2026 Monthly Book List - You choose!

Want to choose a book for a month? You can do that here. Put your hand up, pick a month and a book and we'll allocate your spot here. Easy!

** Please consider, when choosing a title that it is something that should be easily accessible to everyone.
That might mean it's in the public domain, or a popular title easily found at a library either online or physical.
You might also check the STATISTICS page to see what the most held books are by group members **

JAN 2026= Maurice by E. M. Forster ✔
FEB 2026= Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Unknown Author (Simon Armitage translation)
MAR 2026= @amanda4242 The Eagle Of The Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
APR 2026= @DebiCates Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
MAY 2026= @GregM3 My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
JUN 2026=
JUL 2026= @AnishaInkspill The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
AUG 2026=
SEP 2026=
OCT 2026=
NOV 2026=
DEC 2026=

On the 1st of the month it will be you who starts a topic for your book choice.
Make the subject the book title and author and start us off, we can't wait!
(January has already been started as an example.)
If you can't post on the 1st of the month, let an Admin know and we'll do it for you, no problem.

P.S. | choosing your book in advance gives everyone who wants to the time to get hold of a copy.

>1 TonjaE: I'm stoked! Yes yes yes! I'm in and I love that we can chose (be quick, though, those monthly spots will fill up I'm sure.) I love that it is a place for Goodreaders to get a feel for LT while still among compatriots. ha

We need to spread the word over on GR. Will you do that or want me to?

I'd like to chose something for April, if it stays free until I can decide which title (so many on my Toppling TBR.)

>2 DebiCates: I'm happy you already like the gist of it. April is yours with TBA your choice.
I know hardly anyone on GR so it would be great if you would spread the word please. Excited to see where this goes.

>3 TonjaE: I'm going to postpone taking April after re-thinking it. Let others choose and I'll help if there are any remaining months not spoken for.

Now I'm off to go over to GR to spread the good GoodThing word.

ETA: yikes, I just gave you a little headache. I see you kindly lickety-split put me on the roster. It won't be much trouble to take off for the time being, will it?

>4 DebiCates: No, not at all. I shall remove you from April and then better get some washing done I think. Have a fabulous weekend.

>5 TonjaE: Do the chores you must do. But hope you come back sometime for Saturday's poem(s). I always like seeing your name and your original comments.

>6 DebiCates: I will be there :)

>8 craigspeakman: Sorry but it is bad form and considered spam for authors to do what you have just done. You've been flagged.

>8 craigspeakman: Hello Craig.... I can see you're a new LT member and author with only your own book added to your library. A few things need to happen before you can be considered a member and not spam as per Library Thing's policies which you would have read through when you joined.

I'm not going to report this post as spam but I suggest you add some books to your library, join some groups and interact with other members before asking us to read your own work. This isn't an advertising platform. As you can see the site is ad free.

P.S. | Fair warning, there will be others that won't be as tolerant given the many years of this kind of activity they've been subjected to. Best of luck and hope you join us as a friend.

>1 TonjaE: I'd like to take March if that's okay.

>11 amanda4242: It sure is, March is yours!

>12 TonjaE: Cool! Now I just have to decide which book...

>13 amanda4242: Your reading log is really impressive, just WOW. Anything you choose is going to be to our benefit. :)

>10 TonjaE: yea i just started sorry, i am adding more now i was just a little excited :)

>15 craigspeakman: no problem, glad you've joined us! You and I have a few books in common already. Look forward to getting to know you better and we hope you enjoy your time on Library Thing (LT).

I know my month is not until April, but I've already begun putting together a list of possibilities, meeting the criteria of availability and of potential for group engagement. It's super fun to think about.

Okay, I've decided on a book for my month. The March 2026 selection is...*drum roll*...The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.

>17 DebiCates: I'm looking forward to your selection.

>18 amanda4242: I love that this group is likely going to widen some horizons. Mine included. I see quite a few used copies are available for a very reasonable price on my favorite online store, betterworldbooks.com I'll be nabbing mine soon so I'll be ready to go.

I noted that it's roughly 300 pages so that should be a good doable read for a month group read.

Last year I read a couple of ancient Roman historical novels in a small group of buddies, Augustus by John Williams of Stoner fame and Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. They both were excellent. Still, I had not even heard anything about the Roman ninth legion that disappeared. WHA? That surely will make for fascinating reading.

Awesome choice, Amanda.

>18 amanda4242: Yay! I will add it to the schedule now. Excellent choice. :)

>17 DebiCates: Looking forward to your choice. :)

>1 TonjaE: hi, I was looking for the movie thread in the poetry collection to add another book but the title of your thread "It's A GoodThing Group Read" got my attention and here I am.

