2026 - 50 Books a Year Challenge

41-Hannah Fox-Elizabeth Jeffrey
This author lives a few miles from me, so I've read lots of her historical novels that are often set locally. But this one is set in Sheffield and based around the silversmith trade. It is a rags to riches story showing the hard times that our ancestors must have suffered.

Diggingdoris

40-The Holiday-T.M.Logan
A new author for me but one I shall be looking out for in the future.
Four best friends and their husbands and children go on holiday to Provence. But there is trouble afoot, as Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair with one of her best friends. How far would a parent go to protect their child? A fabulous page-turner, full of secrets and lies

Diggingdoris I think I'll put that one on my list.

Book 31 The Winds from further West by Alexander McCall Smith

I am not one of this author's great fans but decided to give this one a try.

Not long after starting a new job, Neil meets Chrissie and romance follows and they move in together.

Neil is a lecturer and a throw-away meaningless comment unintentionally causes his career to collapse after a student complains. At the same time he faces another betrayal, and decides to escape to the secluded remote beauty of a Hebridean island. Here he finds a different way of life and develops new friendships.

This book was ok, but the dialogue seemed stilted at times, and I never really felt it all rang true. 7/10

#38. Lazybones by Mark Billingham.

40-The Holiday-T.M.Logan
A new author for me but one I shall be looking out for in the future.
Four best friends and their husbands and children go on holiday to Provence. But there is trouble afoot, as Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair with one of her best friends. How far would a parent go to protect their child? A fabulous page-turner, full of secrets and lies

I have written The Names in my diary to order from the library.

#32 The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Anne and Marco leave their 6 month old baby Cora sleeping at home while they attend a dinner party next door, taking the baby monitor with them. They go home to check on her every 30 minutes, but when they check at 1am the crib is empty.
This book’s been discussed here before, that’s why I read it. It has a lot of twists, some of which I guessed, but it’s a good enough read. 7/10

TerriBull

The Names was one of my standout books from last year, well worth a recomnend Bellanonna.

One of mine too!

The Names was one of my standout books from last year, well worth a recomnend Bellanonna.

Helter-Skelter, I did just as you did - read them in reverse order. What a good writer and how well he draws his characters. I must read more Colm Toibin. I’ve even checked how to pronounce his name correctly!

Another recent read was The Names. It’s about a family but described in three different ways, so three different endings. Fascinating. Apologies if this has been commented on earlier!

I very much enjoyed reading Long Island having seen the film of Brooklyn HelterSkelter.

30 Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage M K Oliver Audible

A debut novel - Black comedy/thriller of the absurd nature. Opens with a stranger breaking into the home of Lalla Rook, status obsessed housewife who she subsequently stabs to death and is left with the dilemma of disposing of the body. Opportunistic Lalla, lacking in any moral compass whatsoever, manages to implicate her malleable friend who just happens to call round whilst she is in the process of doing that and who she coerces into becoming her accomplice. Being the arch manipulator any blame she manages to shift on to her naive and unsuspecting friend. Social climber and ruthless, Lalla doesn't stop at anything to achieve the life she aspires to which include making sure her husband, who she doesn't really love, gains a partnership at his investment firm, her somewhat psychotic daughter being accepted at a prestigious school and a move to the house of her dreams in Hampstead. Several of the book's antagonists are obstacles for elimination, in particular an acerbic, vitriolic mother in law who hates her, a former husband behind the hit man sent to do his worst. Lalla moves through the book using her warped ingenuity to trump all her adversaries. The book rewinds to piece together a previous life far removed from the one she has created and a determination to move up the social ladder at any costs. Quite entertaining, I believe I read somewhere that one of the major screening platforms, maybe Hulu, have acquired the rights to turn it into a series it probably has the right qualities for a successful drama.

Apologies. I dip in and out of this thread. I have just finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. I read its sequel Long Island first. Wrong way round! And will re read Long Island.

