2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

Hi Terribull, I'm normally more of a lurker on Gransnet apart from the odd post now and again. However, I like to read and I'm just starting a non fiction book called River Kings by Cat Jarman. On the cover it says it's a history of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads but it is talking about the Vikings in and around Repton, Derbyshire. OH gave it to me as I have just finished Why Q Needs U by Danny Bate and I was surprised how much the ancient world has influenced our language and how it has changed over the millenia. I love words and I used to read the dictionary as a child. I'm a bit nerdy tbh. But I'm looking forward to see what everyone else is reading and trying some authors I haven't read before.

I’m with @granfromafar, I started the challenge last year, full of good intentions and I think I lasted to book 5 or 6? I did in fact read / listen to 75 books, but never remember to put them on her. Must try harder!

I only read about 12 books per year (I do read lots of current events articles on Substack and journals eg Prospect and Byline Times). But I love a good book and have piles of them around the house, waiting to be read. Will try to contribute but mostly here for the recommendations from the well-read Gransnetters.

i cleared my kindle the other day (i need large print) i do this at the start of each year, i had read 128 books through out 2025. mostly detectives, thrillers and family sagas.

I'm going to join in this year. I've just started Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer, something light for the beginning of the year but I really want to read Wolf Hall this year.

Susieq62

The Names was my book of the year last year and it will never leave my bookshelf.
My favourite author is John Boyne especially his Elements books, fantastic

I love John Boyne, The Heart's Invisible Furies, All the Broken Places and The History of Loneliness are books that have stayed with me.

Welcome back to the '26 thread Alibeeee

Happy new year everyone and thanks for the new thread TerriBull.
My first of 2026 is The Girls Who Disappeared by Claire Douglas.
Twenty years ago Olivia was driving her 3 friends home on a stormy night when they crashed. When she came round, she was badly injured and trapped, but she was the only one in the car. Her friends had disappeared and were never seen again. Now the 20th anniversary of the accident is approaching and a journalist arrives in the small town to make a podcast about the mystery. Will she be able uncover the truth about what happened to the 3 girls?
This was an okay read, nothing exceptional, but it held my interest and kept me going at this busy time of year. 7/10

The Names was my book of the year last year and it will never leave my bookshelf.
My favourite author is John Boyne especially his Elements books, fantastic

I’ve reached the stage where I prefer lustening to reading, but I love books. Besides audiobooks, I also pay for a subscription to Speechify: it’s expensive, but I do believe it’s the best text-to-speech on the market. It has dozens and dozens of voices, not only British and American and Australian but other accents in English, and male and female voices in almost any language that has sufficient books published in it. You can clone your own speaking voice, and, fascinating, I can get “me” to read a text in a foreign language and it will sound fluent. AND: you can scan pages from a book, so with paperbacks, I’ll typically scan a chapter, click click click, and then I can have it read to me while I’m cooking or preparing for bed. And it’s extremely expressive. If you ever heard the robotic voices on the original Kindle or on VoiceOver, well, it’s a million times better. I frequently forget it’s AI. Even my cloned voice seems to be acting.

Thought that was it? No, it will generate a multiple choice quiz on what it’s just read to you, or summarise it, or present, in some cases, a 2-“person” podcast-type discussion. Scan the cover of a book and it will play a lively discussion all about what’s in the book, maybe about the author, maybe why you really ought to read it…

So rrecently I’ve been absolutely devouring books faster than ever, but I find it harder to just sit still and read, particularly as my sight’s not what it was.

I have just finished The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency. ‘To the Land of Long Lost Friends’ by Alexander McCall Smith. A long series of books about Botswana. While on holiday in
Germany last year, a German man came to our breakfast table and said he had heard us speaking English and wondered if I was interesting in having his book on Nazy Spies! It was so good I ordered the next in the series by Rory Cléments. I am now just starting reading the next in the series called ‘Hitler’s Secretk. Good spy thriller. I can never find this list so have joined in the past but lost it again!

I loved Lessons in Chemistry too. Have jrecently finished reading Raising Hare which I thought was brilliant. Gave it to a few people for Christmas, and they've all loved it too. Beautifully written I thought.

I am on book number 2 "All Bones and Lies" one of the books for adults by Anne Fine.

I cheated a bit as I started book number 1 "Rivers of London - Body Work" before midnight.

Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year. Thanks Terribull for notifying me of this Challenge. I love reading but don’t think I can manage 50 books in a year (maybe I will try speed reading!) but I will certainly enjoy looking at other GN’s recommendations. I finished Harlen Coben ‘Boy in The Woods’ last night - I love a thrilker and now reading Jeffrey Archer’s 5th book in the William Warwick series.

I will probably slow down my reading once the better weather arrives but for now will certainly make the most of the long dark nights. 🤗

Susieq62

Allira on my shelf too

Some get passed on, others get put on the bookcase to re-read.

Allira on my shelf too

Welcome everybody who is new to the thread, yes just join, no permission needed come along and tell us about your books, remember to keep coming back and number them as you go, well you don't have to of course, but that's the plan.

I think we've been going since before Covid, can't remember when our 50 book thread first started. It wasn't my original idea, I nicked it from MN where else? I'd always taken some brilliant recommendations from over there, books I might not have read otherwise, which is why I thought we should have one of our own. Their reading community is obviously a lot larger than ours. The Fifty Book forum runs into umpteen threads and the sheer number of books some posters get through. I don't know how they have time to eat and sleep

Hi I’d like to join the challenge. Today I read A Boy called Christmas by Matt Haig. I bought it from a charity shop for my eight yr old grandson who I will see on Sunday. As I had an hour or so free this morning I thought I’d see what it was like and read it all. Good story, I think they have made it into a film.

Please can I join this thread? I loved Lessons in Chemistry , read it twice!

It is one book which will go on the shelf and not to the charity shop 🙂

Ps I volunteer at my local library too

Please can I join this thread? I loved Lessons in Chemistry , read it twice!
Just about to start Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton
I am an avid reader too
Thanks

Am I the only person who didn't really like Lessons in Chemistry? Maybe I'll give it another try.

I found it took a bit of getting into and, rather than being humorous and joyful on every page as one reviewer (not on here) said, it was making me quite cross at first!
We have moved on since those days, not so long ago, but misogyny is still around.

Sparklefizz Happy New Year to you too!

Personally, I wouldn't revisit a book I hadn't enjoyed, even if everyone else did, life's too short!

Aren't libraries wonderful

FGT just post as and whenever you feel up to it, I completely understand there's one serious issue that takes up much of your time. It's always good to read your recommendations.

TerriBull Happy New Year to you and to everyone. I love this thread.

Greciangirl My library does free reservations, and 69 of the 71 books I read last year were library reservations at no cost. There's no way I could buy them all. I make a list of books I fancy reading and reserve them - maybe have to wait a while until they come in, especially if a book is popular. I would highly recommend checking out your nearest library.

Allira I enjoyed Here one Moment by Liane Moriarty when I read it last year.

Am I the only person who didn't really like Lessons in Chemistry? Maybe I'll give it another try.

Hi Greciangirl
I mostly read on my Kindle or on my phone nowadays.
I borrow quite a few books or audio books for free from Borrowbox, provided by the library.
I share a Kindle Unlimited account with DD1 and BookBub sends me 99p recommendations for genres or authors I like.
E books can still be expensive, though usually less than paper copies but I like the fact that Amazon lets me return them if I don’t like them.