26ish books 2026

[Tinkhasflown]

A shiny new thread for 2026.

All welcome and note 26 is just a number. Everyone can set their own target and you are welcome here even if you only read 2 books a year.

I personally count the larger novel style books I read to my children and audio books I listen to. Others don't and there are no rules.

I look forward to all your suggestions again this year.

Book 7 finished - Raising Hare.
Loved it, and it followed in beautifully from my previous David Attenborough read. I learnt a lot I about hares and love reading books that make me feel more connected to the natural world.

Book 8 started this morning - George Orwell’s 1984.
Again influenced by a thread on here. One I have meant to read for a long time but never have.

1.One of us by Elizabeth Day.
2.The Backpacking Housewife by Janice Horton.
3.The Hike by Lucy Clarke
4.Postcards from a stranger by Imogen Clark
5.Introducing Mrs Collins by Rachel Parris
6.Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby van Pelt
7.Sleeping Tiger by Rosamund Pilcher
8. When the cranes fly south by Lisa Rizden read this since yesterday as I couldn't put it down, had me in tears throughout

@MakingDoNicely Ive also chosen 1984 as my next read, i have read it before but when i was much younger. I do have Raising Hare waiting too so that might be next.

Thanks for the tip!

Book 5 Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
My second time reading this and I liked it much more this time, I think because I wasn't wondering what was going to happen and could concentrate on what was happening at each point in the story.

I've been off sick this week so
Book 8 It's Elementary by Elise Bryant - fun rom-tective.
Book 9 James by Percival Everett. Would give 100 stars if I could. Amazing book. Read it now. If you haven't heard of it, it's a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim, the Black man he travels with, but including times James is on his own. I won't say more.

10 Outside Boy - Jeanine Cummins.

I loved this. Think it may end up as one of my favourites this year.

I loved this also - looking forward to reading other books by this author - I have read her most widely known book 'American Dirt' but this book had more of an impact me :)

Yes, I enjoyed American Dirt a lot but agree that this one really dug deep for me. It brought up a really vivid memory of the old Traveller woman that used to come round in the 70s when her family stayed in the area. She would have a basket of stuff to sell and my mum would always buy something (even though she didn't have much herself ). She wore a long black drindle skirt and a shawl. I was always fascinated with what was in her basket.

No 5 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I know this is a very popular book, but it took me until I was half way through, to really get into it. The sheer number of characters in the book was overwhelming and of course, you don't know when you start a book which characters are significant.

However once I got into it, I found it a fabulous read.

I read it last summer, it had been on my mean to read list for years and years. I loved it and it's stayed with me. That final paragraph where Scout lists what Boo had given them reduced me to tears.

No 3. The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Bought as a present for me so probably wouldn’t have chosen it. I found it to be a bit corny and tick box of all the things someone my age reading it would remember from 70s/80/ childhood.

No 4. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Translated from the original Dutch, this is a horror story in the vein of early Stephen King (whom I adore). As such, I loved it. Read quickly and genuinely blood pressure raising in parts.

on to number 5 now.

I read James last summer and totally agree. DH isn’t a big reader and loved it to. I read The Trees by same author as my first 2026 book and it was good but not as good.

I was looking back through the thread to get inspiration for my next book and you’ve just reminded me @Confusionetdelay that I started Demon Copperhead, set it down months ago and forgot about it!

I think you'll enjoy Demon Copperhead @GreenSalon- I found it a slow burn at first and was tempted to give up at the part he goes to live on Creaky's farm (for some reason, I can't stand books set on farms) but the older he gets the more interesting it becomes and by the end I didn't want it to finish!

Book 4 for me finally finished - A Brief History of Intelligence - Why the Evolution of the Brain Holds the Key to the Future of AI by Max Bennett.

My god was this dense at points, but completely fascinating and also weirdly comforting at the state of the world and putting it in context. I would recommend it to anyone who's been caught slightly on the hop by AI and is interested in knowing about its background. Also if you have a passing interest in neurology/anthropology!

