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

Wishing you all the best @elkiedee .

An interesting discussion about book snobbery. I like reading about other peoples’ tastes, and the good nature of this thread makes it a joy to be on, whatever genre we’re into. I love a comfort read, with children’s classics being a go-to in hard times. I have eclectic taste when it comes to reading and occasionally have qualms about posting, but what the heck! - can’t wait to tackle the ‘sci-fi TV tie-in’ section of my RWYO. Read long and prosper...

In the meantime, another book that was adapted into a film:

46… Being There – Jerzy Kosinski

Chance has always lived in the big house, his whole world being his rooms and the garden he tends to so tenderly. Everything he knows of the outside world he gets from watching television. When the aged owner of the big house dies, Chance is left homeless, cast into the real world, an innocent who doesn’t exist outside of his former home.

This is a novella written in 1970, sitting somewhere between a fairy tale and a satire on the America of its time. Chance is a blank page, a mirror onto which everyone who meets him projects their own inferences and ideas, inadvertently turning him into a media superstar, a household name. This is the man who, by accident and word of mouth alone, may go all the way to the top in finance, politics and espionage. Funny, touching, and an original story. A bold.

That is a shame @Piggywaspushed as I would have liked to have learned more about how Ruth came to be, despite finding that a real slog.

@MegBusset I think the National had a play about him, played by Ralph Fiennes a couple of seasons back. Might be on NT@Home if interested.

I love any and all reviews even of the genres I don't particularly read (I'm an Agatha Christie and Sherlock only crime reader for example), because I wouldn't probably read Slow Horses but it was this thread that made for a nice few weeks of watching something with my DH that we both liked. Santa Montefiore is my romance writer of choice. There is all sorts of reading for all sorts of moods.

@elkiedee I recognise what you say about grief. Last week I entered a small writing competition where I finally, after a long time wrote something about my grief. A good friend said to me at the time of this loss (having lost all four of his grandparents in the space of about 3 months) that it isn't that grief goes away or even becomes easier, but you find more and more that you think less about the loss and more about remembering them and the good memories. I took a lot of comfort from that - though of course there are still always tough times.

I love historical romance, I blame Georgette Heyer. Lisa Kleypas is one of my current favourites

@elkiedee

My oldest comfort read is definitely Agatha Christie dating back to teen years. I really love Robin Hobb books too and think have read her whole 16 book series once and the nine books within that of Fitz and the Fool at least twice, in fact I may be due for an autumn reread. I'm also partial to a bit of Jilly Cooper.

Agree there should be room for everything on this thread. I like having a high and low brow book on the go simultaneously - although then the temptation to just binge the lower brow one is very high!

Agatha Christie is also my comfort read. Crime/thrillers are not really my genre, but I like a jolly countryside murder. That's probably why I've enjoyed the Richard Osman books. I have one to take on holiday this half term. I need a book I can easily look up from when I hear "mum, mum, look at me go down this waterside!!!"

I've read but not posted:
49. So late in the day by Clare Keegan. It feels like cheating to list this (essentially a short story) but it was really lovely. I like how your perception of the events changes as the story unfolds. Big recommendation
50. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskill. Ultimate comfort read, though the genteel poverty is a bit disheartening. I love the cat who ate and pooped the lace collar (bad pussy! Bad pussy!)
51. Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash. I mean, this was just silly but very readable. The extra Gs however drove me nuts. It was twee and annoying. At points the novel felt like it was trying so hard to be witty and surf the zeitgeist that it lost its actual narrative

I DNFd Bewilderment by Richard Powers. What utter self-important tosh. And I usually finish everything.

Glad to be past the 50 book marker - never thought I'd do that this year - and at this rate I might get to 60!

Actually realised that I forgot Vaster Wilds so these books are number 50, 51 and 52. I did write a full list at some point it's lost in the tides of time.

I'm still hoping to finish Anna Karenina before the end of the year.

Yes!!!! Jane Lovering - if there's a bad book by her I've not read it yet - I haven't read everything by her. I just bought Lost Secrets of the Scottish Castle (which sounds a bit formula title) for 99p. Or no extra money if you have Amazon Prime at the moment. I do have Prime and have used this option a couple of times, but I like to know I can download this whenever I want to get read to it, even easier than hunting down a paperback in my house.

