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

1. Vianeed Joanne Harris
2. Intermezzo Sally Rooney
3. in Memoriam Alice Winn
4. The Wedding People
5. September Rosamund Pilcher
6. Winter Solstice. Rosamund Pilcher

The last 3 were easy reads whilst suffering from flu

Don't worry, I feel no pressure whatsoever, just admiration for the number of books some of you are able to read! Oh, and a little bit of envy as we all know there are so many books and so little time!!

13 38 Londres Street by Philippe Sand . About the arrest of General Pinochet in the UK when he arrived here for medical treatment. The Spanish requested that he be extradited to Spain for genocide and crimes against humanity. While following the case Sands was investigating to try to connect Walther Rauff to the torture and disappearances of Pinochet opponents. He was the Nazi who designed the vans that were used to murder Jews before the gas chambers, about 93000 people were murdered using the vans.
A very interesting book although I found it hard going to keep all the names straight in my head

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

My list so far:

1. The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
2. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
3. Is Heathcliff a Murderer? by John Sutherland
4. Can Jane Eyre be Happy? by John Sutherland

And I’ve just finished:

5. The Island by C L Taylor

Six teenage friends are off on a week long wilderness survival holiday on a remote tropical island.

Things go badly wrong when their guide dies of a stroke on their first morning there, and they discover that their boat’s been sabotaged leaving them with no way off the island and no way to call for help.
Things then start to get worse when it looks like the phobias they were sharing with each other have started being inflicted upon them.

It’s a fairly fast paced thriller and it kept me reading, although it’s probably not going to be the most memorable.

Thank you @Southeastdweller . I seem to be reading at a slower pace than usual this year, which isn’t a problem. Currently savouring Upon A White Horse - absolutely beautiful.

@Tarragon123- I didn’t notice Ruth obsessing over her weight as much in the later books, but it still crops up every so often. I find it quite annoying too, as it’s very imitation Bridget Jones (“Oh, I feel awful as I’m so much fatter / less attractive than the other women in the book, but quelle surprise all the most eligible men prefer me!”). It’s a shame, as if the weight issue was treated realistically it might be less annoying - I can imagine Ruth grumbling to herself about how being overweight was affecting pregnancy. Your post also prompted me to buy the first of Cynthia Harrod-Eagles books for the next time I need a large dose of escapism - I’ve no idea why I didn’t read them when younger as I can remember them taking up quite a bit of space in the library.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh- do you listen to French podcasts (& if so would you recommend any)?

4.The children of men by PD James

This is a dystopia where no one has been born for 25 years. Our narrator is an Oxford lecturer who is apathetic till a group ask for his help given his connection to the leader of the UK who is his cousin.

This was for book club and I could only get the audiobook from the library. I'm not normally good with fiction on audio but thought I would try. Then I was thoroughly sucked in. Definitely a bold from me. My book group hated it though.

@bibliomania Oh dear, I wasn’t really recommending it! It’s one of those books based on a social media account (in this case, Men Write Women on Twitter) and there’s enough material for a solid essay, but not for book format. It’s also full of daft faux writing exercises where ‘you too can learn to write like a man.’

But I read to the end because there were little flashes of brilliance like this: ‘These are men who can spend months, if not years, researching everything from the way that blood splatters to how the Ottoman Empire fell, but when it comes to women, for some reason it’s easier to simply pretend. We are the here be dragons on the map, worth imagining but not encountering and better kept to the fantastical.’

Ha, don't worry, @LadybirdDaphne , I didn't read your review as recommendation!

3 Bookish: How reading shapes our lives – Lucy Mangan
I loved this sooo much. I really enjoyed Bookworm which I read a few years back but this... I related to it on so many levels, and I just love her writing style. I'm sure most of you have read it already but if you haven't - I 100% recommend.

@Benvenuto I listen to 'C dans l'air' and 'L'Heure du Monde' for current affairs and I like 'Coffee Break French' for language/culture, all on Spotify. I listen to programmes on 'France Culture' on the Radio France app. I haven't looked around for anything else in a while.

A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett - the Queen and Rozie investigate the death of a member of staff, poison pen letters and the theft of artwork from the palace. Enjoyed this more than the first book in the series.

Plain Bad Heroines
I liked this a lot and it would be a bold if I was a bolder. Was it perfect? Nope. It needed some trimming and it was a bit too knowingly clever in places. It stretched credibility in that everyone and their dog was either gay or bi or non-binary but the novel was none the worse for that. I thought it was really clever and lots of fun. I loved the shifts and I loved the mix of old fashioned next to the insta clicks stuff. And Merrit became less annoying and moved down my, ‘Die’ request list.

I can’t remember who recommended it, but thanks very much. @EineReiseDurchDieZeit it could be one for you, if it wasn’t you recommending it.

Not I @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I’m interested but I’m trying not to buy at the moment

Evening 50 Bookers, and a big thanks to @Southeastdweller for keeping us organised. My list to date:

1.Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
2.The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits
3.Bournville by Jonathan Coe.
4.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
5.Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
6.Shattered by Hanif Kureishi

After starting the year with a series of relatively short and sensible reads, I am now midway through the very long and deeply silly Jump! by Jilly Cooper.

@laddersandsnakes16 Nothing to Envy was one of the best things I read last year. Having read it I think I got more out of Flashlight, which was also great.

It was only £2.99 if that’s low enough to tempt you.

I finished
12 Different Class by Joanne Harris
This is the sequel to Gentlemen and Players set at the fictional St Oswald’s school and featuring the aging Latin master Roy Straitley. Straitley has a distinctive voice and is close to retirement. He’s not always reliable. A new head brings consternation when Straitley realises he’s a past pupil that he didn’t like much. Meanwhile there are flashes back to an old mystery in the school. Harris clearly knows staffroom politics and the book speeds along at a rollicking pace as twists abound. This was great fun though there was something unresolved that I wasn’t happy with and I’m really hoping it’s dealt with in the next book as there is one remaining in the series.
I also DNFed Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Road on audio. The audio recording wasn’t great- volume going up and down and the book just wasn’t working for me at this time- the writing is a bit dry and in the first four hours it spent longer on religion than I’d have liked. I may go back to it at some stage.
I doubt I’ll finish another book in January and I’m very happy with my number which is significantly down on last years average of 18 books a month. I’ve spent more time over each book and read some big tomes this month. Looking forward to what February brings (although I know that my book club reads are much shorter for the new month)

3. John & Paul; a love story in songs by Ian Leslie
Not exactly burning up the pace here, but due to the sad death of my mother two days ago I am off work and have more time, so promptly read and enjoyed this much-reviewed account, which I gave to dp for Christmas after all the recommendations on here. To me it’s very persuasive about the way that Lennon and McCartney wrote songs and how their influences and each other formed what they did, and I think the assesssment of the interplay of different kinds of love and trauma between them is great. A bold.

I am sorry for your loss @PermanentTemporary

Sorry to hear your sad news @PermanentTemporary

So sorry for your loss @PermanentTemporary💐

So sorry to hear that @PermanentTemporaryThinking of you

Ah, shit Perm, really sorry to hear that.

@PermanentTemporary So sorry for your loss.

Oh Perm so sorry