CBL Reads Categorically in 2026

Hi, I'm Carrie and I've lost track of how many years I've participated in this challenge. I think this will be at least year 16. I'm an academic librarian in East Tennessee, and I usually read with my best buddy, Wally, curled up beside me. Wally is a year-old Cavapoo.

I'm keeping my categories simple again this year, reflecting the challenges I plan to follow in this group and in the 75 books group.

British Authors Challenge
Nonfiction Challenge
MysteryKit
American Authors Revisited
American Roads Less Well Explored
Plot Twist
Group Reads
Reading Projects
Serendipity

British Authors Challenge

FEBRUARY
Nevil Shute - The Far Country (4) - completed 2/22/26

MARCH - Obscure works (under 300 copies on LT)
Village Affairs by Miss Read (4) - completed 3/16/26

APRIL
Kit de Waal - My Name Is Leon (4.5) - completed 4/18/26

MAY
M. M. Kaye - Death in Kashmir (4.5) - completed 5/25/26

Nonfiction Challenge

JANUARY - Award winners
The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (3.5) - completed 1/30/26

FEBRUARY - All that jazz
Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis (4) - completed 2/6/26
Who Was Louis Armstrong? by Yona Zeldis McDonough (3.5) - completed 2/20/26

MARCH - Off the beaten path religious sects
The Quiet Rebels by Margaret Hope Bacon (3.5) - completed 3/21/26

APRIL - Internal matters - the human body
Replaceable You by Mary Roach (3.5) - completed 4/19/26

MAY - Been there, bought the T-shirt
Memories of War: Visiting Battlegrounds and Bonefields in the Early American Republic by Thomas A. Chambers (3.5) - completed 6/14/26

MysteryKit

JANUARY - FEMALE DETECTIVES
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 1/15/26

FEBRUARY - CLERICAL MYSTERIES
The Tenor Wore Tapshoes by Mark Schweizer (3.5) - completed 2/11/26
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman (4.5) - completed 2/19/26
An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters (3.5) - completed 2/28/26

MARCH - NORDIC CRIME
Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo (3.5) - completed 3/2/26
The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson (3.5) - completed 3/7/26
Mind's Eye by Hakan Nesser (3) - completed 3/23/26

APRIL - PRIVATE EYES
The Clocks by Agatha Christie (4) - competed 4/4/26
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie (3.5) - completed 4/25/26

MAY - HARDBOILED/NOIR
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (3.5) - completed 5/14/26

American Authors Revisited

JANUARY (2014)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (4.5) - completed 1/22/26
Essential Welty by Eudora Welty (3.5) - completed 1/28/26
Recitatif: A Story by Toni Morrison (5) - completed 1/30/26

FEBRUARY (2015)
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (3.5) - completed 2/8/26

MARCH (2016)
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (4) - completed 3/16/26

APRIL (2017)
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (4) - completed 4/25/26

MAY (2018)
Carrie by Stephen King (3) - completed 5/21/26
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (4.5) - completed 5/29/26

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge

JANUARY - CHILEAN AUTHORS
My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (4) - completed 1/11/26

MARCH - MEXICAN AUTHORS
There Is a World Elsewhere by F. Gonzalez-Crussi (3.5) - completed 3/14/26

APRIL - HISPANIC NORTH AMERICANS
Familia by Lauren E. Rico (4) - completed 4/29/30

MAY - BRAZILIAN AUTHORS
The Woman Who Killed the Fish: And Other Stories for Children by Clarice Lispector (2.5) - completed 5/22/26

Plot Twist

Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (4) - completed 1/27/26
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (3) - completed 2/13/26
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor (3.5) - completed 3/29/26
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (3) - completed 4/11/26
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (4) - completed 5/19/26
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2) - completed 6/18/26

Group Reads

Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (4.5) - completed 1/6/26
Target: Tinos by Jeffrey Siger (3) - completed 1/9/26
Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis (4) - completed 2/6/26
A Body in the Bathhouse by Lindsey Davis (3.5) - completed 2/13/26
Daughter of Daring by Mallory O'Meara (2.5) - completed 3/8/26
My Venice and Other Essays by Donna Leon (3) - completed 3/17/26
The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney (4) - completed 4/11/26
Mykonos After Midnight by Jeffrey Siger (4) - completed 4/15/26
Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis by Jeffrey H. Jackson (4) - completed 5/9/26
The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis (4) - completed 5/30/26
Return to Sender by Craig Johnson (4.5) - completed 6/9/26