Y'know, I was wondering where to post my reading log next year, and happy to do it here.

I am a touch stretched and not sure how many group reads I can do but I will try.

In trying to get more familiar with the Librarything, next year I've volunteered to host a month with other groups. One of these is in July for 'Reading Through Time'. For that one we come up with themes rather than specific book and I've suggested 'Lives of Wives'.

I'm happy to take July here as well.

Books I'm planning to read next year that will also work with this theme are:

- Stepford Wives -- I think widely available with 2 screen adaptations
- Cloning of Joanna May -- I don't think as widely available.
- End Of The Affair -- I think widely available
- Hedda Gabler -- there's a translation in the public domain

I'm not a fast reader, so I won't be reading all these in July, if one appeals more than the others, I can go with that.

>23 AnishaInkspill: Fantastic! Very happy to have you and your reading thread here Anisha. Thank you!

No pressure about the group read but any of the books you mentioned would be great. Personally, I haven't read any of them and that's why we're here; to try new things!
Shall I put you down for July? No need to choose a title yet but would be great to lock you in for a month.

>24 TonjaE: absolutely, put me down for July, and thanks

>25 AnishaInkspill: Yippee!

>1 TonjaE: I have it! :)

And I'm excited. A book I ordered came in today. I'm so very tempted to begin reading it immediately. But instead I am putting it aside because I trust it would make a lively selection for the Goodthing Group Read in April.

Cosmicomics first published in 1965 by Italo Calvino, translated from the Italian to English by William Weaver, around 150 pages. Also a copy of The Complete Cosmicomics would work, although it is only the first 12 stories there we'll read, which are the original 12 Cosmicomics stories. I believe both are still in print, plus it looks like there are plenty of used copies available all around the web.

>27 DebiCates: Yay! A new one for me, looking forward to it very much and it has now been added to the roster xx

>27 DebiCates: fantastic, cosmicomics is a book I've lined up, I've been meaning to read it but never quite got there, April, I can do this and made a note.

I came across this https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/winnie-the-pooh-winnie-the-pooh-classics-10...

i read the first one a few years back, such a wonderful read, not v long and fun. I think there are 2 books, and I might still have them, and maybe we could read 1 or both here.

What do you all think?

>30 AnishaInkspill: It wouldn't take much to twist my arm to read Winnie the Pooh again! I first read it just a few years back. I read one chapter "to myself" (ha) every night in bed. I slept like a baby.

>29 AnishaInkspill: It will be great to have you along for that read. I read part of the first chapter, found it utterly fantastical and delightful, then set it aside because I would love to have friends to read it along with me.

>32 DebiCates: I'd like to say yes to this but I don't want to let you down last minute. Next year is a really big step for me; I'm finally feeling confident to make a start to read books on science history. Reading Winnie the Pooh sounds like an ideal antidote to heavy reads but I just can't guarantee how reliable I will be for a readalong.

I'm excited about all the selections so far, and now we have February lined up too. It'll be a good 'un.

>34 DebiCates: yes, this is a good one, I have this, I have this, I read it quite a few years back, before I knew anything about King Arthur, I am tempted to join but it might be last minute I can, fantastic choice.

Okay, we still have quite a few months needing a book chosen for 2026 so I was thinking it might be fun to have a poll for JUN 2026 selection. I have randomly chosen three books from US Public Libraries most borrowed books for 2025 to put to the vote! They are likely to be quite new but being so popular; all should be easy to get hold of a copy.

Without further ado:

Here are links to Goodreads write ups for all three to help you choose!

Great Big Beautiful Life ROMANCE https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218559595-great-big-beautiful-life?ref=nav_s...

The Women HISTORICAL FICTION https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127305853-the-women?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_9

The God of the Woods MYSTERY/THRILLER https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199698485-the-god-of-the-woods?ref=nav_sb_ss...

>36 TonjaE: Can "none of the above" be an option?

>38 amanda4242: Nope. Choose one or die!

>39 TonjaE: Death for me then. :)

>40 amanda4242: Yikes, @TonjaE, I'm not feeling the love for any of these best sellers either. But I'd love to see some titles for those remaining months somehow.

Wonder if there is a way to see what title(s) might be on a majority of the GoodThings members' To Read list?

Or to see some highly rated titles in members' libraries that others haven't read? More complicated, I know.

>41 DebiCates: The group stats page has most-held works, but there's no way to tell if they're on tbr lists.

https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/statistics/24983

There's also the Zeitgeist tab, where you can find site-wide stats.

Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey is coming out in July, which has got me thinking about reading the book. Any interest in that?

>44 amanda4242: As a group read, I would. On my own, I probably wouldn't.

You could read Stephen Fry's retelling - Odyssey: The Greek Myths Reimagined - it sticks to the original, but with modern wit and humor and of course the audio is read by him which is an added bonus. I loved it and I have read the original as well.

>46 Bookmarque: I have partaken of Fry's Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold and had a blast. If we don't do the Nolan Odyssey in this group, that is an excellent idea. Thank you, Kris.

>47 DebiCates: It would actually be Homer's Odyssey we'd read, since Nolan's is a movie.

>48 amanda4242: Oohhh, gotcha. I'm so out of the loop on movies.

And many other things. ha

>49 DebiCates: No worries; my post wasn't super clear.

>40 amanda4242: LOL :)

>41 DebiCates: Is it because they are best sellers or because the stories don't interest you?

>47 DebiCates: and >46 Bookmarque:, Stephen Fry's retelling sounds fun! If the group reads Homer, I'd probably join, but I've read that one so many times already. It would be fun to read the same stories with a little different spin. I'm open to whatever the group decides though.

I'd be happy to read Stephen Fry's Odyssey.

>52 TonjaE: In general, yes, best sellers disappoint me.

I did I look at all three books over on Goodreads right after you posted. I looked at both the synopsis and the reviews by people I follow which was a mix. Oddly the only one that appealed to me was based on its story line, Great Big Beautiful Life (too bad it's labeled "romance"). Here's my ongoing problem with popular works: Publishers don't use qualified editors any more and it shows. Without editors the novels are too long, the language too lax, the story line too manipulative.

But I want to support this group! I already love the variety in the line up, so why not a best seller too? I'm going to vote now and if we can gets some votes and some readers, I will gladly read along, too. I very well might be happily surprised. I'll give it my best shot for sure.

>54 amanda4242: Me too. @TonjaE can that be put on the roster for August? The movie comes out July 17th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lTGLgmd28&t=87s

>55 DebiCates: Actually, God of the Woods was rated 4-5 stars by many of my literary minded Goodreads friends. It was even nominated for a German literary prize, Lieblingsbuch des unabhängigen Buchhandels (Favorite Book of Independent Bookstores), a German literary award given annually since 2015 during the Week of Independent Bookstores (WUB) in Germany, celebrating books chosen by independent booksellers. For an American book to cross over to running in a German literary prize, I figure it might be worth a look.

I thought Four Winds by Kristin Hannah was okay-ish, not 4-5 star fare for me by any means, but I'd be willing to give her another shot. The Women was one I wouldn't have turned to on my own, but I don't mind trying.

I think the picks aren't bad.

>54 amanda4242: and >56 DebiCates:, Yay! :)

>57 GregM3: I appreciate your input, Greg. I am guilty, in part, of judging the books by their cover (the "New York Times Bestseller!" sticker) for sure.

God of the Woods had the biggest mix in GR readers I follow:

"Felt too much like YA for me."
"I could NOT put this one down."
"If there is a particular God of the woods, it did not show itself and I did not find much more than a glimpse here."
"In the end I really did enjoy it. If you like well put together, intriguing mysteries this is a good one and I enjoyed it all the way. 4.5 rounded down."

The YA remark is probably the one I heard loudest, and few mentions of errors in the text.

Whatever wins and if others say they will read it, I will too. FOMO!

Well, it was just an idea to get anyone interested in making a selection.

Thank you to everyone that has already, I'm looking forward to all of them.

June is still some time away and the idea of the group is for members to choose a month and select a book for the group to read. I'm sure someone else will do that soon.

If not, fair warning; I will select what I am reading at the time. It could be anything from Cymatics to Dark Lover or Homer's Odyssey again, maybe Unknown Man: The Mysterious Birth of a New Species, Stuart Little... could even be a best seller!

It's likely to be something none of you are interested in, so I really hope I won't need to.

>60 TonjaE: interesting books m entioned here for June, it will be inetersting to see what you choose, of the ones discussed here I've only read The Odyssey but not Stephen Fry's yet - it's on my tbr.

I'm going to follow your lead with a poll for July's book. So possibles are:

>61 AnishaInkspill: Tough to choose just one from that list, but I'm gonna go with The Master and Margarita. It's a brilliant book, although I've found that enjoyment is dependent on translation—I loved the Burgin & O'Connor translation, but couldn't take more than a few chapters of Peaver & Volokhonsky's.

