50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Two

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2026, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

The previous thread is

I’m 50% through The 7 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and I feel I need one of those detective walls covered in post its to keep track of the different characters

@elkiedeeOne I love the people but not the books. The second is new and I love the books they choose. The third one is a university alumni online one and is only quarterly. The fourth one I've joined is a podcaster I really enjoy and on zoom.

Perfectly understandable reaction 😀

I don’t recall it making much sense by the end either 😂

Oh god this doesn’t bode well!

I was bitterly disappointed by Howl’s Moving Castle having heard so much about it. Some of that will certainly be because I didn’t read it until I was an adult, but I’ve just dug out my review and, whilst I liked beginning well enough, I thought it became really chaotic and sloppy. I’ve not seen the film, but, again, hear very good things.

It’s a fair while since I read it and my memories are hazy at best. Looking forward to your review to see if it jogs my memory!

I did like the book though!

Re Howl , I really enjoy DWJ's work but I'd say "chaotic" is usually a feature of her endings! To the point that I presume that's what she's aiming for, as it's so consistent. I agree to me it's a flaw but I still love the worlds and the magic she creates.

I’m reading Paradise Lost by John Milton and am about to start The Sellout by Paul Beatty.

I’m also working through Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer, which is a very detailed, original and elaborately illustrated guide to writing fantasy fiction.

All the Lives We Never Lived - Anuradha Roy

The story of Myshkin, a boy whose mother ran off to pursue life as an artist rather than a housewife and mum in 1930s India. Really interesting to get a glimpse of what life was like at that time, and the groups trying to overthrow British rule - parallels between the country’s freedom and an individual’s (women’s) freedom. It’s interesting as she is portrayed as a sympathetic character despite abandoning her family which, even now, is not something society will tolerate of women. It is a little slow in places though so not sure it’s quite a bold, but definitely worth a read if anyone’s interested in the history of India at that time.

I LOVED Shuggie Bain and managed to find my long review (under my old username) here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/4081169-50-Book-Challenge-2020-Part-Ten?reply=102187096&utm_campaign=reply&utm_medium=share

I saw a lot of warmth and beauty in it, despite the awful bleakness. I will admit I have not been brave enough to go back for Round 2 with Young Mungo though (just as A Little Life has sat unread on my shelf for at least 5 years).

I loved Demon Copperhead and Shuggie Bain but A Little Life was too depressing for me!

I was a massive DWJ fan as a child. I don't remember reading Howl's Moving Castle, but I loved Charmed Life, Power of Three, Witch Week, Dogsbody and The Magicians of Caprona and read them over and over again. I'm not sure that re-reading them as an adult is a good idea. I couldn't bear to spoil the memory!

I’ve reread Dogsbody and The Ogre Downstairs as an adult and they hadn’t lost any of their magic for me. Gained a little more depth, in fact, now I can appreciate how she approached themes like blended families and anti-Irish racism. I might dig out Dogsbody in this season of Cŵn Annwn!
I attended an event where Cressida Cowell was talking about TOD as a formative book from her childhood and had a lovely chat with her afterwards about it. Our chemistry sets were never so exciting

Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line - Elizabeth Lovatt

This was a history of a telephone line running to support lesbians in the 90s. It was an interesting slice of history and switched between info about the organisation, fictionalised passages telling the callers' stories, and the writer's own coming out story.

I really enjoyed a lot of it and learned more about challenges faced by gay women at the time and the way they built supportive spaces despite a homophobic society. However I found there was a lot about identity and intersectionality which, to me, bogged the book down in finger wagging at the volunteers from 30 years ago.

I was also a bit concerned the volunteers seemed to have very little support or training, and that although the callers' stories had identifying details changed, that some of them would still recognise themselves. It must have been a difficult line to walk for the author, but I was grateful to have this insight into a unique piece of modern history.

@VikingNorthUtsire I had no idea you were Keith!! I wondered where you’d gone! Yes, at no point did I think to myself “oh I’m not going to read anymore of this” I thought it was exceptionally well written but there’s an incident between Shuggie and a man towards the end and it just felt like a bridge too far!

I've reread quite a lot of Diana Wynne Jones as an adult, and read some of her books for the first time, and think there is a lot to enjoy for adults.

I managed to finish my fourth book of 2026 . This was the quiet and thoughtful Homemade God by Rachel Joyce. It's a bit of a departure from her normal, funnier writing but it , as ever, captures people and their voices really well. The least likeable character is an abusive , artist father and the action , such as it is, centres around his marriage to a mysterious 27 year old (he is 76 - there are a lot of age gap relationships in this book)) and the various siblings' (all older than the new wife) responses to this and an event I shan't reveal (although the blurb does!). Goose is the most vulnerable, damaged and sensitively drawn. All the children are enormously damaged. Vic is an awful man but they can't - or won't- see it. It's all quite Freudian and generally one doesn't believe there are families like the Kemps - but Joyce is able to convince us that all families contain echoes of Kemp in their ways. The last 20 or so pages were lovely.

There is an interesting short piece of writing by Joyce at the end which explains the motivation for this novel.

