50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

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

<waves in 50 Booker>

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Thanks @Southeastdweller.
Congrats to all the DC who are through their GCSEs and onto whatever comes next and congrats on new jobs too.

Reading the Five Star Weekend which I am thoroughly enjoying.

Checking in on the new thread - thanks southeast.

Thanks southeast

My list :

1. The Lamb by Lucy Rose
2. The Book Of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
3. Sonny Boy by Al Pacino
4. The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine
5. The Names by Florence Knapp
6. Helm by Sarah Hall
7. Love Forms by Claire Adam
8. Patricia Brent, Spinster by Herbert George Jenkins
9. Black Woods, Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey
10. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
11. Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
12. Paper Cup by Karen Campbell
13. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
14. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
15. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
16. The Favourites by Layne Fargo
17. John and Paul : A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie
18. The Trouble With Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
19. Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
20. Last One At The Party by Bethany Clift
21. Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst
22. Death Of The Author by Nnedi Okorafor
23. Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
24. The Beginning Of The End (Apocalypse Z : Book One) by Manel Loureiro
25. On The Calculation Of Volume IV by Solvej Balle
26. The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne by Ron Currie
27. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
28. A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J. Maas
29. A Woman Of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford
30. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
31. Strange Houses by Uketsu
32. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez
33. Termush by Sven Holm
34. I’m Thinking Of Ending Things by Iain Reid
35. Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block
36. Tender Is The Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
37. My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney
38. Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
39. Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
40. The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
41. The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck
42. Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester
43. Fall And Rise : The Story Of 9/11 by Mitchell Zuckoff
44. Strange Pictures by Uketsu
45. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
46. It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
47. Transcription by Ben Lerner
48. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
49. The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
50. Ask Not by Maureen Callahan
51. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
52. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
53. Meet Me At The Museum by Anne Youngson
54. Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
55. The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
56. The Original by Nell Stevens

Thanks @Southeastdweller for the new thread.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller. No list but have just finished:

W is for Wasted - Sue Grafton

These books have got longer as the series has gone on. I wouldn’t mind except so much if it is padding. This could have been at least 200 pages shorter and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the plot. Anyway, Kinsey investigates the death of a homeless man who she never met but who had her name and number in his pocket when he died. It was ok. I’ll be quite glad to get to the end of the series - not far to go now!

I haven't posted a list for the last few threads as usually get there too late so will take advantage of being an early arrival.

• Tawaifnama, Saba Dewan
• A Town Like Alice, Neville Shute
• Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
• Midnight in Cairo: The Divas of Egypt's Roaring '20s, Raphael Cormack
• Consent, Annabel Lyon
• Off the Map, Alastair Bonnett
• Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Elizabeth Taylor
• Palace Walk, Naguib Mahfouz
• Always Take Notes: Advice from some of the world's greatest writers, ed. Simon Akam
• NIght Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier, trans by Barbara Harshav
• My Husband, Maud Ventura
• If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, Daniel Hahn
• The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende
• Life Lessons from Historical Women, Eleanor Morton
• Summer Heat, Defne Suman, trans by Betsy Goksel
• How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words, Sophia Smith Galer
• Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country, Louise Erdrich
• Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
• Over the Water: Essays on Islands, various contributors
• Three Summers, Magarita Liberaki, trans by Karen Van Dyck

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Thanks for the new thread southeastdweller!

My books since the start of the last thread:

64. Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig – an atmospheric romantasy let down by paint-by-numbers plotting, excessive telling and characters who existed only to serve the plot

65. Amok Runners by Colin Cotterill – an eccentric, hugely entertaining Thai murder mystery whose colourful cast and setting more than make up for slightly rough writing

66. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – a satisfying finale packed with clever puzzles and twists, even if the teenage romance wasn't really for me

67. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim – a gentle modern fable about escaping the routines that trap us, whose message stayed with me long after the final page

68. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson – a perfectly crafted little gem whose quiet wisdom about childhood, ageing and love makes it a book to return to throughout life

69. A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson – an ambitious and masterfully constructed historical crime novel whose relentless brutality meant I admired its craft far more than I enjoyed reading it

70. The Tapestry of Fate by S. A. Chakraborty – a darker, richer fantasy exploring the gap between legend and truth, with a slow middle but an ending that made the journey worthwhile

71. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan – an exquisitely restrained novella asking profound moral questions, though I admired it more than I loved it

72. XOXO by Axie Oh – a thoroughly predictable but irresistibly charming K-pop romance that made me happily embrace my inner fourteen-year-old

73. The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow – a lyrical, mythic novel full of beautiful ideas about memory, identity and free will, even if it tried to juggle more than I enjoy

