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

Clear by Carys Davies

Much reviewed on here. Just after the Great Disruption of 1843 a Free Church of Scotland minister is sent to an isolated northern island to tell its sole inhabitant he has to leave so the land can be used for sheep. Loved this, although it was a bit close to home since an ancestor of mine was a factor in the north isles and responsible for the clearances.

39. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I'm kind of impressed that I finished it: took me 3 weeks of reading in between other books. I nearly DNF'd because Jane's childhood with the Reeds is so horrific, as are her early school years. And I'd forgotten how the novel drags on in places - her dialogue with St John is unnecessarily long and boring.
    A book about suffering the female condition and people being horrifically sadistic, all for a small glory. Glad I'm done as I won't ever re-read it

40. We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson
    I got this book a while back and saved it for a flight as it's slim and relatively quick. 18-year old Merricat lives in an abandoned house with her uncle and sister who has been acquitted from mutdering the rest of their aristocratic family. They are secluded and hated by the rest of the village who taunt them. Merricat is precocious, defiant and highly unreliable narrator, displaying some autistic but also some personality disorder tendencies. It's a fantastic book, I think Jacksons best, with a lot of subtext and delicate detailing. A finely crafted, suspenseful read

Oh, and on book clubs - i love the idea of them, but my problem is that every book club I have ever been to has fallen apart quickly due to lack of time/childcare/no-one reading the book. Endless rescheduling until the group just evaporates.

I'm moving to a new area this autumn and looked for a book club near my local area (for making friends too). I found one but their September read was going to be A Little Life. Ugh. I don't think I could suffer that for the sake of new potential pals.

And I loved the Neopolitan Quartet and inhaled the books but can see why others might not.

I loved My Brilliant Friend, and enjoyed the rest of the Neopolitan Quartet. I do see why they might not be for everyone though, and I think they could definitely have done with tighter editing!

Latest reads below:
42 One of Us by Elizabeth Day Follow-up to The Party, which I read years ago but didn't remember very well. It just about works as a stand-alone novel. Classic satire centered on two friends from public school and Cambridge - one (Ben) incredibly privileged and the other (Martin) a social climber. They fell out at the end of The Party, but reenter each other's lives as Ben is running to be Prime Minister. It's told from various points of view and is alternately monstrous, funny and with flashes of gentle wisdom and redemption. Liked it a lot.
43 The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan Non-fiction discussion about when/if diagnosis is necessary/helpful etc. I came to this as I have both personal and (semi-)professional interest in neurodiversity, and the chapters on the exponential increase in diagnoses in that area were interesting and thought-provoking as I hoped, but I found the other chapters (e.g. about hereditary genetic testing for Huntingdon's, the genes that are markers for Alzheimer's) interesting too. Well-written and interesting.
44 Room on the Sea by Andre Aciman Slim novel about two people who meet and fall for each other while on jury service in New York. Dreamy and lyrical, and made me want to visit New York and Naples as soon as possible!
45 Private Lives by Emily Edwards Friendships and relationships are shattered in a small town community when the past of one of it's pillars catches up with him. This was a good holiday read - propulsive and with well drawn characters, though the premise was somewhat hard to believe.
46 Days of Light by Megan Hunter Set over five days of Ivy's life (with flashbacks/backstory), it follows her from life as a young adult until her death. Lovely, immersive writing, with some very well drawn characters (e.g. her mother), but it never quite made it off the 'just OK' list for me.
47 The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo Re-read as I found my (lost, lamented) copy of this at my parents' house on holiday. I'm counting it as I haven't read it for a few years and I enjoyed it so much. It's a sweeping family saga, following an affluent Chicago couple and their four daughters (at various stages of floundering young/mid-adulthood). The catalyst for the present-day story is the arrival in their lives of a child one of them had given up for adoption, but the back stories are all fleshed out too over the course of the book. I loved it - brilliant writing, great characters, funny, wise, unflinching. It was a bold for me when I first read it and will be again.
48 The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson Got this in my book subscription and didn't feel that enthusiastic about it but I was quickly drawn in. It's about the daughter of Windrush-generation parents growing up in 60s/70s Bradford. The narrative voice is just brilliant - writing through the eyes of a child is something very few people manage to do well and this is bang on. We follow Mercy and her siblings up until the age of 11. It's quite a harrowing story (all the more so as it's semi-autobiographical), but also very funny in places. I'd recommend it.

