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

Loving the spunky talk. My parents moved to Australia when I was about 10 and I remember being so confused the first time I heard a boy described as spunky!

@FruAashild I think I read somewhere that it is quite similar to Sworn Virgin so you may but need to read them both. Fascinating tradition though.

Well I’m English through and through and I’ve always read ‘spunky’, as an adjective attributed to a person of either gender, to mean plucky/courageous. Although the word ‘spunk’ definitely had another connotation…

All this chat of “spunkiness” reminds me of Kath and Kim .

16. Heart the Lover by Lily King
I did not adore this, finding it very middle of the road, but I think this is another of those instances where some of the blame is with me. I borrowed it in a hurry when I was between BorrowBox reservations without knowing anything about it other than it’s on the Women’s Prize longest. Turns out it’s a sequel of sorts and I haven’t read the earlier book. My first mistake.

It’s the telling of a college love affair, focusing mainly on the romance itself, and to a lesser degree on its impact on the narrator’s subsequent life. It felt like quite a “young” book, like I imagine Sally Rooney to be. There’s obviously nothing wrong with that whatsoever, and 25 year old me would probably have loved it, but this kind of thing has to be done expectionally well for me to enjoy it in my current state of decrepitude, and I didn’t think it was. My second mistake!

I struggled a bit with the first-person style that was light on dialogue and didn’t seem to show or imply very much of the main characters’ qualities or motives. As a result I didn’t felt like I knew the characters, and so didn’t care much when very sad things happened to them. The college boys read less as romantic heroes and more as just slightly annoying lads. The time jumps between three periods felt a bit clunky and disconnected, but I do wonder if that missing material is covered in the first book.

@StrangewaysHereWeCome
I really liked Heart the Lover - I've previously read some of Lily King's other books including Writers & Lovers but I suspect this probably wouldn't have made a difference for you. Different tastes I guess - I also like Sally Rooney despite being quite old and decrepit myself.

My English teacher at school , whose surname may have been a homophone for sperm, was called Spunky Bill by the boys. I assume this wasn't a reference to his spirit and chutzpah...

His initials were WC as well...

I dont think I made that clear.. a homophone for another word for sperm. Or the stuff it's in. Bleugh.

Mr Chisholm, I presume?

No!

Think of male sailors. Able...

Ah.

Argh, I've been MIA (new job) and missed your brief return @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie.

We'll be here when you're ready for us. When I was having a tottering time a few years back I used to grimly chant 'I won't always feel this way' and alternate it with Churchill's 'Keep buggering on'. Thinking of you

@Tarahumara thanks for the recommendation. I have steered away from reading Born to Run as I am easily swayed and can see myself doing all sorts of madness in barefeet and is probably not for the best! I might have another look though.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller that sounds like my sort of book! Will look it out

@bibliomania DH and I are walking LEJOG a week at a time- the end to end trail. We are doing a week around the Pennine way next week so I may well have a look at that book. I’m also thinking I should take The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as we are going right past Haworth…

Ooh, @elspethmcgillicudddy That sounds wonderful! How long do you it will take you? Or is that question missing the point and revealing that I am unworthy of the Way?

Women’s Prize shortlist just released- I’ve linked in case anyone wants to watch the announcement instead of read it.
All the books on there are good imo but I’m disgruntled to see my two favourites didn’t make it. It makes me think I should try to read old longlists (for this and the Booker) instead of the winner as my favourites often don’t make the shortlist.

https://womensprize.com/revealing-the-2026-womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist/

I have only read The Correspondent - i am completely bewildered by how it is deemed prize worthy. I enjoyed it well enough but it didn't say prize winner to me.

Personally I felt the same but I know a lot of people loved it.

I really liked The Correspondent and am glad it made it. I also liked The Mercy Step which I think some haven't. I'm very surprised that Gloria Don't Speak didn't make it. Kingfisher and Heart the Lover were both middle of the list for me, and I now need to read Dominion. Flashlight wouldn't have made my shortlist, as it's too bloated but I also probably a middling book.

I definitely prefer this year's list to list year where they seemed to chose the worst books on the longlist!

I really enjoyed this year’s list overall- I think there was an enjoyable mix of themes and stories, even though my top two didn’t make it.
I will give The Mercy Step another go if it wins but may leave it otherwise- child narrators are not for me.
@StowickthevastI’m really surprised about Gloria… too.

@VikingNorthUtsire I hated Weyward too! I really, really wanted to like it but it was so badly written.

Also she had her 'witch so in tune with nature' say something about "a disconcerting feeling, like hearing a robin singing in the wrong season."

As robins are one of the few birds to sing year-round in the UK, it struck me as particularly stupid.

If you're going to write about a character at one with wildlife, you kind of need a bit of knowledge yourself.

LEJOG is too far for me but I'm tempted by the coast to coast, I live quite near partof so have already walked some of it. A 'when the children leave home' project. Poor DS is only 13 but my DDs will both be off to Uni in less than 18 months so it feels quite real now.

@FruAashild My one and only is off to university the September, all going well, so I'm about to unleash myself on the world again.

So you're deep in exam prep as well. DD1 has just deleted instagram and tiktok from her phone so it's getting serious now! DD2 still has a year to go (nobody tells you you'll regret the small age gap when they are teens!).

Well, dd is deep in it! Apparently they're told at school that the best way to understand something is to explain it to someone else, so I've been subjected to an interminable exposition of the entire A Level syllabus for Philosophy and Religious Studies. Relieved I don't have another one doing it next year!

I have DC in year 11 and year 13 so we're doing the double this year 🤯

I found an old thread about inaccuracies in books and Weyward gets several mentions.

It lost me tbh when the modern day character sets off to drive to Cumbria from London, which seems simultaneously to take two hours but also all night (I guess it could take all "night" if it's set in June )