50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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, the third thread here and the fourth thread

I think if Ferrante is who everyone says she is then she is writing about characters in the Neopolitan novels that are about the same age as she is. But obviously written partly as historical novels.

Agree that reading Her Side of the Story was compelling partly because we know it reflects her own wartime experiences. Been talking to DD about this (she's just done her A level history about WW2) and I'm so glad that we are now getting so many mid century women's writers in translation, they present an alternative history of the war to the version I was taught at school.

49. How To End A Story - Helen Garner

Finally finished this whopper of a book, which in retrospect might have been easier to manage on kindle, as it's a brick (just over 800 pages). However, I was gripped by it, despite stopping partway through and then starting again purely for a breather.

Garner has always kept diaries, and these extracts cover 20 years from 1978, when she was still married to F (everyone in her personal life is given an initial) and was living with him and their daughter M in Melbourne. The marriage with F breaks up. Eventually she meets the married V, another writer, and begins a relationship with him.

At this point I started to feel very angry indeed, because V, as he emerges from her entries, is a dour fun-sponge, rarely missing an opportunity to sneer, laying down impossible ground-rules (once they finally move into a flat together, in Sydney because he won’t countenance Melbourne, she has to go out all day, every day, because he works at home and can’t endure even to hear her moving about in another room. She has to give up her piano, and her beloved Bach. She has to sell her car. She can’t have friends to stay. And so on). There’s more, much more, but after a solid year of Garner turning herself inside out to save things - and despite them by now actually being married - it emerges that what he insisted was a 'friendship' with another woman, 'X the painter' is an affair, which he then continues to lie about…to both women. All of this is sadly familiar to anyone acquainted with the MN Relationships board, but I still cheered when Garner finally moved out.

Throughout all this, she writes so, so well; is so funny and sharp and wry and self-deprecating, that I often couldn’t put the book down and had to just read one more entry, then one more, then another…

I know @cassandre rated this, and it’s a bold for me.

27 Tamar - Mal Peet
This has been on my Kindle for almost ten years and I’m not entirely sure why I bought it in the first place, as it’s not really my usual sort of thing. But I did enjoy it.

It’s a dual timeline novel, moving between the Second World War, where two Dutch resistance workers are operating undercover, and the later story of a granddaughter trying to make sense of what has been left behind. I didn’t actually realise it was YA until we got to the granddaughter’s timeline, which didn’t hold up quite as well for me, felt a bit clunky and less interesting overall. I’d rather have read about what went down with the dad - but then I’m not exactly the intended audience and I can see why the granddaughter worked better for the purposes of this book.

The twist/betrayal was fairly obviously signposted, so it wasn’t really a surprise, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. A good read, I’m glad I picked it up all that time ago and even more glad to tick it off the RWYO list!

The Correspondent - Virginia Evans

The book follows the life of spiky Sybil as told in a series of letters to friends, family and other correspondents. One or two people here have said the ending was too neat and I agree - it felt dishonest and like the author couldn't be bothered anymore. By far the most compelling aspect of the book is the (fairly three dimensional) portrayal of Sybil, but I didn't find the book as moving as many others have, and her writing was mostly mundane. I also didn't find the story and stories from others she corresponds with hugely gripping, so no 'I can't wait to get back to that book' going on. A perplexing, undeserving choice for the Women's Prize for Best Fiction.

Totally agree. I also don't see how collating a series of letters makes it a novel or prize winning - with a novel you have to introduce new characters and themes in a coherent way, while here the author just had to add in a new, random letter.

undeserved

I completely disagree

Hi @VikingNorthUtsire I am with you on Audition hated it and The Book Of American Martyrs was a good idea but a bit patchy and a bit of a slog.

I really liked the Correspondent. I thought the other characters she created were convincing and I got a real feel for them. Clever to do that purely through letters. The ending was a little feel good, but really so many other books on the longlist were quite depressing, that it was a relief.

@ÚlldemoShúl Have you read The Coast Road? I was really shocked when I read that to find out Irish women weren't allowed to divorce their husbands until the 1990s!

