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

Black Summer by M W Craven
Again, very bad writing but good characters. I didn’t think the story was as good as the first, but I’m definitely invested in the characters.

Very flawed - Rowling-esque long descriptions of characters eating with unnecessary detail (eg he had the rabbit pie, in which the rabbit had been sautéed with leeks and spinach and encased in an egg custard); lots of, ‘He did this, he did that, he felt this and then he felt that’ combinations of sentences all beginning with ‘He’ and lots of telling the reader things like some sort of holiday brochure or encyclopaedia (an extended description of a small town in Cumbria or of police work or a rant about prisons) which got in the way of the plot and were entirely unnecessary.

I’ll probably carry on though because it saves me from trying to make a decision about what I might read instead.

Happy Birthday @RazorstormUnicorn

Nice to see you back @BadSpellaSpellaSpella - hope all ok.

18. Dumb Witness - Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot (and Hastings) investigate the death of an elderly lady who wrote to Poirot shortly before her death (but was a bit too cryptic in her letter). In the usual way, she was well off and had a number of expectant but not very nice relatives. Poirot needs to pin it on one of them or the dithery companion. I think I had read this before (a long time ago) but I did guess who did it as it was quite well signposted but it kept me turning the pages.

I am on easy reads at the moment as work is a shocker at the moment so need low effort books!

Are we missing someone or are we the only three? @Owlbookend @Terpsichore

@TattiePantsFunny, I haven’t spent very much time in the South outside of London, though I did once long distance date someone from Dorset. Disaster!

And @Iamnotaloggripsorry I’ve just read your post! That makes 4 of us I think

12 Lead Sister: the story of Karen Carpenter by Lucy O’Brien

Mostly a good overview of Karen Carpenter’s life. I especially enjoyed the first half, where Carpenter is growing up in Long Island and California, and the descriptions of all the influences that formed her and her musical tastes. The last third feels a bit overweighted. Her death to me is handled sensitively , it’s just incredibly sad.

Despite my northern origins I’ve lived in the South for 40 years-ish so maybe I ought to be South-East Dweller! Still very regularly go back, though.

12 The way we live now. Anthony Trollope My third bold on the trot. Possibly formulaic if you read a lot of this sort of thing, but I don't. A good range of women characters. Lots of humour, haplessness and self indulgence. Everyone the star of their own story and a really engaging read.
13 What we can know. Ian McEwan. Not for me unfortunately. None of the women characters rang true. Everyone was unlikeable. All settings seemed pretentious and unimportant. Presumably I have missed something but it was empty and soulless imho.
(14) Dnf Within a Budding Grove. Proust. Abandoned through boredom after a few chapters.

Entitled - Andrew Lownie

Competent, thorough, depressing.

Subtitled “the rise and fall of the House of York”, this was published before Andrew MBW’s recent arrest (though I think Lownie may issue a new chapter on that soon). Virginia Giuffre is included but the bulk of the book is the various financial shenanigans and awful behaviour of Andrew and Sarah, capitalising on their royal “aura” with the rich and the dubious. In the case of Andrew, never using a car when a private jet would do, readily pissing thousands up the wall to go play golf in the middle of an official trip etc. If he is ever charged with misconduct in public office and the jurors have read this, it’s not going to go well for him!

Thank you @Tarragon123 will read that later

20. First Time Caller by BK Borison - read this for book club. Romcom is not my preferred genre but I tried to keep an open mind and not expect more from it than it is trying to give. I was still disappointed. Overwhelmed woman meets emotionally repressed man. Man tries to find her a partner while falling in love with her himself (and denying it). Physical attraction (shown) and 'love' (told) brings them together before he pushes her away. Surprisingly she stands up for herself forcing him to soul seek and reinvent himself in 2 chapters into being emotionally available. The story was predictable, the characters appeared to have no life other than their love life, and the writing style was trite. Not for me!