Almost at 50!!

Travels In A Thin Country by Sara Wheeler

Sara travelled to Chile in the early 1990s just a few years after Pinochet was overthrown and this means the memoir focuses heavily on the recent history. I found it hard to follow though, as the history of who was in charge is told as she visits certain sites which obviously were based on geography not date order.

Overall not quite my sort of travel memoir though it's hard to say why. I do like to know some background of the country visited, and she was quite funny and had plenty of anecdotes about people she met on the way so it should have been right up my street but I had to drag myself through it.

One thing that really stood out is how much travel has changed since the 1990s, she just turned up and sorted rooms as she went, no plans, and not much mention of safety. She doesn't mention money really, but often stays at very run down hotels, or camps in gardens or somehow finds accommodation so her budget was not open ended. The idea of this kind of travel is very confronting for me, and I can't decide if it's because times have changed or if it's a personality thing (I have a spreadsheet itinerary for even short trips and it brings me much joy!)

I also got halfway through the book before I realised I was going to the Argentina side of Patagonia not the Chile side. So it wasn't much use as research anyway. I did learn that Chile and Argentina don't like each other much and have disputed most boundaries and ownerships of islands at one point or other so that's probably useful.

The Story of a Heart is in Daily Deals today - will cause tears ❤️

@carefullythere super reviews! I am trying to resist adding almost all of them to my gargantuan TBR!

I can't remember the last time I read any non-fiction, I think it was james Blunt's autobiography. Someone recommended this to me and it was 99p on kindle.

How Not to be a Political Wife by Sarah Vine

I only came across Sarah Vine in the last couple of years as she appears on various political pundit slots. She’s a journalist who has worked for the Times and the Mail and is probably best known for her marriage to Michael Gove.
The book covers her unusual upbringing and toxic, alcoholic father and is emotionally quite raw and touching in parts. She left her home in Italy at 16 to go to school in England and never went back. She ended up in a social set in the 1990s with a group of Oxbridge grads (later known as The Notting Hill Set) who basically ended up running the country before falling out spectacularly. I hadn’t twigged before how closely connected and interwoven were those people - Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Ed Vaizey, George Osborne and Dominic Cummings. They worked together and partied together, went on holidays together and were at each others weddings. There’s a memorable tale of when she went into labour, Gove was nowhere around and Ed Vaizey took her to hospital.
The chapters on the Brexit referendum and subsequent fallout are an eye opener. Cameron et al reverting to upper class type and looking down on Gove, and Sam Cameron with whom SV had been close friends for years turning viciously on Vine.
A microcosm of the divisions created throughout the country over Brexit.
It’s a fascinating story, well written and she comes across as engaging, vulnerable and self deprecating.

I never expected to enjoy a political memoire but I really did.

46 The Midnight Hour - Eve Chase We meet 30-something Maggie in present-day (2019) Paris, where she's a successful writer with a past she seems to be suppressing; that past comes out of the woodwork and we switch frequently between the present-day and 1998 Notting Hill where Maggie is 17, living with her recently widowed mum (a glamourous former model who is rediscovering her fashionable, famous life after years in the suburbs) and her adorable 6-year-old (adopted) brother. Then her mum doesn't come back after an evening out and everything changes...

I enjoyed the 90s setting and the story was quite good, though there were just a few too many secrets and lies, and the book ended up in a different place from where it seemed to be going for the first three quarters. The adorable little brother was even more adorable as a 6 foot 27-year-old - unconvincingly so frankly, but I didn't really care! There was a real sense of menace in places, which kept me reading late into the night, and also some lovely happy bits, especially the young love element. Not a bold but I do like Chase's books and will happily read more.

