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 5 of that second tranche:
Rebecca (brilliant)
Dracula (enjoyed)
Our Mutual Friend (enjoyed but not the best of the Dickens novels I’ve read)
Kindred (enjoyed)
The Colour Purple (good).

I do have a vague memory of attempting a DH Lawrence in my late teens/twenties but I don’t think I finished it and not sure if it was The Rainbow or Sons and Lovers.

@mouche202 yeah Women In Love was uni, I’ve often wondered why we did the sequel not the first one!

Four from this set - Jude, Dracula, Rebecca and The Color Purple

Love a book list! Of The Guardian list so far I’ve read:
My Ántonia - Didn’t really get the love for this
The Road - Grim, spare and memorable
The Line Of Beauty - Enjoyed at the time of reading but can’t remember much about it now
The Turn Of The Screw - Read for the American Lit Uni module, enjoyable although a bit frustrating due to its ambiguity
The End Of The Affair - Read when we were studying The Power and The Glory at A Level as we were encouraged to read other books by the author. I think I was far too young to appreciate it at the time.
Rebecca - Sublime
The Rainbow - Ugh, another set text, I haven’t met a DH Lawrence book I’ve enjoyed yet

Oh peaked too early! I’ve also read:
Our Mutual Friend
The Colour Purple
White Teeth
Half Of A Yellow Sun

I feel like I’ve read Dracula and I’m sure I’ve got the book, but I don’t think I have - just watched dozens of adaptations.

Four from the next Grauniad batch for me:
Rebecca, Dracula, Half of a Yellow Sun and White Teeth. I really enjoyed the first three, but didn't like the last, and can remember relatively little about it. My H and DC1 both adored The Master and Margarita and keeping nagging me to give it a try, but it just doesn't appeal.

I’ve not read one from the first 20, The Road, plus started and DNF Catch 22 several times.

Read and enjoyed a few more from the second batch, Rebecca, Dracula, Kindred, The Color Purple and Half of a Yellow Sun. I’ve been 20% of the way through The Master and Margaritas for the last year and Austerlitz was a DNF. I have another 5 on my TBR pile too.

Seascraper is 99p on the Kindle daily deals today, for anyone who’s interested. I know it’s had some positive reviews on the thread

4 for me:
Rebecca (excellent)
The Rainbow (awful - read due to my Mum’s history of English Lit (source of my teenage reading recommendations) enthusing over Lawrence (whom I never intend to read again))
Jude (grim - as discussed yesterday & in no way superior To the Return of the Native)
Dracula (also dislike aside from services to tge Whitby Tourist industry)

White Teeth is a DNF.

@Piggywaspushedsums it up perfectly with “pretentious heavyweights” - I looked up the selection criteria as I waw surprised by how few other people have read (I know I haven’t read a lot of the type of book that gets listed but I would have expected other people to have read more) & they consulted authors, critics & academics.

@mouche202’s review of Friday’s Child caught my eye when thinking about this as so far it looks quite a serious list (I haven’t recognised any of the books as being funny). I bet Georgette Heyer doesn’t get listed though as she won’t be considered sufficiently heavyweight.

Women in Love (which I also dislike) got a lot of attention due to the famous 1960s film with Glenda Jackson.

I love White Teeth. I suspect it hasn't maybe aged well. I was forced to read DH Lawrence at uni. His one redeeming feature is we share a birthday.

@TheDonsDingleberries interested to read Yesteryear, was discussing with a friend yesterday.

I'm with @DesdamonasHandkerchief I've generally disliked all Lawrence including The Rainbow

I've read 10 of these, glad to see more women appearing:
Rebecca - great
The Rainbow - boring
Dracula - at school, don't remember much
The Bluest Eye - preferred Beloved
Kindred - really liked
Crime & Punishment - liked at uni, not sure now
The Master & Margarita - bonkers fever dream, enjoyed it when I read it in my 20s
The Colour Purple - don't remember very well
White Teeth - Loved
Half a Yellow Sun - Loved

5 for me.
Rebecca - my all time favourite book, I probably read it once a year.
White Teeth
The Rainbow
Jude
I don’t remember anything about them at all.

The Color Purple - have read a couple of times.

@Piggywaspushed White Teeth was in the Kindle deals recently for it's 25th anniversary!

I picked it up as am interested to see how it's aged. I was blown away by it at the time.

I’ve read 4 from the second set:
Dracula - as a teen, found it a bit unexciting (am more patient now, would probably like it better)
The Rainbow - 16 year old me loved this! She was a strange little creature.
Our Mutual Friend - enjoyed this for the readalong, but there are several better Dickens
The Master and Margarita - loved this in my 20s, keep meaning to reread

A slight improvement today: I’m sure I read Dracula a hundred years ago, and The Bluest Eye for book club fairly recently.

I haven't read Rebecca for decades but I still remember that it has one of the best opening lines ever.

I read 4 DH Lawrence novels at university, I think - 1st year 20th century English Lit - not sure how I managed to read so many with everything else, but that may be why all I can remember that the prose was often a very lurid shade of purple. I'd quite like to try a reread, but maybe with others for discussion purposes, and I am no good at reading book group books before the discussion happens, unless I've already read it.

@Stowickthevast

@ÚlldemoShúl

Definitely recommend Yesteryear, although the ending was a bit trippy. It'll be interesting to reread knowing how it finished. Just try not to think too hard about plot holes!

Fundamentally - Nussaibah Younis.* *

Nadia is a British Muslim academic who accepts a job with UN in Iraq to lead a deradicalization/rehabilitation program for former ISIS women. In Iraq, Nadia meets Sara, a precocious, and acerbic teenager, who left the UK at 15 and joined ISIS. Their shared backgrounds lead Nadia to develop a platonic infatuation with Sara, with mixed outcomes. This was quite funny at times, often well-observed, but not really that insightful and gets same quite early. I also thought Sara's characterisation was weak, and was bemused by Nadia being this constantly (and implausibly) alluring figure.

That list isn't really impressing me so far - the books selected look rather 'worthy' and dry, probably why I've read just four - The Color Purple, The Line of Beauty, White Teeth, and Rebecca, all somewhat tedious (yes, even Rebecca - Du Maurier is very much liked on here). Could To Kill a Mockingbird (yawn) be making an appearance in the next few days? I think so.

@Southeastdweller I can’t remember exactly what I said but I read Fundamentally in January and absolutely hated it

The Color Purple got a thorough mauling in my English A Level. I know I wrote an essay on it, but all I remember is muffled sniggers at the baby farting and my friend’s excellent impression of a mushroom (not connected to the book at all, just something that broke the tedium). I’m sure it deserves better than eight bored teenagers picking at it. I was more into T S Eliot and that’s probably down to the enthusiasm our English teacher had for presenting him like a puzzle to be solved - no mean feat in the pre-internet days,

Loving the lack of love for Lawrence - at some point I grew up enough to realise that even though critics think he is a great writer, I actually don’t need to read any more of his works. Thankfully, I dodged having to study him.

Still only on 8 of that list, of which Life and Fate was the most impressive and White Teeth the most enjoyable at the time.

I’ve read 5 from the second set of 20.

Rebecca, Dracula, Kindred, Crime & Punishment and White Teeth

Although I can’t remember much about Crime & Punishment or White Teeth now. I read (or reread) the other three more recently and enjoyed those.

I read a few excerpts of The Rainbow for GCSE English, and that was more than enough of D H Lawrence for me! That’s possibly unfair of me but I can’t muster up any motivation to give his works a decent try.