50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Three

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 first thread of the year is here and the second thread here

Thanks @MaterMoribundand @BestIsWestI’m on the app so can’t see that.

Huh. I wish that group thing had been in play a few weeks ago when I was painstakingly trawling through old threads to find various things! Anyway, I’ve joined it now. Better late etc etc

@Stowickthevast- I think about writing style a lot when writing non-fiction reviews as there’s definitely a need for an interesting/ important and to trust that the author knows what (s)he is writing about, but there is also a need for a writing style to engage the readers and to motivate them to keep turning the pages. Daughters provided all of this as the story of the twins was absolutely fascinating and unpredictable and then there was the wider context of the book recounting an important episode about a country, which is an immensely important trading partner for the UK, but a partner which is a very long way away and very different to us. The other book on the NF longlist that I’ve thought reached my ideal standards was the Mackrell biography of Gwen & Augustus John as it too had that combination of being well-researched and well-written and made me become interested in the subject. They are the only 2 out of the ones that I’ve read so far that I would shortlist.

@Castlerigg& @SpunkyKhakiScroller- I was disappointed in We’ll prescribe you in a cat too for the same reasons as you (especially disappointing as I would love to be prescribed a cat). I wanted more cats and less loitering around searching for vanishing clinics.

@Piggywaspushed- thanks for the link to the Sir Walter Scott prize. I’m planning to read some once I’ve finished with the Women’s Prizes mainly because I think he deserves a prize given his influence in making the novel respectable.

42 . The Mitford Girls: The biography of an extraordinary family by Mary S Lovell - I think this was a recommendation from this thread, and it’s a bold as I really enjoyed it. The opening section was very enjoyable, as I found out that Nancy Mitford had given Uncle Matthew a lot of her father’s traits (such as the child hunt, calling young men “sewers”, putting names in drawers and taking an interest in the drains in the House of Lords - all the things that I find especially funny in her books) but her actual father also came across as very sympathetic. The later sections about adulthood were also very interesting but were much sadder. The only slight criticism is that I would have liked to have read more about the revival of Chatsworth.

43 . Heartburn by Nora Ephron - famous novel inspired by the writer’s divorce. I liked this & it grew on me, but it wasn’t quite as funny as I’d hoped - except the Preface, which was very funny when the writer described her ex-husband’s outrage about his bad behaviour being immortalised in fiction.

SPOILER

@CrochetGrannySquare- I remember reading Hotel du Lac as a teen and I didn’t get it either as I was disappointed that the main character didn’t get married. I was also was put off reading the Booker nominees at that age, which H du L probably contributed too.

Me too @Benvenuto, I’d love to be prescribed a cat! Although to be honest, if the three I’ve got can’t solve a problem between them, I’m not sure adding another one would help much.

Hi all. I got a couple of emails telling me that I’d been mentioned on the thread, so I’ve popped in quickly to say thank you for your kind thoughts.

Things here are still pretty rotten, to be quite honest. I haven’t done much reading at all, but I did manage to find and read a second hand copy of A Fortnight in September, which was lovely but more depressing than I’d expected.

I do hope to return to you all properly at some point in the near future, but I’m not up to it yet. I’m hoping that things might look a bit brighter before the summer at least.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller - I have A Year of Magical Thinking on my Kindle and keep passing over it. I want to read it for the writing but fear I may find it hard work.....and your review (and the supporting comments from others) confirm my fears!

25. Pandora - Jilly Cooper

Part of RWYO on my Kindle although I had read it when it was published. Pandora is a Raphael painting of the opening of Pandora's box and the book is set in the art world - starting in WW2, spending time in the late 60s:early 70s and then mostly taking place in the 90s. Raymond Belvedon and his family are the key players and have a lovely Cotswolds home, are all beautiful/handsome, drink prodigious amounts of alcohol and behave appallingly. If Disney are looking for another series, this could be very entertaining....

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Nice to hear from you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, hope things improve for you soon

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie take care of yourself, we'll be here when you're ready to return

Thanks for dropping by @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie We do worry!
Take good care

Nice to hear from you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupiehope things look up soon for you

Thanks everyone. Very much appreciated.

