Amy's books read in 2026

List of books read in 2026

1. The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary, finished January 4, 2026 (repeat). YA (vintage)
2. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal, finished January 13, 2026. General fiction.
3. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene, finished January 14, 2026. YA (vintage).
4. Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary, finished January 16, 2026 (repeat). Children's.
5. Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi, finished January 22, 2026. Nonfiction (memoir).
6. Dinny Gordon, Sophomore by Anne Emery, finished January 23, 2026. YA (vintage).
7. Dinny Gordon, Junior by Anne Emery, finished January 24, 2026. YA (vintage).
8. Dinny Gordon, Senior by Anne Emery, finished January 26, 2026. YA (vintage).
9. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, finished January 31, 2026. Literary fiction.
10. Pie by Sarah Weeks, finished February 16, 2026. Children's (contemporary).
11. The God of the Woods by Liz Morris, finished February 21, 2026. Mystery (contemporary).
12. My Mom, the Money Nut by Betty Bates, finished March 6, 2026. YA.
13. The Unchosen by Nan Gilbert. Finished March 12, 2026. YA (vintage).
14. Please Let Me In by Patti Beckman. Finished March 30, 2026. YA.
15. Fashion Girl by Elisabeth Beresford. Finished April 5, 2026. YA (vintage).
16. A Dream to Touch by Anne Emery. Finished April 15, 2026. YA (vintage).
17. The Way Things Are by E.M. Delafield. Finished April 24, 2026. General fiction (vintage).
18. Turn Back the Leaves by E.M. Delafield. Finished May 1, 2026. General fiction (vintage).
19. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher. Finished May 28, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).
20. Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell. Finished June 2, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).
21. The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher. Finished June 15, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).
22. Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell. Finished June 18, 2026. Mixed collection (contemporary general fiction, YA, fantasy).
23. The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher. Finished June 25, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).
24. Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart. Finished June 29, 2026. YA (contemporary).

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Categories:

Children's (contemporary) - 2
Children's (vintage) -
Fantasy -
Fantasy (magic realism) -
General fiction (contemporary) - 5
General fiction (vintage) - 2
Horror (psychological) -
Humor -
Literary fiction - 1
Mixed collection - 1
Mystery (contemporary) - 1
Mystery (historical) -
Nonfiction (memoir) - 1
Picture books (contemporary) -
Picture books (vintage) -
Science fiction -
YA (contemporary) - 3
YA (vintage) - 8

New - 15
Repeat - 7

Read in print - 19
Read as e-book - 3

1. The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary (repeat). Finished January 4, 2026. Vintage YA.

This is comfort reading for me, pure and simple. I've read this book many times and it never fails to delight. This is the review I wrote of it some years ago:

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This is one of my favorite Beverly Cleary books, and definitely my favorite or her four "teen romance" books (as opposed to her children's books about Ramona and Henry Huggins, etc., although I love those too).

In this book, Shelly is surprised by a sudden invitation to leave home and spend her junior year living with a family in a small town in Southern California -- and even more surprised when she realizes she wants to go! This will be the perfect opportunity to spend some time away from her loving but perhaps-too-involved mother, and her boyfriend whom she's dating out of habit more than anything else.

Everything in California is strange: living with two younger "siblings" for the first time in her only-child life; the rambling former boarding house, shabby and comfortable; the more casual school atmosphere....

Considering when this book was written, it was a bit progressive -- not many 16-year-old girls left home for a year back in the 1950s. This book is sweet, touching, funny, and warm. I also like that, more so than in Cleary's other three teen romances, Shelly realizes that having a boyfriend for the sake of having one isn't necessarily good -- instead, she eventually learns that sharing interests can be what makes a relationship special.

>2 amysisson: I've never read any of Beverly Cleary's teen books, but her children's books continue to live on in my life, as my nieces absolutely adore the Ramona books.

Nice to see you, Amy. Happy new year!

>2 amysisson: The Ramona books are classic, and rightfully considered as such! I've read all of them in English many times, and some of them in German. Ramona the Pest will always be my favorite, followed closely by Beezus and Ramona.

>4 dchaikin: Nice to see you as well, and Happy New Year!

2. Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal. Finished January 13, 2026. General fiction.

This novel follows multiple generations of mothers and daughters, and their involvement running and/or owning the Lakeside Supper Club. It's about parental expectations, marriage, forgiveness, tradition, and so many other things. There are Easter egg nods to Stradal's other two novels, both of which I've read. I find his writing to be calming and relaxing somehow, and definitely plan to read his next book, whenever that may come out.

YES to ramona!

