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

Thanks to @MaterMoribund for the warning about the second Nora Breen book. I've taken it off my library reservation list. And Lord knows it needs to be trimmed - I have 18 books out and 14 on hold, which is ridiculous, not to mention the 9 physical books (all second hand) and 2 kindle books which I somehow acquired within the last week. It is unusual for me to acquire books at such a rate - my library was selling off books starting at 50p each and so I only spent under £20 in total - but I either need to stop buying or else commit to immortality as my only hope of getting through them.

Welcome back, @BlueFairyBugsBooks . I like the fact that I haven't heard of the books on your list - a reminder that although "best of" lists have their place, we all get to wend our individual way through the book stacks of life.

63. The Examiner, Janice Hallett
Another of her tales told through text messages and extracts from official documents. This focuses on a group of MA students squabbling over their teamwork assignments. But are there secret agendas? (Of course there are). And how far will people go? (Quite far indeed). I enjoyed the set-up. I work in a university and laughed with recognition at the chirpy lecturer comments on how well the students are achieving their learning outcomes while intra-group messages show festering resentment and the certainty of being hard done by. The denouement is over-complicated and strains credulity considerably, although I rather admired the author's commitment to going all the way over the top.

64. Frederica, Georgette Heyer
She does do sibling relationships well, our Georgette, and there is plenty of scope for her talent here. Frederica is doing her best to raise her younger siblings and to get her beautiful sister married to the right person. Out of desperation, she ropes in a bored young marquis to help, who soon realises that his life has become a lot more interesting. This was a lot of fun, featuring a race across country to catch up with a hot air balloon carrying an unintended passenger.

65. The Great Escape, Annabelle Thorpe
Non-fiction overview of the British history of holiday-making, from Georgian spas, Grand Tours, early train excursions, Thomas Cook tours, Wakes Weeks, Butlins, package holidays to the Med and up to date with flights grounds during lockdown and current concerns about climate change and over-tourism. I'm interested in the subject and it was genial enough, but didn't have any new insights. Appropriately enough, it splashed about in the shallows.

I wonder what @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie would say RE the Pratchett/Adams/Wodehouse discussion. I hope she’s doing ok

The first two Discworld books are the weakest IMO. It’s more of a shared universe set up than a series where you’ll miss essential information if you don’t read it in order, so you could easily get away with skipping the first two entirely.

If you ever feel like trying them again, I’d recommend starting with Guards, Guards (starring The Watch, Ankh-Morpork’s police force), Wyrd Sisters (starring the witches), or Mort (starring Death). Also Small Gods is excellent and a standalone one in the Discworld series.

I could not get into Terry Pratchett until I tried the Witches books. Didn't even like Mort. The witches are wonderful, though. I am now firmly of the view that you have Granny Weatherwax times in your life, and Nanny Ogg times in your life, and you definitely need a mix of both.

For Pratchett, I'd recommend going in with Lords and Ladies. If you don't like that one, TP is not for you.

Think I am DNFing AGAIN this time No Friend To This House by Natalie Haynes, just couldn’t get on with it, too convoluted too many POVs not enough coherent story

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie was definitely a Wodehouse fan and I don’t think she minded Pratchett.
I’ve tried Guards, Guards and DNF. Pratchett reminds me of Tom Sharpe who I wasn’t keen on but did finish. Maybe I should try the witches.

I agree that Guards, Guards (start of the Night Watch books) Equal Rights (start of the witches) or Small Gods (standalone) are the best places to start with Pratchett. The night watch are my personal favourites. I never really get upset when celebrities die. But I cried when Terry Pratchett did (and when he went public with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis). His warm wit and ability to see the ridiculous in our society and highlight it through the dis world, were a real pleasure to read.

Hi @EineReiseDurchDieZeit and @BestIsWest
Remus was (and still is) indeed a Wodehouse fan.

I made the mistake of starting with Pratchet’s Colour of Magic which I hated. Would have left it at that but somebody persuaded me to try The Hogfather which I enjoyed. I’ve read most if not all of his work. The Guards and Death books are my favourites. Don’t rate the Witches ones, although I know many on here do.

I’m doing okay, thanks. Things are still very difficult, but I’m coping better. I’ll hopefully pop in and out now, although unlikely to be able to keep up with the whole threads properly.