I loved both books. About a young Irish girl emigrating to America on her own. She lives in Brooklyn and works on the shop floor of a department store. She is so young under 20 to have undertaken such a journey by today's standards. But this was the 1950s. She suffers from home sickness and is helped by the local RC priest who liaised with her older sister to give her this opportunity. She has to return to Ireland after 2 years then back to Brooklyn for heart breaking reasons. You so feel for her in this terrible dilemma.
Long Island continues her story 20 years down the line where she faces another dilemma.
Beautifully written. You can picture her life. Such a good read.
I have more of his books and will crack on with the re read of Long Island first....once I have finished my current book. Booker prize winning Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald about life on the Thanes at Battersea Reach in the 60s.

#29 Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths
A girl goes missing from the exclusive Roedean boarding school. It looks like she’s run away, but there are disturbing similarities to the disappearance of 2 other girls who went missing recently. Then the body of one of the girls is found and a race is on to find the others before it’s too late.
This is #5 in the Brighton Mysteries series, I seem to be reading these in reverse order so I must go back to book 1 - The Zig Zag Girl. 8/10

#30 State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
Deep in the Amazon jungle enigmatic scientist Dr Annick Swenson is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women. The work is shrouded in mystery, especially from her investors. When Anders Eckman, a lab researcher, is sent to investigate, a curt letter is received reporting his death. Now another researcher, Ander’s colleague Marina Singh, and former student of Dr Swenson, is sent to uncover what happened amongst the remote tribes.
This was really gripping and surprising. Great characters and sense of place. 10/10

31 When Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen
Elderly Bo lives a quiet life in his rural village in northern Sweden with his beloved dog Sixten and his memories for company. His days are punctuated with visits from his carers and phone calls with his best friend Ture. Only his son is now insisting that Bo can no longer look after Sixten and he must be taken away. The same son that Bo is trying to mend his relationship with before it’s too late.
With everyone telling him what’s best, can Bo speak up and make himself heard?
I wasn’t sure about this book at first, but it quickly became very poignant and brought tears to my eyes at the end (a very rare occurrence for a book). 8/10

#30 Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
I have enjoyed other books by this author but there were so many "American references" in this book that I found it hard to stay interested in it.

Obviously for American readers, this is all well and good. I know my American friend struggled with Richard Osman's cosy crime for exactly this reason, ie. full of British references.
8/10

15. I Want to Go Home But I'm Already There by Roisin Lanigan

Although I'm a different generation from the protagonist of this book and different in personality too, I felt that I could understand this young lady and what she was going through. The hopelessness the young generation faces nowadays, with the cost of living crisis, unable to afford rent even on damp bedsit and the bleak landscape of social media and personal relationships were palpable throughout the book.

16. With or Without You by Drew Davies

Following a car accident, Wendy's husband is in a coma, and she finds herself without direction. I liked this book as it had the right combination of heart and humour.

17. Going Mainstream:How Extremists Are Taking Over by Julia Ebner

Written by a counter-extremism researcher who was named Austrian of the Year in 2024. Ebner has conducted research, often going undercover, on different extremist groups (Incels, Neo-Nazis etc.) and paints a bleak picture of what has been happening over the last decade. How social media and deliberate efforts from powerful sources bring nasty, radical ideas into the mainstream. How easily a lonely young man finds himself in a seemingly supportive online community where he is being radicalised to hate all women, eventually ending up being open to other extreme ideas and supporting terrorism. This book was written before AI misinformation became widespread. I can't imagine how much worse the situation is going to get.

18. A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz

I'm a huge fan of the Hawthorne series. This book was a bit below average for me but still enjoyable.

#37. The Intruder by Freida McFadden.

39-Meet Me at Rainbow Corner-Celia Imrie
London 1944 Rainbow Corner is a social club for American GI's in Piccadilly. It's here that Dot finds a new best friend in Lilly, and together they must learn to face their fears, uncover secrets and discover the true meaning of love.

