50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Four

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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 as this makes it much easier to keep track of books or authors that may appeal (or not appeal) to everyone else.

Some of us bring over our updated lists to the new thread. Again, this is up to you.

The first thread of the year is here the second thread here and the third thread here

I’ve read three of the book on the Guardian list. Catch-22, The Turn of the Screw and The Talented Mr Ripley.

There’s some of the other ones I don’t think I’ve even heard of before.

Interesting - I know many of us have read Careless People

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/11/sarah-wynn-williams-and-virginia-giuffre-jointly-win-freedom-to-publish-prize-at-british-book-awards

@NotWavingButReading I DNF Catch-22 many times over the years.

Careless People is on my RWYO.

I loved The Go Between and The Left Hand Of Darkness when I read them in my teeth s, and quite liked Return Of The Native despite it being a set text.

I absolutely hated The Road and will never forgive him for the mental images he gave me that still give me nightmares. No argument against the power of his writing, but damn him anyway.

I didn't enjoy Catch 22 - I think I was too old for it at 50 and may have reacted differently if I'd read it at 20. Ditto Farewell To Arms. I was less impatient with blokey blokes back then.

@NotWavingButReading I think it's the white saviour aspects of TKAM that has meant that it has fallen from grace more recently.

It'll be interesting to see if they manage to address the bias of white men in the rest of the list. Not looking great so far!

I've only read 2 on that list - The Go Between and The Talented Mr Ripley. I did enjoy both though!

They haven't published today's yet.

I'm assuming Beloved and The Color Purple will appear and White Teeth. Hopefully Seth, Roy and definitely Rushdie but I'd guess dead white men will dominate for sure.

From the Guardian list, I've tried reading Catch-22 twice but DNF both times. I found it so tedious & repetitive.

The Road I also DNF, but wouldn't mind trying again. I wasn't in the right headspace for it at the time.

I have The Line of Beauty but not yet read it, so hoping to get to it this year.

Bit of a fail for me so far. Am clearly devoid of culture! 😁

34 . I’m Thinking Of Ending Things by Iain Reid (audiobook)

An unnamed protagonist takes a road trip with her boyfriend Jake whilst dealing with strange phonecalls apparently from her own number.

This was called a “Mindfuck” book on a YouTube channel I watch and elsewhere a “puzzle cube book”

I was excited about it and hoping I would have something to recommend to a friend. I found it really disappointing. There is a lot of just boring monologue and the twist doesn’t make any sense. It was only 5 hours as an audiobook but I paid for it and I’m a bit gutted.

Here is the next tranche and I have only read 2 - Rebecca and The Good Soldier (my all time favourite book).https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-time?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

I've only read two. Catch 22 which irritated me somehow and The Road which I actually thought was excellent and is one of my most admired books.
And some more of my current reads

29 The Pall-bearers Club. Paul Tremblay.
A thirty year journey across the lives of two people who may or may not be vampires. Rather depressing all round. Lot's of interesting stylistic elements in the writing and lots of people might appreciate it but not really for me. All a bit contrived and angsty teen.
30 Children of Strife Adrian Tchaikovsky. Bold. The fourth in the children of time series. This one continues with the space saga but with particular exploration of power, its ability to intoxicate and control. Don't start with this book, the series has to be read in order!

Thanks @Arran2024! My count from the second tranche is 7 again -

Rebecca
The Rainbow
Dracula
Crime and Punishment
The Color Purple
White Teeth
Half of a Yellow Sun

I liked them all apart from White Teeth, which I wasn't keen on. The Rainbow made a huge impression on me as a teenager. Half of a Yellow Sun is my favourite book by Adichie.

For me its

Rebecca
Go Tell It On The Mountain
Dracula
Jude The Obscure
Crime And Punishment
Half A Yellow Sun
Kindred
The Color Purple

I was a teenager when I read Dracula, Rebecca and The Color Purple and have poor recall on all of them

• Catch-22
• The Turn of the Screw
• Rebecca
• A House for Mr Biswas
• Dracula
• The Bluest Eye
• The Color Purple
• The Good Soldier
• White Teeth
• The Rings of Saturn

I'm a bit woolly on some of them, but I think those are the ones I've read. Of these, my favourites are Dracula and The Rings of Saturn. I've no particular urge the chase after the ones I haven't read.

I’m also 7 with this list:
Rebecca
Dracula
Crime and Punishment
The Master and Margarita
The Colour Purple
Half of a Yellow Sun
White Teeth
I liked most but the Russians were lukewarm for me. My favourites were Rebecca and White Teeth

I have read seven of those I pretend I have read The Color Purple

I said White Teeth and The Color Purple would appear .
There are some pretentious heavyweights on this , as expected

We got another Hardy, and our first Dickens! OMF was pretty popular in our Dickensalong but Bleak House is definitely still to come.

I haven’t read a lot of Dickens, but Bleak House is my absolute favourite of those I’ve read.
I see there are two books by WG Sebald on there- haven’t read anything by him.

Four for me today:
Rebecca - love and have read multiple times
The Color Purple - rated
White Teeth - a long time ago but underwhelmed
Half of a Yellow Sun - preferred Americanah

Dracula is sitting on my Kindle

I got locked out of mumsnet on my phone (it's probably trying to tell me something!) so I missed the last few days of discussion. Out of the Guardian list, I have read only three so far - Farewell to Arms (meh) and House for Mr Biswas (good) at uni. And Rebecca (fab) multiple times.

I began reading The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and the first 50 pages were so mind-numbing that I went running to my favourite comfort read author -

44 Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer
It's a frivolous Regency romp about the very young Viscount Sheringham who elopes with his childhood friend, an even younger Hero, in order to get access to his trust money. The young pair get caught up in various shenanigans and finally learn how to adult and live happily ever after. Not my favourite but still enjoyable.

It has cheered me up enough to keep plugging away at Sonia and Sunny, which has improved somewhat but may still end being a DNF.

@mouche202 Georgette Heyer is great mood lifter, I find!

18) Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke - Picture perfect tradwife influencer, Natalie, who lives on a ranch and eschews modern living (for the sake of her social media content at least) wakes up in the pioneer age. Trapped in the 1800s with a family she barely recognise and who all seems to think she's gone mad, she has to figure out how to escape.

I really enjoyed this. Natalie is a terrible human being, to the point of being a caricature at times, but that's part of what makes her an entertaining narrator. It's very 'of the moment' and yes, the story in general could have been more nuanced, but sometimes you just need a good villain arc. Or several - her husband & father-in-law are equally awful.

Only The Good Soldier on the second tranche but have tried and DNF'd White Teeeth several times. Those are all a bit highbrow or pretentious for me.

I feel like I need to make a list of those I haven’t read. There’s no chance of me reading The Rainbow though I’ve read Women In Love and loathed it and I believe the two are connected. I’ve read Sons And Lovers by Lawrence and everyone in it was an arsehole especially Paul, but I quite enjoyed that though! And of course Lady Chatterly is very good so maybe I’m being unfair about The Rainbow anyone read it?

@mouche202I also DNFed Sonia and Sunny though it’s been popular on the thread as a whole
@TheDonsDingleberriesi have Yesteryear put aside for a summer holiday read so I’m glad to read a good review 😊

Now that you mention it, I did read The Rainbow at uni. Have clearly blocked it out because I remember nothing. Sons and Lovers I liked but wouldn't reread.