I’ve been doing a bit of reading. Recently devoured the Thomas the Falconer series by John Pilkington. There are seven in total and the final one ends on a huge cliffhanger, so perhaps he’ll go back to them at some point.

I also read Nonsuch by Francis Spufford which I thought was overlong but mostly enjoyed. I get the impression he might be planning it to be the first of a series.

I gave up in disgust on a post apocalypse thing which I think was called The Last One at the Party. Really, really boring and far too much backstory.

Great to see you Remus keep on keeping on

Lovely to see you Remus, glad things are getting a bit better for you.

Nice to you Remus hope things are on the up soon

Hi there Remus, good to hear you are coping as well as you can.
I hated Last One At The Party and also DNFed it. Bought Nonsuch last week so it’s good to see it has your (with reservations) seal of approval.

Sending love @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. We’re missing you and we’ll be here when you’re ready.

Gah, I've been lurking on this thread and I have failed to contribute to So Many fascinating discussions! Work has been very full-on, and I've done my typical thing of composing comments in my head and thinking every day that I would post... but not actually posting. (Hello ADHD.)

Anyway I'm posting a few reviews just to dip my toes in the water again, and I'll be back later tonight to catch up some more.

28 Heart the Lover, Lily King 4/5
Women’s Prize shortlist. Very well-written and thought-provoking. It’s striking how many of the shortlisted Women’s Prize books this year deal with death by cancer (I don’t want to be spoilery, but this is also a theme of The Correspondent and Kingfisher, which are also powerful novels). I liked this a lot (I’m a fan of novels where undergraduates have intense love experiences at university, because that happened to me, ha). However, as with many American novels, I found that the ending verged a bit on the sentimental and melodramatic. That might just be me though…

29 How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978-1998, Helen Garner 5/5
Well, this blew me away. This collection of diaries deserves all the praise it has garnered (terrible accidental pun but I’ll leave it). Garner is so clear-sighted and dedicated to her vocation as a writer, but she is also riddled with self-doubt, and just very real. I’ve finally got over the fact that she wrote the nonfiction work The First Stone, which I cordially hated when it was published, due to its seeming attempt to minimise sexual harassment. She is not a writer who believes herself to be infallible by any means, and I should have accorded her the same generosity she accords to everyone else in her world. I love the way she writes about France and about Australia. The later portions of these diaries were difficult to read, as her husband Murray Bail just sounds so appalling. She wasn’t allowed to stay in her own house during the day, because he insisted on being left in peace to write his Great Works (but it was fine for his mistress to come round, as Garner later discovered). The relief when she finally breaks free of him is enormous. I would happily reread these diaries sometime. I love her endless curiosity about everyone she encounters, in books and in real life.

30 This Is Happiness, Niall Williams 4/5
Neighbourhood book group read. This book was very good, but I feel a bit abashed as most of the other members of my book group adored it without reservation. It’s a kind of pitch-perfect representation of rural Irish life (it’s set in County Clare in the 1950s). One member of my book group grew up in County Clare and said the book was utterly true to life. It’s about the arrival of electricity in a small village, but the real theme is the everyday life of the village residents. I just found it a bit lacking in plot, but that’s my impatience. It’s beautifully written, and manages to be heartfelt without being sentimental, which is no easy feat.

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

When he dies, Wilbur boards the Midnight Train which takes him back through key moments of his life - but will he be able to change anything? Very similar vibe to The Midnight Library so whether you liked that book will give an indication whether you’re likely to enjoy this!

23 - Summer at the French Bakery - Jo Thomas
Yes, one of THOSE titles!
I was given this as an ARC and it was genuinely a nice, fluffy read. My first book by this author, it was a pretty quick read and an easy and pleasant way to pass the time - with a genuinely sweet story of new beginnings at its heart. As someone who lives in France and firmly believes food is a love language, I especially appreciated the bakery setting — although I’ll admit I was hoping for even more food content along the way.
That said, there were several details about life in France that required a slight suspension of disbelief, mostly those relating to French red tape (visas, market stall holder permits or lack of...). The smatterings of French were mostly up to scratch but sadly not all of them. Thankfully the author refrained from writing the dialogue in exaggerated French accents which is one of my pet hates!
Some of the potentially more meaty parts of the story were de-dramatised to the extent that the protagonist's separation from her husband was agreed upon over one very banal, amicable conversation that must of lasted all of 5 minutes and no-one got in the slightest bit upset.
Mostly though, this was an enjoyable comfort read: light, warm, and sweet, even if it didn’t rise quite as perfectly as its baguettes.

