Me too
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Goalless for 2026 because life is unpredictable. Iâll keep trying to read from my shelves and not buy any more books but fuck placing proper rules on myself buying books is fun even if it is a slightly different hobby
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My only goal is to record the books I read, I read loads but more or less instantly forget what I had read
First up is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConagh. Started yesterday but still going to count as number 1
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Iâm doing a read along with the podcast The Secret Life of Books - they are reading it slowly as it was published originally! (I am also reading along with my wife for added accountability)
No particular 2026 goals. Planning to continue with the Mick Herron Slow Horses series and the Raymond Chandler Philip Marlowe novels. Iâm currently reading Dubliners by James Joyce and really enjoying it so this may be the year I try Ulysses. Perhaps one goal would be to jot down the odd thought about what Iâve been reading and post them here and maybe on Goodreads.
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Have started the year reading Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir by Craig Mod - it was a Christmas present and is about walking in Japan. Kind of gently ruminative travel writing.
And as my fiction book The Wax Child by Olga Ravn which I bought for myself whilst buying Christmas presents for other people. I really liked her weird little novel The Employees: A Handbook a few years back so high hopes for this one.
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If youâve never read them then Ed McBainâs 87th Precint novels might mix nicely with the Marlowe and Slough House stuff.
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Starting the year with a new David Bowie biog called âLazurusâ.
Got a target of 30 books this year. Read 31 in 2025.
Thank you. I havenât read them - onto the tbr list they go!
There are a lot and the early ones can be really short. Moreover the early stuff is quite different, different types of crimes etc as they began in the 50s.
There are definite ongoing plot threads from book to book for the copsâ personal lives that will hit if you read them all in order but thereâs absolutely no need to do that as each is a separate story, so just grab whatever is in your library or whatever comes up as cheap on Kindle etc.
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Christmas book pile. Already finished the Manics one, loved it. Philip Pulman up next i think. The Lee Child one is an Asda exclusive featuring a bonus Reacher story. Think two Reachers in one book might be too many.
Delighted with the Wildfowl one - 2nd hand but in excellent condition, continuing my New Naturalist collection.
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Dad Joked TFY
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Long time lurker. I read a good number of books but have never really posted thoughts before, as Iâm not great at describing 
. Going to try harder this year, however.
First book read.
Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson.
First of his I read, loved it.
Ex-Vietnam vet in the 1970âs Pacific Northwest trying to get through life as a bartender at his in laws bar. Runs into a weary biker gang, where one turns out to be a nasty vampire. Chaos ensues.
Vampire trope to me can get very old quick, give the author a lot of credit for taking a nice fresh dark turn on the genre.
Great cover too.
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James Joyce - Dubliners
First book of the year, started over Christmas but just finished now, was Joyceâs collection of short stories, little snapshots of Dublin life written around 1905 but not published until 1914 after various wrangles with publishers.
Nothing happens, yet everything happens. If you need a âthey all lived happily ever afterâ, this collection of short stories wonât be for you. For sure, they wonât all live happily ever after, but you wonât have that resolved either. Each story ends and youâre left having experienced that snapshot of Dublin life at that time that says so little yet says so much. The longest story, The Dead, is the standout but I really loved the shorter sketches.
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Such a great collection. I usually read The Dead at Christmas, totally forgot this year. Might read the ending today - itâs snowing in Norwich, so right atmosphere!
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Joe Hill: King Sorrow update - Iâm now on 67%. I canât remember if it was earlier today or yesterday but I enjoyed the line âI donât think there 's any real person with the name Jeff Tweedyâ
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The Bastard of Istanbul - Elif Shafak
Had to give up on this one, having read roughly 150 pages, wanting to like it but never truly gripped by it. Like other novels Iâve read of hers, her style is nice enough but I find her charactisations somewhat weak and she tends to prioritise social themes over that of tightly plotting those themes. Would have been my first read of the year. Nevermind.
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Book 1 - Tom Newlands - Only Here, Only Now (9/10). Yeah this was great, debut book by a Scottish author and won various prizes, about a young girl (covers from like 13-8ish) growing up in rough part/scheme in Fife. Sort of really encapsulates the love/hate relationship people have withâŚwell almost everyone at the age.
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Lurked on the 2025 thread all last year and still didnât meet my goal of 32 books. Brought that down to 30 for 2026 and want to contribute this year!
Starting with The Buffalo Hunter Hunter- holy moly, what a book! Havenât read horror in ages but this is phenomenal. Just like One Battle After Another reignited my love of cinema and had me all giddy, so did this with reading. Especially the crucifix stuff! Iâm zipping through it and will finish tonight.
Iâve got a big pile of to-reads and feel this was a great book to kick me into gear. But always love these threads for adding to said pile.
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