I started Demon Copperhead a few years ago but I could get into it, despite liking all her other books. Perhaps I should persist

I finished book 6 yesterday, All My Puny Sorrows by Mriam Toews. It was beautiful, sad and everything else possible. Big recommendation. I had started Milkman but left it at work by mistake so I picked this up in between. Back to Milkman now!

Book 9 finished - 1984
Incredible, haunting and ultimately harrowing. Feel like I need some time to process it all and will definitely be one to reread.

Next book when I have recovered is This must be the place - Maggie O’Farrell. I read Hamnet and The marriage Portrait a couple of years ago and loved them both so I’m looking forward to reading more from by her.

Evening👋 Finished book four....

(1) The French for Christmas by Fiona Valpy
(2) The Outside Boy by Jeannie Cummins
(3) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
(4) All the Broken Places by John Boyne

Summary taken from the web:

All the Broken Places by John Boyne, the sequel to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, follows 91-year-old Gretel Fernsby in London as she confronts her long-buried past as the daughter of a Nazi commandant. When a new family with a young boy moves into her building, she faces a choice between protecting her secrets and saving a child, mirroring a traumatic, guilty, and complicit decision from her youth.
Key Aspects of the Narrative:

• Present Day (London, 2022): Gretel lives a quiet, comfortable, and guarded life, having hidden her identity for decades after fleeing Germany. Her life is disrupted by the arrival of a new family and her growing, complex relationship with their son, Henry.
• Past (1946 & Beyond): The story alternates with flashbacks, covering the immediate post-war years in Paris with her mother and a later, turbulent period in Sydney.
• Themes of Guilt and Complicity: Gretel struggles with the shame and remorse of her childhood, where she failed to act against the atrocities she witnessed in Nazi Germany.
• The Turning Point: A violent, abusive situation involving Henry’s family forces Gretel to make a decision, forcing her to confront the,,complicity, that has haunted her.

All the Broken Places is not a story of redemption, but rather a profound look at how one navigates a life built on top of "broken places" and the long-lasting impact of silence.

I really enjoyed this book - couldn't put it down.

Onto the next...

Happy reading everyone :)

Finished book 3. The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves. I enjoyed this, I love the Jimmy Perez series.
And
Book 4. My Friends by Fredrik Backman.

Next up is Brimstone by Callie Hart.

3. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
What a book!
The writing was beautiful, the characters complex and the plot was exciting.
Very early to be calling it but I think this may be my book of the year! Will be hard to beat.

Meant to add, this book needs to be made into a film! Emma Corrin to play the female lead.

6 the hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu

i enjoyed it and would recommend

book 7 will be either Still Life by Louise Penny or Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut

@MonkeyTennis34 i agree, I could really picture it as a film as I was reading it.

4, Rose Code by Kate Quinn - an enjoyable and easy read. I would happiily read more of her books. I have mixed feelings about it using real life people for fiction ie one story line is based around Prince Philip being a character's boyfriend. I felt this was an invasion of privacy. It also had the effect of making me think about a very old man when the character was young and in the prime of life. I felt it flagged a bit in place or two and some of the character develpoment ran out/went a bit funny. The gang rape scene where one woman fought off 3 attackers irritated me because women just cannot and do not do this and it is not their fault that they don't. Putting these scenes in books makes society think that this a realistic option for women, perpetuating rape myths, but it isn't.

5, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray - some of this is excellent. There was one paragraph about death which was exquisite. There is a thought provoking and well written speech by a politican about climate change that the uni students then describe as a real nazi speaking because he denied trans people existed. I thought the juxtaposition of the speech and what someone took from it was a hilarious social comment. I It has a very wide sweep of issues it encompasses. It writes from different characters' perspectives and with one character he doesn't use commas or full stops which I found a bit boring and trying. Some of what it covers it also very sordid/tawdry. It is undeniably good, thought provoking, it captures many things about past Ireland and now, society and new and old issues. I thought the ending was rubbish. I enjoyed it and also did not enjoy it. Overall, I think I would have been happier not having read it.