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 admire your restraint @SpunkyKhakiScroller

Night Babies by Lucie McKnight Hardy
Astrid is an up and coming artist, with her first serious exhibition approaching fast, so a flood in her small terraced house is even more of a disaster than it would normally be. Fortunately, she has an old school friend who has just bought a large farm in Wales with her extremely rich husband, so Astrid and her husband Kit are invited to stay there. Due to their working needs they end up in the old chapel, which overlooks a reservoir that covers an old village (à la Haweswater). Secrets from the past come tip-tapping on the windows and leaving little handprints everywhere…….

This was bad. Disappointingly bad considering how good her other writing is. It reads like a cod-mysterious self published load of nonsense. The odd creepy bit is overshadowed by a plot that doesn’t seem to know where it’s going from one chapter to the next, repetition of descriptions, flat, unbelievable characters, an irritating habit of letting plot strands contradict themselves and some uncorrected sentences at the editing stage that make no sense. It also switches within a page between past and present tense, which I did try to go along with at first thinking it might be illustrative of Astrid’s mental state but no, it’s just lazy writing.
The only plus point was it reminded me that I’ve visited the cathedral in Orvieto and although it wasn’t quite ‘screaming in the Sistine Chapel’ level it was pretty amazing.
Even if you liked Water Shall Refuse Them and Dead Relatives I’d wait until this gets to 99p on kindle or someone gives it to you for free.

Stay gold, Ponyboy 😢

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

DH and I listened to this on long car journeys over the last couple of months (it's read by Tom Hanks).

I loved it, not a lot happens, it's just a story of a brother and sister growing up and into their adult hood but the writing is so good you get drawn in.

We both gave it 4 out of 5, which I am pleased about. DH almost exclusively reads sci fi and male authors so I had no idea if he would like this or not. Relieved he did!

Finished Kingdom of Copper by SA Chakraborty last night. It's the second in the Daevabad fantasy trilogy set in a middle east inspired setting. Like the first one (City of Brass) it took a while to get going but I really like the complex political plot and the morally grey characters. No one tribe or person is good or bad and all the choices have consequences. And the world is so beautifully drawn. I am not a big fantasy reader and this is the first time I am reading one set in a non West inspired setting. Not a bold but recommended.

Next up is The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett which I am reading for a Goodreads challenge and also as a palate cleanser before going back to the third in the trilogy.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller The Twyford Code made me angry I had a proper little rant about it

@Terpsichore A Fine Balance is pretty depressing. There's not as much war as in Brotherless Nights but a few things happen that are incredibly awful. It is still a great book but I guess you need to be prepared for sadness.

Eine the second book in ACOTAR is worth a read as it spins everything around. And the third is ok too. 4 and 5 are pretty terrible though unless you're a fan of soft porn with bat wings!

@SpunkyKhakiScroller I struggled a bit with the City of Brass - it was so unfocused. I felt like there was a good story in there but it was hidden. Not sure that I'll try any more by the author.

38. The Pretender - Jo Harkin. This is historical fiction following Lambert Simnel, a Pretender to the crown under Henry Tudor. He is purported to be the Earl of Warwick, Clarence's child, nephew to Edward IV and Richard III. The book follows him from his life as a peasant, to bring taken to Burgundy, Ireland and finally England in an attempt to become a Yorkist King. It's brilliantly written and intersperses medieval words with modern text very cleverly. It's all told from the viewpoint of Simnel and shows how he develops from a confused, innocent boy and learns the more manipulative ways of the nobles. I think this is a bold for me.

Ooh I like the sound of The Pretender @Stowickthevast

@Stowickthevast That’s interesting but I don’t think I liked it enough to warrant putting the time in. If I was desperate for something light maybe

I have had the Harkin on my TBR pile a while. The random number generator doesn't seem to want it to come up!

I have read A Fine Balance and don't remember a thing about it. This is a common affliction.

I couldn’t cope with A Fine Balance I DNFd it

Never Look Back, Trust No One and The Night Stalker - Clare Donoghue

Books 1,3 and 4 in the Lockyer and Bennett detective series (I read book 2 a couple of weeks ago). All good but I liked book 4 best as it’s set near me so lots of places I know. A decent series and it’s a shame it doesn’t look like there’s any more coming.