Reading Projects: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die

Beloved by Toni Morrison (4.5) - completed 1/22/26
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (3.5) - completed 2/8/26
There Is a World Elsewhere by F. Gonzalez-Crussi (3.5) - completed 3/14/26
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (4) - completed 3/16/26
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (4) - completed 4/25/26
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (4) - completed 5/19/26
Carrie by Stephen King (3) - completed 5/21/26
The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (3.5) - completed 5/23/26
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (4.5) - completed 5/29/26

Reading Projects
Rex Stout
Before Midnight (3) - completed 2/25/26
Three Witnesses (3.5) - completed 5/16/26

Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (4.5) - completed 1/6/26
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 1/15/26
The Rule of Three by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 1/31/26
The Clocks by Agatha Christie (4) - completed 4/4/26
Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre by Julius Green (5) - completed 4/7/26
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie (3.5 stars) - completed 4/25/26
A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie (4.5) - completed 6/13/26

Jane Austen

Holocaust
The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (3.5) - completed 1/30/26

Serendipity

Parker: Selected Stories by Dorothy Parker (3.5) - completed 1/8/26
The Mystery of Meerkat Hill by Alexander McCall Smith (4.5) - completed 3/3/26
Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly (4) - completed 3/26/26
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) by Betty White (4.5) - completed 3/28/26
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (4.5) - completed 4/24/26
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (4) - completed 4/30/26
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman (4) - completed 5/8/26
The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (3) - completed 6/13/26

Wally is ready to go!

Any books I finish before January 1 will be reviewed on my 2025 thread. I still hope to finish a few more books before the year is out!

Wally is adorable in his little cot! Have a good year of reading in 2026! I’m also hoping to squeeze in another book or two in 2025.

>14 Charon07: Thanks! I hope 2026 is a good reading year for you!

Happy reading in 2026, and what a cute dog Wally is!

>16 MissBrangwen: Thank you! I think he's cute, too!

Hope you have a good reading year. I'm still trying to finish a few books before Jan 1.

>18 dudes22: Thank you! The same to you!

Great blessings to you and your reading in the new year

>20 lowelibrary: Thank you! I wish you the same!

Good luck with your 2026 reading!

Wally is adorable!! Hope he'll be following along throughout the year! Happy Reading.

>23 beebeereads: Thank you! Wally is a good boy!

Great to see you set up and ready for 2026, Carrie. Wally looks like the perfect reading companion.

>25 DeltaQueen50: Thanks, Judy! Wally makes reading cozier. He's a great lap warmer!

For your holocaust challenge in >10 cbl_tn:, I recommend Cold Crematorium by Jozsef Debreczeni, a very real and heartbreakingly disturbing memoir.
Wally looks very distinguished with his gentlemanly pose in >12 cbl_tn:

>27 lowelibrary: Thanks for the recommendation! It's not one that I had come across before.

Wally is becoming quite the gentleman. He's been on his first hotel visit this week and I'm really pleased with his behavior.

Here's my year in review meme for 2025, using titles of books that I read:

Describe yourself: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife

Describe how you feel: The Joy Luck Club

Describe where you currently live: Behind Closed Doors

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

Your favorite form of transportation is: Orphan Train Rider

Your favorite food is: The Great Cake Mystery

Your favorite time of day is: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Your best friend is: Secret Sister

You and your friends are: Book Lovers

What’s the weather like: First Frost

You fear: Assassins of Athens

What is the best advice you have to give: Take It Back

Thought for the day: Who Was Johnny Cash?

What is life for you: My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business

How you would like to die: Murder by the Book

Your soul’s present condition: Book Lust

What was 2025 like for you: Tooth and Claw

What do you want from 2026? The Pursuit of Love

And here's my dinner party guest meme using titles of books I read in 2025:

What would you call the event? The Old Ways

How did the guests find their way? Map Basics

How did they know they'd arrived? Watchmen

Any special activities? Songs for the Missing

Did your guests stay over? Sleep No More

Were there servants to help? The Queens of Crime

Was there turn down service? Dead Cert

How were the guests greeted? The 101 Dalmatians

Was dinner held for latecomers? Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

And dinner was? The Lobster Chronicles

Afterward? A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage

>30 cbl_tn: wonderful selections! Happy and healthy 2026, Carrie!

Wishing you the best in 2026!

Great meme answers -- and I see you did find a different one than mine for the one category on the second meme.

Happy new year, Carrie! Wally looks so good-natured.

>31 Cecilturtle: Thank you! I wish you the same.

>32 mstrust: Happy New Year!

>33 thornton37814: Yes. I thought I should put them to work.

