50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Six

[Southeastdweller]

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

32) The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen. A group of ex-CIA spies have retired to a small town in Maine where they enjoy bird watching, and their cocktail sipping book club - 'The Martini Club'. But when a teenage girl goes missing from one of the holiday homes on a newrby lake, they spring back into action, using their specialist skills to assist local police chief Jo Thibodeau with the case.

This was just ok. It was a quick read, but I found the Martini Clubbers a bit smug and annoying. They kept dropping hints for Jo to figure out rather than just tell her their findings/theories outright, then wondering why the poor woman never had time to sit and eat a proper meal! None of the characters were remotely fleshed out, and I'm still not 100% sure why a couple of people weren't arrested for a historical crime.

This is the 2nd in the 'Martini Club' series, and I've not read the first, so to be completely fair they might have gone into the backstory of the ex-spies a bit more in that one. As it was, there wasn't much to distinguish between them beyond 'the smart one', 'the muscle', 'the silver fox', 'the one who likes to cook', and 'the narrator'. Although I only finished the book a couple of hours ago, I genuinely couldn't tell you the names of 2 of the Martini Club members because they were that irrelevant to the plot.

Entertaining enough to keep me turning the page, but I doubt I'll read any more of this series.

I haven't read it but I am curious, as I know it's one of the books that's referred to, and that inspired, Northanger Abbey - a book I find really funny as a crime reader. And it's also about the experience of a young woman growing up (as I suppose most of her other novels are to an extent - other than the Anne in Persuasion who everyone considers "doomed" to be a spinster at the old age of 29 (!), most of her heroines are teenagers.

"The book had much less of the murderous AI than I expected (possibly my recollection of the film focused more on that than the rest of the film?), and the book was also much more sympathetic towards the murderous AI than I expected. And I’m still not entirely sure what the ending was about"

We recently watched the film and I'd say it matches the book on both counts. Especially the WTF ending.

Also re The Castle of Otranto - I thought I'd read it way back when as an undergraduate, but after reading a synopsis, I think it was actually The Mysteries of Udolpho that I read. Also The Monk, which was very odd. Castle sounds like a good read so thank you, @bibliomania for the review.

27 Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream
Thank you @TimeforaGandT for mentioning this - it being the Modern World, I impulse bought it. Very enjoyable and I liked her descriptions of the natural world. I also have a weakness for nun-lit. I’m a much stonier atheist than I have been while reading other accounts and it does affect how I experience them. I’ve certainly never read an account that ends up with the author not believing in God, not surprisingly, though I suppose Karen Armstrong comes closest. In general I ended up feeling that I probably would have found the author hard to live with as well tbh, though I’m possibly influenced by the vibe of the Acknowledgments. I also came to feel that the cloistered religious life should be something people do for three years, like a degree or a long retreat. I have a Buddhist friend who goes on several silent retreats a year. To me that seems more likely to tap the alleged spiritual benefits while less likely to result in the sorts of distorted power struggles she describes.

For my English Lit A level I did a comparison essay of The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abbey. Can’t remember much about TMOU now except that it was very long!

There was a whole Gothic lit round on UC last night.

Castle is pleasingly short, @VikingNorthUtsire

@elkiedee I was thinking of Northanger Abbey while reading it, but it also reminded me a lot of Austen's juvenilia, featuring lots of drama but an expectation that you don't take it too seriously.

@PermanentTemporary I rather like the idea of "the cloistered religious life should be something people do for three years". It would give a different perspective on things ever after, I would imagine.

@Arran2024 I really, really loved The Truants but it got rather mixed reviews on here. I think I might read it again...

I've just taken it out on Borrowbox after @Arran2024 's review - will report back!

Like a kind of holy national service!

Blimey. I’m late to this new thread - still reading the loooooong (but excellent) Robert Moses biography- in the meantime fit in a reread of:

29 11.22.63 - Stephen King

Terrific time-travel page-turner which surely everyone here has read.

I’ve just finished Claire Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen (review to follow) & one thing I liked about it was how she explained why Sir Charles Grandison was Austen’s favourite book. What I read about it previously was that the main characters weren’t interesting & that it hadn’t dated well, which didn’t inspire me to investigate it as Clarissa (although a great book) is such a tome - Tomalin explained that a lot of the fun is in the supporting cast (which is interesting to know although still hasn’t persuaded me to read it). She was also interesting on other 18th century books although I can’t remember if she said anything about Castle.

It’s good to know that Castle is short as that makes it a much more appealing read. I’ve always found that the 18th century is a really interesting time in literary history, but it’s not always easy to read the books due to the language dating.

68. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson - This one took me by surprise. It's not really a novel, more vignettes of life on a tiny Finnish island featuring 85 year old Grandmother and little Sophia. It's short but beautifully crafted. The writing style is very matter of fact and simple, yet it paints a clear picture of the beauty of the island, the personality of grandma, and the relationship between her and Sophia. Nothing is ever stated but it makes you reflect on so many things - childhood, old age, creativity, nature, change. The chapter on old age especially moved me as I am on holiday with my 80 year old mum at the moment. It's a gem of a book and a definite bold from me.

One of the books I'm currently reading is in today's Kindle Daily Deals at 99p. I have a library copy and heard some of it as a Radio 4 abridged serial a few weeks ago. Few and Far Between by Jan Carson, a Belfast novelist - I've previously read and enjoyed some of her short stories in various anthologies and a volume of linked stories, and have other books by her TBR. A bit like another Belfast writer of the same generation, Wendy Erskine, what I've heard or read so far suggests that this is a disturbing story told with a lot of wit, and I think if you've enjoyed Wendy Erskine or Lucy Caldwell, this is worth a look.

Liking the sound of The Truants @Arran2024 . Sounds like my sort of thing - will look it out on borrowbox.

I had that on my Amazon shopping list and then took it off. Must have been the reviews on here!

I have just completed Hallie Rubenhold's Story of a Murder : The Wives , The Mistress and Dr Crippen. As expected, this is meticulously researched, sensitive and pacily written. It's a really interesting slice of Edwardian social history at a time of great change, too.

I have The Truants on my kindle, apparently. It doesn’t ring any sort of bell so I assume I disliked it.

I really rated it when I read it last year too, Piggy. A great example of amazing research and a real feeling that an entirely hidden story was being told.

43 The First Act of Summer, Joanna Glen

This has been compared to The Paper Palace but is set on the Dorset coast not far from me. Hester and Elias spend their summers joined at the hip, best friends until hormones hit and things get complicated. One day Hester does something unforgivable after which things will never be the same again.

I almost gave up on this 1/3 of the way in as it felt predictable and the writing was clunky. But I liked the humour and the honesty - it really did take me back to those teenage friendships, with all their awkwardness and inconvenient feelings.

44 Retirement Rebel, Siobhan Daniels

Real life memoir of a woman who sold everything on retirement and bought a motorhome. I really wanted to like Daniels as I admire what she has done. And she's right about making the most of life and not writing yourself off as you age. But this book seriously needed an editor - way too many pointless anecdotes, like being stuck with a rambling and tipsy auntie at a wedding.

45 The Two Roberts, Damian Barr

Picked this up at the library after @MaterMoribund 's excellent review. Loved the first half, where the two boys arrive at the Glasgow School of Art and fall in love: with art, with life and (dangerously) with each other. It's 1933 and their feelings for each other could bring ostracism, violence or prison. There's a beautiful slow burn romance full of longing for everything they've never thought they could have - their discovery of art mixed with their discovery of one another.

Unfortunately, though, I really disliked the second half. Things fall apart as the two artists find success and decline into alcoholism and vicious arguments. This could have been really affecting as a personal story, but Barr chooses to concentrate more on name-dropping the famous crowd that they were mixing with, and a self-consciously camp Soho bohemianism, which for me crowded out the more interesting stories of the couple's declining relationship and artistic fortunes.

I also feel really uncomfortable with made-up stories about real people, especially ones who have lived relatively recently. Barr says in his Afterword, "I've tried not to let the truth get in the way of a good story". And I know that he has written this as a tribute, trying to fill in parts of their story which were deliberately suppressed or lost as the men had to hide things about themselves. But it doesn't sit right with me - making up not just their words and actions but their thoughts and feelings, including in their most intimate moments.

Someone I loved very much (who is now dead) ended up as a character in a book (after having spent a short time in close proximity with some Famous Artsy People) and it was horrible to see how wrong the author got them, when they are no longer here to speak for themselves. It's certainly left me uncomfortable with these kind of books.

28 Judy, Patrol Leader by Dorothea Moore

’”Did you think I was going to leave you to drown, because we don’t know how to tie a Guide knot at St. Osyth’s?” Maura asked rather shakily, and then she let Judy secure the rope around her again in silence.’

A rip roaring 1930s yarn of swinging walks, topping campsites, dangerous cliffs, early rising, buns and smugglers.

Another Life by Kristin Hannah

Angie is desperate for a baby and her life has not worked out as she planned. She meets a teen girl that needs mothering but can she help without losing her heart?

This doesnt feel as sophisticated as other from Kristin Hannah and it's lacking the nature aspect that I loved in The Great Alone.

The book is perfectly fine and pretty forgettable. I am going to continue reading her back catalogue but I hope the rest are better!

1. How to Be a Footballer Peter Crouch

A bit boring even compared to other football books/biographies. I've found Peter mildly amusing in the past so was hoping for slightly better.

Oh & it wasnt number one, but number 9 😳Formatting always seems to go weird for me.

You can leave out the dot after the number, or there's another trick that others use which I've forgotten - a space between number and dot maybe?