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.

Please don’t hate me @EineReiseDurchDieZeit . I’ve just read the sample and it didn’t make me want to read any more. None of the humour or humanity of Charing Cross and the writers it’s referencing bore me to tears. I’ll go and sit in the corner for a while and contemplate my wickedness.

Damn! I saw the 84CCR comparison and thought it would have potential for you. To be fair maybe it takes time to warm up.

Sorry. I’m hard to please at the best of times and even worse at the moment. I’m contemplating just buying a load of Agatha Christie books and not even trying anything different for a while, but I know she’d annoy me too.

I read The Correspondent last month and it reminded me of Lessons in Chemistry, where everyone seemed to love it except for a small group - I'm in that group!

It reminded me more of Olive Kitteridge and The Stone Diaries. For me it was just another grumpy old woman, as imagined by a much younger woman and as I get older (I'm mid 60s), I find their ideas about getting older quite basic and stereotypical.

Olive Ketteridge is the best imo.

That’s odd @Arran2024 because I HATED Olive Kitteridge and now completely avoid Elizabeth Strout!

I meant the character, not the first book. She is a more rounded older person as the novels progress, i think. The first book is a bit stereotypical like all the others tbf.

It's all like younger women writing about their mothers and grandmother's imo, without the personal experience.

Oh, and I've thought of another one. Margaret Forster and her made up diary story, the one I wrote to her about, as I was furious with what I saw as her deception but also her portrayal of the older years (she was a bit older at this point btw but not old enough).

I'm now wondering who I do think gets older women right. Anita Brookner, Mary Wesley, Barbara Pymm come to mind.

Happy Saturday 50Bookers!
Hope you all have some time for reading this weekend.

I Loved Katherine- one of my top bolds ever. I have The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton lined up on my Kindle, but not got to it yet.

I have knocked off the next two from the Maeve Kerrigan series.

7. The Reckoning by Jane Casey
   This is the second of the Maeve Kerrigan series - it was better than the first and I feel the series is warming up a bit.
   It was a book of two parts really, the first part is an investigation into a series of three quite nasty murders, which then turn out to be connected to a missing girl which becomes the focus for the second half.
   Very readable, not too challenging.

8. The Last Girl by Jane Casey
   The next one in the series - Maeve is called in to investigate the murder of the wife and daughter of a well known barrister is murdered, leaving the twin sister unharmed.
   Lots of twists and turns and family secrets.

I LOVED Olive Kitteridge, how have I missed that there’s a sequel?! I didn’t read it as a depiction of an older woman per se, or older women generally, I loved her contrariness and the way she could be so good to those she taught but so awful to her family. I also adore books set in Maine and really need to visit at some point.

Definitely going on the must read list.

5.Seascraper by Benjamin Wood. Thomas grinds out a living harvesting shrimp in a drab coastal town, a gruelling and dangerous job. His life is quiet and limited. He lives with his mother, never having known his father, and struggles to find the courage to do what he really wants, which is to be a folk singer and ask out the girl from the Post Office. An encounter with a charismatic stranger who takes Thomas under his wing causes his to reflect on his life and his choices.

Much reviewed on here already, I'm joining the chorus of fans. The coastal landscape was brilliantly evoked and Wood finds considerable beauty in every day domestic routines. Although the main joy of the novel was its periods of quiet stillness there are a couple of points of increased tension and drama that provided light and shade. This was a deceptively short book, as it felt like it packed a lot in. And like other posters I'd recommend the audiobook, as Wood gives voice to Thomas's songwriting, which was just lovely. A bold.

Just finished Gabriel's Moon really enjoyed it.

Enough twists and turns to keep me interested and there's going to be another two, which is fabulous news.

William Boyd's use of names made me laugh. We had Gabriel, Sefton, Inigo, Patrice and Thibault early on in the book, and then a bus driver called Donald!

Next, as I'm doing RWYO I was thrilled to find The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths on my shelf as it's where I'm up to in the Ruth Galloway series.

I finished my second book, to be honest it left me a bit cold. It had such great blurb but it didn’t really do anything for me. It was the full moon coffee shop, it was translated and I don’t know if that was why but it seemed to lack a bit of depth and the plot was a bit ‘sci fi ‘ ish for me 🤷‍♀️

anyway, onto book 3- love untold by Ruth Jones

I would love to join if it's not too late. I used to be on these threads many moons ago (and probably usernames ago too!) and really enjoy adding books to my wish list based off recommendations, it really encourages me to expand what I am reading.

Off to a wobbly start

1. My Daughter is Missing - JD Kirk

I've been reading the DCI Logan series which I've really enjoyed so saw this standalone by the same author and thought I'd give it a go. Bit disappointed tbh. It was fine but I guessed one of the twists pretty much immediately and felt like it was missing a lot of backstory to the characters. Easy read though and heading back to the DCI Logan series for book 2 of the year.

Now off to fill my WTR list with recommendations from this thread 😁

@Greycheck never too late! Welcome!!

2.Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis

I’ve been meaning to read this for awhile - one of the classic academic satires. The portrayal of women is a little dated as I expected, but not terrible. I realized reading this that I quite enjoy selfish, lazy protagonists as they mirror my own flaws.

7: Lemon
By Kwon Yeo-Sun

Nineteen year old Hae-on is murdered in the summer of 2002, but no case can be made against two separate suspects, boys from opposite ends of the social strata. In the following seventeen years we drop in at intervals on three people connected to Hae-on and hear from their different perspectives how her death affects those left behind. Her sister Da-on, classmate Sanghui and love rival Taerim weave an intriguing plot from their memories of that summer, stories they have since heard, and observations of current events.

To begin with I felt the characters were a bit thin and the writing had jarring changes in tone that made it hard to believe in the story. Just as I was getting impatient with what I felt was some heavy handed symbolism, the writing seemed to settle down. The whole thing improved and I felt compelled to read on. It is possible to work out what probably happened to Hae-on, but it is never confirmed - the book really becomes a meditation on life and death, rather than a whodunnit. So after my initial struggle I would say it is worth reading!

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

I've just smashed through this in 48 hours, I couldn't put it down and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it.

@CornishLizard explained the plot yesterday so I won't repeat.

Three quarters of the way through I thought this would be a bold, but the final few chapters get a bit silly in terms of timings and character choices. After the slow build it really didn't need to be that climatic. I did give it 5 stars though and will be watching out for more by the author.

At a bit of a loss what to read next, which is usually a sign of an excellent read. I'll have a happy scroll through my kindle I think.

3. Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by John Sutherland

This is a collection of essays looking at literary puzzles in classic novels, such as the “Is Heathcliff a Murderer?” in the title. (Sutherland thinks yes, but also that there’s enough reasonable doubt to prevent a jury giving a guilty verdict in a courtroom scenario)

It was an enjoyable read, although obviously depends on the reader being familiar with the classic novels discussed. I did skim through the chapters featuring Anthony Trollope’s works as I’ve never read any of those.

@Iamnotaloggrip I’d also reading the author’s Lucy Barton books. The fifth book, Tell me Everything, brings Lucy and Olive together. In fact, all her books are set in Crosby, Maine and her characters frequently pop up in other books.

Sometimes when I'm in a reading rut and have DNFd a succession of books I just stick to a few comfort reads as a sort of palate cleanse.

2.Take a Chance on Me by Beth Moran
I discovered Beth Moran last year and this is one of her earlier books. They are basically gentle romantic comedies with slightly daft plots all set around Nottingham. If you like Marian Keyes or Jill Mansell you might like Beth Moran.

The Idiot - Elif Batuman

Selin is a Turkish/American student just beginning to study linguistics at Harvard in 1995. She's confused about almost everything, especially her relationship with a student called Ivan, and this book is 400 pages of her wondering about life, emailing Ivan, meeting a large cast of people from many different cultures and trying to communicate with them (with limited success), and trying to figure out who she is.

Selin is a charming, frustrating and funny narrator. Also, not much happens in the way of plot although she does travel, teach, study, and think about a wide variety of things! I found the book likeable and enjoyable, but my gosh it does meander, and I felt by the end I hadn't really understood it. I enjoyed the ride but wasn't really sure where we'd ended up.

5. Foster - Claire Keegan

Again, I know this has been much-read/reviewed in the past. A short but beautifully written novella about a girl spending the summer with two kindly relatives. And just the distraction I wanted from XH visiting from the US.

Good morning all, excited for this book as received as a Christmas gift. Also picked up Endling on kindle sale recently so looking forward to that as well.

i have 211 unread books (actually 212 as bought the John & Paul book recently reviewed on here) on my kindle so probably should reading some of those!

Just a quick book-adjacent note for those who enjoyed reading Hamnet (and I count myself in that group). I went to see the film last night and thought it was amazing. I took my cold fish DH and not at all bookish DC2 and we were all blubbering messes by the end.

Dd and I wept copiously too, @StrangewaysHereWeCome . I still have the book unread on my Kindle, so now want to read it. It will have to queue up behind a few others though, due to library obligations. Those come first. It is the Code of the Manias (apols Wodehouse).

@bibliomania @StrangewaysHereWeCome DH and I also went to see Hammet last night. Beautifully done- Jessie Buckley was particularly good and the Max Richter music was divine. Loved it.