>34 RidgewayGirl: Thanks! Happy New Year to you! Wally can be very sweet, and also very ornery. He was a hit with my brother's extended family. I always worry about my SIL because she is afraid of most dogs. Wally was on his best behavior with her so I think they will continue to visit me. :-)

Hapy 2026 reading, Carrie. I'll recommend The Librarian of Auschwitz for your holocaust category. I listened to it as an audio and it was excellent. It's based on a real person and the afterward was informative. I like your meme answers although I wouldn't like to run into you in the library. I still haven't done the dinner one.

It’s nice to see you here again, and Wally, of course! Happy reading!

>36 dudes22: Thank you for the recommendation! The public library has several copies so it should be easy to get hold of a copy.

>37 MissWatson: Thank you! I've had a rough start to the year with a flu-like illness, but I did manage to finish my first book this evening!

Group Reads; Reading Projects

>39 cbl_tn: I looked only at your rating since I'm trying to finish it before the book club meeting. I'm not sure I'm going to manage to get the entire book read. Too much going on in real life.

>40 thornton37814: I don't think my review is spoiler-y, but I understand!

Serendipity

Group Reads

American Roads Less Well Explored

MysteryKit; Reading Projects

Wally had his first appointment with his new groomer today. I think she did a great job!

So pretty, he looks like a model!

>46 cbl_tn: Such a fancy little gentleman compared to the photo in >12 cbl_tn:!

>47 clue: >48 Charon07: He is a handsome fellow! And he smells good, too!

>46 cbl_tn: What a handsome boy!

>46 cbl_tn: Very handsome, Carrie!

>50 RidgewayGirl: >51 MissWatson: I wish you could feel how soft he is! He makes a great lap warmer while I read!

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

Plot Twist

American Authors Revisited

American Authors Revisited

Nonfiction Challenge; Reading Projects

Reading Projects

January Recap

British Authors Challenge

Nonfiction Challenge
The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (3.5)

MysteryKit
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (4)

American Authors Revisited
Beloved by Toni Morrison (4.5)
Essential Welty by Eudora Welty (3.5)
Recitatif by Toni Morrison (5)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge
My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (4)

Plot Twist
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (4)

Group Reads
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (4.5)
Target: Tinos by Jeffrey Siger (3)

Reading Projects
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley (4.5)
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (4)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (4.5)
The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton (3.5)
The Rule of Three by Agatha Christie (4)

Serendipity
Parker: Selected Stories by Dorothy Parker (3.5)

Books owned: 1
Books borrowed: 2
eBooks owned: 1
eBooks borrowed: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 5

Best of the month: Recitatif by Toni Morrison (5)
Worst of the month: Target: Tinos by Jeffrey Siger (3)

Nonfiction Challenge; Group Reads

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

MysteryKit

Group Reads

Plot Twist

MysteryKit

>66 cbl_tn: - I just started this series last year Carrie and I plan to continue. In fact, I think picked up the second book on my kindle when there was a deal.

>67 dudes22: I'm hoping that the public library has more of this series in audio, and that George Guidall is still the narrator. He's perfect for this series.

Nonfiction Challenge

>66 cbl_tn: I’ll have to check this out in audio—I’ll listen to just aboutanything George Guidall reads.

>70 Charon07: I feel the same!

British Authors Challenge

Reading Projects

>66 cbl_tn: That's a new-to-me series even though this book came out when I was toddling around.

>74 thornton37814: I remember seeing adults reading the series in waiting rooms and other public places and seeing it in bookstores when I was a kid.

MysteryKit

February Recap

British Authors Challenge
The Far Country by Nevil Shute (4)

Nonfiction Challenge
Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis (4)
Who Was Louis Armstrong? by Yona Zeldis McDonough (3.5)

MysteryKit
The Tenor Wore Tapshoes by Mark Schweizer (3.5)
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman (4.5)
An Excellent Mystery by Ellis Peters (3.5)

American Authors Revisited
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (3.5)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge

Plot Twist
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (3)

Group Reads
Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis (4)
A Body in the Bathhouse by Lindsey Davis (3.5)

Reading Projects
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin (3.5)
Before Midnight by Rex Stout (3)

Serendipity

Books owned: 3
Books borrowed: 2
eBooks borrowed: 1
Audiobooks borrowed: 4

Best of the month: Friday the Rabbi Slept Late by Harry Kemelman (4.5)
Worst of the month: The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (3)

MysteryKit

Serendipity

Wally went to the groomer this afternoon. It hit 80 degrees before noon today so I decided it was time for a summer cut.

MysteryKit

>80 cbl_tn: He looks very elegant!

>82 MissWatson: He does when he stands still! When he's moving (which is most of the time) he's goofy but loveable.