29 London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe

I found this book compulsive, having been glued to it for the past couple of days. An account rather than a novel, which by coincidence has a double page spread in yesterday's Sunday Times as I was reading the book.

19 year old Zac Brettler, living a Walter Mitty existence in inhabiting the persona of the son of a Russian Oligarch falls from the balcony of a 5th storey luxury block of flats, right opposite M16 Headquarters, into the murky waters of the Thames. In the aftermath their son's death, his bereaved parents, Matthew and Rachelle try to piece together what lead up to that moment, was this a suicide? or did he in fact jump to escape danger, entangled in his own web of deceit. What they uncover are the hidden depths of murky finance and criminal opportunism. In particular Zac's association with two men whose veneer of wealth belied a dark underbelly of criminal activities. The narrative rewinds to Zac's early years, growing up in Maida Vale and his school days, in particular to his teen years when he boarded at his public school, Mill Hill where he was well known for embroidering the truth and fabricating a myriad of lies where his alter ego of Zac Ismailov was borne, the son of a dead Oligarch. Possibly inspired by some of the actual Russian school mates he associated with. In truth his background was less glamorous, the second son of a comfortable Jewish middle class family. His grandfather was the fairly well known, Rabbi Hugo Gryn. Zac was to disassociate himself from the close knit fabric of his family life to dabble in a murky underbelly of those who appear superficially incredibly wealthy, in reality, supposed wealth as fragile as a pack of cards with hidden trails of debt. It's into a setting of ingratiating himself under the guise of a fabrication of an immense wealth he's about to inherit, he is to cross paths with smooth, urbane operator by the name of Akbar Shamji and his associate , gangland drug trafficker Verinder Sharma. The latter whose balcony he is to jump from posing the question was it to escape danger overplaying his hand or was it suicide?

Gripping, an outstanding page turner.

13 The Secrets of Willow Bay by Phillipa Nefri Clark

Set in a small coastal town in Victoria, Australia, one of a series of books but all featuring different characters. Lost loves and friendships, with a secret at the heart of it all which could have devastating consequences when it is revealed 25 years later.

Escapism in a lovely setting.

31 The NEW Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour.

One of the books I was determined to read and decide whether to keep or let go. I think I bought this when I was thinking about being self sufficient but decided not to go ahead. One for the charity shop I think. Now back to the Mirror and the Light.

30 Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

No. 2 in the Wolf Hall series and just started the Mirror and the Light. after that back to reading what I already have and not buying any more - I hope.

38-Need You Dead-Peter James
Although I enjoy the TV adaptions of the Grace series, the books of the same name are more exciting. This one in particular has so many different parts in the plot and the ending that it almost seems nothing like the TV version. So don't be put off reading the books just because you've seen it on the screen.

stewaris I'm a great Wolf Hall fan and have read it several times. Good to hear that you enjoyed it.

Book 29 The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively
I haven't found a book of PL's that I haven't enjoyed! Her characters are "normal" and relatable.

This book is the story of family life. Anne Linton's father has suffered a stroke and is in a nursing home, and most weekends Anne abandons her husband and 2 teenagers to make the long drive to Lichfield to be with her father before he dies.

But the longer she spends there, including sorting out things in her father's home, the more she is drawn into another life. Over a lingering summer she is drawn into an affair with a man who had been her father's neighbour, and also discovers that her own father was not the man she had always imagined him to be.

This is a thoughtful and touching story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 10/10

29 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
I've been meaning to read this for ages and finally got around to it. I really enjoyed it and have bought Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light. However, I joined this thread as I hoped it would make me read all the books I have but haven't got around to reading not make me buy more. Okay, make is too strong-encouraging would be better. Hopefully I will win in the end.

#36. A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz.

Just started this, the latest ‘Hawthorne’ book.

First to get it from the library👍🏻.

Looks really promising, as usual for AH.

37-Change of Season-Anna Jacobs
Back to my favourite author again, with an unputdownable story of a bullied wife finding her confidence after 25years in a long distance marriage. Sensitively written, great characters.