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.

17. Heart the Lover by Lily King. I got really swept away by this novel, it's characters and story. It felt sparse but meaningful. My only complaint is that the female protagonist seems to bear the burden of expectation of tolerating and enduring the naive male characters at her own cost. Like she is meant fix them and wait in the sidelines while they figure themselves out

25 The Seven and a half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton.
I don't recommend putting this book down for 3 years and then trying to work out what's going on.

I read this last year. It was awful. I don't recommend even picking it up 😂

I decided to plough on because I thought it was an easy Goodreads bookmark. At least I didn't spend that long reading it (this year!).

I was going to read this. Thanks for the heads up!

Hours of my life I'll never get back 😂I should have given up but I'd got a third of the way through and I don't like quitting...

17 The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
A re-read after having finally watched the Netflix series with Andrew Scott (excellent series but he was too old for the role of Tom Ripley. Nice touch with the cameo by John Malkovich who played the same character in Ripley's Game). Tempted to read the recent biography about Patricia Highsmith, it does sound like she was extremely strange.

@Philandbill totally agree re The Seven and a half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. This was a DNF for me, it was awful.

Book 11

The Safekeep. Im a bit conflicted about this one. I did really enjoy it, but found the change in Isobels behaviour/thoughts just wild. I was drawn back to keep reading though so I'd say the positives outweighed any negatives.

I'm struggling with this, it's a borrowbox loan and I'm so tempted to just let it expire. Your review indicates it does not get any better.

Book no 11 (my numbers have got confused!). The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins. This was a gentle book following the life of an Irish Traveller boy (Pavee) and his search to understand his roots. I've worked with the community before when I was a school attendance manager, so I found this book really inciteful. Would recommend.

I was put off by the first few pages. Even then I seemed confused by it.

@Troubledwords it doesn't get better imo

13 Absalom! Absalom! by William Faulkner Almost the opposite style to Flesh. Very long and complex sentences, Faulkner even has to put the subject's name in brackets at times because he thinks readers might get confused who is being talked about. Not one to dip into. It had me reaching for the dictionary a few times.
I like Faulkner, he is not an easy read in style or subject but, I find that when you get into it, his writing almost has a rhythm which makes it hard to put down. The first chapter is pretty confusing but it gets easier to read as it goes on. It is overtly about the US South around the time of the civil war and after and what drives a man, what he will do to go from nothing to rich and powerful and the impact on those around him. It has some race issues which are awful and the civil war, US southern society issues. A review said view it as gossip which is helpful and it raises some interesting points about story telling. This is because the story goes around and around, with parts almost endlessly repeated and told in a swirling mass, usually by people who were not there, were not involved, didn't know the people involved and so who knows what the real story is. The women were so incidental, used and thrown away by men, compare with Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. A main character started off in poverty in the Appalachian mountains and so it had a little tie in to my recent read of Demon Copperfield too.

9. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith.
I enjoyed this the most of the 3 so far but I'm in a strange fix with thse books. I wasn't that arsed who the killer was once they were revealed, and I'm beyond fed up with the constant updates about Strike and Robin in relation to how they think and feel about one another. She's miffed he didn't say thanks for the tea she made, he's wondering why she only ordered salad, she's delighted he...yadda yadda ugh. And yet I was thoroughly sucked in and have the next one out the library already.
I remember my friend saying not to think of them as crime novels and I get what she means, it's straying into daytime soap opera. But with more gore!

I’m just catching up with the Thread. This year seems to be the year of largely non-fiction for me.

1.Just Ignore Him by Alan Davies
2.Im Glad my mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
3.I’m Not As Well As I thought I Was- Ruby Wax
4.Paula, Michael & BoB- Gerry Agar (but if an odd one- went off on a Michael Hutchence obsession for a few weeks)
5.The Chimp Paradox-Steve Peters (this is an ongoing book )

Next:
You with the Sad Eyes- Christina Applegate

I have just finished this too. I'm reading for the second time and am paying a lot more attention to the clues this time so I feel the Strike and Ellacott soap opera is a lot less prominent. It was no 27 for me.

17 Heaven - Mieko Kawakami

picked this up in Japan when I finally found a tiny English section of a bookshop and so glad I did. Incredibly engaging and I’d not read her work before so picked up another at the airport on the way home

28 To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear. I loved the early ones in this series but they are possibly getting a bit same-ish, though the premise in this one was very interesting and apparently was from her own family.

12. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas

im really enjoying this series, I didn’t want to get sucked into the hype but here I am! It’s like a grown up version of twilight! I have a couple of book club books to read before I can return to Velaris for my next fix.

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. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
10. A court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J Maas
11. A Good Girls Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson
12. A court of wings and ruin - Sarah J Maas

18, Dark Wild Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Finished this last night - I loved the writing, the characters and the rugged setting. But there was a little lag in the middle where things stalled, before it all coming down to a very manic, slightly over-the-top end. it was very sad though, for so many reasons. I kept thinking that I certainly hope this family gets a lot of mental health support!

Not quite sure what to read next, though. This left quite an impression on me.

Number 14 for me was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I thought this was amazing - so evocative and sprawling although the time jumping did throw me a little. It felt a little hard going and bleak at times and was a prescient reminder of how life can be turned on its head.

I loved that for similar reasons @Twinsybalinsy.

13. The Cut Throat Trial - The Secret Barrister

ive just finished this on audio and it was absolutely brilliant. Read by a full cast I felt like I was right there in the court room. It follows a murder trial and is told in the perspective of the defendants, their lawyers, the prosecutor and the judge. The book is currently 99p on kindle but if you can get hold of the audio I would absolutely recommend it! I don’t think anything is going to top this one this year. I wish I could read/listen to it again!

2026 reads 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. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
10. A court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J Maas
11. A Good Girls Guide to Murder - Holly Jackson
12. A court of wings and ruin - Sarah J Maas
13. The Cut Throat Trial - The Secret Barrister

9: The Shipping News by E Annie Proulx
Really enjoyable but I did find the rhythm of the language quite difficult to get into. I'm keen to watch the film but am put off by the fact that Spacey is in it.

10: You are Here by David Nicholls
I read this in two days, a really easy read. I love walking and I was on a walking holiday so it was a perfect book for me!

8. Orbital - Samantha Harvey
   I enjoyed reading this while following the news of Artemis II but was also listening to…

9. Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
   so got a bit confused with which bit of space travel I was in at times! But as the first one was so short and read very quickly that didn’t last long. I went to see the film half way through listening to this and enjoyed the remainder even more as I could visualise everything

10. Seven Sisters - Lucinda Riley
    This was fine, read most of it on holiday but didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped as I found her writing style to be really weird and formal. Not sure if I’ll read any more of the series.