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

Oh Desdemona, I loved those cardboard scenes and transfers! A lot of my pocket-money was spent on them! (the rest usually went on books).

Im a bit younger than you, but i remember these. The pictures you rubbed off came on a thin sort of film/tracing paper. I only ever had one (maybe a Xmas present?) - a jungle or safari scene. I absolutely adored it.

Me too @Terpsichore, I couldn’t believe how completely I’d forgotten about them. That’s right @Owlbookend - oh the frustration when you lifted the transfer too soon and missed a limb 😂

Yep - i wasnt the most patient or careful child ....

I don't picture in my head as I read, but I do have a visual memory and imagination, so I don't know why I don't!

I hadn't really thought about pictures in my head. But I think I must do as when someone is cast incorrectly for the TV version, I'm outraged - see Rupert Campbell Black.

I remember also being disappointed that Viggo M wasn't right for Aragon who was perhaps the first book character I lusted after!

There are some scenes in books that really stick with me and I feel like I can see them even though they haven't been made into TV/Film. There's one in a Colm Toibin book where a man's house is falling off a cliff and yet he sits in his living room reading the paper and everyone can see him which I can picture exactly from his description.

I definitely see pictures in my head when I read. Funny how our brains work so differently!

This is all very interesting and very weird. I definitely imagine scenes and characters’ faces etc when I’m reading and have strong opinions of what they should look like, but if I close my eyes and try to ‘see’ an apple orca penguin or whatever, I just’see’ black shadows.

61 . The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez

Chris, a pharmacist, is grieving his mum when he meets Larissa who comes from a dysfunctional background and is drowning in debt.

The catch? She meets his best friend Mike the same night and ends up dating him, now they can never be together, right?

I feel like I’m doing Abby Jimenez a disservice by saying her books are brain dead but they are brain dead in the best possible way. They require nothing from you as a reader except to sit there smiling goofily at the 90 minute generic romcom with good chemistry that Netflix just churned out.

Some notes :

I would have appreciated the callbacks more if I could’ve remembered who all the characters were from previous books

Fuck Larissa’s shit DAD, her MUM was absolutely TERRIBLE!

I hate that Abby Jimenez provides trigger warnings at the top of the book. I am firmly against the notion that books need them - was I deeply traumatised by say A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness? Yes! Did it need to come with a preplanned warning? Never! It would have lessened its impact

I stan for Abby Jimenez whilst acknowledging these books are terribly flawed and in no way great literature, looking forward to her next one!

Abby Jimenez sounds like fun Eine. I think my reading resolution for next year is to read more fun books. As some of you may have noticed, my comfort read is crime/ police procedurals/ legal thrillers so number 140 is Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly This is both a Lincoln Lawyer and Bosch book. It takes a bit to get going but essentially Mickey Haller (the Lincoln lawyer) is trying to get a wrongful conviction of a woman accused of killing her ex husband (a cop) overturned. Bosch helps with the investigation. I like Michael Connelly’s books but they have diminishing returns now. The Ballard ones work better as a tv series and I’m kinda sick of him trying to shoehorn Bosch into every series. This was fine and I own one more Lincoln lawyer but I don’t know how more of these I can be bothered with even at 99p. Diverting but just okay.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage – BDs were a recent topic on DuoLingo for me lol. We were in Paris for the first time at the weekend. I was so tempted to buy a book in French, but I would have been struggling to get anything else in my bags. However, I’m heading back to Paris next month for work. Whether or not I’ll be able to do any shopping is a moot point.

On KA, I think I’ve said before that I will not read her anymore as she is not, IMHO, a very nice person.

99 The Moving Finger – Agatha Christie. Standard AC, although Miss Marple only appears 70% in. As usual, I had no idea who the murderer was.

100 A Cold Harbour – Lynne McEwan, DI Shona Oliver 7. This was a pleasant surprise as I’d forgotten that I had pre ordered this on Kindle. Wee Shona has been punted off to rural Galloway to keep a low profile. She is due to cover for another DI who is going on compassionate leave to care for his terminally ill wife. He has an ask for Shona. There is only one unsolved murder in Galloway, can she have a look at the case again? Its his wife’s sister and its her dying wish to find out who killed her sister. And ofc Shona does. She has an awful lot going on in her personal life as well as work. And I actually guessed who the murderer was!

Edited because I cannot spell!!

You have done Maeve right? @ÚlldemoShúl ? Abby Jimenez books are technically standalone but also interconnected, so I would start with Part Of Your World

I’ve forgotten why KA is not nice @Tarragon123?

I have- I’m all up to date there. But I’ve quite a few series I’m following on the crime front and about 400 unread 99p books on my kindle so plenty to work my way through.
I too am curious about the KA not nice story.

