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

Wow, that sounds great. A long way from Paradise Lost and Dr Faustus. English Lit stopped in 1820 in my day.

Can’t really be doing with Kate Atkinson - there’s something stylistic about her writing that rubs me up the wrong way and stops me getting immersed in the story. Although I remember the first Jackson Brodie was quite amusing.

55 An Expert Witness: the story of forensic science in the courtroom - Sue Black
The esteemed forensic anthropologist explores the history of scientific expert witnesses, largely in the context of the British Justice System. I found this less engaging than her previous books focusing on her own casework.

56 Animate: how animals shape the human mind - Michael Bond
Exploration of the human relationship with animals, from the initial prehistoric/shamanistic fluid boundary, to the extreme dualism of Descartes which has cast its shadow to the modern day. Interesting but quite derivative if you’ve done much reading about the ancient past, and/or animal minds and sensory systems.

@Theretheretheir I haven't watched Adolescence because I have boys adult/teen. I am petrified that I haven't done enough.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I like the distinction you make about being able to imagine but seeing black shadows when you close your eyes. I basically only see black if I close my eyes, but in my imagination can see the apple, so I guess my images are not real, they are just my imagination.

Kate Atkinson isn't really on my radar. I have read Life After Life and I remember enjoying it, but I have never gone back for more.

Yes, I think that’s exactly it!

I'm reading a history of Iraq and found out that Al Jahiz a 9th century intellectual died aged 93 crushed by an avalanche of books in his library at home. I thought there's a group of people on Mumsnet who would consider that the perfect way to go 😂

I wonder if he'd read them all....

Apparently it was his RWYO pile that triggered the avalanche!

This is why kindles are so much safer.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett
I thought I’d read this years ago, but it seems I hadn’t. It has TP’s usual flaw of gibbering on far too much at times, but overall it was amusing, fun and rather sweet, I thought.

In danger of my own avalanche after this haul from the school fair this morning…

62 . The Puppet Show by MW Craven

Washington Poe #1

Washington Poe is brought back from suspension at the National Crime Agency to work on a case where men are being burnt to death in the stone circles of Cumbria

As well as Poe, his colleagues Steph Flynn and Tilly Bradshaw are introduced

I thought this was good. Ideally I’d like to space them out as there are 8 so far but as I’m already on the second, Black Summer this seems unlikely

Would recommend

Sturdy piles 😀

Well done on the bargain hunting @LadybirdDaphne 🏆🏅

49. A Rebel and a Traitor by Rory Carroll

I got this for my birthday earlier this month. Written by the author of Killing Thatcher, which I loved, this is a deep dive into the earlier days of Irish nationalism, specifically the 1916 Easter uprising and the events that preceded it and the aftermath.

It focuses on Sir Richard Casement, a British civil servant, who had exposed the wrong doings of the rubber trade in the Belgian Congo and is often considered the forerunner of human rights activism. He became disillusioned with British imperialism, resigned, and devoted himself to Irish nationalism, which was not particularly popular at that time.

When WW1 started, he contacted the Germans and organised for them to help the cause. The Germans saw it as a way to strike at Britain and sent guns. Meanwhile his nemesis, Reginald Hall, who set up British naval intelligence, is on his case.

The story is fascinating, but it took a long time to get there. And I could have done with an index as there were so many names.

I had little knowledge of the Easter Rising and I had never even heard of Sir Richard Casement, so I learned a lot.

The author is Irish, which surprised me, as I felt it was written from a British perspective, and I'm not sure what Irish nationalists would make of it.

Good read but more detailed than I needed.

@Arran2024I read it earlier this year and didn’t love it, despite really enjoying Killing Thatcher. I felt he didn’t include enough background for people who were coming to both Casement and the Easter Rising without prior knowledge and absolutely nothing new for people who have studied it to even secondary school level (I am a History teacher in Ireland). I think he tried to squeeze it into the same format as Killing Thatcher, jumping back and forth between perspectives but I found all the stuff about the British naval captain mind numbing and fairly irrelevant to the actual story of Casement- maybe my fault as I was expecting it would tell his story rather than a detailed account of his capture. Anyway I eventually DNFed but I’m glad it worked for someone coming to it fresh.

Queens and Kings: An Unusually Personal History - Lucy Worsley

Lucy tells us about various queens and kings - the ones who spent a lot of time in the palaces she’s worked in. I really liked this. I like Lucy’s writing anyway but here I particularly liked the details about the palaces that she threw in, especially the office areas that the public doesn’t get to see.