A Dry Spell - Clare Chambers

Four students go off exploring the desert in 1976. Twenty or so years later they’re brought back together and are having varying success in their lives. I enjoyed this and it had some great characters but not as good as some of her later books.

Me too Piggy re A Fine Balance. I remember it was good, and sad, but not a lot else 🤷‍♀️

51 Dear Reader by Cathy Retzenbrink

This is part memoir, and part an ode to the joy of books and reading. I seem to have pretty similar taste to the author and really enjoyed hearing her thoughts on books we’ve both enjoyed, while also making a few additions to my wishlist. Also her descriptions of being unable to put a good book down, ignoring visitors when immersed in a book, reading at any quiet moment, and staying up until stupid o’clock just to see what happens really resonated with me. I found the author’s life story, and how books had helped her through difficult times and inspired her really interesting. I was a bit reluctant to pick this up as it was kind of similar to Lucy Mangan’s book, which I really didn’t like (mostly because I found the author really irritating) but I’m glad I gave this a go as I loved it.

Just managed to finished another book, Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche a quick and excellent read.

52 Dear Ijeawele, Or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

The author was asked by a friend for advice on how she could raise her daughter to be a feminist, and this letter structured into 15 suggestions was her response. Raising a daughter can be terrifying, how do we prepare them for a world where the patriarchy impacts every facet of their lives. I really liked this and wish I’d read it when DD was a baby. Luckily I think I’ve managed to do most of what the author suggests, but there are definitely a couple of things I have noted as DD enters the teenage years. Adiche brings the beauty, humour and clarity she shows in her fiction to this book. It’s well worth 30 mins of your time.

25. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Read as part of the read along. I have read it before but at least 35 years ago so couldn't remember much at all. Very pleased to have re-read it and be reminded what a great book it is. Being set in revolutionary France it has worked well with my other read alongs (The Count of Monte Cristo and Les Mis).

Back to Mansfield Park now where they are all annoying me (and I am remembering why I haven't read it recently.....)

19 What we can know by Ian McEwan
Set in the future an English lecturer researches a lost poem from a poet from our present day

Well this all seemed a bit pointless and predictable. I liked Vivian's voice when we finally got to that part but the first part dragged.

22 Real Tigers - Mick Herron Third in the Slough House series, and another bold. The story starts with the kidnapping of one of the Slow Horses, triggering a doomed attempt to retrieve the Prime Minister’s vetting records for the kidnappers (a funny coincidence given recent news 😄); then things get more complicated. Driven even more than previous instalments by the machinations of the top brass at MI5, plus the deliciously vile Peter Judd, now Home Secretary and the best parody (or should that be portrait?) of Boris Johnson I’ve read. Lots of fun.

Checking in late to new thread.

just finished 19 The Wedding People - Alison Espach

Im still not sure what I think about this one! I rather enjoyed it, but did not find the characters or premise remotely believable honestly.

Just checking in - work busy etc., but hope to catch up on thread soon.

@AliasGrape same!

I started The Wedding People last night. Totally far-fetched, unbelievable nonsense but rather sweet alongside that, so I’ve parked my brain and am along for the ride

Just finished and enjoyed A Training School for Elephants Sophy Roberts' book about an ill fated attempt to trek four Indian elephants across Tanzania in the 1870s to set up a 'training school' by an Irishman, Carter, working at the behest of the awful King Leopold. It makes a good companion to King Leopold's Ghost. The human suffering detailed in the latter is more horrific. The way Roberts invest us in the elephants but also in all elephants in this is really touching. As with The Lost Pianos of Siberia, she herself retraces the route - this one is more linear which helps its clarity.

Thank you Southeast for your steadfast shepherding of the threads.

17 Is This Working? by Charlie Colenutt
Bold, because it’s a book I desperately wanted to exist. A series of interviews with people doing a variety of jobs about the reality of their working lives. Very simple concept; obviously there are previous books aiming at a similar goal and Colenutt name checks some of those, but this is in modern Britain, after Covid. Oddly uplifting for the most part.