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

@TheDonsDingleberries if you liked Interpreter of Maladies, you should read her Unaccustomed Earth, which I think is actually better. Jhumpa Lahiri was big around the time I moved to the UK from India and her books hit very close to home. I remember reading The Namesake on a flight from India and being in floods of tears very close to demanding the plane be turned around.

58 End of Summer. Anders de la Motte. Another slight disappointment. It was pleasant enough to read but contrived and with some properly annoying and unlikely characters. A child went missing 20 years ago and we find out who did it. It's deliberately misleading to the point of cheating! There is to be a group of books around seasonal themes by this author. I may chance one more.
59 The Fell. Sarah Moss. A short novel set in COVID times. Gosh this brought back some memories! So long since I have thought about shielding/furlough/and wiping shopping with antibac wipes. I think because I quite liked lockdown I couldn't really identify with the horror of isolation that afflicted the characters in the book, but it was a really interesting take on the times and I recommend.
60 Wuthering Heights. Emily Brontë. Not read it before and know very little about it. So as a complete newcomer, I don't really get the passion for it. My ‘favourite’ character was Linton Heathcliff, who was a believable depiction of a despicable whining wretch. I didn't really understand the motivation of anyone else (Nelly aside), they all seemed deranged, passive and unbelievable. Abuse abounds, hate and ego as the narrative drivers. I've just read some reviews saying Heathcliff is a flawed but sympathetic character. He bloody is not. He is a tosser of the highest order. Obviously the novel was ground breaking so to be admired, but it's a no from me.
60 Stone Yard Devotional Charlotte Wood. Our narrator joins a convent in middle life for reasons unknown. I've heard great things about this book, but honestly I didn't get it. The pace of the book reflects the pace of her life and we follow the burying of a sister's bones, an infestation of mice and a reacquaintance with an old school mate. Maybe it shows us how even the best life is ineffectual and unfulfilled? Let's hope I missed the point and it's trying to tell us something else!

I didn't like Apples Never Fall and as it was my first book by Lianne Moriarty it's been the only one.

Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

Discussed a lot on here, so I'll be brief on the plot. In a dystopian future, Sara's risk score raises beyond the allowed level and she is detained before she commits a crime.

I found the characters two dimensional but am not certain if that is deliberate with the incarceration angle and how Sara is reduced to data.

I found the world building extremely convincing to the extent that I hope certain politicians don't read this and decide to start to implement.

I think it will stay with me for a good while, despite the fact it wasn't a page turner for me.

All Them Dogs is one of the only others I really do fancy from the list, I saw him being interviewed on instagram I think. I’m not really a follower (or reader until about 7.27 years later) of prizes but this one seems to have grabbed me (well, two books).

@SpunkyKhakiScrollerI watched the film of The Namesake and was blown away - but I am a massive fan of the actress who played the mother. I’ve wanted to read it for years, perhaps I’ll bump it up.

@AgualusasL0ver Tabu, the actress is one of my favourites too. If you don't mind subtitles and can find it (it's old), I recommend her film Astitva.

55 At Risk - Stella Rimington The former MI5 director’s first novel, and the start of a series starring MI5 officer Liz Carlyle. Liz follows up intelligence about the suspected arrival in the UK of an Islamist terrorist, and we see her gradually make progress on the investigation (together with MI6 and the police special forces) while the baddies always seem to be one step ahead. Good, though not gripping - it felt very realistic and erred on the side of mundane as opposed to sensational (which is a positive in my view) but could have done with a bit more character depth to make me care more about the outcome. I’d happily read the rest of the series though!

The Regency Revolution: Jane Austen, Napoleon, Lord Byron and the Making of the Modern World Robert Morrison

I started this along with Northanger Abbey as a sort of companion piece. It’s a wonderful overview of the Regency largely through the lens of culture. I really enjoyed it, the chapters are split into sections which made for easy reading and there was some interesting stuff I didn’t know, or that I attributed to the Victorian period. Because of its cultural focus, even when talking about war or poverty or politics we get quite a privileged look at the society of the time. I’m not really an art person and though I know if Constable and Turner and the sort of things they depicted, I am keen to seek them out now (plus all the random book titles I highlighted).

