The 2026 Annual Reading Challenge List Thread

[ucfgrad93]

I'm in for 2026! Like last year, my goal is 3 books a month.


January
The Eagle And The Wolves by Simon Scarrow, 320 pgs
Field Of Dishonor by David Weber, 302 pgs
The Eagle's Prey by Simon Scarrow, 484 pgs

February
Flag In Exile by David Weber, 424 pgs
The Eagle's Prophecy by Simon Scarrow, 324 pgs

March
Left Behind by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins, 497 pgs
Honor Among Enemies by David Weber, 556 pgs

April
The Eagle In The Sand by Simon Scarrow, 516 pgs
Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins, 468 pgs



Books Read 9
Pages Read 3,894

[Tarana]

2026 Goals

60 books: 34
20,000 pages: 10,389
4 books over 600 pages: 0

TBR Down 10 for each category:
Ebooks: 8
Audiobooks: -19
Magazines: 0


Magazines Read So Far: 0

Spoiler:

01.

2026 Purchases Read:
Bought: 22 Read: 2
Free: 11 Read: 0

Spoiler:

January
1. Tangled Up In Blue - Joan Vinge
2. World's End - Joan Vinge
3. Dead Man's Hand - James J Butcher
4. Years Best SF 15 - Gardner Dozois
5. The Summer War - Naomi Novik
February
6. In Harm's Way - Viveca Sten
7. Buried in Secret - Viveca Sten
8. Tonight You're Dead - Viveca Sten
9. A Slowly Dying Cause - Elizabeth George
10. Hidden in Memories - Vivica Sten
11. Murder Sees All - Elizabeth Spann Craig
March
12. The Black Wolf - Louise Penney
13. The Wordsmiths and the Warguild - Hugh Cook
14. Red Limit Freeway - John deLance
15. Star Rigger - John deLance
16. Paradox Alley - John deLance
17. King Sorrow - Joe Hill
April
18. Burning Truth - Alex Scarrow
19. Slow Gods - Claire North
May
20. Greenthieves - Alan Dean Foster
21. Science Fiction Grand Masters - Various (chirp)
22. Hidden In Lies - Viveca Sten

Free
1. Dead Wrong - Helen Durrant
2. In His Wake - Chad Zunker
3. The People's Library - Veronica G Henry
4. Body in the Bookstore - Ellie Alexander
5. A Murder in Pembrokeshire - Nicola Clifford
6. Reunion of the Three - C S Harris
7. Outside the House - Blake Pierce
8. Otherworldly - Dwain Worren
9. Wizards and the Warriors - Hugh Cook
10. Science Fiction Grand Masters (Various) (audio)
11. Kate Redmond Vol 5 (13, 14 & 15) - Celina Grace

Short Stories: 1

Spoiler:

01. Yellow Man of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows

Books Finished: 33

Spoiler:

January
01. 5 The Flood Tide - Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (audio+ebook)

Excellent story

02. 4 Killing Cousins - Flora Fletcher (audio+ebook)

Excellent narrator. Story was almost comical.

03. 4 The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey (audio)

Good story.

04. 4 Let the Dead Sleep - Heather Graham (audio)

Paranormal story. Pretty good.

February
05. 3 Murder Wears Mittens - Sally Goldenbaum

Good story. Meandered a little too long.

06. 4 A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows (audio)

Excellent adventure!

07. 4 The Gods of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows (audio)

Another excellent adventure - continued.

08. 4 Warlord of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows (audio)

Good story!

09. 4 Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows (audio)

Great story.

March
10. 4 The Chessmen of Mars - Edgar Rice Burrows (audio)

Another good story. Next generation.

11. 3 Twin Cities Noir (expanded ed) - ed. by Julie Schaper & Steven Horwitz (ebook+audio)

A couple of excellent stories but the rest didn't really appeal to me.

12. 3 Something Wicked - David Roberts

Good book but padded. Cozy set in pre WW2 England.

13. 3 Bodies From the Library - Anthology (audio)

Good stories but not outstanding.