3. The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene. Finished January 7, 2026. Vintage YA.

I got this from Project Gutenberg and was curious to read an original versus revised text version. I have to say it didn't age well for me. It was hard to get past Nancy running around with a gun that she admits she has no idea how to handle. And it was frankly just kind of boring. I remember Nancy Drew books as being exciting, but then my favorites were The Secret of Shadow Ranch and The Clue of the Broken Locket. I think the plots just got a little more exciting than a Scooby Doo villain trying to scare too elderly women out of their house by making strange noises and stealing things.

4. Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary. Finished January 16, 2026. Vintage children's.

One of my all-time favorites.

5. Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi. Finished January 22, 2026. Nonfiction / memoir.

I'm currently repeat binge-watching all of Top Chef, and had just finished Padma's last season so thought it good timing to get around to reading her memoir. It was interesting, and she's a decent writer. There are tons of food descriptions and a handful of recipes, but I was mainly interested in her life. In spite of her success, she hasn't had a super easy time of it. I think she's a good, well-meaning person who's very passionate, especially about food.

6. Dinny Gordon, Sophomore by Anne Emery. Finished January 23, 2026. Vintage YA.

I wanted to read the first book (Dinny Gordon, Freshman) but couldn't find it -- still unpacking and organizing boxes from the recent move. Oh well. I enjoy these books; Dinny is brainier than the usual maltshop main characters.

7. Dinny Gordon, Junior by Anne Emery. Finished January 24, 2026. Vintage YA.

Dinny continues to love ancient history and Latin, and works to earn money for a trip to Europe after graduation. Meanwhile, she deals with Curt, who wants to go steady, and the prejudice of some of her friends when a Jewish family moves to town.

8. Dinny Gordon, Senior by Anne Emery. Finished January 26, 2026. Vintage YA.

Dinny falls in love for the first time, and makes the mistake of changing her behavior and sometimes her plans to please him. But, and I'm assuming this isn't a spoiler (especially as it's the last book of the series!), she gets her head screwed back on right in the end.

9. A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines. Finished January 31, 2026. Literary fiction.

An African American teacher is tasked by his aunt and his community to try and make a connection with one of their own who has been sentenced to the electric chair.

10. Pie by Sarah Weeks. Finished February 16, 2026. Children's (contemporary).

This is a cute story about a girl whose famous pie-baking aunt leaves her secret pie crust recipe to a cat named Lardo. It reminded me of a younger version of "The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place" by E.L. Konigsburg, in terms of its slightly outrageous coincidences, absurd characters (in a good way), and neatly tied up ending.

11. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Finished February 21, 2026. Mystery.

I enjoyed this mystery, in which a teenage summer camper goes missing in the same area that her brother had gone missing years before. The book is a tad on the long side (560 pages in trade paperback), but I thought the author did a good job with characters and with juggling multiple POVs.

Funnily enough, I characterize this as a contemporary mystery, but it takes place in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, so really it's vintage or historical! But calling it such would make me feel old, so I'm going with contemporary!

12. My Mom, the Money Nut by Betty Bates. Finished March 6, 2026. YA.

This was a super quick read, about an 8th grade girl whose mother is a little materialistic and who never seems to listen to her daughter. Unfortunately, the prose itself was on the clunky side. And there wasn't enough mutual growth to make the book satisfying.

13. The Unchosen by Nan Gilbert. Finished March 12, 2026. YA (vintage).

Three friends launch a plan to launch themselves out of their social cocoon, resulting in different paths for each of them. This is generally the kind of vintage YA book I like, but it was kind of clunky and it took far too long for anything to happen.

14. Please Let Me In by Patti Beckman. Finished March 30, 2026. YA.

Comfort reading from my teen years, one of the First Love from Silhouette publisher series. A cut above the usual. I was about to label this as vintage YA, but it's only (!) 45 years old. I'll start calling them vintage when they're 50 years old.

15. Fashion Girl by Elisabeth Beresford. Finished April 5, 2026. YA (vintage).

A vintage British career romance novel for young adults, from the Collins publisher series. This book follows three young women who go to work at Harrod's, where one must be a "junior," or a gofer who is not allowed to actually sell merchandise for at least six months. It's not a bad book, but neither is it as memorable as some of the better career romances I've read.

16. A Dream to Touch by Anne Emery. Finished April 15, 2026. YA (vintage).

One of the few Anne Emery books I hadn't already read. This one was good, combining serious matters with some maltshop book-like qualities. Marya's Polish-American immigrant family lives in the Chicago tenements; Marya is not ashamed of where she comes from, but she does have the ambition to better her life through hard work and study, particularly of music and the violin. One of her biggest concerns is keeping her younger brother, Peter, from falling in with the wrong crowd, which happens to include Marya's boyfriend, Tony, whose own ambition consists of making money as quickly as possible even if the means are shady.

