50 Books Challenge 2026 Part Eight

[Southeastdweller]

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

I think I tried the first one @noodlezoodle but must admit that I can’t remember anything about it.

Just finished Peck and Peck by Bonnie Garmus. I know it was a bit Marmite on here but I really enjoyed Lessons In Chemistry but this I did not like. It was confusing and mainly about poetry , publishing and typefaces. You had to concentrate quite a lot for its twists and turns and I expected a lighter read - it didn't have the fun or the feminism of LIC. The most likeable character was a dead dog.

110. Remembering Whitney: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Night the Music Stopped by Cissy Houston - I read this to satisy two weird reading challenge prompts but it turned out to be quite interesting.

Cissy Houston is Whitney Houston's mother and a well-known gospel singer in her own right. This memoir tells us more about Cissy and her successes and failures as a mother than it does about Whitney, who remains something of an enigma.

I found her memories particularly interesting from the perspective of a mother who wants her child to succeed but also wants them to be safe; to protect them but also let them be independent; to have her own life but also be there for her children.

Don't get me wrong, it's not great literature, but I found it more interesting than I expected, and for unexpected reasons.

#40 John & Paul: A Love Story In Songs by Ian Leslie
Loved this, a bold for me.
I’ve read a few Beatles biography’s so I didn’t learn much I didn’t already know, but was reminded of many things I had forgotten - like The Beatles visiting and seriously considering buying a Greek Island where they would build 5 villas - one for each of them and one for Brian Epstein 🤯
The way the biography is presented, linked to key songs, is innovative and I enjoyed the dissection of the songs, and listening to them with fresh ears.
It’s always amazing to me how short lived the group was - from first chart hit in 1962 to implosion in 1970, and how many innovations and incarnations they went through in that time. Together they were so much more than the sum of their parts and this book does a good job of demonstrating that with a particular focus on Lennon and McCartney.
A recommended read for anyone with more than a passing interest in the band.

WHAT’S NEXT by Melissa Fitzgerald & Mary McCormack

A behind the scenes look at the West Wing, how the actors were cast, how it was written and produced and lots of anecdotes about the activism of those involved written by two of the cast.

Thanks to @EineReiseDurchDieZeit for this recommendation. My love for The West Wing knows no bounds (at least one of my pets is named for a character and if ever I have a cat she will be named CJ) and I loved this. A few bits irritated me - there were so many hyperlinks that I kept clicking on accidentally leading my kindle to freeze and some of the activism stories got a bit preachy but I enjoyed nonetheless. And my love for Martin Sheen has deepened after reading about the coach trips to Vegas.

@FranCockerelVoice – welcome, it really is a lovely thread.

@BestIsWest – I’m a huge fan of TWW. I’m trying to remember what I was listening to and that Alison Janney (CJ) is joining for the next series. I thought at the time, oh I must check that out.

111 Outlander – Diana Gabaldon. I read this as part of an online book club. Claire, an English nurse in 1945, is getting reacquainted with her husband Frank, having been separated for six years due to the war. They have a second honeymoon in Inverness. Frank is particularly interested in his family tree and an ancestor called ‘Black’ Jack Randall. Somehow, Claire finds herself in 1743 and immediately runs into Black Jack. This is not good. But she meets a hunky Highlander. Who happens to be an outlaw. I loved the tv adaptation, but strangely enough, not that fussed on the book. I wont be bothering with the rest of the series.

A couple to catch up on from me:

37 Short Stories in Italian - ed. Nick Roberts
A dual-language book of short stories in Italian and English, bought on a recent trip to Rome in a wonderful little bookshop. Includes short stories from Italo Calvino and Primo Levi alongside authors I’d never heard of, all connected to some theme of Italian life, and well worth a read.

38 Dark Tower 3: The Waste Lands - Stephen King
My favourite so far of the DT series, with plenty of action, some genuine creepiness, and the ka-tet’s bonds beginning to grow.

Outlander was pressed upon me by a friend some years ago, with assurances that it was amazing and that I would love it.

I did not.

All I can remember is that it was all pretty much about shagging or dreaming of shagging or thinking about shagging.

Is it The Diplomat @Tarragon123? Alison Janney and Bradley Whitford are both in that from S2 on. I’ve just started S1 and it is excellent (The writer, Deborah Cahn wrote episodes of TWW and Grey’s Anatomy (another fav of mine)).

Just managed to dig out my review in a search:

Essentially it's 600 pages of shagging a geezer in a kilt, or thinking about shagging a geezer in a kilt, with a few pages of plot to tie the shags together and pretend it's not just about shagging a geezer in a kilt.

I’ve just found that too @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. I remember asking if I should continue after not liking the sample and that was pretty much your reply!

