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.

Also vote for The Book of Guilt.

Crime - there’s a series of 3 by a former FBI agent that I liked a lot.

1. The Cipher - Isabella Maldonado
2. A Different Dawn- Isabella Maldonado
3. The Falcon - Isabella Maldonado

Signing in - I read too many books (escapism) so this year I’m trying to read more out of my comfort zone and pick up on inspiration from you all. So hopeful I can read more memorable books and ‘wow’ books.

Today I finished ‘There are Rivers in the Sky.’ It was deeply depressing. Do we do summaries here? My summary is it was some beautiful writing, some fascinating stories merging together, but for some indeterminate reason left me cold. Maybe I’m dead inside.

Ps - I would love any recommendations for novels or non fiction by female authors. I’m mighty tired of reading stories through a male lens, though there a few that slip the night (I’m a sucker for Steinbeck, Max Porter, JD Kirk, and MW Craven as I feel they write women well)

1. Eurotrash - Christian Kracht

A troubled but very privileged mother and son decide to take a road trip across Switzerland with the goal of giving away their immorally gained fortune.

This was darkly funny in places and at times touching, but often I felt confused by the cultural references and the "is it autobiographical? Is it meta fiction?" ambiguity of the narrator. I spent certain sections convinced it was too highbrow for me and then I'd be laugh-cringing about alcohol abuse and colostomy bags.

It was certainly an interesting book to start the new year with but I didn't feel it was quite up my street.

@inthekitchensink i rarely enjoy male writers as much as female and have read some crackers over the last year. I'd really recommend Sarah Waters, Donna Tartt, Susanna Clarke, Barbara Kingsolver and Maggie O' Farrell for some deeply memorable books in different styles.

Thank you @Frannyisreading, it sounds like we have similar tastes as I’ve adored all these writers and plan on re reading a few this year (possibly there’s a couple of Atwood & Waters I have missed that I can get round to now as well :)

Joining as completely got out of the reading habit last year and struggled to read one a month. Still keep buying them though, need to pick it back up as running out of room.

I would love to do this and to get some decent book recommendations. I often have to audio them as I have very little time but can listen on the drive to/from work and when I do house cleaning! 🤣

@inthekitchensink yes, please do
write a summary if you can, that’s great.

Have you tried Curtis Sittenfield or Kristin Hannah?

Great list of women writers, Franny!

I didn't read very much last year, but would like to do better in 2026. My plan for this year was to only read books written by women.

I got off to a bad start because on New Year's Day I was still finishing off The Bostonians by Henry James. I'd read that Henry James was one of the best writers who ever lived, but it turns out that I'm not a fan of his extremely long sentences and tortured syntax. I chose The Bostonians because it happened to be available in the library and because it was about 19th century feminists. But ultimately, it was more about men putting feminists "in their place". So I found it infuriating.

I'm now on to The Rosetti Letter by Christi Phillips. My friend lent it to me and told me to read it. By coincidence, it's set partly in Boston in the present day, from the point of view of Claire, a PhD student at Harvard. Take that, Henry James! It's also set in 17th century Venice, during a conspiracy which is later the subject of Claire's thesis. I love Venice, so I think I might enjoy this one.

I bought Still Born a couple of days ago in the daily deals so think I’ll bump it up the list after your review.

2 Girl Alone - Cathy Glass

Joss comes to stay with foster carer Cathy after three failed placements due to her extreme behaviour. At age nine, Joss and her mum walked in to their home to find her dad had committed suicide. Four years have passed and her mum has remarried but Joss hates him and her behaviour results in her mum putting her into care.

I’ve read most of Cathy Glass’s fostering memoirs so I’m used to her desperately sad stories but this one was on another level. Just when you think this poor girl has had enough crap thrown at her another bucketload descends. This is going to play on my mind for a while.

I’ve decided not to number on here this year, but this is my first for 2026.
My Sister And Other Lovers by Esther Freud
A sequel of sorts to Hideous Kinky, which I loved back in the day. This, however, left me cold. The younger sister Lucy narrates but it’s a mishmash of recollections whizzing backwards and to the present day, often in the same rambling sentence. I ‘get’ it in that their upbringing has led to a lot of unwise life choices but after a while all the dilapidated squats, skeevy men and flighty friends blended into one and I was often a bit bored.