74. Hekate by Nikita Gill – a poetry collection with flashes of beauty whose themes felt too explicit to leave much for the reader to discover

75. The Hunter by Tana French – another atmospheric Irish mystery elevated by unforgettable characters, especially the brilliantly realised Trey

76. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant – a landmark work of historical fiction offering a deeply humane portrait of women's lives, only slightly weakened by an over-neat ending

77. The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain – a delightful, whimsical modern fairy tale whose warmth and optimism left me wanting to make a small change in my own life

78. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – a thoughtful post-apocalyptic novel about what makes life worth living, whose understated ending worked intellectually even if I wanted a little more emotional impact

79. Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson – an amusing and reliable introduction to Shakespeare that showcases Bryson's distinctive voice, even if it isn't among his strongest books

80. An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson – an interesting central mystery undermined by too much telling, not enough showing and prose that never quite matched its ambitions

Checking in - will post list soon.

Thanks to @Southeastdwellerfor the new thread & congratulations to all DC with GCSEs. The results sound fantastic!

Thank you @Southeastdweller

Bringing my list across:

1 The Proof of Innocence - Jonathan Coe

2 Marble Hall Murders - Anthony Horowitz
3 The Voyage Home - Pat Barker
4 Passing On - Penelope Lively (RWYO)
5 Double Cross - Ben MacIntyre (RWYO)
6 Bleeding Heart Square - Andrew Taylor (RWYO)
7 Devil's Cub - Georgette Heyer (RWYO)
8 The Crash - Robert Peston
9 The Truth about Melody Browne - Lisa Jewell (RWYO)
10 Howl's Moving Castle - Diana Wynne Jones (RWYO)
11 The Lock Up - John Banville (RWYO)
12 Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid (RWYO)
13 The Beautiful and the Damned - F Scott Fitzgerald (RWYO)
14 Audition - Katie Kitamura
15 Persuasion - Jane Austen (RWYO)
16 Score - Jilly Cooper (RWYO)
17 Air - John Boyne
18 Dumb Witness - Agatha Christie
19 Regency Buck - Georgette Heyer (RWYO)
20 Lessons - Ian McEwan (RWYO)
21 Tom Lake - Ann Patchett (RWYO)
22 A Bird in Winter - Louise Doughty (RWYO)
23 Horse - Geraldine Brooks
24 Pandora - Jilly Cooper (RWYO)
25 A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (RWYO)
26 Mansfield Park - Jane Austen (RWYO)
27 Fire - John Boyne
28 Bad Actors - Mick Herron (RWYO)
29 Clown Town - Mick Herron
30 London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe
31 From London with Love - Katie Fforde (RWYO)
32 The Road to Lichfield - Penelope Lively (RWYO)
33 The Pretender - Jo Harkin
34 Carrie Soto is back - Taylor Jenkins Reid (RWYO)
35 The Hounding - Xenobe Purvis
36 The Wedding People - Alison Espach
37 Brooklyn - Colm Toibin (RWYO)
38 The Editor's Wife - Clare Chambers (RWYO)
39 Deadman's Pool - Kate Rhodes
40 Scaffolding - Lauren Elkin (RWYO)
41 The Names - Florence Knapp
42 Precipice - Robert Harris (RWYO)
43 House of Glass - Hadley Freeman (RWYO)
44 The Last Party - Clare Mackintosh (RWYO)
45 Emma - Jane Austen (RWYO)
46 The Thirty Nine Steps - John Buchan (RWYO)
47 A Game of Lies - Clare Mackintosh (RWYO)
48 Cloistered - Catherine Coldstream (RWYO)
49 Christine Falls - John Banville
50 The Silver Swan - John Banville
51 Elegy for April - John Banville
52 A Death in Summer - John Banville
53 Vengeance - John Banville
54 Holy Orders - John Banville
55 Even the Dead - John Banville

I am currently reading (and have been for some time) The Covenant of Water - Abraham Verghese

Thank you @Southeastdweller !

My list since the last thread:

39 Clown Town - Mick Herron
40 The Secret Hours - Mick Herron
41 The Killing Stones - Ann Cleeves
42 Three Hours - Rosamund Lupton
43 This Rough Magic - Mary Stewart
44 The Spy in the Archive - Gordon Corera
45 The Thirty-Nine Steps - John Buchan
46 The Midnight Hour - Eve Chase
47 The Secret by the Lake - Louise Douglas
48 A Stocking full of Spies - Robin Stevens
49 N or M? - Agatha Christie
50 Annie Bot - Sierra Greer
51 Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty
52 The Sea Sisters - Lucy Clarke
53 The Family Next Door - Charlotte Stevenson

I have just caved and ordered If this be magic, Agualusa. I loved your review of the author event you went to.

