn't. He writes very matter-of-factly about the death and destruction he sees, the injuries he receives (his mother was told he was dead at one point) and the lasting effects it had on him - he was suffering with shell shock for years afterwards.

Now on to Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty as I wanted a slightly easier read after that! Definitely a bold though as it was fascinating, and well written (though hard-going in places).

5 The Midnight News
I don't know what to make of this. Just as I thought I knew where the story was going, I was proved wrong. A lot seemed shoehorned in and the ending was a little too neat. That said, I loved the author's turn of phrase and felt immersed in 1940s London.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

I deliberately didn't read this for some years as I got it confused with Hilary Mantel and I am reasonably sure I won't get on with her style. I think all the H and Ms got muddled which is a bit embarrassing to admit on a reading thread...

Anyway, I read The Marriage Portrait in October 24 and got really into it, despite it not being my sort of thing on paper and then suddenly made the connection to Hamnet...

Hamnet is a guesstimate of what Shakespeare life might have looked like on his way to becoming a playwright, told from the point of view of his wife. It's very moving and I shed some tears.

Maggie O'Farrell's writing style is interesting. It's quite poetic in places, but in others she write short punchy sentences which are the complete opposite to poetry. I feel it shouldn't work, but it really does.

@NotVWoolf - Katherine is one of my favourite books - it delivers more than you expect!

Oh thanks @SheilaFentiman I love a recommendation. I don't have Kindle so that's no problem. I'll have a look at the library.

Best wishes to you and your mum MamaNewtNewt.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy A book group read, set on an island near Antarctica where a seed bank is at risk from rising temperatures and sea levels. The caretaker and his children are last ones on the island, but then a woman washes up on the tide. It’s very readable and has some fascinating sections about the plants they are trying to preserve, and the climate crisis is a horrifying reality. For me though it was all doing too much, ending up in thriller territory, and I had to suspend disbelief and my favourite bit was the ‘note on the setting’ at the end on the inspiration behind the fictional island.

4 The Copper Beech - Maeve Binchy follows the usual pattern of her later books, in essence, a collection of short stories about a group of interconnected individuals. It was ok but I’m finding them a bit formulaic now.

Having problems with my Kindle at the moment, firstly taking ages to download, ‘queueing’, then finding blank pages in the middle of a book. Anyone else had this?

14 . The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Sybil Van Antwerp a formidable woman in her 70s keeps up the lost art of letter writing (and the occasional email) dashing off letters to all sorts of people, her nearest and dearest as well as some unexpected appearances.

I devoured this, many thanks to @SilverShadowNight for pointing out it was on deals.

One quibble :

Just as I the reader was thinking ‘Well, this reminds me of 84 Charing Cross Road a character pops up to say they are reading said book and it has reminded them of Sybil, and I did think Oh! Ick! That’s a comparison the author should be allowing others to make not making herself.

Despite this, I loved it, shed a few inevitable tears, and it’s definitely a bold.

Get the sample @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie