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.

Sadie in Tomorrow is high on my list of literary characters who need a good slap. I liked the book a lot, but she got more and more annoying.

I also enjoyed Weyward last year. My bookclub are reading it in January so I am hoping I can remember it well enough.

I have just knocked off my first book for 2026 (having started it on one of the Cheesedays between Xmas and New year. I also have Great Expectations on the go on Audible narrated by Stephen Fry which is proving an unexpected joy!

1. A Place of Execution by Val McDermid I know this one has been around for a while and I am late to the party on this one, I also know there is a TV series starring Juliet Stephenson, who I like as an actress so will look that up too. I really enjoyed this as a standalone story (So many detective stories these days involve committing to a long series, I am currently working my way through Maeve Kerrigan and Ruth Galloway series ). It is a book distinctly of two parts - the first being an account from the point of view of a young detective in the 1960s brought in to investigate the disappearance of a young teenage girl in a small close-knit community in Yorkshire, and the subsequent murder investigation even though the body is never found. The second part is set 40 years later and the detective is retired and being interviewed by an investigative reporter who is making a documentary about the case and finds new evidence. I enjoyed it, well written, decent twist without being too far fetched.

@HagCymraeg I think it is her best book.

The TV series is decent but has some changes.

HNY, 50 Bookers!

I’ve got three books on the go at the moment and think it’ll be a little while before I finish one (am also binge watching Stranger Things):
Shadow Of The Silk Road by Colin Thubron
The Siege by Ben Macintyre
Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z Danielewski (a 1,200-page epic)

I tried to read Tomorrow last year and gave up fairly early on but I clearly need to give it another go.

I am reading Whirlwind by James Clavell, prompted by what's currently happening in Iran. I may be some time

That’s 4 or 5 books a month or one book a week consistently

This is one of my favourite books I've ever read. I cried A LOT.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow keep being recommended to me. I might give it a go, I think I'm put off by the gaming subject matter (if I am thinking of the right book)

@HagCymraeg you are. I enjoyed it very much despite not being a gamer. There’s one section that I found a bit dull but it’s a good book.

I would love to join in! I don't know if I will manage 50 books, but hoping for the halfway mark of 25.

I'm also looking for book recommendations!

What’s to your taste?

This sounds interesting, I have added to my want to read list!

Thank you @Southeastdweller and happy New Year to everyone, whether old-timers, rejoiners or newbies!

I'm actually feeling a bit unbookish at the moment because I read so much (for me anyway) in the last couple of weeks of December. My plans for the year include doing more RWYO (though that feels a bit fake given that I've just acquired a pile of new books!), not yielding to the temptation to read entire prize longlists, and not setting myself any definite goals in terms of numbers.

I'm looking forward to the Les Miz read-along (though I haven't started it yet) and am tempted by the Odyssey one. I'm just feeling so mentally lazy right now. I'll see how it goes!

Checking in with a new name (a character from a favourite novel that a few of you read last year). Previously I was another book character - a wildlife loving Polish woman from a crime novel by a Nobel Prize winner.

The Bear and the Bird by Katherine Arden

Literary fairytale set in medieval northern Russia. Vasilisa Petrovska can see the old house spirits that guard their home and that her people still leave gifts to despite also being Christians. But a new priest is determined to stop the old ways. What could possibly go wrong?

This was a delightful first novel, satisfyingly complex and with some great characters and sense of place. It's the first in a trilogy and I'll be buying the other two. An early contender for a bold.

1. The Lamb Lucy Rose. This was for me a great first read of 2026. I don’t read much horror but this fairy tale like story of a mother and daughter cannibal pair in Cumbria had me gripped. Totally horrific violence but evocative. Completely wild and a reminder that I need to get out there f my comfort zone this year. I thought the writing AND story was great.

@FruAashild I like your new username!

Happy New Name @FruAashild ! I had to google it

Apologies if I’m repeating as NRTFT but The Wedding People is in the 99p Kindle deals today. It’s had good reviews on here and elsewhere.

Hi, I would like to join - am taking part in the Les Mis readalong and currently reading The House On The Strand by Daphne du Maurier, one of her spooky books with drug induced time travel!

Checking in for the year. I read 10 books in 2025. That’s not at all near my usual 45-55. But I’m back on it for 2026. More reading means less doom scrolling.

My aims.

• Try to read 35 books.
• Read what I own.
• Finish what I’m reading. (Currently reading 24 books)
• I’m on the Les Mis read along thread.
• Keep track of the audible books I listen to by marking them as ‘read’ and counting them to my overall total.
• Get into a really good long audiobook which I will go for a run just to listen to.
• Fall down a mad reading rabbit hole. I’m unlikely to reach the dizzying heights of 2022 when 12 of the 50 books I read were set in or linked to Russia. I can but dream!

I’m trying to have some structure to my reading so I can learn to get back into it after a challenging 2025.

Happy reading!

i like reading pretty much anything, but generally nothing too heavy going as I work full time and my brain is dead in the evening!

My eldest daughter did an English Literature degree, so I’ve read all kinds of things over the years and enjoy most fiction books.

Below are some books I’ve enjoyed this year in case anyone else is looking for recommendations:

Last Seen, Broken Girls. Left for Dead and Rewind by Joy Kluver (crime thriller)

Forth Wing series (Romantasy)

Crooked Cross by Sally Carson (WW2)

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (dystopian)

Jackdaws by Ken Follett (WW2)

Ok so!

Romantasy - don’t read it

Crime/Thriller Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series starting with The Burning - don’t judge off the first they get better and better

And I really liked None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

WW2 the Lissa Evans trilogy : Old Baggage, Crooked Heart and V for Victory was very popular on here a few years ago.

Dystopia - just read The Book Of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. I didn’t absolutely love it but I thought it was extremely well done!

Wow @EineReiseDurchDieZeit - thanks so much for the recommendations, I will look into those and add to my reading list.

I already have None of this is True in my wish list, so this will definitely be a 2026 read.

I also just found the daily Kindle deals (no idea why it’s taken me so long to notice these) - could be dangerous 😂

I’ll join you please! I aim to read one a month at the moment, I am not a regular reader anymore.

currently reading the colour of bee larkham’s murder by Sarah J Harris. It is good, it has curious incident vibes