I was so glad I asked.

I still think you should read it, just to give us all a laugh with your review.

😂😂 not happening!

A tragedy for all concerned.

RE : Outlander fairly sure my review said “Never Again”

RE The Diplomat it is absolutely brilliant

If Outlander is terrible, can anyone please recommend something good to read next week while I'm in the Highlands? (Aviemore area)

Health not great right now so it'll definitely be more reading than hiking!

BIG west wing fans here too ❤️

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie it’s like me waiting for you to read a Barbara Pym.

I really must try one. One day. Maybe.

@VikingNorthUtsire-the Denzil Meyrick detective novels (which @Tarragon123 & I were discussing) are set on the coast beyond Glasgow Mary Stewart’s Wildfire at Midnight is set in Skye & has some nice descriptions of mountain climbing - neither have the particular Outlander problems outlined by @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie(whose review did make me laugh as I also very have a low opinion of that book).

A review that also brings me neatly on to my next review as the main character in this novel loves both Outlander and BBB …

102 . The Correspondent by Virginia Evans - much-reviewed on here & Woman’s Prize winning epistolary novel. Despite the main character’s clearly dubious taste in literature, I can understand why this won the prize. Firstly, epistolary novels are difficult to get right as they place demands on the author to structure the book so that each letter conveys both the information the reader needs to move the plot forward & is written in a distinctive voice for each character. It’s a form where the reader has too work hard too to fill in the gaps in the narrative caused by the lack of a narrator’s voice & if the author doesn’t get the structure right, the book falls flat. I think that the letters were well done in this respect & the wider plot worked well too as the reader built up & revised their opinion of Sybil as they found out more about her past. This structure / plot was what set it above the other WP for me. It wasn’t a book that I thought I would like as much as I did, as I didn’t find Sybil that appealing initially, but by the end I was really caught up by her story.

42 The Watchers; A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I by Stephen Alford
I get a lot of ideas to read from The Rest is History these days. This is a cracker; a chronological twisty run through the spying operations of Elizabeth I’s government. If I got a single overriding impression from this it is the psychological importance to Elizabeth’s ministers of the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of Protestants in France, after which they were relentless and terrifying in their creation of a sophisticated network of spies, first to claw out a series of plots focused on putting Mary Queen of Scots on the throne, and then to claw out a series of plots focused on putting Philip of Spain on the throne. In the meantime Elizabeth’s rule continued to be an aberration and an offence to Catholics throughout Europe. Not sure I will be up to reading more Alford straight away, but I would definitely look for more in a while.

I like Outlander. Though I agree it has a lot of shagging. They do calm down a bit in later books, though; however, the story isn’t as good IMO once America hoves into view.

I also like Outlander although acknowledge there is a lot of shagging initially. But I am a sucker for time travel stories.

I haven’t read Outlander but did enjoy the first few seasons of the tv show (possibly because of the hit men in kilts- I’m a sucker for men in historical costumes see also Vikings). I also liked the theme music and how they adapted Over the Sea to Skye.

A few more reviews from me at the end of the month. All RWYO.

No Name by Wilkie Collins
As with all Collins’ books this was great but also with a social point to make. Two sisters lose their home and inheritance when their parents die to a distant uncle- because their parents were unmarried when they were born. The youngest daughter gets involved in all sorts of schemes to try and get revenge and their inheritance back. There’s all sorts of disguises and shenanigans, a con man and wife who are great characters and two love stories. Tremendous fun. Bold for me.

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
Had this on my kindle for ages- in a maybe delete collection and then resurrected it out of curiosity after reviews here. Can’t say much for fear of spoilers. Glimmers of good writing but caught up in a preposterous set up. Anyone else who’s curious- don’t bother.

The Way of All Flesh by Ambrose Party
Picked this series up a couple of years ago when they were all in a two for one audible offer. A medical student and housemaid investigate the deaths of several young women in Victorian Edinburgh. I enjoyed this- the mystery was fairly predictable but the setting was interesting and the central characters and their relationship felt real. Female narrator on audio a bit too nasal but male fine so will at some stage listen to the next.

At Night all Blood is Black by David Diop
My second WW1 book (of 3 - next up All Quiet on the Western Front) This was a bit too brutal for me and I found the focus in to Alfa’s unravelling painful to read. I guess that’s what makes it effective but I still found the lack of hope hard to take.

What about Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott? Scott was an absolute phenomenon - his Waverley novels were incredibly popular. This is one of his best known.

Have you read any Graeme Macrae Burnet - those are set in the Highlands so seem apt. Grim, though.

My dad is a tour guide at Walter Scott's house. (not a recommendation necessarily...) and his own house is called Ivanhoe.