Group Reads

>80 cbl_tn: Wally is looking good!

>85 christina_reads: Thanks! The buzz cut is growing on me. ;-)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge; Reading Projects

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

British Authors Challenge

Group Reads

>88 cbl_tn: I think the only author I'd recognize out in the wild is Stephen King. I'd miss even authors I'd met at book festivals!

>91 RidgewayGirl: I would recognize Agatha Christie, but it will never happen because she's not living. I might recognize J. K. Rowling, Louise Penny, and Salman Rushdie. Maybe Fannie Flagg, depending on how she's aged, since she was on TV so much in the 70s and 80s.

Nonfiction Challenge

MysteryKit

Serendipity

Serendipity

Plot Twist

March Recap

British Authors Challenge
Village Affairs by Miss Read (4)

Nonfiction Challenge
The Quiet Rebels by Margaret Hope Bacon (3.5)

MysteryKit
Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo (3.5)
The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson (3.5)
Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser (3)

American Authors Revisited
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (4)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge
There Is a World Elsewhere by F. Gonzalez-Crussi (3.5)

Plot Twist
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor (3.5)

Group Reads
Daughter of Daring by Mallory O’Meara (2.5)
My Venice and Other Essays by Donna Leon (3)

Reading Projects
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (4)

Serendipity
The Mystery of Meerkat Hill by Alexander McCall Smith (4.5)
Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly (4)
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) by Betty White (4.5)

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 4
Audiobooks borrowed: 7

Best of the month: If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) by Betty White (4.5)
Worst of the month: Daughter of Daring by Mallory O’Meara (2.5)

MysteryKit; Reading Projects

Reading Projects

Group Reads

Plot Twist

>101 cbl_tn: This looks really interesting! Added to the to-read list.

>101 cbl_tn: I loved learning about a topic I hadn't heard of at all!

Group Reads

British Authors Challenge

Nonfiction Challenge

Serendipity

>108 cbl_tn: I love Leverage. Age of the geek baby.
I rated First Lie Wins 4 1/2 stars when I read it in 2024.

>109 lowelibrary: It''s one of the best thrillers I've read in ages. The audio narrator is really good. I'll be on the lookout for more of her work.

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

MysteryKit; Reading Projects

American Roads Less Well Explored

Serendipity

April Recap

British Authors Challenge
My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal (4.5)

Nonfiction Challenge
Replaceable You by Mary Roach (3.5)

MysteryKit
The Clocks by Agatha Christie (4)
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie (3.5)

American Authors Revisited
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (4)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge
Familia by Lauren E. Rico (4)

Plot Twist
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (3)

Group Reads
The Feather Detective by Chris Sweeney (4)
Mykonos after Midnight by Jeffrey Siger (4)

Reading Projects
The Clocks by Agatha Christie (4)
Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre by Julius Green (5)
The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks (4)
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie (3.5)

Serendipity
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (4.5)
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (4)

Books borrowed: 1
Ebooks owned: 1
Ebooks borrowed: 5
Audiobooks borrowed: 5

Best of the month: Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre by Julius Green (5)
Worst of the month: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (3)

Serendipity

Group Reads

MysteryKit

Reading Projects

Plot Twist; Reading Projects

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

American Roads Less Well Explored

Reading Projects

British Authors Challenge

>124 cbl_tn: I remember liking the "Death in..." books. I've been meaning to read The Far Pavilions someday, but it's a chunkster, which is pretty daunting.

>125 christina_reads: I know! I haven't read it yet either!

American Authors Revisited; Reading Projects

Group Reads

May Recap

British Authors Challenge
Death in Kashmir by M. M. Kaye (4.5)

Nonfiction Challenge

MysteryKit
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (3.5)

American Authors Revisited
Carrie by Stephen King (3)
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (4.5)

American Roads Less Well Explored Challenge
The Woman Who Killed the Fish by Clarice Lispector (2.5)

Plot Twist
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (4)

Group Reads
Paper Bullets by Jeffrey H. Jackson (4)
The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis (4)

Reading Projects
Three Witnesses by Rex Stout (3.5)
The Secret History by Donna Tartt (4)
Carrie by Stephen King (3)
The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (3.5)
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (4.5)

Serendipity
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry by Harry Kemelman (4)

Books owned: 2
Books borrowed: 2
Ebooks borrowed: 2
Audiobooks borrowed: 5

Best of the month: Death in Kashmir by M. M. Kaye (4.5)
Worst of the month: The Woman Who Killed the Fish by Clarice Lispector (2.5)

Group Reads

Reading Projects

Serendipity

Nonfiction Challenge

Plot Twist