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 9 is We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare. This is a non fiction book about asylum seekers who try to cross the channel in small boats. Very interesting.

Book 20 was Mere by Danielle Giles about a cursed abbey in 990 Norfolk. Haven't quite decided how I feel about this book - I did find it gripping and read it quickly but some parts fell flat for me.

@Pigtailsandall I tried this book a couple of times then listened on audio after a recommendation. The audio version is much better imo. I found it interesting as it is set near to where I grew up.

Book 18 My Cousin Rachel -Daphne du Maurier loved this.
Book 19 Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier loved this one evening more!
Book 20 My Lover's Lover - Maggie O'Farrell Not as good as her other books, took me an age to read as a result.
Book 21 The Glorious Heresies- Lisa McInerney audio. This was brilliant, but sad in places. About a young drug dealer in Cork who lost his mother at an early age and his father is an alcoholic. There is a follow up that I must try to get.

I'm listening to Spare, but not sure I'll finish it. There is just repeated giving out about the press and how life has wronged him.... It’s 15 hours long!

@Tinkhasflown my 2 favourite Du Maurier books!

7 James by Percival Everett
Very fast paced and easy to read.

That’s should be book 8! The full list -

1. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman
2. Life Impossible, Matt Haig
3. Atomic Habits, James Clear
4. The Unfinished Business of Eadie Browne, Freya North
5. Thinking 101, Prof Woo-Kyoung Ahn
6. One of Us, Elisabeth Day
7. You’ve Got This, Dr Michaela Dunbar
8. James, Percival Everett

Just finished listening to 26. Atmosphere - TJR. Wow what an emotional rollercoaster that was! It took me a while to get into but I think that’s because I was listening whilst sunbathing on holiday and I may have drifted off in some parts. The duel timeline confused me a little but once this got going I could not stop listening!! Julie Whelan is such an emotive narrator, I felt like I was right there beside Joan at the end and the relationship between her and her niece was so touching!! Definitely had a bit of suncream in my eye moments with this one!!

also realised I haven’t updated for a while. The last time was for book 18! So a quick review of 19-23

19. The One - John Marrs - my first John Marrs book and it was brilliant!! Can’t wait to read the next ones in the series!

20 . The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard (audio) - this was ok. Didn’t really grip me

21 . A court of silver flames - Sarah J Maas - the last in the series so far. Good but not as great as some of the others in my opinion.

22 Long Time Gone - Charlie Donlea - seen some decent reviews of Charlie Donlea recently so thought I’d give this a go. Was ok. Nice quick easy twisty thriller holiday read.

23 Good Girl bad blood - Holly Jackson - was supposed to be buddy reading this with my daughter on holiday but she blew me off for the pool so I finished it before her. Was ok. A good follow on from the 1st but wouldn’t be my usual book choice.

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 (audio)
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 (audio)
14. Daisy Jones and the six - TJR (audio)
15. Fourteen days - various authors
16. The Family - Mario Puzo
17. A court of Frost & starlight - Sarah J Maas
18. The Correspondent - Virginia Evans
19. The One - John Marrs
20. The Nothing Man - Catherine Ryan Howard (audio)
21. A court of silver flames - Sarah J Maas
22. Long Time Gone - Charlie Donlea
23. Good Girl bad blood - Holly Jackson
24. Atmosphere - TJR (audio)

Book 17: Ward D by Freida McFadden

I’ve really enjoyed this book, the characters were intriguing and the plot was fast paced.

2026 books so far:
then she was gone
beautiful ugly
the intruder
the shadowman
the family upstairs
Rock Paper Scissors
The Family Remains
The House we Grew up in
It Should Have Been You
Dont Let Him In
Daisy Darker
Someone In The Attic
The Tenant
One Click
The Other Side Of The Wall
No One Saw A Thing

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
14. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
15.Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
16. We begin at the end by Chris Whittaker.
17. Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho
19. What will people say by Sahaj Kohli, a blend of memoir and self help book around mental health is disaporia communities.

I read this last one for a book club I joined inspired by the fun I have had in this thread. Thank you! It has reminded me how much in like reading and talking about books.