If the Regency is your period, then this may not be for you, but if you want to learn some stuff or build on a small amount I think this is a good read - I was also pleasantly surprised when I finished at 57% because the rest of the book was notes and bibliography.

I quite enjoyed Nine Perfect Strangers though it's the only Liane Moriarty I've got round to reading. I think it was the radio 4 fiction serial.

I haven’t read any Liane Moriarty but did really enjoy the tv adaptation of Big Little Lies.

I finished two more reads
Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey
A woman is found covered in blood and unable to speak in a cottage in a secluded house in an Irish village. The blood is not her own and when she begins to talk, it’s clear that another woman is missing or dead. This was great for those readers who enjoy their crime novels to be focused on the twists. Not nearly as good as Maeve and Josh for me. I do wonder if she’s getting these other detectives ready for a series of their own.

The End of Everything by M John Harrison
Booker longlist and now goes to the bottom of my previous list, below The Vivisectors. It’s atmospheric and it’s clearly trying to say something about our reliance on the internet, social media and AI. Lots of vague descriptions and unreal buildings and people and I think either I was too stupid to understand it or it wasn’t very good. I think there’s a couple of judges who enjoy these vague somewhat philosophical books this year and they seem to be dominating the choices.

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy I echo previous enthusiastic reviews of this on the thread. A memoir of Arundhati’s life and her relationship with her mother, known as Mrs Roy to her own children as well as the other pupils at the school she ran. Mrs Roy was utterly formidable and we see how her daughter was spurred on to seize her independence and leave home young, living her life unbeholden to convention. The book is rich and fascinating in so many ways - her relationships in adulthood and how they were affected by the legacy of her childhood; her life as a student then actor, writer and activist; the impact of her phenomenal success. And alongside this, I learned a lot about the background culture and history, and, notably, of Roy’s scathing perspective on hippie tourists.

I felt this was in a totally different league to The Correspondent and (not yet having read any others on either shortlist, but awaiting my NF winner reservation) might there have been a case for awarding 2 Women’s non-fiction prizes instead of a fiction and a non?

Adding to the Liane Moriarty chat, I've read a couple (The Husband's Secret and Nine Perfect Strangers - and I'd thought I'd read another but can’t remember what, something about a barbecue - maybe Truly Madly Guilty?) and they were all solid page-turners, if a little disappointing towards the end in the case of NPS. Would read another, on holiday maybe.

Talking of which…

71. Extra Virgin - Annie Hawes

This would be a great holiday read, especially if you were off to Italy. There must be a million 'we meant to spend a summer abroad but loved it so much we ended up living there'-type books, but this is better than most. Annie H and her sister got a holiday job in an olive-growing Ligurian village and did indeed stay, eventually buying a run-down but potentially idyllic rustico in the hills (for something like £2000). The locals are affectionately described in all their - considerable - quirkiness as Annie and her sister grapple with the local dialect (Italian's virtually a foreign language there), not to mention the often-incomprehensible village customs, plus the convictions about eg eating (drinking more than two coffees in the morning will close the stomach and impede the proper digestion of lunch).
As a bonus, there’s lots of glorious description of luscious Italian cooking - and it’s also amusing and well-written. Definitely a superior example of this genre.

87. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman - third in this video game inspired series, Carl and Donut are on a train-themed level of the dungeon. I am enjoying this series as a bit of mindless fun and they get better - and a bit more serious - as they go on. This one has a lot more emotional heft and a bit less puerile humour. The dungeon level is quite complicated but there is a foreword in which the author says not to worry keeping track and this is good advice - being a bit lost at times did not impede the story. Will read the next one eventually.

@Terpsichore oh I loved Annie Hawes’ books about Italy. I must dig them out for a re-read.

