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.

@Purrpurrpurr - I read House on the Strand last year. Whilst it was perfectly enjoyable, there's a reason it's not as well-known as some of her other books!

@Zilla74 - I would add Clare Chambers for contemporary fiction and Barbara Pym for dated fiction (but great humour) to your female writers list.

Finished my first book of the year:

1. The Proof of my Innocence - Jonathan Coe

I haven't read any Coe before so didn't know what to expect. The book is set during the few weeks of the Truss premiership and references it quite heavily so may date quite quickly although it's relevant to the plot which features political activists and commentators. I don't want to give too much away for those who may read it but it moves between the Truss period and the early 80s when many of the key characters were at Cambridge together. It includes books/manuscripts within the book as a storytelling device. I read it quickly and enjoyed it but it sometimes felt like it was trying to be too clever. There were some unlikely plot devices and characters too!

I didn’t know about the adaptation but I have read it. There’s an incredibly funny chapter very early on if IRC.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit The Benefactors is 99p in the deals so will give it a try. I was hoping to end this year with fewer unread books on my kindle than the start of the year - I’m not doing well!

@TimeforaGandT I’d recommend The Rotters’ Club trilogy if you want to try more Jonathon Coe.

I’d add Elizabeth Strout, Daphne Du Maurier, Kate Atkinson and Isabel Allende to the list of female writers.

@TimeforaGandT I am thinking ‘is she going to get away with this’ as I am reading! I have always loved her short stories and I have a feeling even her dud books are probably better than most.

Thank you for the recommendation @TattiePants - I am trying to do RWYO but noted for when I am allowed to buy again!

@DesdamonasHandkerchief - I didn't realise there was a new upcoming adaptation. Don’t think I have read A Tale of Two Cities since I was at school (in the 1980s). Will find your thread, my old copy and see if I can catch up.

Interested in The Hallmarked Man chat, I finished it last year but mostly on audible (I find having both options for the Strike books quite helpful, don’t think I’d get through them otherwise). I enjoyed it more than the previous couple, despite all the faults that come up every time and that Remus just mentioned.

An advantage of the audio is that I can sort of let it wash over me a bit and so all the repetitive thwarting doesn’t bother me quite as much. I enjoy Philip Glennister’s narration too.

I did feel like the various plot lines tied a little too nearly together on the one hand, whilst still not adding up to a particularly satisfying conclusion - I only finished it a month ago and already can’t really remember much about it and I was a bit but do remember feeling somewhat underwhelmed.

1 Murder At Martingale Manor by Jodi Taylor

The traditional St Mary’s Christmas short story and this time Max and Leon are taking a holiday to Martingale Manor in 1920s Devon. They are soon embroiled in an Agatha Christie style murder, where everyone has a secret to protect, and everyone has an alibi - except for Leon. I really enjoyed this one, and I’m wondering if the brief mention of a Smallhope will tie in to the new Smallhope and Pennyroyal book coming later this year. I listened to this on audible, read by Zara Ram who was excellent as always.

You’ve just made my DH’s day. He loves nothing more than a BBC Dickens adaptation.
I will join the read along.

Thanks for the heads up on The Tale of Two Cities dramatisation @DesdamonasHandkerchief , looking forward to that. I reread it in 2024 so won’t join in the readalong, but I love the book.

It was me who read The Bookshop etc @Terpsichore in November I think. I got a lot out of it but understand your reservations as I struggled at times. Glad I didn’t hear the R4 reading first!

Hi, I’m joining in again, even though I fall off the thread every year.
I read 78 books in 2025, which is quite surprising, as I had quite a lot of times when I felt too stressed to read (DD’s mental health problems).
I’m doing the Les Mis read-a-long, and I’m hoping to reduce my TBRs. Currently reading Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah, which is enthralling.

The Benefactors looks right up my street, thank you. At 99p it had to be bought.

@AliasGrape I’m so far enjoying it much more than the silly one with all the Twitter feeds and the really fucking boring cult one.

I had a feeling it was you, @RomanMum! yes, the radio version was disappointing and made it all sound very cosy, in the worst way. The research for it must have been daunting and I applaud Annie Gray just for daring to tackle it, although tbh I’ve enjoyed other books by her more (eg The Greedy Queen, which was her very enjoyable history of food at Queen Victoria’s court).

I hope you like it!

Anyone else hiding from the cold? I have to go back to work on Monday which I am in denial about so making the most of every second I can

Happy New Year everyone! Thanks for kicking off the thread as ever, @Southeastdweller

Insert obligatory comment about how quickly the first thread of the year moves here!

