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

24 Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York by Andrew Lownie
God I need a wash now. A slightly strange audiobook with slightly amateur sound editing. I found the lengthy stretches made from years of tabloid clippings quite whiplashy, as different interviewees with different purposes over many years get mashed into a sequential account. There’s also some parts which have obvious holes; the Epstein quotes about the alleged kinkiness of AMW’s sexual tastes seem very unlikely, much more designed for Epstein’s own agenda. But the sheer size of the case it makes is convincing; like most I have no doubt that the central account of this revolting couple is largely true. Two words kept occurring to me; corrupted and ruined.

A few finished reads and a DNF
The DNF is Agua Libre by Clarice Lispector. I quite liked Hour of the Star and I’m currently enjoying her short stories but this is just too philosophical and abstract for my end of term brain right now.

The first book I finished is Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry. This is the sequel to Lonesome Dove which was bold for me a couple of years ago. This one is bold too. Some of the surviving characters agree to hunt down killer Garza who is robbing trains and murdering passengers. Again McMurtry moves away from the traditional western- there are no heroes here (though there are some villains) and the characters, including the women, are well rounded and you really care about them. Definite bold. I’ve only read three westerns (these two and The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt) and I’ve loved all three but I think I’ve hit very lucky with the writers.

I also finished Long Island by Colm Toibin. This continues the story of Eilis Lacey from Brooklyn. Many years later she returns to Ireland for her mother’s 80th and to decide how to respond to a crisis in her marriage. Everyone is unlikable and selfish. Toibin’s other books are much better than these pair so I’m not sure why they’re the ones who have the star narrators (Jessie Buckley read this, and I know it’s sacrilege to say it, but I didn’t love her narration) and the movies.

Finally I finished The Cursed Road by Laura McCluskey. This author is nominated for a Crime Writers Dagger award and again I can see why. This follow up to The Wolf Tree which I read a few weeks ago, is tense with a great sense of place and an interesting enough detective pairing. Good solid police procedural which sometimes veers off the reservation but is very much worth the read.

@ÚlldemoShúl - I hadn't realised there was a sequel to Brooklyn. As I am on RWYO, I won't be rushing to read it but useful to know.

@TimeforaGandTIf you enjoyed Brooklyn it’s worth a read at some stage. You are much better at RWYO than me!

And a typo (or thinking about the 1980s sparkling drink) made me put Agua Libre for the Clarice Lispector DNF rather than the correct Agua Viva!

Welcome @Pigtailsandall to this very lovely thread. Are you a quote from “Marianne” 🎵?

—

One type of book missing from @Terpsichore’s Tom Gauld cartoon (which I love ❤️) is “the trip hazard bag of forgotten library books”

In unrelated news, currently reading Life After Life from the local library 😀

Omg yes! No one else has ever gotten that. I'm a big fan.

Yay! I’m a big fan too 🎹 🧡

@ÚlldemoShúl - it's possible my TBR pile is bigger.....

50. First Class Murder by Robin Stevens

This is part of the Murder Most Unladylike series, which is set in the 1930’s and has schoolgirls Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong investigating murders (despite opposition from parents, teachers etc).

In this one, Hazel’s father is taking Daisy and Hazel on holiday in Europe, when their trip is interrupted by a murder on the Orient Express. And yes, Agatha Christie’s book of the same name does get mentioned. Of course, Daisy and Hazel promptly set out to investigate the murder.

The series is aimed at older children, and there is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required around how competent the girls are at crime solving compared to the adults, but I still found it to be an enjoyable light read with an engaging plot.

Read 2 in the last couple of days thanks to 14+ hours in A&E/SDEC and then just being in bed knackered (and hot!) since. I’m more or less ok now I think though more tests and possible admission tomorrow.

Anyway, I started a romance 28 The Suite Secret - Tierney Page whilst waiting for some mindless escapism. Page is a booktoker that I find very funny and who set me off down the reading filth romance path. She’s started writing herself and I remember enjoying her first book but this one was rubbish really.