I did- the divorce referendum was my first ever vote. I remember a friend’s sister’s relief when it passed. The church had an unhealthy stranglehold here for a long time, and it was in the 90s that it started to break down (which is why I was so flummoxed by Boyne’s representation of that relationship). I moved north in 1999 so am only up and down to see family now.

My dad's family is from the north but he left as soon as he could so never really knew much apart from the fighting as I was growing up. We'd maybe go once a year at most to visit my grandparents.

I'm going to read 'The Correspondent' soon. I'll keep these points in mind.

I remember the divorce referendum and I think it may have been the first one that I voted in as well. I think it narrowly passed. I remember my father being completely against divorce and so was my mother, even though she was not as staunch a catholic as my father was. At the time, we were strongly influenced by the church. I was influenced by my father at the time and it wasn't until later on in my twenties when I started to think for myself. At that time too, the scandals of child abuse in the church began to emerge and there was a huge shift in people's attitudes to the church.

50. Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice - Helen Garner

I hesitated to put this down because it’s so ridiculously short - a tiny piece of journalism, only 24 pages - but decided to include it in the end to round off my Garner binge. She mentions during the diaries that she goes on an assignment to write about a cruise to Antarctica, and the piece exemplifies everything I like about her writing. It’s down-to-earth - you can visualise immediately the setting and people she’s writing about - funny, and as always, her own neuroses and irrational reactions aren’t glossed over. Plus, her writing about the natural world is always great (I'll forgive her for being rude about penguins).

@Stowickthevast @ÚlldemoShúl I remember someone arguing with me in uni that divorce was illegal in Ireland and them actually phoning their Dad to “prove me wrong” and then not apologising after being told - she was called Kate and was a thorn in my side all 3 years I was there!!

Has anyone seen the trailer for the new Klarna And The Sun film? Looks like it is being played for laughs which is odd because the book is quietly melancholic

@Piggywaspushed – ooh Sara Sheridan is also hyped? Excellent. I’ve met her on a couple of occasions and she is really lovely.

@chessie – Just from google. Although I am on a lot of drugs at the moment, so maybe I read it wrong? I’ve taken a screenshot.

@Stowickthevast – you have summed up my thoughts about Birnam Wood. The mansplaining! Give me a break. I don’t care if it was meant to be sarcastic. And the ending from that particular POV was an odd choice.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller – I’m only starting book 2, The Satapur Moonstone

I loved the Elements - but I haven't read a John Boyle I didn't like. I agree with the bleakness of these though - and Water is my favourite too. Fire was just a bit too dark. My favourite (and in my opinion underestimated) John Boyle is The House of Special Purpose which is the story of a young man in the service of the Romanov family during the Russian Revolution.

I also fancy The Forbidden Notebook and the Notes of an Execution - I really shouldn't be buying more now.

I am back to comfort reading as my exH passed away a few weeks ago. He is no loss to me, we hadn't been in contact for years and he was never a nice man or dad, but still - weird feelings. I am listening to Bill Bryson (who my DD has on her ideal alternative potential Dads list)

I have started Our London Lives which I know was much reviewed on here, for bookclub in a few weeks.

@HagCymraeg it's odd how someone passing affects us when we hardly give them a thought when they are alive. Hope Mr Bryson cheers you up. Which one are you listening to? I am currently reading One Summer America 1927. No one can ramble with purpose like he does!

8.Amazing Grace Adams Fran Littlewood
Another borrowbox audible that I have been ploughing through for a long while. Grace has a 'falling down' moment whilst trying to deliver a cake to her estranged daughters 16th birthday party. She leaves her car in a traffic jam and engages in increasingly erratic acts as she journeys accross Lobdon.Through flashbacks we learn about Grace's past and what lead to the estrangement. A bonbshell is dropped in the final section. If im honest, I found it a bit manipulative and i didnt like how it was 'used'. I dont trust my judgement at the minute and am probably being unfair, but this one wasnt for me.

