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

Upon A White Horse by Peter Ross
His best yet. He explores Britain and Ireland for stone circles, cists, Roman settlements, and chalk hill monuments. It’s often a deeply personal exploration as well as an archaeological one, as he discovered his love of uncovering ancient artefacts alongside his grandparents. I appreciated the fact he doesn’t include photos of the bodies found in peat bogs (apart from one close up of an hand), according them the respect I feel they deserve. Too much to go into here, but I particularly liked the theory of the Sutton Hoo ship being two fingers to encroaching Christianity, the family affair that is Vindolanda and the overall joy and wonder he puts into his writing. He also avoided hanging the narrative on one single person, as he did in a previous book, instead letting a variety of people speak about how the various sites and discoveries have affected them.

I fell off the thread for a few days and you are all on Page 6 of thread 2 already!
@PermanentTemporary I am sorry for your loss xx

Going back to the Audio question - I listen to mostly Audio - a mix of Borrowbox and Audible. I speed up if it is very slow. I recently listened to Stephen Fry read Great Expectations and even at x1.5 it seems slow| Good narrator though!

I remember reading Nothing to Envy several years ago - I actually think it was one of the first books I ever bought on Kindle. I still remember some of the stories, so it must have impressed onme. I was living in South East Asia at the time and it didn't really seem that far away.

Anyway this is my list so far:

1. A Place of Execution - Val McDermid
2. The Ministry of Time - Kaliane Bradley
3. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
4. The Glass Maker - Tracey Chevalier
5. Nothing Ventured - Jeffrey Archer
6. The Janus Stone - (Ruth Galloway 2) - Elly Griffiths
7. The Reckoning - (Maeve Kerrigan 2) - Jane Casey
8. The Last Girl (Maeve kerrigan 3) - Jane Casey
9. Lincoln in The Bardo - George Saunders
10. After The Party - Cressida Connolly
11. The Briar Club - Kate Quinn

12. Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy This was recommended on here, I had never had Maeve Binchy on my radar before, I think I had her down as a bit chick-lit and fluffy. Anyway, I really enjoyed this - an easy read as in not taxing but rich in family saga/relationships etc. It's the story of shy only child Elizabeth who is evacuated to stay with distant family friends the O'Conners in neutral Ireland to escape the Blitz in WW2. The bond Elizabeth makes with the O'Connors and their five children, especially Aisling who is the same age. The story follows the two families over the next two decades as Elizabeth and Aisling grow up, and experience marriage breakdown and illegal abortion, both scandalous in the late 1940s/early 1950, deaths of their parents, marriage, relationships and births of children. Largely the story of strong women (and mostly inadequate men) and the power of enduring friendship.

I'm now reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Really enjoying it, but will need something lighter afterwards, and might go and knock off a few more Ruth Galloway and/or Maeve Kerrigan

The Hotel - Daisy Johnson

This is a series of linked stories about a hotel and the cursed land it was built on. It's pretty creepy and I found it effectively atmospheric. It's not hardcore horror or anything, but once or twice I had to pause and put it down as the images were so unsettling.

i enjoyed the mystery of the hotel and the unanswered questions about its visitors, mostly women, who find they are entrapped or disturbingly affected by it. Some readers might want more of a resolution or explanation; I'm on the fence about whether I'm one of them. I think this is a bold for me as it was certainly an experience to read it.

@PermanentTemporary so sorry for your loss xx
@Terpsichore hope your wrist heals quickly! Xx

I decided to read a Mick Herron after hearing all these good things. I bought Slow Horses and also Down Cemetery Road. I have just finished the latter. Meh. What am I missing? It was OK . But no better than that.

@Piggywaspushed On the back of the TV series I bought all the Mick Herron ones and they have all ended up filed DNF.

@PiggywaspushedI’ve enjoyed all the Slow Horses books, currently reading the latest Clown Town , but DNFed Down Cemetery Road. Couldn’t get into it at all

I’ve also tried and failed with Mick Herron @Piggywaspushed read the first THREE Slow Horses and just didn’t care less

Interesting. Thanks. I'll give Slow Horses a go ...

Slow Horses Loved the series, DNF the book.

I wasn’t able to get on with Slow Horses either but intend to give it another go at some point after all the love on here.

11. The Lark - E. Nesbit

Latest Rather Dated Bookclub read. This is a slightly different E. Nesbit than most of us know, as it’s an adult novel, but an entirely charming and lighthearted one. It’s 1922 and school friends and cousins Jane and Lucilla are expecting a modest legacy that will give them both an income. Instead they discover the money's been speculated away by the fund's guardian, leaving them only a small (but perfectly formed) house and a lump sum to set up some sort of money-generating business.