I’d love to join in!
currently reading The Shell House Detective by Emylia Hall and really enjoying it.

4 . The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine

Set in Belfast, 3 privileged young men are accused of the rape of a girl from a less than ideal background. As the story develops she has the support of her family whilst the mothers of the boys swing into action.

It has a polyphonic approach and so many voices are featured. Some are related to the plot and others just in the wider community being portrayed. I thought this was really interesting and it didn’t take away from the story.

This could be quite triggering for some, your mileage may vary, but several posters spoke highly of this last year and I can only concur. A really good book, I’m glad I read it, probably my first bold

I will start slowing down as life speeds up, honest!

2. The Bookshop, the Draper, the Candlestick Maker - Annie Gray

I had this on my radar as I'm slightly obsessed by shop-based novels (as thread regulars may remember) and added this non-fiction book about the development of the high street to my wish-list. Then I heard Hugh Dennis doing a very dull reading of it on R4, complete with twee music, and I deleted it. However, a recent good review on here (can’t recall who by, sorry) led me to the library, and the realisation that it had been drastically cut for broadcast. No surprise really, as it aims to trace the history of the high street from pre-the 17thc to the present day - an enormous canvas.

Sadly, I struggled with this and never quite got into it, though I did finish. There was lots to learn, though the level of detail is necessarily quite general and the difficulty with all histories of this kind is that they tend to seesaw between time periods, which I found slightly confusing and bitty. But a lot of the evocative writing did make me think of (and lament) the shops and elegant department stores of my childhood and adolescence, now sadly gone forever.

I’m 37% into The Hallmarked Man and surprising myself by finding it all quite readable so far.

Getting irritated by the phrase, ‘Ended her university career’ which has appeared at least 5 times and, as ever, finding the, ‘Working class people are all thick and have stupid voices’ stuff deeply offensive.

Bored by Murphy and really bored by lines like, ‘She looked at her handsome boyfriend’ or, ‘The detective looked at his partner’ - just use their bloody names fgs.

The actual case isn’t very interesting, but I’m enjoying Strike’s constantly thwarted ambitions to tell Robin how he feels.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupieI got annoyed by all the thwarting - and the case was deathly dull. Otherwise good!

1.Welcome To The Hyunam-Dong Bookshop My first of the new year and I really enjoyed this lovely read. Recommended. My thoughts drifted to my dream life of owning a book shop with a coffee/beverage corner with knitting/crochet thrown in. We had a very old dated bookshop in my hone town that sold loads of very old second hand books and the exterior was/is painted in that very dark green colour that reminds me of old antiques. I went in once quite fascinating treasure trove it was too but oh how fabulous it would be to reopen this Jem with a few modern twists. Anyway this book sent me down a dreaming rabbit hole. I digress this is about Yeongju who escapes from her old life to follow her dream or peruse the one moment she was happy reading books. There are some interesting characters that come into her life through her bookshop. In summary it was a dose of medicine as you read how each character heals on their particular journey. Anyway have added a picture as it really does sum up this book a warm gentle read.

My thoughts drifted to my dream life of owning a book shop with a coffee/beverage corner with knitting/crochet thrown in

@Midnightstar76 I suspect quite a few of us share this dream!

If anyone is interested in reading Dicken’s A Tale Of Two Cities hopefully before the new adaptation drops (A new, four-part adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, starring Kit Harington, François Civil, and Mirren Mack, is set for release in 2026 on the BBC in the UK and MGM+ in the US, offering a "twisting period thriller" focusing on romance, sacrifice, and the French Revolution's drama) I’ve just set up a 6 month read along which I’ll link to below in a new post so I don’t loose this one!

The Tale Of Two Cities Read Along:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5469580-a-tale-of-two-cities-six-month-read-along?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Just finished The Intruder by Freida McFadden. Starting Lucky Winners by K L Slater.

@DesdamonasHandkerchief will join thanks for the link