Book 9 Manifest - Roxie Nafousi

I'm a little embarrassed by this one. At 45, I've faced too many adversities (to put it mildly) in my life to easily embrace the idea of ‘trust the Universe’. I feel stuck in a rut at this stage of my life and would love something inspiring and motivating, but this is not it. I can’t believe Penguin published it in 2022, to be honest. It feels very much like a rewrite of personal development books from the early 2000s.

@u3ername
I really enjoyed Manifest. I listened to it on audio a couple of years ago after a friend recommended it to me. Within the year I had requested study support for my higher qualification at work and it was accepted and received a promotion off the back of it.
it made me realise that we are the makers of our own fate. Although the book on surface is to manifest what I actually took from it was that we have to put the balls in motion and set our own plates spinning in order to accomplish our goals.
each to their own I suppose but it definitely gave me the confidence to believe in myself and go for it!

@MammaGnomes I see how it can help people at a certain stage in their life. I, personally, had already read similar books long time ago and didn’t find anything new here.

What I found hard to read by this particular author, (who admits she hasn’t been earning her own money up until three years ago and she has only started being a ‘manifestation specialist’ since then), was the ‘trust the universe’ and ‘it was meant to be’. This is hard to read when you’ve buried a loved one, have a chronic illness, have been a victim of a heinous crime, etc.

But if we take from it - define your goals and focus on them - yeah, that’s good.

39 *Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line" by Elle Cosimano. I like this series, it's kind of as if Stephanie Plum was a bit better off and a single mum.

11 Bel Canto by Ann Pratchet.

I think someone else read this in this thread and commented on it coincidentally on the day i got it in a charity shop. I really loved this book, beautifully written and enjoyed the characters and the unlikely relationships. Left me wanting a little more.

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
14. The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah
15.Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
16. We begin at the end by Chris Whittaker.
17. Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
18. Two Lives Together by Lauren Ho
19. What will people say by Sahaj Kohli
20. Strangers by Belle Burden- I had got this on an Amazon 99p kindle deal and didn't know anything about the fuss surrounding it. I actually really enjoyed it but was a quick read maybe 4 hours max

I read this a couple of years ago. It’s one of those books I still think of.

Ive just finished Flashlight by Susan Choi which was number 9 for this year.

12. Wedding People by Alison Espach. Read in a few days on a hot laze-about holiday. Brilliant holiday read! Snappy dialogue heavy with lots of incident so easy to speed through. Twists largely but not entirely predicable and no less enjoyable for it.

Literary professor whose husband has left her plummets into depression, walks out her job mid lecture and checks into a madly expensive hotel. Turns out she is the only guest not there for a lavish wedding week and shouldn't have been given a room. She and the bridezilla cross paths and some unlikely friendships are sparked. Darkly comic, lots of ridiculous but fun contrivances along with musing on Jayne Eyre's walking habits and depressive states.

17. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

This was a light read for my holiday and had such a bizarre story line. It's about a single woman looking for love - every time her husband went up into the attic, a new husband came down! She went through hundreds of husbands, hoping for the perfect man to appear - sending the undesirable ones into the loft for fabricated reasons. I really enjoyed this, it made a change to my usual books.

40 The Overstory by Richard Powers.
I had this book because I bought it for my brother but he'd already read it. It's basically about trees, very American focussed, not what I'd normally read but actually very interesting. Mild magical realism, fairly political, though I know we have some of the same issues with forestry but not as intensive. Long though: I decided to start reading it because it was on the Goodreads long books list. Dragged a bit in the middle but I read the last 1/4 really quickly.

Book 10 You Are Here by David Nicholls.
I really enjoyed this book, a very easy read but with some great observations about relationships. Could not put it down and have that slightly bereft feeling now I've finished it.

24.Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

This was one of my "read what you already own" along with Purity, Middle England, Vanishing Half and Milkman. I'm glad I finally got to it and Im slightly annoyed I hadn't done so before, after loving Lacuna amd Poisonwood Bible. What a beautifully crafted book, so sad and full of characters. There's so many layers to this book that I coukd write an essay about it. Definitely one of my favourite reads of the year.