Thank you for the new thread Southeastdweller! Just placemarking for now.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes 😍

My list so far:

1 Cuddy - Benjamin Myers
2 Falling Animals - Sheila Armstrong
3 Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
4 North Woods - Daniel Mason
5 The Giant, O'Brien - Hilary Mantel
6 Jill - Philip Larkin
7 The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams

1. Frozen River - 4.75
2. Project Hail Mary - 3.75
3. Hamnet - 4.75
4. Atmosphere - 3.5
5. The Light Years (reread) - 4.5
6. What you are looking for is in the library - 5
7. The Gustav Sonata - 3.75
8. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe- 4
9. Six of Crows - 4
10. Wintersmith - 3.75
11. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - 4
12. A Gentleman in Moscow - 5
13. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (reread) - 5
14. Dept. Of Speculation- 3.75
15. Garden of Angels - 5
16. The Magicians Guild (reread)
17. A Curious Beginning- 4
18. The Winter Soldier - 4.75
19. The Cafe with No Name - 3.75
20. First Time Caller - 2.5

Have just begun Ministry of Time and I can tell I am going to like it. Clever and funny with dark social commentary and great characters.

My OH is from Huyton. We'll be visiting at Easter. Could we maybe arrange a 50 Bookers meet up?

@Tarragon123 I have mixed feelings about meet-ups Curiosity vs Loss of Anonymity but a low key one with a few locals might be nice !

I don’t mind organising because I’ve got specific requirements but I’m not going to do a site wide thread, people should just PM me their email if interested

Easily a bold for me, I think ultimately it's about how people can become so set in their opinions they end up in a path to loneliness but it's very funny in parts.

Funnily enough I am just back from Liverpool - my first time there in over 50 years on this planet. I was mostly there for work but I did get to ride the Mersey Ferry in beautiful sunshine.

Thanks for the thread @Southeastdweller

Happy birthday @RazorstormUnicorn ! And sending healing vibes to your wrist @Terpsichore

9 Advance Britannia - Alan Allport

Second volume of this excellent account of WW2 from a British point of view, covering 1942 to 1945 and the aftermath of victory. Very readable and informative.

Thanks for the new thread Southeastdweller.

I have been appalling at writing reviews lately - I don’t think I wrote a single review on the last thread. I really must get better at writing them as soon as I finish a book. On that basis:

Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson

This was a reread (well, a relisten on Audible). It’s the fourth in the Jackson Brodie series. I love these books and love this one as well. The focus here is on missing children. Jackson is trying to find out the real identity of a woman adopted at birth. There’s flashbacks to a murder from the 1970s, where a child was discovered in a flat alongside the mother’s body. And retired police officer Tracy buys a small child from a local prostitute (as you do). I love Atkinson’s writing and really like the story and characters here. I’m working my way through the Brodie books so on to Big Sky next.

The Sister Switch by Charlotte Butterfield

I didn’t feel well yesterday so needed something I didn’t need to concentrate on too much and this fitted the bill. It’s about identical twins who are very different and bet each other that they can’t survive in each other’s lives for long. They switch and pretend to be each other for a week or so. It’s all very unbelievable (I just don’t buy that their partners and children wouldn’t notice!) but it was entertaining enough.

Now reading Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe and still sticking with A Tale of Two Cities for the readalong.

Mary Queen of Scots: Born to Rule - Margaret Simpson

This was a children's book which I got from the library in desperation. I'm going to see a ballet about MQOS today and I was worried I wouldn't understand it! I was dreadful at history at school and always get muddled if I try to read adult non fiction about it.

I guess I'm slightly embarrassed to feel I needed a child's book but I actually learned an awful lot from it and enjoyed it. I was surprised how much detail they covered for young people without dumbing it all down. Her story was full of drama and disaster and I felt quite gripped. I'd happily read other history info aimed at this level, so watch this space for me learning basic history via Scholastic books.

I feel fully prepared for the ballet. I'll be the one in the interval dropping little snippets of info about MQOS and nobody will know I got it from a kids' book 😅

@Frannyisreading I love history and I find MQoS confusing. it’s like the too many Thomases problem in Tudor history - everyone is the Earl of somewhere and the cousin or half brother of someone and loyalties swap around a lot!

@SheilaFentiman that does make me feel slightly better! Goodness me they did get married a lot and have babies, and mostly to their cousins. I guess there was not much on Netflix at the time.

The Curator by MW Craven
Number 3. Another complex story with good characters, badly written but gripping. The ending was a bit ridiculous. Things are pretty dreadful all round at the moment though, not just my wrist, so churning through these is helping keep me out of my own head a bit.

Sorry to hear things are tough @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie
Hope reading helps distract you and that your wrist hurries up and heals.