@CornishLizard- I found that having memoirs in the non-fiction Women’s Prize list sat uncomfortably with the other texts as they are such different forms of writing. With a memoir there’s no need for much research (as the author knows what has happened) so the skill to me feels in the structure of the text & the author’s voice. Whereas the other non-fiction demands copious amounts of research then incorporating it into a book. Even Lady Hale (who presumably had a head start on research as she is an expert) toured around difference courts & surveyed recent cases. It’s very difficult to compare such different types writing.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I really enjoyed the lesbian vampire book too but agree the old part was much better than the modern one.

@Bunnyofhope I read WH for the first time earlier this year and had a similar reaction. Why are all these teens in love with Heathcliff who is the opitime of toxic masculinity? He's truly horrible and WH is not a love story.

I've read a few Lianne Moriarty and quite enjoy them at the time but then struggle to remember much about them later. I think the most recent one I read was about a woman on a plane forecasting deaths, can't remember what it was called though.

@ÚlldemoShúl I got DH The End of Everything for his birthday as he's into SF . I don't particularly fancy it though. I also haven't been drawn to All Them Dogs but the reviews on here are making me think I should give it a go.

Completely agree with you view of The Vivisectors.

@Benvenuto as not a big NF reader, I find the memoirs much more accessible than some of the other NF but I do get your point.

I've been finding it hard to concentrate much as loads of life things going on but did find this a fun easy read:

93. Go Gentle - Maria Semple. By the author of Where Did You Go, Bernadette, this is narrated by Adora Hazzard, a 50 something Stoic philosopher who lives in an apartment block in New York with her teen daughter. She has two friends who have also bought flats in the same block, and at first I thought the book was going to be about the three of them and expanding their "coven". But it turns into a completely different art crime story about the family that Adora works for. I really enjoyed particularly the first half of this, and loved all the Stoic philosophy. It gets slightly silly and crime caperish in the second half and there's a romance that is a little overdone, but on the whole I liked this a lot and was a good page turner and distraction..

I read WH for the first time earlier this year and had a similar reaction. Why are all these teens in love with Heathcliff who is the opitime of toxic masculinity? He's truly horrible and WH is not a love story

I'm a big Charlotte Brontë fan and when I tried with WH (in the interests of loyalty I suppose) similarly found it unreadable. Never went back to it and have zero regrets.

14 Rachel Cusk books in kindle deals today

Thanks for the recommendations! I like stories about adjusting to a new world, so these sound right up my street.

That’s a good point @Benvenuto , I would not like to have to judge Mother Mary against other non-fiction and I
wouldn’t argue that non-fiction needs to aspire to being toweringly ‘literary’. But I would say that the prize winning novel should be able to stand comparison, as a work of literature, with anything on the nonfiction shortlist and I don’t think it does.

@SheilaFentiman I was thinking about getting a couple but not sure how in the mood I am for Cusk.

If anyone else is interested, I liked Outline best out of the ones I've read and I think people rate her motherhood and divorce memoirs.

I can’t stand Rachel Cusk but hopefully somebody will enjoy her at bargain price.

@ÚlldemoShúl I just DNFd Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey. I loved the Maeve books though haven't read them all. This just wasn't in the same league. I found about 30% in that I couldn't care less about any of the characters.
All Them Dogs by Djamel White has gone on my wishlist.

I loved Big Little Lies and have read most of Lianne Moriarty's books but that stands out as the best to me. The TV series had a fabulous sound track.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I've enjoyed a few Stella Rimmington books and felt they improved as she got into her stride.

@ChessieFL Life After Life is one of my all time favourites.

I'm currently reading one of my oldest rwyo books, a Robert B Parker.

Interesting convo on the prize for non-fiction- I agree that memoir and autobiography can be very diffrrrnt from other forms of non-fiction. For me non-fiction doesn’t need to be very literary but does need to be clear and well researched. TBH I’m really struggling with non-fiction at the moment.

It looks like I’ll have to give Liane Moriarty a go at some stage as lots of good reviews here.
I haven’t read any Rachel Cusk and I’m not sure if she’d be my cup of tea.