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.

5 Orbital by Samantha Harvey

A short novel about 6 astronauts orbiting the Earth, completing one rotation every 90 minutes, looking out onto their planet, thinking of home, of people, of space, of geography, of history and the past and the future.

Winner of the Booker Prize 2024 and beautifully written.

But just not for me 🙃

2.5 stars out of 5

DNF for me: Caledonian Road by Andrew O'Hagan. Prose is beautiful but I just could not get into this book. Restarted every chapter several times but too many character names and unconnected backstories.

19 How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin.
I think "a good read" sums this one up. Interesting premise, quite well done though a few too many stereotypes of small village life.

Good to see I'm not the only person that didn't like it, but I didn't even finish it, gave up half way through.

Been on a fantasy kick lately, read Fourth Wing, Iron Flame and Onyx Storm. I enjoyed them, but not desperate to read the next one when it comes out.

6: Mongrel by Hanako Footman
One of those books that had a promising start, got lost in the middle but pulled it together at the end. It is the story of three women who are all trying to find their way in the world having lost someone close to them.

@ItalianChineseIndianMexican your post has just reminded me that I bought Orbital on kindle and it's still unread (along with Hamnet).

This took me ages to read last year despite beibg so short

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
11. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
12. Ripeness by Sarah Moss
13. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

now going to try and stay The Great Alone which I got for 99p on kindle after seeing @beginwithasinglestep had read recently

Hope you like it. It was my first Kristin Hannah. I'm a sucker for great settings and it does that so well😊

Yes, it took me way longer than it should have to get through the 136 pages!

14 Everything We Do Is Music - Elizabeth Alker
How 20th-Century Classical Music shaped Pop.
After finishing Tracy Thorn's memoir, I decided to continue with the music theme and read another RWYO. I love Elizabeth Alker's "Unclassified" radio show and this book was so interesting. Now off to create a playlist of her recommended listening.

That sounds excellent @PinkOrangeRed. Off to pop it on my TBR list.

Excellent news, the library has it on audio! I'm hoping the music will be on there too!

@icedpuddles adding The Road to Station X to my tbr. Sounds very interesting and right up my street

Book 11 was Butter by Asako Yuzuki (tr Polly Barton). Really loved this book, thought it was a great exploration of food and the transgression of being a bit greedy!

I couldn't finish Butter @Twinsybalinsy!

@drspouse really?! What turned you off it? It was weirdly graphic in some places with the food descriptions but I do love food so I got past that.

I find it so interesting to hear from people who didn't like books I loved - e.g. I read Orbital last year and thought it was wonderful so very interesting to hear there are others who DNF!

On the flip side I have never once finished a Dickens novel....

I didn't really like the characters - I just found them false and hard to get excited about. Also I find some translations a bit stilted.

@Twinsybalinsy with Orbital, I posted last year that I enjoyed it in the moment, while I was actually reading it, but found once I put it down I had no desire to pick it up again. It really slowed my reading progress last year.

@Twinsybalinsy ive had Butter on my shelf for nearly a year and have been put off picking it up by other responses so it’s good to hear your take especially as I also adored and devoured Orbital!

@greencrab it was my favourite Kristin Hannah too and one of my favourite books ever. I also really liked The Nightingale and The Four Winds but have been steadily disappointed by every subsequent book!

10. A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J. Maas

I really didn’t want to be sucked into this series but I’ve fallen hard!!! It’s like a grown up version of Twilight crossed with Hunger Games. I’m all over it and all in!

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. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

Finally finished book number 5 The Night Circus by Erin Mirgenstein. I bought this book years ago and had never picked it up to read. It was absolutely captivating. Completely different to my usual reads but I loved it.

6 The Portrait by Antoine Laurain

I hadn't heard of the book or the author but I picked this up in the library and thought I'd give it a go - especially as it's only 128 pages long!

A French mystery with romance and history, not my usual sort of book but I sped through it in no time and quite enjoyed the ride.

3 stars out of 5

Book 6 - "Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of Isis" by Azadeh Moaveni
This was interesting but as it was published in 2019 already felt dated. Inevitably, things move on fast.

Book 11 Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York - Andrew Lownie Aptly named, I found it a bit repetitive and boring in places.

Book 12 Standing in Gaps: A memoir - Seamus O'Rourke (audio narrated by the author). I loved this and could listen to his voice all day. Very funny in places and very Irish.

Book 13 A Woman to Blame: The Kerry Babies Case - Nell McCafferty The story of a true case in Ireland. "Joanne Hayes, at 24 years of age, concealed the birth and death of her baby in County Kerry, Ireland, in 1984. Subsequently she confessed to the murder, by stabbing, of another baby. All of the scientific evidence showed that she could not have had this second baby. The police nevertheless, insisted on charging her and, after the charges were dropped, continued to insist that she had given birth to twins conceived of two different men."
This depressingly lays bare the treatment of women in Ireland.

Book 14 Leaning on Gates- Seamus O'Rourke this is a follow up to his memoir as above. I did enjoy these books.

Finished book 6 - Things we do not tell the people we love. 3.5/5. Some nice short stories but I didn't feel particularly captivated by any of them. Would be interested to read a longer novel and see how she develops her characters.

Book 7 will be The Names by Florence Knapp.

1. Silence of the girls 5/10
2. By Any Other Name - Jodi Picoult. Good tale about feminism 6/10
3. We live here now - Sarah Pinborough. Great horror story with some good twists and turns. 7/10
4. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult.
5. We begin at the end - Chris Whittaker
6. Things we do not tell the people we love - Huma Qureshi