@RazorstormUnicorn I'm interested in your comment about travel planning. I went travelling in the early 00s without booking anything in advance, whereas now, like you, I have (and love!) a spreadsheet for all holidays. I guess the internet has made a massive difference to booking accommodation in advance, rather than just turning up and finding somewhere.

@RazorstormUnicorn The idea of this kind of travel is very confronting for me, and I can't decide if it's because times have changed or if it's a personality thing (I have a spreadsheet itinerary for even short trips and it brings me much joy!)

I am similar. I have spreadsheets and lists going back donkeys years to when we had small children. It's hard to remember how I planned travel in the 70s and 80s. Very outdated travel guides and maps certainly, but I remember just knocking on doors at B&Bs in Germany around 1980 and we always seemed to find nice places. The same can't be said for some absolute hovels I stayed in on Greek islands which were booked by looking at pictures in a brochure.

33) Hollowpox: The hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. Third book in the Nevermoor series that I'm currently reading with my daughter. Morrigan starts her Wundersmith studies proper, but is cut short when a mysterious illness called the Hollowpox starts affecting Nevermoor's Wunimals (a marginalised group of sentient, talking animal-human hybrids). The Hollowpox strips infected Wunimals of their human characteristics, robbing them of their power of speech and turning them vicious. As those infected start to indiscriminately attack people, anti-Wunimal sentiment begins to grow, leading to clashes in the street and curfews and quarantines being put in place.

This book was noticeably darker than previous books in the series, and you can tell that the overall story arc is ramping up. I enjoyed Hollowpox slightly less as a result, because I missed the more humorous tone of the earlier books. However, I think it's important for adults to talk to children about how dehumanising language is sometimes used to stigmatized marginalised groups and justify poor treatment or aggression towards them, and this book would be an excellent starting point for that.

Looking forward to reading the next installment.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Enjoyed this.

Monique is a 35 year old magazine writer, on the verge of divorce, when mega-film star Evelyn Hugo specifically requests her to write a piece about a charity dress auction. On arriving at EH's apartment, it turns out this was something of a ruse and EH actually wants Monique to write her biography, which the book largely does through following the timelines of EH's seven marriages, interspersed with chapters about Monique's life in the fortnight or so that the interviewing takes.

It was a pleasure to spend time with both Monique and Evelyn.

Finished another sunbed book - A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage. Entertaining, exceptionally silly, mildly satirical.

Re. travel plans, I spent a month in Greece 20-odd years ago and only booked the flights there and back, and a hotel for the first night. It was amazing just doing what I felt like (travelling solo, so only myself to please) but I think that’s the only time I’ve not been organised to the hilt - and I did read the Lonely Planet guide cover to cover, which helped! Would love to do another trip like that but these days I don’t think I could cope with the stress of not knowing where I’m going to sleep, and of course everything is better value if you book in advance!

Re travel, we went on a cycling holiday in the Dordogne in the early 90s armed with oly the Michelin Guide to the Dordogne. We hadn't booked a thing. We got the ferry over to Boulogne, where we put the bikes into a dedicated bike carriage on the sleeper train to Brive, got off and started cycling. We were there for 2 weeks and every day we turned up at a new town or village and looked for a room. We always found one - thank goodness, as it's hard work to cycle to the next town when you think you are done. We did the same in Normandy too. I wouldn't dare risk not booking now

Yeah, I went interrailing in 1990, including into the eastern bloc (the wall had fallen just a few months before) and we booked nothing. There were loads of backpackers on the trains and while we used tourist offices to find accommodation in the west, in the east we'd just go home with some random person we met at the station who was offering rooms. If my DC told me they were doing that now I'd be horrified (although, realistically, isn't that what airbnb is). We had some great adventures, including getting arrested in Prague for not stamping our underground ticket before we got on the tube. We had to pay a £5 fine (tickets were 5p).

We were chatting in the family about travelling and how much it has changed. My cousin was driving from Scotland to France, as my parents did many times in the 1990s. However, my mother’s map reading skills were not the best and many arguments ensued. Mum actually offered my cousin their map from 1990s. ‘At least it has the Chunnel!!’ was Mum’s defence. My lovely cousin declined and went with Google Maps (as presumably we all do?)