1 Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko

My latest Shelterbox book, this was one of the better ones, I thought. A dual timeline story set in modern day south Brisbane (formerly known as Edenglassie) and the same area in the 1850s. Our modern day characters are Granny Eddie and her granddaughter Winona, of Aboriginal heritage, who end up in hospital after Granny Eddie suffers a serious fall. In the 1850s, we follow Mulanyin, who moves from his saltwater family to the riverfolk in Brisbane, and along the way meets white colonial settlers/convicts, whilst his outspokenness regularly lands him in trouble. Lucashenko is painting on a big canvas and there's a lot going on in this book; historical fiction, a bit of magical realism. But it all comes together to form a very readable, moving and enjoyably chaotic whole. I liked the use of indigenous language, and chose not to look things up, rather going with the flow, and the story and Lucashenko's enthusiastic writing swept me along.

I don’t think I have a third readalong in me, and I’ve tried Dickens in various ways (here and alone) before and he just doesn’t seem to work for me. Nevertheless, I will suffer FOMO at missing out.

Tawaifnama by Saba Dewan

I am very into Bollywood cinema and recently watched a drama on Netflix called Heeramandi which is a neighbourhood in Lahore previously famous for its courtesans. This particular drama was set loosely in the interwar period as the independence movement was growing. Anyway, then I decided to do some reading around these formidable women and their matriarchal society. I have a few books still waiting to be purchased, but this seemed the broadest and most recommended.

This is a pretty epic work, with decades of research and actually living alongside and interviewing former tawaifs as they are known. The history is narrated as though Dewan is retelling it to her main interviewee as she recounts experiences that they have shared, historical research and situating everything in the larger context.

I guess the closest relatable profession to this is the geisha of Japan. These women were respected artists whose education in music and dance began as young as 5. These women were powerful, breadwinners - they supported huge extended families of men who rarely did much, sisters, daughters and nieces who were not talented enough to follow the line.

I’m glad I didn’t power through the last chapters to get this into 2025. Obviously, niche, but worthwhile if this is your niche.

Hi all, can we chat a bit about TBR lists for the benefit of new joiners, but also as I think it might mean different things to different people…

My ‘To Be Read’ list will never be completed, as it is a list I maintain on Goodreads and the StoryGraph app of all the books I might want to read one day, or have been recommended (usually from these threads). I tag them to organise into groups such as: own hard copy, own on kindle, audiobook, library read etc.

Whereas I think others refer to their TBR as the books they actually own and haven’t got round to reading yet.

How do you all view the concept of a TBR?

I see TBR as the second- books I own which I haven’t read yet- books I want to read but don’t own I think of as my wishlist.

Oh, and I picked up my library reservations today which should keep me occupied for a while - most of these were recommended by you lovely lot over the last 10 years or so!

The Benefactors was a bold for me last year Eine. I liked all the different voices but also the fact that we got to hear from the victim and the mothers but didn't have the boys view. I did it on audio which worked well for the in between bits.

I think I see TBR the same as @ÚlldemoShúl but don't think it really matters! it's like the lists, it's really up to you whether you add audios/kids books/rereads.

Haven't really done much reading yet this year, finding Helm a slow burn and watching a lot of TV. It will all change once routine starts again on Monday.

For me, TBR means I’ve bought it but not read it yet.

I have a Goodreads “want to read” list but don’t really look at it. I also have an Amazon wish list dedicated to kindle books, and when I see recommendations on here that look interesting, I usually add them to that, and then buy them when they come up on Kindle deals, at which point they become TBR.

TBR is stuff I own and waiting to be read. Anything I like the sound of gets added to an Amazon wish list and hopefully bought at some point when it’s a decent price (although I don’t necessarily buy it from Amazon - that’s just a useful way of keeping track).

TBR for me means I own it but have not read it. The list of books I want to read but don’t own is my Wish List.

Interesting question re TBR lists. I think I have (in my head) a multi-tier system for TBR,

1. I have the books I have bought on Kindle or Audible recently and will definitely read in the next six months.
2. Then I have my library reservations coming up on Borrowbox which I definitely need to read "next" 3)Then I have books I bought ages ago and no real plans to read soon (the casualties from TBR list 1 above
3. Books I am aware of, through chat on here and at my Bookclub or Social media that I fancy the sound of.

I should set up a colour coded spread sheet.

Book number 2 ticked off today:

2. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Set in the near future, the narrator is a civil servant who is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test whether a newly discovered time-travel method is feasible to use widely.

Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, supporting and monitoring expat '1847' - Commander Graham Gore, a Victorian polar explorer from the doomed Franklin expedition where all the men were lost. Gore is an intelligent and adventurous man and soon begins to adjust to this bizarre new world of washing machines, feminism, laptops and Spotify.
The narrator is also in touch with other ‘bridges’ who are also looking after their ‘expats’, all known by their date codename, such as an officer from WWI and a woman who ‘died’ during the Black Death.

There are some interesting episodes, some funny and poignant. There is also a growing realisation about what the bridge project is really working towards.
I enjoyed the first three quarters of the book, but then it just got a bit silly towards the end, almost like the author thought ‘Oh i Need to make this more exciting, I’ll start throwing some baddies in’.

I've just clocked it is 99p on Kindle today if anyone fancies it.