Determined to look on this blow as a 'lark' rather than misfortune, they accidentally hit on a scheme - selling flowers - that has potential. Soon unexpected new avenues open and handsome young men present themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this despite its fairytale character - you can’t help cheering the girls on. More discussion to come over on the RDBC thread.

14 Helping You to Identify and Understand Autism Masking: The Truth Behind the Mask by Emma Kendall

I’ve long suspected that I’m on the autism spectrum and recently decided to pursue a diagnosis. As part of this journey I’ve done a lot of research on the symptoms and how they present. On of the aspects of autism that I have most struggled to understand is masking. I just can’t see what elements of what I do is masking, what is natural development and growth, and what is just me. This book serves as a useful introduction to the subject, it’s short but packs in quite a bit of information. I think it’s more useful to those wanting to understand and support autistic people in their lives rather than autistic / potentially autistic people themselves. It didn’t really give me what I was looking for, but that’s not a reflection on this book. It’s just not the right book, for the right person, at the right time.

The Maeve Kerrigan books are in the kindle daily deals today. If you haven’t read them before quite a few of us on the thread really rate them.

Was coming to post that @MamaNewtNewt

I have only read the first one so
might have to splurge!

I bought book 2, will start it tomorrow. Also Ben Elton’s autobiography

Feb deals are up: got Anne Youngson: Three Women and a Boat and Barbara Kingsolver: Pigs In Heaven

8 Flesh David Szalay Halfway in, I was convinced this was set to surpass A Little Life as my most hated book ever. Unconvincing, uninteresting and all characters unlikeable. It improved a bit. I became interested in the hero a bit. It should still have been a dnf, except for the fact that the last sentence is great.

I also came straight here to alert everyone to the Maeve Kerrigan books! Definitely recommended. It’s not quite the whole series though - the most recent one isn’t included.

I’m another one that DNF Slow Horses. Just couldn’t get into it.

Finished 13 All the Rage by Virginia Nicholson
This is RWYO but only just- I bought it at the end of last year. It’s about the evolution of fashion, hair, make-up etc- basically women’s appearance from 1860-1960. As someone who doesn’t give a shiny shit about fashion this may have been an accidental buy but it was surprisingly enjoyable. I like how Nicholson focused in on the political aspects of it and her conclusions that the more freedom we’ve had in our appearance, the more scrutinised we’ve become and that tweakments etc are just the corsets of our era. I also like how she didn’t just focus on rich, white women and looked at a variety of women in western society. Decent read.
I also DNFed a library audio read Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff- I’d enjoyed the first but had forgotten how irritating I found the second POV character in the second book of this fantasy vampire trilogy so when she came up again in book 3 I thought life’s too short (especially as it’s 36 hours long). All this DNFing is improving my reading I think.

@Terpsichore hope you're not in too much pain 🌺

Thanks for the heads up on the Maeve Kerrigan series in the deals. I've just bought 4-7. I read the first 3 end of last year 😁

@MamaNewtNewt I have Jane Casey on my authors to watch list on eReaderIQ but I can't remember why? I must have added her on recommendation from here. I've bought book 1 today.

Also on 99p (or free to borrow on prime reading) is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. If you like The Rose Code this is in a similar vein.

@Terpsichore I have fond memories of reading E. Nesbit as a child in the 1960s and The Phoenix and the Carpet is on my TBR after I found they are all out of copyright and free to download.

Currently reading:

Dr B by Swedish writer Daniel Birnbaum, about a German-Jewish journalist who has fled the Nazis to live in Sweden and gets tangled up in international espionage. I’m only a couple of chapters in but enjoying it so far. It’s got a slightly melancholic, unnerving feel to it, which I think mirrors the main character’s displacement.

Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff - second in the Nevernight trilogy and as violent, morally grey, blood soaked and sexy as the first. It’s not as good as his Empire trilogy but I am still enjoying it hugely.

I tried the first Maeve K after recommendations on here and thought it was awful. I think lots of you said they get better, so I’ll try the sample of the second.

I’ve bought:
The Artist which I think a few people rated last year
A Poirot that I don’t think I’ve read (currently also reading another one)
A historical crime thing that I’d never heard of and have already forgotten the name of

Our Wives under the Sea is in there, which was a bold for me a couple of years ago, if anyone fancies that. Also Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.

Yes the first couple of books in the Maeve series aren’t the best. They start getting good from about book 3 onwards. Definitely a series worth sticking with. I almost never pay more than 99p for a kindle book but I ended up paying full price for a couple of these because I was so desperate to keep reading immediately.