Charon07 - 2026 TBR Challenge

Primary

1. Winter by Ali Smith
   
2. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
   
3. Cain by José Saramago
   
4. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
   
5. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
   
6. The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
   
7. Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver3/13/26
   
8. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
   
9. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
   
10. ‪Aegypt by John Crowley 1/29/26
    
11. North Woods by Daniel Mason
    
12. Night Side of the River: Ghost Stories by ‪Jeanette Winterson 2/24/26

Alternates

1. Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky
   
2. The Militia House by John Milas
   
3. Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance by Richard Powers
   
4. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
   
5. Indigo by Marina Warner
   
6. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
   
7. Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand 3/5/26
   
8. So Big by Edna Ferber
   
9. Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive by Carl Zimmer 1/12/26
   
10. Chouette by Claire Oshetsky
    
11. The Between by Tananarive Due
    
12. Diavola by Jennifer Thorne

Once again, I’m posting a little early in order to commit and stop tweaking the list. I’ve got a reading project over in the 2026 Category Challenge group to read some of my favorite women authors, so Ann Patchett has two titles in my list, including Bel Canto, which I was sorry to have missed in last year’s list.

Ted Chiang and Joseph Campbell are great! I want to read Bel Canto too, might get to it on the side.

I’m intrigued by your Jose Saramago pick - it’s not one of his that I’m familiar with. Can’t wait to see what you think of it.

Good picks! North Woods is one I have on my shelves too and have heard really good things about.

I finished my first 2026 TBR book (from my alternates list). I listened to the audiobook, read by Joe Ochman, who did a fine job with what could have been some very dry material. I’m adding What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology by Paul Nurse to my TBR, since I think it may have more of the theory I was hoping for from this book.

Oof, it didn't get good until the end of the last chapter?

Kudos to you for keeping on with it even though it wasn’t quite what you were hoping for.

>7 Cecrow: >8 LittleTaiko: I think it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I was hoping for more of the current theory about what life is, rather than how our thinking has evolved, so a lot of the book was leading up to the last chapter in a way. How our thinking has evolved was interesting, so it wasn’t a waste of time, and maybe it will be good background for What Is Life? by Paul Nurse, which I’ve now added to my TBR.

I listened to the audiobook of Aegypt (a.k.a. The Solitudes) by John Crowley, the first book of his Aegypt Cycle. I think I’m more likely to reread Little, Big than to continue with the series.

I know what you mean about Crowley's style not inviting you in. I think holding the reader at a distance is at the same time part of the charm, keeping a veil in the way that lends some mystique to his topic. That worked very well for the fairies of Little, Big but maybe didn't serve him as well in this case.

>11 Cecrow: Well put! I think you’re right, and right also that it worked better for Little, Big—we all want to go to Fairyland, and to some extent think we know Fairyland, so the veil served a useful purpose. For hermeticism and alchemy, not so much.

I listened to the audiobook, read by Jeanette Winterson and Vicky Licorish.

I've some Jeanette Winterson in my TBR pile, maybe next year.

>14 Cecrow: I particularly liked Lighthousekeeping and The Stone Gods. The Passion was also very good. I have yet to read some of her best-known books, like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, but I have a project to read more of her books this year.

>13 Charon07: i tend to avoid ghost stories, i scare too easy ^_^

but “App-arition”! that's some grade A pun :P

>17 Charon07: the way you described it makes it sound like a very enticing read ^_^

>18 riida: I have to confess that I was a little more unsettled by it for a little longer than I thought I’d be. If you’re into subtle and atmospheric horror, it’s very short, so not a big time investment.

>20 Charon07: i think i have the audiobook for this one as well!! got to get around to reading it...i can do with some murder and madness right now (although the misogyny is making me worry)

>21 riida: Maud goes through a lot that’s frustrating and infuriating. I think it outweighs the murder and mayhem, at least in my mind.