Good to hear from you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie- I’m pleased to hear that things are a bit better.

Guards, guards was my way into Terry Pratchett - I’d read Equal Rites & Mort as least before, but didn’t really click with them but after that I was a convert (although I ignore the first 2). Lords and ladies and Men at Arms are probably my favourites. Possibly The Truth too. He has such a memorable turn of phrase as well as his way of capturing ideas / facets of modern life and making them ridiculous that stay with me as a reader and then there’s that the Discworld is such a tolerant place to be.

I don’t approve of Hitchhiker as a book though - it lacks the voices of the radio play.

@cassandre great review of the Helen Garner, which I'm also loving - I've had to put it aside temporarily as I have so much to read and it’s so long, but great. I’m vastly relieved that you feel exactly as I do about 'V', who is such a pompous git, to be frank. I can’t bear to read her gradual surrender of her own independence, her house, her cabin in Primrose Gully, and all for him. Gaah.

22) Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico - This novella follows an early Millennial couple, Anna & Tom, through their life as digital nomads in Berlin.

We see them first in their early 20s as bright young hipsters, surrounded by like-minded artists from around the world. As time marches on and friends trickle back to their home countries, they start to feel dissatisfied, nostalgic and lacking in purpose. Now approaching 40, they try to recreate the sense of adventure and joie de vivre that initially made them fall in love with a city that's changed around them without them noticing it.

This will likely appeal to a particular sort of Millennial. That Millennial is me 😁 I loved this and it made me feel very nostalgic. I particularly resonated with a line about however tempted you might be to try, it's impossible to recapture a certain feeling once connected with a place, because that feeling was the result on a specific overlap between the location's history and your own.

An easy bold for me.

I have finally finished The Children’s Book - I think it’s taken me a month, I wasn’t sure I’d finish before we were onto the next thread so I’m pleased I’ve just squeezed in before the end of this one.

It feels impossible to sum up, the very definition of a sprawling novel, part family saga and part history lesson (maybe even the largest part is history lesson!)

I actually did a mix of kindle and audible in the end, which really helped, Juliet Stevenson’s narration was fantastic and helped to make the endless cast of characters real to me, I really started enjoying it from about half way through.

I can’t remember who on this thread it was that said A S Byatt does not wear her learning lightly, but that really resonated with me. It felt at times like the characters/ plot were more vehicles to communicate the author’s clearly extensive research, occasionally I wondered if she had started with everything she knew about the period/ themes and constructed the plot to string it all together, adding new characters as and when needed to introduce another topic or stand in for another facet of the history.

That said, the writing was still fabulous and made you believe in the characters and their motivations, wants and sadnesses regardless. I’m glad I didn’t DNF as I was tempted to a few times in the early chapters, I’m sure the fault was mine and my shot to pieces attention span but persevering was definitely worth it.

Good to see you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie nice to see you, keep dropping in.

@cassandre interesting point about the cancer themes in the WP books. I think I preferred Writers and Lovers, the prequel/sequel to Heart The Lover.

@TheDonsDingleberries I read Perfection last year and was laughing with my eldest teen about how the description at the start is every house in East London (where we live) that we've ever visited. It was definitely the Hackney book of the year.

I think that was me @AliasGrape. I read all the Frederica novels about 20 years ago and found some of them quite hard work. Interestingly, a few years after reading The Children's Book, I went to a friend's wedding whose wife's parents were very involved in the Arts & Crafts movement - there were lots of artists, academics and people like that there and their house was amazing.

Yes I think it was @Stowickthevast ! Wow bet the house was incredible.

I didn’t really mind the history lesson aspect, once I got used to the style. I am usually a very impatient reader who misses a lot of nuance and finer detail because I just want to know what happens next, but the additional context did make this richer in some ways, though I still admit to tuning some of the chapter openings out a bit.

What little I knew the Arts & Crafts movement before was a bit devoid of the wider social and political context so I did enjoy learning more.

@Stowickthevast that description was also every apartment in the Pacific North West during the early/mid 2010s! It was a very well observed book.