Must be mixed emotions at the minute @HagCymraegbe kind to yourself

@SpunkyKhakiScroller I'm listening to The Thunderbolt Kid one of my favourites - the first time we were listening on Audible me and dd were in the car and we had to pull over because we were laughing so much - I think it was when he was talking about his mum's cooking and due to the general appallingness of it, he had only developed two tastes - burnt and icecream. My other favourites are A Walk in the Woods and Notes from a Big Country - purely for the chapter on the American taxation system

I thought I'd love Amazing Grace Adams and really didn't @Owlbookend. I read Fran Littlewood's second book, The Favourite, earlier this year and loved it though!

Hope you're OK @HagCymraeg; any death can be hard to process. A formerly very close friend of mine died a few years ago. I had gone years without thinking of her much at all by then, but it was still strange and I think of her far more often now than I did when she was alive. Look after yourself.

@HagCymraeg I too, have experienced “a loss that was no loss” extremely weird because so many thoughts at once. Take care of yourself

Thanks everyone, it is weird definitely. I have not seen him at all for four years, neither have the DDs (their choice). He was not a nice man at all and he has drunk himself to death at the age of 56. Utter waste of a life. I greived the man he should have been over 10 years ago. I feel sad the DDs don't have the dad they deserve and other mixed feelings.

@TimeforaGandT you didn't oversell Scaffolding, don't worry! I'm interested in psychoanalysis so that pulled me in more than anything, plus the positive Sarah Moss review.

@FruAashild that's a good point about Elena Ferrante's age (if she is indeed Anita Raja). Alba de Cespedes would still have been born 40 years earlier than Ferrante though... so the time that Ferrante lived through as a child, de Cespedes lived through as an adult. I like what you say about alternative histories of WW2, from women's perspectives.

@Terpsichore fabulous review of the Garner diaries! Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice sounds excellent too. By the way, I don't know whether you've seen the film The Last Days of Chez Nous? It's a wonderful film (though I saw it many years ago) and Garner wrote the screenplay. I think her husband F inspired the main male character in the film (though the film isn't autobiographical). I'd like to see it again now that I've read the diaries.

I had no idea that divorce in Ireland was illegal until so recently. Wow.

Sympathy @HagCymraeg , your complicated feelings are entirely understandable.

@Arran2024 I can see what you mean about novels made up of letters, but good epistolary novels I think (emphasis on good!) are every bit as challenging to write as more traditional fictional narratives. The fact that you have to put everything into the voice of the character (or characters) is itself a challenge and a constraint. Also, the letters can be interpreted on multiple levels, because they're not just presenting facts, they're telling you about the relationship between the letter writer and the addressee. Often the letter writer has an agenda (conscious or unconscious) which makes the letters interesting from a psychological point of view: what effect is the letter writer trying to achieve? how does she hope her addressee will react? what is made explicit, and what is left unsaid?

I thought The Correspondent was clever in the way that Sybil wrote to her different correspondents differently, so we could see multiple aspects of her character and her life. Her self-depiction changes depending on which person she's writing to. Nor is she a static character: the letters she receives sometimes gradually broaden her world view and make her change her opinions. There are also elements of suspense and surprise in the way the various letters are organised (for example, a heartfelt letter might be placed next to a more brusque and cynical one).

I confess I'm thinking a lot of Dangerous Liaisons here! It's true that Virginia Evans is no Laclos, but she is definitely playing with the epistolary genre, not just being lazy. Though maybe her version of the genre is a bit gimmicky at times: long-lost people are found! a racist micro-aggression turns into a deep and satisfying relationship between an older white woman and a Syrian immigrant! and so on. All the epistolary relationships turn into beautiful stories with happy endings. In real life, this isn't so likely.

That sounds difficult @HagCymraeg - definitely one of those ‘how should I be feeling?' moments. Hope you’re OK.

@cassandre no, I haven’t seen the film, and I'd love to! I'll have a scout round for a copy now. AIBU to wish HG was my friend, or would I find her hard work? I'm sure she does not suffer fools gladly, but I’m pretty sure you could laugh yourself silly with her.