The Golden Hours - Louisa Youbg

The new addition to The Cazalet Chronicles. These are among my absolute favourite books, so I was both nervous and excited about this book! It was lovely to spend time with the characters again, although a bit odd seeing them cope with the more modern world of the 1960s. I thought Young did a great job of reflecting the characters, although there were some I would have liked to see a bit more of (e.g. Villy). I did also notice a couple of continuity errors, but not enough to ruin my enjoyment. Looking forward to the next one now!

Time To Burn - Ellery Lloyd

In a parallel universe time travel is available to rich tourists. Phoebe is making a documentary about the founder, but when a return from a trip goes wrong Phoebe realises there’s more to it when she recognises one of the participants - who hasn’t returned and is apparently stuck in 1941.

This was great. I love a time travel book, and while they all have some holes of you choose to think too hard about it, I thought this was done well.

That's interesting, thanks. I didn't give it a bold - I needed an index and also I agree about Hall, there was far too much info on him.

But my knowledge of the Easter Rising comprised of (a) it involved the Post Office and (b) it failed, so it was all new to me. I didn't even know what happened to Casement (having never even heard of him).

So that kept me going. But I did feel it was written by someone from the British establishment. I know the author is Irish but he works for the Guardian, and I felt that Irish nationalists would be annoyed by the portrayal of some of the key Irish players.

Also the diaries - he is very sure they are authentic but I read about them and apparently there is more debate on that than he suggests.

Glad you enjoyed it. I can’t remember who recommended them originally, but I was immediately hooked and read them all one after the other, bar the latest which I read this summer. Love the pairing of Poe and Tilly.

It may have been me @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie but I think a couple of others on here are fans. The crimes and solutions can be a bit far fetched but I do love Poe and Tilly.

Yes, should have said thanks for the recommendation from here!

Be been enjoying the Washington Poe books too. I got almost all of them at 99p at one stage but am eking them out. Still slumpy. Reading Far from the Madding Crowd and I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai and listening to The Disappearers by Marlon James They’re all good books but I’m struggling to pick them up. I’m so exhausted at the moment that scrolling is all I’m fit for but that probably makes me more exhausted. It’s a vicious circle.

Nothing worse than being so tired you can’t read @ÚlldemoShúlI really loved Far From The Madding Crowd and personally I enjoyed I Have Some Questions For You but a number of posters really didn’t IIRC

Well thank you to you or anybody else! It pretty much helped to save my life/sanity earlier this year.

41 - Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Very late to the party with this one but finally got round to reading it, after hearing great things, and it didn’t disappoint.

Kath reminisces about her time at her apparently idyllic school but all is not what it seems and the truth about her, and her friends’, lives is slowly and skillfully revealed.

One that will stay with me for a while.

59 Playworld, Adam Ross

I absolutely hoovered up this long (550-ish pages), overly detailed coming of age novel set in 80s New York. The narrator, Griffin, is a teenage actor, struggling to balance the demands of his job with the exhausting expectations of his private school. His family dynamic is tricksy to say the least - his father is a talented but unsuccessful actor himself, who deals with his professional frustration by interfering with his son's career; his mother a dreamy ex-dancer who seems only half-involved with the family, drinking too much and drifting off, either emotionally or physically, disappearing to the houses of friends. Griffin and his brother, like the Gen X latchkey kids that they are, roam the city, adventurous, sometimes scared, trying to find their place in the world, and prey to adults whose intentions are not always good.

(warning: there is predatory and abusive behaviour in this book - avoid if that's not something you are OK to read about. The opening lines of the book are: “In the fall of 1980, when I was fourteen, a friend of my parents named Naomi Shah fell in love with me. She was thirty-six, a mother of two, and married to a wealthy man. Like so many things that happened to me that year, it didn’t seem strange at the time.”)

At times the narrative can get bogged down in long and detailed descriptions; of school wrestling matches or long bus journeys across New York. It reminded me, though, of The Goldfinch, in that what look like pointless stretches where nothing happens are surely a deliberate choice in the arc and pace of the novel - what is life as a powerless teenager, if not an interminable wait for something, something finally to change and happen?

I loved the vivid descriptions of the city, seen through teenage eyes. The magic and folklore along with the grime, echoing the games of Dungeons and Dragons that Griffin plays with his friends.

And Griffin himself - oh that idiotic vulnerable boy broke my heart. A lovely portrayal of teenage boyhood, with all its bravado, loneliness and utter lack of understanding - of others, and of yourself.

I am absolutely bold-ing this although I appreciate it might not be for everyone.

Just looked and I have the first Washington Poe book so will give that a go. @ChessieFL I love time travel too so that book went right on my wishlist.