I think my favourite original Jane Lovering title is Vampire State of Mind but Joffe have a habit of renaming books with rather bland and samey titles.

Thanks everyone. I was quite surprised to find my mum had taken up reading the Stephanie Plum books as comfort reading. I found crime fiction quite useful there too though. What I don't recommend as comfort reading: memoirs featuring long lists of people killed in Stalinist purges, and a rather sad Persephone novel about a New Zealand family called The Godwits Fly. These are what I was reading during my mum's last days. An excellent biography of Angela Carter (who died much younger at just 52 of cancer) was Radio 4's Book of the Week non fiction serial, episode 4 of 5 had just started (late night repeat of morning broadcast) as she died - I read it properly a few months later from the library. My sister and brother, our stepsister, mum's husband, her 18 month old grandson (my boys were back in London) and I were all in the house, and we sat up in the kitchen compiling a list of who to phone etc in the morning, before her husband sent out a mass circulation email.

What Happened To The Corbetts - Nevil Shute

I’ve really enjoyed the other books I’ve read by Shute, but didn’t like this one so much. It was written in 1938 as a way of warning people what it might be like when war came, and focuses on a middle class family and how they cope. In one way it’s impressive how much he got right, although he also got quite a lot wrong. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the characters were nicer, but I didn’t particularly like them so didn’t really care what happened. Mrs Corbett was a bit of a wet lettuce (and Shute kept referring to her as ‘the girl’ despite her being old enough to be married and have three children). Mr Corbett was rather selfish. The children were ok but very unbelievable - there’s whole sections when they’re on a small boat for days and we never hear anything about the children complaining they’re bored, or trying to throw themselves overboard. They’re only mentioned when it furthers the plot in some way. Anyway if you want to try Shute I don’t recommend starting here.

All We Know Of Heaven - Jacquelyn Mitchard

I was drawn to this by the blurb. Two teenage girls, who are best friends and look quite alike, are in a car accident. One dies and one survives, but the injuries are so bad that their identities are mixed up and this isn’t discovered until the survivor wakes from her coma. This sounded interesting. However that aspect of the book is pretty much done and dusted by about a third in, and the rest is just about the survivor’s recovery and how she manages, which got rather boring after a while. Could have been a much better book.

The Trouble With Sister Francis - Matt Coyne

I really liked this. It’s set in 1981 and told from the point of view of 11 year old Richard, about him and his friends joining a local boys club that originally started during the war and has now been revived by unusual nun Sister Francis. The child’s voice is done well and it has some great characters. I really wanted the club to succeed!

Belle - Tasmina Perry

A sort-of retelling of A Christmas Carol but set in the modern era. Uncaring businessman Ben Scrooge wants to knock down some old shops to build a big tower building. His ex girlfriend Belle is trying to stop him. You can probably tell where this is going. All very predictable, but I did enjoy it.

Not Quite Done Yet! - James Crookes

This is book 4 in the time travel series, where siblings Tash and Jamie travel back from 2020 to 1985 where they cause chaos and then have to put it right, helped by hapless married couple Raymond and Maureen. This is very funny and silly although the earlier books in the series are better.

After Darcy - Joanna Nadin

This is a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, but set in modern day. The sisters are now all in their 30s/40s and coping with either trying to find a man, or the disappointing one they’ve already got. As you can tell from the title, Lizzy has been widowed. I liked that this gave all the sisters an equal part of the story, and it was fun to read. However the author tries far to hard to remind us that it’s set now, with lots of product placement, and the sisters messaging/talking in ways that feel more like how teenagers now might speak, and that did get annoying after a while. Austen would have the vapours at this!

The Stephanie Plum books are great fun, but imho they jumped the shark a bit with the Ranger/Morelli business. I think I stopped when she started inserting novellas in between the number series, but maybe I'll go back and catch up.

Happy Prime Big Day Deals, to all who shop.

Not sure if these are Prime Day or regular monthly but Ali Smith's Autumn and Ann Patchett's The Dutch House are both reduced.