Then read 29 Emma Watson - Joan Aiken Based on Jane Austen’s incomplete/ abandoned novel ‘The Watsons’ (I think it was only a few chapters wasn’t it?) which Aiken adapted and finished. I loved Jane Fairfax in the same vein, which I think I read because of a recommendation on one of these threads. I did not enjoy this one so much though, it just felt bitty and incomplete, with few if any likeable characters. Did not feel like Austen and also wasn’t a strong enough story to stand on its own. I mean I finished it, it was ok, but not great.

Oh no @AliasGrapeI hope you feel better soon

41 Service Model Adrian Tchaikovsky Everything you'd expect from this type of well thought out sci-fi. I really enjoy them. We explore here culpability and free will via humans and robots. A gentle comedy.
42 What a Way to Go. Bella Mackie. Haha perfect! First of hers I've read. Fast moving, farcical and if you are in the mood for this sort of thing it's great.
43 The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Stuart Turton. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. We find ourselves in a manor house with a cast of disreputables, who all appear to have an agenda. It's quite dark and explores crime, retribution and redemption. Unfortunately I put so much effort into keeping up with the first nine tenths of the book, that I didn't think the ending was enough reward either in terms of outcome or philosophy.

all good wishes @AliasGrape - hospital's never fun, but even worse in hot weather.

That’s rubbish for you @AliasGrape - hope all will be well.

Sending best wishes to you @AliasGrape 🌸

Hope you’re ok @AliasGrape

@ÚlldemoShúl I agree entirely re Colm Toibin. If I'd only ever read Brooklyn, I'd tell you I didn't rate him much. Fortunately I was in a MN book swap years ago and received a copy of The Blackwater Lightship which was a cracking read, so I know he's not just Brooklyn (and can never understand why it gets all the attention).

💐@AliasGrape hope you're ok.

Hope you’re ok AliasGrape.

And belated best wishes to you and little one Grannie.

I loved Blackwater Lightship too @VikingNorthUtsire

Thank you for the good wishes everyone. I’m back at SDEC for some bloods which I’m hoping are back to normal, im already feeling so much better and silly for ‘causing a fuss’ (although it was the GP who insisted I go to A&E!) There’s definitely an underlying issue (gall bladder I think is most likely) but hoping that I can go home and await follow up scans etc rather than admission today.

Have got my kindle with me as well as I Who Have Never Known Men paperback so who knows might finally get round to that one.

Also as another one who kind of wrote off Toibin due to not getting the fuss about Brooklyn I’m interested in that discussion, thanks @VikingNorthUtsire i might look out for that one!

Best wishes @AliasGrape

oh I need to read Blackwater Lightship, I think it's on my Kindle somewhere.

I liked Nora Webster and The Heather Blazing - the two I've read other than the Brooklyn books. I couldn't get into his one about Thomas Mann though. To be fair, I don't know anything about Mann and didn't realise it was about him when I bought it.

I like the way he has created a literary universe. I'd like a map of his characters like the one Elizabeth Strout does.

Hope you aren’t stuck there too long @AliasGrape ❤️

Good luck @AliasGrape - hope you are not stuck in a boiling room for too long.

31. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

This was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker so some of you may have read it. The reviews are amazing "may have written the novel of the year" according to The Telegraph.

I think i was expecting more plot-wise. The Observer said "an espionage drama pulsating with twisty revelation" - so I was expecting plot twists, which never really came.

But it is clearly a very well written book. It concerns an American undercover agent trying to infiltrate an eco community in the south of France. Part of the story is her increasing obsession with a man called Bruno, who acts as a mentor to the eco community and whose emails she has hacked into. Bruno talks at length about his theories about Neanderthal man, the stars, hearing and seeing those who came before us, local history (there is a very interesting section on the Cagot people, which i knew nothing about). I like these philosophical musings.

But I didn't care for our protagonist, Sadie, who is not as good as she thinks she is.

This would make a great summer read.