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 4 finished just now. I actually started it as my 3rd but read Then she was gone in 2 days while ill.

1.The September House - interesting concept. Skipped through much of the ending.
2. Our Endless numbered days.

1. Then she was gone

4. 1984 (3rd time of reading, found it harder going this time. Last read 25 years ago so maybe age and life experience had an effect )

Books 11 and 12
The Murder of Miranda by Margaret Millar. Really funny mystery - feels like a Golden Age detective novel but actually written in the 70s.
We'll prescribe you a cat by Syou Ishida. Cute but just on the interesting side. Mild magical realism, and a very quick read.

Book 4 is "Precious Bane" by Mary Webb. I've been intending to read this for years and I can see why it's a minor classic. The protagonist Prue Sarn is a wonderful character. It's written in Shropshire dialect from 200 years ago so I had to concentrate 😀

OK so I didn't do very well in finding something a bit different to my usual twisty thriller!
Book 8 Ruth Ware The Lying Game.

I got a load of books for my birthday so I'm going to have to get reading - have only read one of my Christmas books!
Has anyone read the Margaret Atwood autobiography? My mum gave it to me, she likes Atwood, I'm quite selective in which of hers I like and I haven't read The Handmaid's Tale deliberately. Not sure if I'll like it.

I finished book 8, The Names by Florence Knapp, like pp. Before joining this thread, I had no idea it was so popular. My DH read it on his kobo and really enjoyed it, so I picked up the hardback version from a charity shop.

Some scenes were hard to read but overall, I enjoyed it and kept wanting to know what happened

I have finished
Book 6, The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré.

Book 7, Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

I'm moving on to book 8, The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.

Can I join please, late to the party but so far this year I have read:

1. The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
2. By any other name - Jodi Picoult
3. We live here now - Sarah Pinborough

All very good books, just finished we live here now which had a great twist. Next book is Lone Wolf by Josi Picoult. She used to be my favourite author before having children, only just started back reading and realised that she had loads of books out that I have missed so she will feature heavily this year. Keen to join and keep motivated.

Completely agree, I was so disappointed with this as I’ve loved everything else she has written. I wanted to know more about backstory of the character who escaped as well (can’t remember any names as read it in hardback when it came out - what a waste of a good book token!!)

What did you think of The Silence of the Girls @Everintroverte ? It's on my intend to read list but we had a stressful year as a family last year and it looks to have quite traumatic content. Not sure I have the mental energy for it. I loved her Ghost Road trilogy, read those in the 90s and still remember them well.

3- the moon sister lucinda Riley.
Again I enjoyed this, im determined to finish the 7 sisters series this year although not sure im going to read anywhere near 26. Enjoying the recommendations though.

13 The Wife's Tale by Aida Edemariam. Lovely book about the author's grandmother and her long life from the early 20th century in Ethiopia. So much life and so much change. I put it down and picked it up about 3 years later and I'm glad I did.

I did enjoy the book and I think it's really well written, but there is no denying it's a hard read. The content is quite brutal at times and the book can be quite dark but it's balanced with the portrayal of the women in the tale and their resilience individually and collectively. Not the most uplifting book if you have had a rough time though!

Have just finished number 5 There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. It was a good read, interesting in how it weaved together the different timeframes and I enjoyed the water symbology. Not my favourite Elif Shafak novel but better than The Flea Palace which I read last year and really didn't like! The Island of Missing Trees is one of my favourite novels ever so I think I hold her to a high standard.

Book 6: Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney - I really enjoyed this, I’ve read it in 2 days which is v unusual for me! Some loose ends left but I really enjoyed all the twists and turns, a much better read than Beautiful Ugly which left me slightly annoyed

2026 books so far:
then she was gone
beautiful ugly
the intruder
the shadowman
the family upstairs

I'm currently listening to this on audiobook, but I'm not loving it as much as I'd hoped.

I absolutely hated the island of lost trees!! So haven’t read any others of hers.

Oh don't say that, I have that one to read as well. Friends really hyped her up to me, so I'm giving them a go.

Well others loved it so I am a lone voice!! Let us know what you think

Book 5 was a short one, "Going Back" by Penelope Lively. She's one of my absolute favourite authors and if you've not read anything by her (Moon Tiger, which is superb, won the Booker many years ago) this is a good introduction. Recommended.

I read it for book club last year and didn't love it, it started well but failed to hold my interest, if it hadn't been for BC I probably wouldn't have finished it.

I did like it, but agree it got a bit slow in the middle and then seemed to wrap up aggressively quickly. I really enjoyed The Bastard of Istanbul and 7 minutes 38 seconds in this world (rough approximation of the title!) so I do generally like the author.

1. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith.
   Enjoyable enough. I kept wanting to go back to it and the short chapters made it an easy read. Ending clever without being bloody irritating, so an improvement on the first book!
   I hadn’t planned to read any more Strikes after book 1 but my head was mashed with an accumulation of life shit and something familiar, daft and easy was actually really appreciated. Will probably read another at some point because it was a good antidote to life stressors.

2. Death Of The Heart by Elizabeth Bowen.
   I loved the writing - some fantastic passages of character description for example, which were so pleasing - but the bloke the teenage protagonist falls for is such a gaslighting narc it was incredibly infuriating and also very uncomfortable. Normally I love "a bit dated" novels with people behaving terribly and maybe on a sunny day this would have landed differently.

3. A is For Alibi by Sue Grafton.
   Again, an easy and enjoyable enough read but unsatisfying and I was dissapointed because I have heard such good things on here about the series I am in the market for a crime series. But this won't be it. I can't say what one of my main issues was because it would be a huge spolier.

4. The Mothers by Brit Bennett.
   Fantastic - I'd very much recommend this. Not as complex as The Vanishing Half but again serves rounded characters and a well plotted, paced and plausible story. Themes of motherhood (obviously) and to lesser extents religion, race and just general struggles around how to be an adult and who to be full stop. Would be a brilliant day off / flight / holiday read. If I could have binged this I would have, whereas with The Vanishing Half I felt breaks were needed.

3 Queen B by Juno Dawson

'The story of the original covenant and the beautiful and bewitching Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen'

I really enjoyed this novella. Not my usual read about witches and history but I flew through it.

3.5 out of 5.

Long train journeys meant I could finish two this week.

8 - Project Hail Mary by Andy Keir.
I read this after seeing it mentioned here a lot and having watched the trailer for the forthcoming film. Weirdly, I like sci-fi films just not reading them. Overall, I found it quite well-plotted but skimmed through most of the lengthy technical stuff. My biggest problem was understanding how Grace could have become such a senior person in the project in the first place. And Rocky was just able to fix everything. I will go and see the film though.

9 - The Killer Question by Janice Hallett
I've read all of her books but found this one the least enjoyable. I think it's because the format she uses is getting rather repetitive and this one was quite hard to follow in terms of all the characters. I did guess what happened though. Why introduce the actors without bringing them back at the end? Hopefully no spoilers!

Next is Jess Kidd's new one, Murder at Gull's Nest. I'm interested to see what she does with the format.