Thanks @Southeastdweller.

My list has only grown a little since the last thread.

61 What You Are Looking for Is In the Library - Michiko Aoyama trans Alison Watts
62 Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald
63 The Silk Roads - Peter Frankopan
64 Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan
65 Crampton Homnet - Barbara Pym
66 Fly Wild Swans - Jung Chang

Currently reading The Warden by Anthony Trollope but feeling a bit slumpy. Have lots on my TBR pile to finish before term starts.

Checking in!

1. I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
2. North Wood by Daniel Mason
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
4. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
5. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
6. A Village in the Third Reich: How ordinary lives were transformed by Fascism by Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel
7. If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio
8. Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
9. The Country of Others by Leïla Slimani
10. The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
11. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
12. Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert
13. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
14. The Names by Florence Knapp
15. Play Nice by Rachel Harrison
16. I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel
17. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
18. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
19. Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang
20. Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
21. Hail Project Mary by Andy Weir
22. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
23. Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
24. Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
25. Hermit by Chris McQueer
26. Notes on an Execution By Danya Kukafka
27. The Story of a Nobody by Anton Chekhov
28. The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver
29. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
30. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
31. Conclave by Robert Harris
32. The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen
33. Hollowpox: The hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
34. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
35. Finn Jones Was Here by Simon James Green
36. A Good Person by Kirsten King
37. Field Guide for the Formally Villainous by Autumn K. England
38. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Currently reading Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Thank you for the new thread Southeastdweller! Place-marking 📚

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Dropping my list in the hope it will give me a kick to get back reading, I’ve been watching tv in bed lately but need to get back to the books!

1The Christmas Appeal - Janice Hallett
2 The Book of Christmas- Jane Struthers
3 Different Class - Joanne Harris
4 Hausfrau - Jill Alexander Essbaum
5 The Lost Bookshop - Evie Woods
6 People Person - Candice Carty-Williams
7 Heated Rivalry - Rachel Reid
8 The Long Game - Rachel Reid
9 Step by Step - Simon Reeve
10 Miss Benson’s Beetle - Rachel Joyce
11 John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs - Ian Leslie
12 For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on my Little Pain - Victoria Mackenzie
13 The Heir - Elodie Hart
14 All the Birds Singing, Evie Wyld
15 The Correspondent - Virginia Evans
16 Odyssey - Stephen Fry
17 The Carer - Deborah Moggach
18 The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
19 The Wedding People - Alison Espach
20 The Children’s Book - A.S. Byatt
21 Fever Dream - Elsie Silver
22 How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days - Sophie Irwin
23 Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh
24 Really Good, Actually - Monica Heisey
25 We Solve Murders - Richard Osman
26 Vile Bodies - Evelyn Waugh
27 Tamar - Mal Peet
28 The Suite Secret - Tierney Page
29 Emma Watson - Joan Aiken
30 I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman
31 None of This is True - Lisa Jewell
32 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal- Jeanette Winterson
33 Night Waking - Sarah Moss
34 The Spare - Elodie Hart
35 Dare to Love Me - Rosa Lucas
36 A Song for Summer - Eva Ibbotson
37 So Late in the Day - Claire Keegan
38 The Convenient Marriage - Georgette Heyer

Currently reading Kala - Colin Walsh and listening to Super-Infinite - the Transformations of John Donne Katherine Randell

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller. Can't be bothered to bring my list over but I'm enjoying reading what others have been loving so far this year.

@TheDonsDingleberries looking forward to your review of Water Moon. It was very marmite at my book club. I won't tell you which side I was on till you finish. 😃

1 The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
2 Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami. Translated by Allison Markin Powell
3 The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
4 The Giddy Limit: Fifth Anniversary Book by Alex Leonard
5 Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
6 An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie. Translated by James Kirkup
7 A Long Way to Verona by Jane Gardam
8 The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun. Translated by Kathie von Ankum
9 Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal by Lucy Cooke
10 Rosarita by Anita Desai
11 Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
12 Last Days in Old Europe Trieste '79, Vienna '85, Prague '89 by Richard Bassett
13 Boulder by Eva Baltasar. Translated by Julia Sanches
14 The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
15 Palestine by Joe Sacco
16 Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes. Translated by Jill Foulston
17 The Bride Price by Buchi Emecheta
18 Mad Madge by Katie Whitaker
19 Heartstopper Vol 6 by Alice Oseman
20 The Giddy Limit: Twentieth Anniversary Book by Alex Leonard
21 Clear by Carys Davies
22 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

Continuing my mini Scottish streak I'm currently reading The Fair Botanists by Sara Sheridan.

Thanks for the new thread, @Southeastdweller.