Nothing on my wishlist and I'm being strict as my unread list on my Kindle is getting rather long. Will currently keep me going until about Easter.

@ChessieFL Your review made me really cross. HOW DARE somebody decide to kill Mr D off? I’m going to need smelling salts; my poor nerves just cannot cope with this sacrilege.

@elkiedee just downloaded the Lost Secrets of the Scottish Castle free thank you. I've only read a couple of hers so quite a few to go on.
When my mum died it was a perfect storm of the day before lockdown plus me being mid treatment for breast cancer. I shudder at the memory, though reading about mass killing in Stalinist purges might comfort some because it shows things could always be worse....

@Tarragon123 Started a Sally Page last night and I'm loving it, thank you for the recommendation.

I did think of you while I was reading it Remus - definitely not one for you (unless you want to read it just so you can hate it!)

I think I got to no 4 and then got distracted. I have most of them on Kindle now as they regularly popped up in deals. My mum had got to at least #28 before her death.

I gave her Call the Midwife, the book, which she also then urged her sister to read and pointed out that it's a wonderful piece of working class women's history (Jennifer Worth trained with nuns who worked in the East End, they were part of the early years of NHS. The sequel Shadows of the Workhouse was about the welfare state and also social care issues, and then #3 goes back to the midwifery.

After a very protracted reading slump, I've finally finished a book!

43) Facial Justice by L.P. Hartley. A dystopian novel set in Cambridge after World War III. Britain is now ruled by the anonymous "Dictator", who promotes egalitarianism. To the extent that woman often undertake surgery to standardize their appearance (aka Beta-face) in the name of "Facial Justice". The story follows Jael 97, a good-looking woman whose rebellious spirit is awakened when she's ordered to undergo such surgery to make her less attractive due to the envy of her compatriots.

I quite enjoyed this. The decrees of the Dictator and their often absurd interpretation by the general populace lead to some droll moments. I felt a bit detached from the main character, but that might have been a stylistic choice by the author.

I'm now listening to Slewfoot by Brom on audiobook.

Just to prove how very frazzled I am this week (and we are only Tuesday!) I just posted the review below on the Oliver Twist read along thread. Whoops!

41 - The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett
I know many of you have already read this.
It's the story of twin sisters Desiree and Stella, who grow up in a small Black community in 1950s America. They run away together, but their lives take very different paths when Stella decides to disappear completely from her past and pass as a white woman.
I really enjoyed this one. It’s a great exploration of identity, family, race and belonging, but also of the choices we make and the consequences they can have, not just for ourselves but for the people around us — and even for the next generation.

Great news for London-based Persephone readers - they’re re-opening a branch there, and it's in the 18thc house formerly occupied by the wonderful Pollock's Toy Museum (which I was very sad to see close down). It's in Scala Street in Fitzrovia, a really interesting area and one that’s seen a lot of places closing, so it’s excellent to hear of something positive for a change.
They'll need to restore the building but it should be lovely once it’s finished.

I used to love Pollocks! Lovely spot.

Thanks for posting. I see it should be ready for opening early next month, so that’s handy to stop there and at the beautiful Waterstones branch in Gower Street, a seven minute walk away when I’m there in a couple of months time.

I bought this lovely book yesterday - contains Skoob and Judd and all sorts of other beauties :)

https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/an-opinionated-guide-to-bookshops

I love reviews of all books, so please post them all. I read some literary fiction and also the girl meets boy turn your brain off stuff and everything in between! What if everyone is secretly reading the cosy stuff and no one posts it?

Also DH told me Jeffrey Archer died. His debut novel Not A Penny More is a long time favourite of mine, read as a teenager off my mum's shelves. I also ploughed through Kane and Abel which was pointless. I read every word but no idea what was happening even as I read it. As a grown up I don't like his values or his politics, and I haven't read a book of his for about 30 years, so I am not sad, just wondering what my librarian mum might have made of the whole discussion on separating art from artist etc.

@RazorstormUnicorn I read all the Jeffrey Archer my mum had as well :)

I do have happy memories of lying on a beach aged 17 reading Jeffrey Archer. He did tell a good yarn even if he was a shit.