14. 5 The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett (audio+ebook)

Reread: Great story featuring Vines as an ambassador.

15. 4 Murder Flies the Coop - Jessica Elliot (audio)

Good cozy. Narrator is always excellent!

16. 5 Silent Tide - Alex Scarrow

Great first book! Look forward to more in series.

April
17. 4 Naughty in Nice - Rhys Bowen (audio)

Pretty good. Narrator makes the story better than it is.

18. 5 Killings At Badger's Drift - Caroline Graham (audio)

Excellent story. Reread but in audio this time.

19. 4 Apt Pupil - Stephen King

Good creepy story.

20. 4 Hushed Up - Elizabeth Spann Craig (audio)

Another good cozy. Love this series.

21. 4 Puzzle House - Duncan Ralston (audio)

Good horror. Surprise ending. On to book 2 soon.

22. 5 Call For the Dead - John LeCarr (ebook+audiobook)

Very pleasant surprise! Great book!

23. 3 A Body in the Attic - Elizabeth Spann Craig (ebook+audiobook)

Good but not great story.

24. 4 In Harm's Way - Viveca Sten

Reread and still a good story!

25. 5 Closed Circles - Viveca Sten

Reread. Still excellent!

26. 5 Guiltless- Viveca Sten

Reread: Very intense. Excellent reread.

27. 3 Orbs - Nicholas Sansbury Smith (ebook+audio)

Adventure scifi. Science is wacky but enjoyed story.

May
28. 5 Tonight You're Dead - Viveca Sten

Reread: Almost a thriller, excellent murder mystery.

29. 5 In The Heat of the Moment - Viveca Sten

Reread: another outstanding episode.

30. 3 Orbs II - Nicholas Sansbury Smith (audio)

Another exciting episode.

31. 3 Orbs III: Redemption - Nicholas Sansbury Smith (audio)

More disaster! Some more questionable science.

32. 5 In Harm's Way - Viveca Sten

ReRead: This was exciting! Loved it!

33. 3 Orbs IV: Exodus - Nicholas Sansbury Smith (audio)

Finished series. Didn't like change of narrators.

34. 5 In The Shadow of Power - Viveca Sten (ebook +audio)

Another excellent story.

35.

TBR as of 1/1/26
Audiobooks 1,512
Ebooks&magazines 2,139

[Musicman]

I'll try again for 50...

January
1) King of Sorrow - Author Joe Hill
2) The Tin Men - Author Nelson Demille - Alex Demille
3) The Venom Business - Author Michael Crichton
4) Killer of the Flower Moon - Author David Grann

[afv011]

My challenge is to read 24 book next year.

Completed

• January
  1. Earth (David Brin) - 760p
• February
  1. The Very First Damned Thing (Jodi Taylor) - 56p
  2. Just One Damned Thing After Another (Jodi Taylor) - 254p
• March
  1. Vibe Coding: Building Production-Grade Software With GenAI, Chat, Agents, and Beyond (Gene Kim, Steve Yegge) - 384p
  2. Persepolis Rising (James s.A. Corey) - 486p
• April
  1. There Is No Antimemetics Division (qntm) - 248p
  2. Extinction (Douglas Preston) - 368p
• May
  1. The Dog Stars (Peter Heller) - 217p
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Books read: 8
Pages read: 2773

[sakura-panda]

2026 Reading Challenge List

Currently Reading

1. V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton
2. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon
3. The Dragon and the Unicorn by A. A. Attanasio
4. Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
5. Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah by Melody Carlson

January 2026
1. The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs
2. A Hearth in Candlewood by Delia Parr
3. Veins of Gold by Charlie N. Holmberg (bookclub)
4. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
5. Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs
6. Refining Emma by Delia Parr

February 2026
7. Where Love Dwells by Delia Parr
8. Sleeping with Schubert by Bonnie Marson
9. The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros (bookclub)
10. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
11. Hearts Awakening by Delia Parr
12. Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
13. The Christmas Bus by Melody Carlson