>61 AnishaInkspill: Yay! Fun! :) xx

>60 TonjaE: I love that wild collection you threatened us with, Tonja! I half hope we have a month where we are forced to read from your eclectic tastes. 😁

I just voted on Anisha's list (Graham Greene). 4 votes. 4 different books! ha

>65 DebiCates: Haha, it's hard to choose though because they're all good. I mainly picked solely based on the one I had read the least recently, but I think all four of the books with votes are excellent books!

>66 GregM3: I'm feeling pretty good. I have all books on the roster so far in my hot hands. Then after the voting is done, it'll be time for a little more shopping. It's terrible when one must go shopping for one or two books and a dozen others just fly into one's cart.

>67 DebiCates: Books are pack animals; buying one or two will not provide adequate companionship for the poor dears.

>68 amanda4242: Lol! That explains it.

>62 amanda4242: Maybe I should have made it multi-option, The Master and Margarita I have Michael Glenny's translation, I've not come across the ones you mentioned so far, and I was wondering about getting a second one, maybe I'll read this one and see how it goes.

For this year, I've also lined up (and am also hoping to read) Marlowe's Doctor Faustus (whichmaybe I might read next), and parts 1 & 2 of Goethe's Faust - a rough plan I had in mind for this year.

>62 amanda4242:, >63 TonjaE:, >65 DebiCates:, >66 GregM3: I'm really happy that you all like the choices, apart from Ibsen's A Doll's House and The Scarlet Pimpernel the rest are books I've lined up for the year, a year btw that so far is already in disarry .

If there's a second one here you all want to read, I'm happy for that to be chosen for a different month if there are no takers for the other months, and I also don't mind if someone else wants to host it.

>60 TonjaE: so this might make you laugh, I have 7 translations of The Odyssey + Stephen Fry's.

Of the 7, I've 2 yet to read, and I've not yet read yet Stephen Fry's but I always enjoy his writing.

Of the 7, my favourite is a revised prose version, originally by E V Rieu, it was this translation where I noticed some comical moments that I had missed in the others because I assumed these stories were v serious, in time I would realize this is not so, and it was fun discovering this furthner down the line.

>72 AnishaInkspill: Very cool. I have only one, it's a Folio Society edition, Robert Fagles translation.
I like it because it is really well set out and has some great illustrations with maps! I like maps; very helpful on an epic adventure.

>73 TonjaE: 1 is always enough, wow!!! I've had a look at the Folio ed, that is a gorgeous edition, mines is on Kindle and I tend to download it on a second device to see the maps (no illustrations included), as going back and forth is a bit of a nightmare but you get used to it

>61 AnishaInkspill: I'm not sure which book got votes

>75 AnishaInkspill: Did you vote? You should see the results after you've voted.

>76 amanda4242: I see it now, thanks, and brilliant, The Master and Margarita for July

>77 AnishaInkspill: Fantastic choice. I have heard many good things about this book and have yet to read it for myself.
Looking forward to it Anisha and I have added it to the roster for July.

>18 amanda4242: While adding my copy to my library just now, I see The Eagle of the Ninth is part of a trilogy. I didn't know! I'm thinking The Silver Branch , the second in the series, might be an agreeable choice for June, what do you think?

>79 TonjaE: Sounds good to me. I'll never say no to reading Sutcliff!

The Eagle of the Ninth is 21 chapters long and my copy is ~210 pages; I was thinking of setting up three threads covering seven chapters/~70 pages each, but am wondering if you guys would prefer seven threads of three chapters/~30 pages? I find that discussion tends to be better with fewer threads, but understand if people want to divide the book into smaller chunks. Opinions?

>81 amanda4242: Whatever you set up will work for me, Amanda.

I've started the threads for March a little early because February always gets away from me.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/379020

>83 amanda4242: Sweet! Thank you Amanda. I've got my book right here, ready to go.

Is there anybody else out there reading this month's GoodThing selection?

>85 DebiCates: I am, just slow to get started. There is a lot going on this month for me but I will get there.

>62 amanda4242:, >63 TonjaE:, >66 GregM3: hi, are you all still planning to read The Master and Margarita for July?

>87 AnishaInkspill: Hey there! I have a copy to read and would like to say yes but I also don't want to promise something that I might not have time to participate in. Does that make sense?

>87 AnishaInkspill: Yep!

>88 TonjaE: yes, this makes sense, what I'll do is put no end dates to the discussion so if you can't join in then do so whenever you can.

>89 amanda4242: that's great.