Not sure if you’ve discussed it earlier (I bet you have) but I watched The Other Bennet Sister and thought it was exceptional- great TV arising out of a really crap book imo.

I’ll pootle off again now but will hopefully be back with you once things feel a bit brighter, which I really hope they will.

Big hugs to you remus.

I hate Austen to read but I, too, very much enjoyed that programme. Very witty but also rather touching.

21 Children of Memory Adrian Tchaikovsky Third in the series. About AI and sentience. Great. Suggest you read the previous books first.
22 The Glass Maker Tracy Chevalier. Probably a bold. Unique but not flawless. Presumably everyone who has any interest has read this by now, but my 2ps worth in summary…the love story for Venice and glass making, superb. The actual love story and the family stories did not quite hit the spot. I was also a bit sorry for some of the lesser characters who seemed to be introduced just so they could die a bit later, without derailing the plot. I really enjoyed it though and do recommend.
23. Just visiting this Universe - Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I love physics and Neil, but not this book. It's very simply presented as a series of questions and answers asked over the years by real people and organised around loose themes, but didn't hold my attention at all.
24 Worst Idea Ever. Jane Fallon First book I've read by Jane Fallon and I wanted to like it more than I actually did. It started off well but, I soon decided the characters were ridiculous and the women particularly were horrible. Gossiping like teens, I had to keep reminding myself these wretched people were nearly 50. I hated them all by the end. Anyway, it's about a group of middle aged people, their friendships and fall outs

Loved The Other Bennet Sister too. Cried. @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie take care.

Totally agree with you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie it was marvellous. Great to see you.

How interesting! Isnt it funny the assumptions you make about people. To me, the word 'spunky' is very Australian. I have only heard Australian people use it, so I assumed that you were too 😀

The Widows of Malabar Hill is now in my possession! Have you read the Persis Wadia series?

I've been meaning to look at The Other Bennet Sister on TV. I don't normally think books are too long but I thought the first half of this book went on forever and was very repetitive. It was much better later, when Mary and the story finally moved on from just retelling the original story from another point of view, and she had a chance to make her own life.

I also loved the TV adaptation of The Other Bennett Girl but haven't read the book.

A belated hello to @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie, wishing you all the best.

21) The Life of a Scilly Sergeant - Colin Taylor

An account of policing the most south-westerly patch in the UK, the archipelago of five inhabited islands 28 miles off Lands End that make up the Isles of Scilly. With such low crime rates the author made quite a shaggy dog story of every criminal event, but what was as fascinating was the logistics of law and order, and which authority deals with the various aspects of official life in a place which operates so differently to the mainland. It shows the downsides as well as the benefits of policing this remote, stunning landscape. A fun read.

This seems to be the season for reading memoirs and biographies. I’ve got two more on the go, the Peter Sellers doorstop and the life of the last Romanovs, a little shorter but still a beast. I’m just going back to my books, I may be some time…

That's so interesting. I do find my English contains a hodge podge of Indian, US, Australian, and British English words/slang thanks to growing up watching TV shows from most English speaking countries. But I never know whixh word is from where until someone points it out.

Have added the Persis Wadia series to my TBR, thank you.

@RomanMum - thanks for the review of the Scilly Sergeant. I have read and enjoyed the Kate Rhodes series of murder books set in the Isles of Scilly so will give this a go. Probably fewer deaths(!) but the same issue with the tides!

<waves @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie >

Thanks @Piggywaspushed I did see the Walter Scott and meant to share, but forgot.

I’m also a fan of The Other Bennet Sister tv adaptation. I’ve just got Longbourn out of the library, which is a retelling of P&P from the servants POV.

Hi @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie hugs

Hey @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie hoping things start looking up for you soon.

20 Liar’s Poker - Michael Lewis
Enjoyable account of the author’s time at a Wall Street investment bank in the 1980s. I still don’t understand a lot of the mechanics of trading (or even the difference between a stock and a bond) but still found this fascinating and appalling in equal measure

Also has anyone read The Power Broker by Robert Caro? Looks right up my street but I’m a bit scared by the length (66h on Audible!)