On our honeymoon in Corsica nearly twenty-five years ago, DH and I booked accommodation for the beginning and the end, but nothing for the days in between, to be flexible. On arriving into a busy town, there was nothing available except for separate dorms in a youth hostel, so we stayed there for a night and then moved on. We were travelling by train, so were restricted to routes and schedules. These days, I like to plan everything in advance! Feck flexibility!

Great reviews @carefullythere I also didn't see what the fuss was about Days of Light though people in my online book group and book tubers were raving about it. The diagnosis book sounds interesting. A step relative was diagnosed with Huntingdons a few years ago, and there was lots of debate where his adult children should get tested or not. It affects things like insurance and mortgages if you have a diagnosis, I believe.

I was thinking about travelling and how different it is as had to book an emergency hotel for one night on a Greek island last weekend. I did manage it, but got me thinking about how much easier it was when you just used to wander around town with your guidebook looking for somewhere to stay. I travelled round the whole of southeast Asia like that in the pre internet days. Also only communicated with my parents via poste restante every month or so.

We ended up in a doss house in an exceedingly dubious part of San Francisco when we decided to do a US holiday based entirely on coupons you could get in fast food restaurants. This was before Trip Advisor and mobiles. There was no lock on the door. It was my anniversary. I slept not one wink, not because of amorous lust, I might add.

I liked Days of Light.
I travelled in Croatia with nothing booked but the flights within a year of the war ending. It was so beautiful and quiet. I remember walking through the gates of Dubrovnik at night and us being the only people on the street.
I think that’s one of the things we’ve lost through gaining the internet (and kindle book deals lol) the ability to be spontaneous and flexible and to actually fully switch off by being uncontactable on hols etc.

68. Charlotte Says by Alex Bell

A YA story featuring evil murderous possessed frozen Charlotte* dolls.
The traumatised protagonist Jemima starts a new job in an isolated girls school ruled by a rigid and cruel headmistress, and when the dolls are sent to Jemima, all sorts of nasty and creepy things start to happen.

Effectively creepy, gruesome in places, and I’m now kind of glad that I don’t have any china dolls around the house!

*these were a sort of doll made in one piece (so no moveable joints). Very popular in Victorian times, usually made from porcelain.

69. Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas

I’m a bit confused about what genre this is aiming at. It’s the first in a series.

The world setting has “gods”, all named after the ones in the Greek pantheon and known here as Spartans, who’ve emerged from centuries in hiding to help humanity fight monsters called Titans.

Our heroine Alexis has survived a terrible childhood, when a mandatory blood test reveals that she’s got Spartan heritage and is thus eligible for the Spartan War Academy.
Which features a literal deathmatch massacre as an entry exam, before a 6 month bootcamp from hell. Given that the first chapter of the book talks about the Spartans having fertility issues, it seems crazy that they’re happy for over 4/5ths of their young adults to be killed off before they’re eligible to be citizens, but there we go.

I think it’s meant to be romantasy, but the relationships here are throwing up a veritable WTF forest of red flags. The biggest red flags have got to be the betrothal gifts that contain dismembered body parts from men who’ve flirted with Alexis.

So, I’m not sure where this “romance” is headed. It could be an enemies to lovers thing, it could be some sort of fake out and the main contenders for the romantic pairing at the end of this book end up usurped in the next book, but at the moment, this is all looking like a terribly unhealthy situation for Alexis to be in, regardless of how sexy we’re told everyone involved is.

I don’t think I’d pay for the sequel, but the ebook of the sequel looks to be included in my Prime membership so I’m dithering about whether to borrow it on that, even though I suspect the relationships are still going to be shedding red flags in every chapter.

Inter railing in 1980 we ended up in Rome in a room in a flat with poodle poo in the corridor overlooking a porn cinema. We paid for all 3 beds in the room to have some privacy for adulting and when we came back in the evening found someone else in the 3rd bed. We all argued with the owner and in the end she refunded the other person and they had to go off looking for somewhere else.