7 The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Aidan wakes up as a different person and relives the same day 8 times. His job is to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. If he doesn’t, then the clock starts again and wipes his memories keeping him stuck in a loop over and over.

This was a lot. Loads of interwoven characters, all with sinister pasts or means, lots of murders and suspects, plot twists on every page and timelines that crisscrossed each other. But I really enjoyed it. I kept thinking I had solved it, but I really hadn’t. The reasons he was stuck there were odd but I didn’t mind as it was such a small part of the plot. It was a very unique take on a murder mystery, and even though it was long, the last half flew by as lots of threads were answered. Possibly a bold.

Afternoon all, I am immersed in John& Paul:A love story in songs every chapter is sending me down a rabbit hole of listening/further reading.
Absolutely loving it, but it is slowing me down considerably!

I love Howl - I agree that there are issues with the plot (although it’s the visit to Howl’s sister rather than the end that annoys me), but there is so much else in the book to enjoy. I love the castle & where it visits and how Sophie charms the hats and then Howl’s suit. I clean like Sophie and I’ve had times where thinking about the green slime episode has cheered me up when my DC were in a sulk. Favourite bits include when Sophie is talking to the witch or when Sophie, Calcifer and Michael are in the castle hanging out in a very studenty way & Howl arrives & demands their attention. I also love the aesthetic of the film and the first part, but I don’t like how departs from the book in the second part.

@countrygirl99with the caveat that I’m not a historian, these might be worth a look:

Antonia Fraser has books about the Gunpowder Plot, Oliver Cromwell, Charles II & Louis XIV that are old but I found them a good introduction to the period.

Sarah Fraser - The Prince who would be King (about Charles I older brother Henry - interesting re Charles I’s childhood).

Nancy Goldstone - Daughters of the Winter Queen - this also included Charles I’s nephews who were involved in the Civil War, which was an interesting continental perspective.

Royal Renegades by Linda Porter is about Charles I’s children - I enjoyed this.

Queen James by Gareth Russell is about James I so also covers Charles I’s childhood - this was readable, but focused on James I’s personal life, which I didn’t like so much as personal & political lives were so entwined in this period (the author is really worth listening to on a podcast though).

Melanie Clegg has written a biography about Charles II sister Henrietta.

The Not Just the Tudor podcast is also focussing on the 17th century at present.

I’ll be interested in what else you find, as I read a few 17th century books last month & would like to read more this year.

7 Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton

Oh my goodness this was bleak and oh my goodness it was well done. Set in the unsettling days before the outbreak of WWII, this novel follows George Harvey Bone, an alcoholic who has increasingly frequent episodes of what he calls "dumb moods", when a switch goes in his head, the world moves into black and white and he can't remember what he's been doing. Bone (as he's known by everyone) is obsessed with a beautiful but narcissistic and selfish wannabe actress, Netta Longdon, and his life is spent eking out his small amount of money following her from pub to pub and hoping against hope that she might spend time alone with him. The book covers a period of a few months, during which Bone's obsession and condition worsen; there are glimpses of potential redemption, which are dashed. Bone is a fantastic creation; Hamilton gradually reveals sympathetic aspects of his character as the unremitting trajectory of the story grows more ominous. The ending was almost a civilian reply to All Quiet on the Western Front. Really good (but please do not read if you need cheering up).

On the latter note and in line with all the wrist problems on this thread (hope you're improving @Terpsichore and sorry I can't remember who else is on the list!) - a friend of mine has recently had wrist surgery and I gave her Factfulness by Hans Rosling as something hopeful to read whilst convalescing. She says she is enjoying it very much, so thanks to whoever recommended it on here (sorry, I can't remember that either!).

Moving on to Due to a Death by Mary Kelly now - thanks also for that recommendation, Terpsichore!

[Edited to add names!]

I liked Demon Copperhead but didn’t love it- I think it went on for a bit too long but I think Barbara Kingsolver did the same in The Poisonwood Bible- it could have had a better ending if it had ended earlier. I hated A Little Life by the end. I haven’t read Shuggie Bain but it’s on my TBR as a Booker winner- I’m trying to read any I haven’t read before (I think around 32) over the next two years.

I finished
17 The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales
I had read her more recent book What the Wild Sea Can Be from the Women’s Prize Non-fiction longlist last year and loved it so picked this up in an Audible 2 for 1 not long afterwards. This one focuses on the abyss - the deepest part of the sea- the animals who live there, the damage we humans have done to it and how we can improve things. Both beautiful and sad. Really good read/listen.

Apologies for my bolding being all over the place

@Welshwabbit I have Hangover Square here and I know it's a thread favourite but I might need to turn to Factfulness (thank you for mentioning it as I was trying to recommend it to a friend recently and couldn't remember the title OR the author) as everything seems so grim right now.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit there are several 50 Bookers who I wonder whether they've disappeared or if they've just changed names. I seem to remember there was some kind of data breach and loads of us changed our usernames? Anyway, glad I could solve my own mystery disappearance at least.

@Piggywaspushed the Joyce sounds interesting. Not something I'd have picked up based on the plot but I liked your review so thank you.