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 12, Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis. This book is having a bit of a moment right now, and I understand why. It manages humour and relatability within a different subject. Easy to read and engaging, but something about it still felt a bit surface-level, it kind of whizzed past difficulty somewhat brazenly. I loved the main character Nadia though

Just finished #7 Slow Horses by Mick Herron - I got this for Christmas having watched all of the series already. It took a little while to be into but then I enjoyed it, but I wonder has anyone else read these either before or after watching the series? The Lamb character is so absolutely Gary Oldman he just leaps off the page, I suppose that’s a testament to him as an actor as much as the written character? I found it a bit off putting at first but then settled into it. The other characters aren’t all such carbon copies so i had to let go of the images of them and create my own. Interesting experience to read something I’d already watched, I would usually do it the other way around I suppose!

I really liked this book when I read it last year.

19 Clown Town by Mick Herron. This is no 9 in the Slow Horses series and it didn't disappoint. I can see Gary Oldman et al as I read. It was a Christmas present from DS guided by DH but he didn't notice it was no 9. So now I know about things that happened before this one but that aren't in the TV series yet. But that's ok!

I watched the first two Slow Horses seasons when they came out on TV, then binged all the books on audible and have carried on watching each season as it's come out and reading new books on release. It does get a bit muddly timeline-wise but both are brilliant.

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
9.A midlife holiday by Carry Hanson
10. Nesting by Rosie O'Donnell

I really tried to read 1984 after discussion on here but just couldn't get into it and then lost my reading motivation for a bit

11. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou, I was loving this as it was fascinating to hear description of Southern US which I know little about until about a third in when there was a violent act described and so I really struggled with the rest

I loved this when it was new as a teen but don't think it's aged well. Probably didn't give me useful perspective on life and dating as a young woman either! The sequel "Mad about the boy" set 20 years later when she had children was more relatable as an adult.

8. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

I wanted a quick fast paced thriller whilst I was waiting for my next borrow box book to come in and this one did not disappoint! A shocking plot twist that I did not see coming and raised the hairs on my arms. I don’t usually give thrillers 5 stars as I normally find them quite predictable but this got me so It’s a 5 star from me
if you like Freida and Lisa you’ll like Alice too. This one is currently free on Prime and I think a couple of her others are as well

2026 books so far

1. What a Way to Go - Bella Mackie
2. All the Colours of the Dark - Christopher Whittaker
3. The Briar Club - Kate Quinn
4. The Names - Florence Knapp
5. None of this is True - Lisa Jewell (audio)
6. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J Maas
7. James - Percival Everett
8. Daisy Darker - Alice Feeney

9 - Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
this was a booker 25 and I was really looking forward to it. Was really disappointed! Nice descriptive writing but otherwise I found it slow moving and unimaginative. Not for me but it was a quick read.

13 Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan. A novella, rather than a novel. But incredibly impactful. I read this on Sunday as I had a very late lie-in and loved it. I definitely want to read her other stories now

@greencrab I have to say I found 1984 a struggle at times, even though I have read it before.

Book 7 - Heated Rivalry Rachel Reid.

Second in the series, enjoyable easy read. Quite explicit!

Onto book 8 - Verity, Colleen Hoover. Flying through them this year! (For me).

The Astral Library, by Kate Quinn.

This was a book club pick, and it sounded really good, however it didn't live up to expectations. An easy read though.

Book number 10 Satantango by Laslo Krasznahorkai. Very weird book, not sure how I feel about it to be honest.

6 Middlemarch - the title had put me off in younger days as it just sounds so boring. I thought the insights that it had into married life and people's personalisties and relationships were marvellous. I really enjoyed it. I do like the classics. I would highly recommend it.

I haven’t but will have a look!

It worked well although stupidly because I found it so easy I started again! Argh!

@icedpuddles Middlemarch was one of my A level English Literature texts many years ago and has stayed with me. It's really good. I've recently been listening to it on audio book.

10 - The Strange Case of Jane O - Karen Thompson Walker
This isn’t necessarily a book that id normally pick up but I really enjoyed it. It was a page turner with a clever element of sci-fi alongside psychology, memory and love. Good read.

Just finished book #5 - we begin at the end by Chris Whitaker.

Amazing read, it took me a few chapters to get into it but I was hooked. Loved all the characters and development of the story.

Book 6 - things we do not tell the people we love.

Book 8 - Verity Colleen Hoover. Picked this up in tesco on a whim, and really enjoyed it! No difficulty getting into it at all, quite sinister at times and a crazy twist.

I only read 14 books all year last year, at least 2 of them were very short. I think its safe to say Ive got my readibg mojo back!

Finished book no 9 - Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris. This is a sequel to the Tattooist of Auschwitz, based on a true story. It follows the life of a woman who went from Auschwitz, straight to the camps in Siberia, as she was unjustly charged with collaborating with the Nazis. The suffering was so hard to read, but Cilka's strength was amazing. A really good read.

Finally finished 9. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir on Audio. I had read so many reviews that the audio was so much better than the book but I really struggled with it and I’m disappointed I didn’t read the book.
I do think it’s because I have an audio on in the background whilst I’m working and there was some pretty scientific technical terms that went totally over my head and the switching between past and present was hard to keep up with on audio.
that said it was a good story and I’m looking forward to watching the film

no. 7 Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty - audiobook - I quite enjoy her books, I think this is an early one and some things are a bit repetitive if you have read a few. It was enjoyable. They are long too and I did get a bit bored at one point but I always do with audio books!

No 8 Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V E Schwab - this was for a book club. Not my usual sort of thing. It is well written, has a good pace but I did tire of the horror aspect involved. Some bits had a bit of a Bridgerton flavour and she did manage to cover many genres. She has written an impressive amount of very well selling books for her age, so kudos to her!

no 9 The Road to Station X by Sarah Baring This is a short autobiography and was noted in the afterword of the Rose Code by Kate Quinn. I think it is fair to say some parts of the Rose Code are borrowed very heavily from this book. It is less than 200 pages, it is about her life just before WWII and during the war, including some about her work at Bletchley Park. It was insightful and I learnt some things about the war as well as finding it quite moving even though it was unsentimental. She was a deb, had an interesting privileged family and was growing up to be an adult during the war. I love an autobiography, it is written in a very straightforward way which I like, very interesting. I enjoyed it so much. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an autobiography.
It is part of a sort of collection of books which are autobiographies of different people's experienced during WWII. I might have a look at some of the others in the future.
Sarah Baring must have had an interesting life in other respects and it is a shame she did not write an autobiography covering some other aspects too as I am sure it would have been brilliant. Maybe she couldn't given who her ex-H was and her son.

#14 Saturday by Ian McEwan. Forgettable. Too impressed with his own intelligence. Shame really as I love child in time and atonement but this was bloated and overwritten and full of entitled boring characters

This literally word to word how I'd describe too