I vividly picture places from books. Not sure about people, except Dickens and probably other Victorians.

Found it! @Tarragon123

Hope you enjoyed your Paris trip @Tarragon123 ! Good luck finding a book (and having suitcase space for it!) on your next trip 😊

I think I picture scenes from books in my head, but not always clearly (like seeing something in the dark). I’m also very aware when a TV series or film adaption gets something wrong - only forgiveable with great acting.

I also get very engrossed by books - when I was younger it felt almost like visiting Narnia or some of the more vivid fictional worlds. It’s not as strong now but is does influence how I read as I definitely favour books where the setting is vivid or where the characters feel like people you want to hang out with (I’ve lost count of how many times I praise “evocative” settings in my reviews). This may affect how I perceive the mental images as while they are there, I’m not paying them too much attention if I’m lost in a book.

Some books are easier to picture than others. Les Mis is very visual as you could summarise it in a series of tableaux (eg the Bishop & Napoleon, the Bishop with repentant Valjean, Fantine parading outside the restaurant before her collapse, the bodies in the well, Valjean falling from the ship etc). Kate Atkinson isn’t an author that I’ve particularly enjoyed, but Behind the Scenes of the Museum is the one I’ve most liked - I remember it having a very striking authorial voice and a very vivid opening when a toddler is forced to cycle around the park with her distracted mother and that was very easy to picture.

94. One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin - this is the kind of book that blurbs call life affirming and heartwarming. Cynical old me usually calls them twee. But this one broke through the shell and got to me. It is a story of two terminally ill hospital patients - one 17, one 83 - and their project to document each of their 100 shared years. It exercises full emotional manipulation but it works, or at least it brought a lump to my throat and I can tell you that doesn't happen often. The writing is clever and funny and I enjoyed it very much.

That was me, @Owlbookend. Glad you enjoyed it.

I don't visualise characters when reading, but I don't have aphantasia as I can visualise some things. I just have to concentrate very hard to do so! That said I barely remember physical descriptions in books, unless they're relevant to the plot and emphasised accordingly (e.g. the Lannisters having golden hair in Game of Thrones). I do read it, but whatever part is supposed to memorise the detail just ignores it.

My sister, who's quite artistic, is the opposite. We both enjoyed the Redwall series growing up, but whereas she could practically taste the foods described in their feasts, I would feel my brain glazing over and want to get back to the action!

42 Mrs Quinn's Rise to Fame - Olivia Ford
Listened on audible. I don't actually remember purchasing it, perhaps it was a recommendation at a time when I was looking for a comfort read, as it definitely fell into that category.

Jenny Quinn is a 77 year old woman who loves to bake. She's very happily married to Bernard, however she's looking for more out of life and thinking this may be her last chance. So she enters 'Britain Bakes', a reality TV series based on GBBO. Alongside following her progress and seeing her rediscover a sense of purpose and identity though this experience, we also learn about her past and the 'big secret' she's kept from her husband and pretty much everyone else.

The audible narration by Juliet Stevenson was a real strength here, she did a great job. It's a slow start, and I did find myself wondering if it was a little too 'cosy' and almost twee, even for me. I do feel I was rewarded for sticking with it though, it was definitely predictable but still a moving story well told.

This seems to be called Jenny Quinn's Rise to Fame on Amazon/ Audible now, but my version is definitely Mrs!

Reached my century with

100. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie. I first read this is in my teens but love a Christie and this is one of her best. What prompted my reread is that DD1 has just started English A level and this is one of her set texts in her element of crime writing module. I'm quite jealous that she gets to study it. Her other set text for this section is Atonement, and then a few pre 1900 poems. Interestingly, given the thread conversation, When Will There Be Good News is one of the potential texts that the school could choose, as well as Kala from 2027.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

This was published in 2009 and I don't think that the "teaser" lines on the cover - "a moment of weakness, a lifetime of regret" and "when desire takes over..." would be used today.

Winter, at a boarding school in New England, and we open on Mike's testimony. Mike is the headmaster and another teacher has just brought him a tape showing sexual acts between three 18/19 year old male pupils and a 14 year old female pupil.

We hear, in short and well-written chapters, from those directly involved, plus relevant others such as parents, friends and girlfriends; sometimes writing at the time of the event and sometimes two years on from it.

The vast majority of the narrators consider that the 14 year old girl is considerably culpable (in her own sexual assault!) and this makes it a hard read, partly because her viewpoint is the least explored.

37 The Lion Women of Tehran - Marjan Kamali
Painful, frustrating but fascinating tale of female friendship, in the political turmoil of Iran.

38 My friends – Fredrik Backman
Life can be shit - and friends can make it more bearable.
Loved this. Backman is definitely on my list of 'if he wrote it, I'll buy it' authors.

Another visually vivid novel to me is The Go Between.