17. The Way Things Are by E.M. Delafield. Finished April 24, 2026. General fiction (vintage).

First published in 1927, this novel relates Laura's inner journey when she falls forms an emotional attachment far stronger than the one she has for her husband. It's a quiet, sad book, filled with the domestic details and social questions in which E.M. Delafield excels as a writer.

18. Turn Back the Leaves by E.M. Delafield. Finished May 1, 2026. General fiction (vintage).

Published in 1930, this book covers many of Delafield's familiar themes: generation gaps and social mores from the end of the 1800s to the early 1900s in England; World War II; religion; social classes; illegitimate birth; and overbearing parents. It's a quiet domestic novel, quite long. The ending wasn't everything I wanted it to be but I still found it quite satisfying.

19. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher. Finished May 28, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).

This is a re-read; I took it up again to refresh because I want to tackle its sequel, The Shakespeare Requirement. While re-reading it, I wondered at my giving it 4.5 stars last time, but then came the ending and I was reminded why. No spoilers, just a general description: this is an epistolary novel, in the form of letters of recommendation written by a professor of English, who is simultaneously jaded and a true believer in the arts. You would think it would get tedious, but somehow it doesn't.

20. Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell. Finished June 2, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).

This is essentially chick-lit (I don't mean that in a bad way, as I like chick lit) about Cherry, who is dealing not only with separation from her husband, but unwelcome fame because he had based a character in his web comic on her, and now it's becoming a major Hollywood phenomenon. There was lots I liked about this book, but I didn't enjoy the sex scenes (I wasn't offended, just didn't like them) and I hated the constant use of parenthetical asides. All that notwithstanding, I enjoyed this book.

21. The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher. Finished June 15, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).

This is the second book in the "Payne University" trilogy, about a hapless English professor reluctantly serving as chair at a time when the department is under siege by the well-funded Economics department upstairs. I don't know if this meets the technical definition of satire, but it definitely uses straight-faced absurdity for humorous effect. Unlike the first book, this is written in alternating third person POV. I'm looking forward to reading the concluding volume.

P.S. I love the cover of this one.

22. Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell. Finished June 18, 2026. Mixed collection (contemporary general fiction, YA, fantasy).

(cross-posted from my "Keeping Track of Anthology Reading" thread)

CONTENTS:

1. "Midnights" - originally read 2014 (in My True Love Gave to Me (anthology))
2. "Kindred Spirits" - Read 6/16/2026
3. "Winter Songs for Summer" - Read 6/16/2026
4. "The Snow Ball" - Read 6/16/2026
5. "If the Fates Allow" - Read 6/17/2026
6. "The Prince and the Troll" - Read 6/17/2026
7. "Mixed Messages" - Read 6/17/2026
8. "Snow for Christmas" - Read 6/18/2026
9. "In Waiting" - Read 6/18/2026

Book finished 06-18-26 - overall rating

(Average rating actually comes out to 2.77)

It's unusual for me to read a collection or anthology straight through, but 1) these were quick reads, and 2) the book was due back at the library. I didn't like as many of the stories as I'd hoped, but it was worth it for "Kindred Spirits" and "In Waiting".

23. The English Experience by Julie Schumacher. Finished June 25, 2026. General fiction (contemporary).

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24. Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart. Finished June 29, 2026. YA (contemporary).

This book starts with chapter 18, counts down to chapter 1, then finishes with chapter 19. I enjoyed the structure and thought it was well-constructed.

BUT. In my mind, this book is a blatant rip-off of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Thankfully, Ms. Lockhart acknowledges the earlier work in her Author's Note, saying "particular debt goes to Patricia Highsmith for The Talented Mr. Ripley", but in my mind that doesn't make it okay to go point-by-plot-point, just in reverse. I feel she should have called this a retelling.

The story starts when Jule, who is catering a high-end private school fundraiser, is mistaken for an alum by a parent who thinks she was her daughter's good friend. Said parent bankrolls Jule to find her daughter, Imogen, who's gone AWOL and is gallivanting around courtesy of her trust fund. Jule meets Imogen and becomes obsessed with the rich girl's life. When they inevitably have a falling out, Jule kills Imogen the same way Tom Ripley (Matt Damon in the movie) kills Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), by bashing her head with an oar repeatedly. When one of Imogen's friends, Brooke, confronts Jule, Jule kills her by bashing her head with a cat statuette, just as Tom Ripley kills Freddie Miles (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) by bludgeoning him with a bust.

Point. By. Point. I know the author can do what they want, and as long as Patricia Highsmith is okay with it, it's not my place to judge whether it's okay or not. But as a reader, I felt a bit cheated.

>21 amysisson: >22 amysisson: I’m very intrigued by these E. M. Delafield novels