March 2026
14. The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson
15. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
16. Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon
17. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (bookclub)
18. i heart bloomberg by Melody Carlson
19. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern by Lillian Jackson Braun
20. Highland Wishes by Leanne Burroughs
21. Almost Home by Susan Mallery

April 2026
22. The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
23. The Wedding People by Alison Espach
24. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
25. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (bookclub)
26. Let Them Eat Fruitcake by Melody Carlson

May 2026
27. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
28. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune
29. Spring Broke by Melody Carlson
30. The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran
31. The Outlandish Companion by Diana Gabaldon
32. Married in Haste by Cathy Maxwell




June 2026


July 2026


August 2026


September 2026


October 2026


November 2026


December 2026

[astrangerhere]

Length Goals:

• Total Books: 50 (stretch goal of 75)
• Total Pages: 25,000 (stretch of 30,000)
• Read from Print-TBR: 20

Substantive Goals:

• Read at least 51% non-American authors
• Read more female/nonbinary authors than male
• Read at least 52 poems
• Read at least 12 books across all our collections that are selected by my wife. It's a great way to read things I would not ordinarily do, and I almost always end up enjoying them. List of books will be added as soon as my wife selects them. Denoted by +

POEMS READ

1. "Burning the New Year" by Naomi Shihab Nye
2. "The Man in the Wind" by Anne Stevenson
3. "Renegade" by Lionel Jonhson
4. "Absence" by Elizabeth Jennings
5. "The Want of Peace" by Wendell Berry
6. "Inversnaid" by Gerard Manly Hopkins
7. "The Problem with Early Warnings" by Charles Rafferty
8. "The Secret Day" by Stella Benson
9. "Winter Walk" by Lynette Roberts
10. "on paper" by Jacqueline Woodson
11. "Sea-Fever" by John Masefield
12. "Love Comes Quietly" by Robert Creeley
13. "stones and bones" by Lucille Clifton
14. "Hymn to Time" by Ursula K. Le Guin
15. "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa" by Ada Limón
16. "Red Cockatoo, The" by Poe Chu-I
17. "Nothing is Too Small to be Wondered About" by Mary Oliver
18. "In Love You Rise" by Ibrahim Nasrallah
    
    

BOOKS READ

1. The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid - DROPPED
2. A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
3. The Saint of Bright Doors by Varja Chandrasekera +
4. The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk +
5. The Black Mountain by Rex Stout
6. Notes to John by Joan Didion +
7. Book and Dagger: : How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham - DROPPPED
8. If Death Ever Slept by Rex Stout
9. And Four to Go by Rex Stout
10. Not Quite Dead Enough by Rex Stout
11. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer +
12. Might as Well Be Dead by Rex Stout
13. The Letters of Shirley Jackson by Shirley Jackson, edited by her son
14. Plot It Yourself by Rex Stout
15. Pedro the Vast by Simon Lopez Trujillo +
16. One Aladdin, Two Lamps by Jeannette Winterson +
17. Gambit by Rex Stout
18. The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton - DROPPED
19. Rome of One's Own, A: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon
20. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho, translated by Ann Carson +
21. Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
22. Lady Joker Vol. 1 by Kaoru Takamura
23. Lady Joker Vol. 2 by Kaoru Takamura
24. Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo +
25. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde +
26. Every Man for Himself and God Against All by Werner Herzog +
27. The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway
28. Day: A Novel by Michael Cunningham +
29. The Father Hunt by Rex Stout
30. The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
    

[WashWest]

I'm in, here and on the Story Graph challenge! My goals:

• Read 52 books
• Read at least 2 books for every 1 book I buy

Read

• January
  • Dog Songs, by Mary Oliver
  • The Rose Code, by Kate Quinn
  • The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. Audiobook narrated by Aidan Gillen
  • How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, by Django Wexler
  • The Great Divide, by Cristina Henríquez
  • The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir, by Neko Case
  • I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, by Baek Se-hee
• February
  • Cleopatra and Frankenstein, by Coco Mellors
  • Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke
  • Platform Decay, by Martha Wells
• March
  • Audition, by Katie Kitamura
  • The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, by Robert Dugoni
  • The Seventh Veil of Salome, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• April
  • Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, by Hwang Bo-Reum
  • The Gracekeepers, by Kirsty Logan
  • Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books, by Hwang Bo-Reum
  • Baseball in '41: A Celebration of the "Best Baseball Season Ever", by Robert W. Creamer

Bought

• January:
  • Print: 1
  • Ebooks: 4
  • Audiobooks: 0
• February: I stopped counting

[Waylander]

1. January:
2. February:
3. March:
4. April:
5. May:
6. June:
7. July:
8. August:
9. September:
10. October:
11. November:
12. December:

[bdub]

Reading Goal: 48 books (approximately 100k a book)

Currently Reading:

Skeleton Crew
Jeeves Stories (from Standard EBooks)
The Stars My Destination
Return of Sherlock Holmes

DNFs:

Sweetness of Water
Broken Country

January:

A Wrinkle in Time
Long Walk
Housemaid
Lion Women of Tehran

February:
Wuthering Heights
Club Dumas
Burnout Society

March:
Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2)
The Notebook


April
Dangerous Visions
Memory Police
The Man Who Was Thursday
Bloodchild and Other Stories
Book of Lost Hours

[Indio777]

Thanks to government shutdown & a three-week vacation when I ended up staying at home, as well as reading more shorter books, managed to read a lot in 2025. 2026 more classical history/literature and other stuff, including in translation.

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky - The letter killers club (tr. Joanne Turnbull)
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky - Stravaging "strange" (tr. Joanne Turnbull)
Anthony Kaldellis - The New Roman Empire: a history of Byzantium
Alfonz Bednár - The hours & the minutes (tr. David Short)
Anthony Kaldellis - A cabinet of Byzantine curiosities
Vladimir Sorokin - Their four hearts (tr. Max Lawton)
Vladimir Sorokin - Blue lard (tr. Max Lawton)
===========================================
Vladimir Sorokin - Ice trilogy (tr. Jamey Gambrell)
Vladimir Sorokin - Day of the oprichnik (tr. Jamey Gambrell) (reread)
Vladimir Sorokin - The sugar Kremlin (tr. Max Lawton)
Vladimir Sorokin - The blizzard (tr. Jamey Gambrell)
Vladimir Sorokin - Telluria (tr. Max Lawton)
Vladimir Sorokin - The Queue (tr. Sally Laird)
Vladimir Sorokin - Dispatches from the District Committe (tr. Max Lawton)
Vladimir Sorokin - Red pyramid: selected stories (tr. Max Lawton)
Miloš Urban - The seven churches, or the heptecclesion: a Gothic novel of Prague (tr. Robert Russell)
Miloš Urban - Lord Mord (tr. Gerald Turner)
Jon Fosse - Boathouse (tr. May-Brit Akerholt)
Jon Fosse - Melancholy I-II (tr. Damion Searls & Grethe Kvernes)
Jon Fosse - Morning & Evening (tr. Damion Searls)
Jon Fosse - Aliss at the fire (tr. Damion Searls)
Jon Fosse - Trilogy (tr. Cecilie Seiness)
Jon Fosse - A shining (tr. Damion Searls)
Jon Fosse - Scenes from a childhood (tr. Damion Searls)
Mark Danielewski - Tom's Crossing

2025 list

[HLS]

Goal is the same every year. 50 books or 21,000 pages

[magiun]

I'm also in, hopefully better than last year .

Goal - 10 books -
Pages - 3500 -

January: 0 books - 30 pages

Spoiler:

1. Chapterhouse Dune - 640 pgs -


Caption:

Spoiler:

5 - Awesome (I would read it again)
4 - Good (I can recommend it)
3 - Ordinary (but I finished it)
2 - Boring (I barely finished it)
1 - Awful (will never come back, didn't finish it)