My books since the last thread (the result of a surprising though welcome mini-spurt - a bit short on bolds but at least I'm reading…):

53. There’s No Turning Back - Alba de Céspedes
54. Look What You Made Me Do - John Lanchester
55. Grief Work as Autotheory - Meg Jensen
56. The Bookseller’s Tale - Martin Latham
57. Ironwood - Michael Connolly
58. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami
59. The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson
60. The Scientist Who Wasn’t There - Joanne Briggs
61. The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller
62. The Secret Painter - Joe Tucker
63. Clouds of Witness - Dorothy L. Sayers
64. The Brontës in Brussels - Helen MacEwan
65. Deep Romantic Chasm - James Lees-Milne
66. Something Light - Margery Sharp
67. The Nuremberg Women - Natalie Livingstone

I've got the next DLS, Unnatural Death, queued up ready to go, but found I had Tom Lake on my tbr pile, so after all the Patchett discussions, I'm reading that first.

Ah wonderful @CornishLizardI think part of the charm was that it’s clear just how much he loves his topic - and he was just such a nice man.

I’ve just been to the Fairy Tales exhibition at the British Library before it closes tomorrow as I’m doing a slow (prob years) reading of fairy tales and folklore - inspired by a gorgeous embroidered notebook I bought from the BL bookshop on another occasion but has the words ‘Once Upon a Time’ embroidered on the front. I’ve been reading one every so often from my mums 1971 little collection then will branch out.

Off home to finish The Renovation.

I'll be sure to copy you in! I'm reading it for a bookclub too. I'm only about 70 pages through, but enjoying it so far. I can see how it would be marmite though, and perhaps a bit tedious for anyone who doesn't like magical realism. It's got quite a dreamlike quality.

Just caught up on the old thread.
Congratulations to all the mini bookers on exam results.

@SpunkyKhakiScroller your reading challenge sounds interesting. Is it a book group?

@AgualusasL0ver good news about the job. I
How satisfying to test the grass on the other side and go back to the job you prefer. DS2 lives near Howarth and we are hoping to meet up there next month.
@bibliomania good luck with the job interview. The empty nest is a strange bittersweet time.

Thought I'd try a list for a change

1. Whale Fall - Elizabeth O'Connor
2. Nesting - Roisín O'Donnell
3. The killer question - Janice Hallett
4. The Children of Men - P.D. James
5. Gabriel's Moon - William Boyd
6. The Book You Want Everyone You Love To Read - Philippa Perry
7. Bunny - Mona Awad
8. Departure - Julian Barnes
9. Theory & Practice - Michelle de Kretser

10. A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas

11. Victorian Psycho - Virginia Feito

12. Mother Mary Comes to Me - Arundhati Roy

13. All My Precious Madness - Mark Bowles

14. Game Changer - Rachel Reid

15. The Woman Who Gave Birth to a Cat - Sarah Fitzgerald

16. How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis - Kate Muir

17. Affairs: True Stories of Love, Lies, Hope and Desire - Juliet Rosenfeld

18. Flesh - David Szalay

19. What We Can Know - Ian McEwan

20. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

21. On the Calculation of Volume II - Solvej Balle

22. Perfection - Vincenzo Latronico

23. The Lighthouse Library - Rachael Lucas

24. Orbital - Samantha Harvey

25. The Tips for Teachers guide to Cold Call - Craig Barton

26. The Code of the Woosters - P.G. Wodehouse

27. The Tips for Teachers guide to Mini-whiteboards - Craig Barton

28. The Expanded Earth - Mikey Please

29. Kingfisher - Rozie Kelly

30. This is Where the Serpent Lives - Daniyal Mueenuddin

31. The Tips for Teachers guide to Call and Respond - Craig Barton

32. A Highland Christmas - Rachael Lucas

33. The Tips for Teachers guide to Turn and Talk - Craig Barton

34. The Tips for Teachers guide to Checking for Listening - Craig Barton

35. The Strawberry Patch Pancake House - Laurie Gilmore

36. The Tips for Teachers guide to Checking for Understanding - Craig Barton

37. Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives - Lucy Mangan

38. The Tips for Teachers guide to Responsive Teaching - Craig Barton

39. The Tips for Teachers guide to Diagnostic Questions - Craig Barton

40. Less - Andrew Sean Greer

41. The Palm House - Gwendoline Riley

42. First Love - Gwendoline Riley

43. Booker 30: a celebration of 30 years of the Booker Prize for fiction 1969-1998 - Various

44. The Harbour House - Rachael Lucas

45. Helen of Nowhere - Makenna Goodman

46. Chess - Stefan Zweig

47. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York - Robert A. Caro

48. Vanishing World - Sayaka Murata