1Cotswoldreader
For a few years now I have been working with a Lifetime Reading Plan but which I rarely manage to stick to, due to various factors (the joy of the new and brain fog). I'd like to change that in 2026 so I'm starting this log to keep me accountable.
2025 I bought 62 books, a considerable reduction on the previous year, and read 65 which is about typical.
I have 8 books which I'm currently reading, which is far too many and I'd like to get this to 3/4 at most.
2025 I bought 62 books, a considerable reduction on the previous year, and read 65 which is about typical.
I have 8 books which I'm currently reading, which is far too many and I'd like to get this to 3/4 at most.
2labfs39
Welcome, Rachel! I see that one of the eight books you are reading is Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. I read that a couple of years ago. I look forward to following your reading journey this year.
3dchaikin
Welcome to CR Rachel. Wish you well with your logging. I admire you for reading more than you acquired last year.
4Cotswoldreader
>3 dchaikin: That's only because I started a book rationing project, the year before was very very different!
5dchaikin
>4 Cotswoldreader: i’ve been doing something similar for about 3 years now. Still, last year i acquired 20 more than I read (of what i owned. So not including loans or books within books)
6Cotswoldreader
January reads:
Clearing up "currently reading" list
Behold a great light
Let all creation rejoice
Gertie's charmed sewing studio
Low spoon reading
The murder at the vicarage
The colour of magic
Snuff
Ruth Mott's Favourite Recipes
New aquisitions
Fiction
La belle sauvage
The Queen Who Came in from the Cold
Call for the Dead
Non-Fiction
Sacraments of healing by Kallistos Ware
You are mine by Sister Anastasia
The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete
Look Closer: How to get more out of reading
Clearing up "currently reading" list
Behold a great light
Let all creation rejoice
Gertie's charmed sewing studio
Low spoon reading
The murder at the vicarage
The colour of magic
Snuff
Ruth Mott's Favourite Recipes
New aquisitions
Fiction
La belle sauvage
The Queen Who Came in from the Cold
Call for the Dead
Non-Fiction
Sacraments of healing by Kallistos Ware
You are mine by Sister Anastasia
The Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete
Look Closer: How to get more out of reading
8Cotswoldreader
February Reads:
Clearing up the currently reading list:
Living the Christian Creed - this was a reading group read, so they always take a while to get through
The Time Travelers Guide to Restoration Britain (audiobook)
Lustrum (book 2 of Harris's Cicero trilogy)
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - a pleasant warm blanket of a book but not lifechanging
Vilette - my all time favourite Bronte novel and a regular re-read
New Aquitions:
The Challenges of Democracy: And The Rule of Law
The Illiad a new translation (ARC) which I'll be interested to see how it compares to the other edition I own
I'm really pleased I got the currently reading pile down to close to my target this month, however the elephant needs addressing and that is Beevor's The Second World War, hardly the lightest of reads, or books for that matter.
Clearing up the currently reading list:
Living the Christian Creed - this was a reading group read, so they always take a while to get through
The Time Travelers Guide to Restoration Britain (audiobook)
Lustrum (book 2 of Harris's Cicero trilogy)
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - a pleasant warm blanket of a book but not lifechanging
Vilette - my all time favourite Bronte novel and a regular re-read
New Aquitions:
The Challenges of Democracy: And The Rule of Law
The Illiad a new translation (ARC) which I'll be interested to see how it compares to the other edition I own
I'm really pleased I got the currently reading pile down to close to my target this month, however the elephant needs addressing and that is Beevor's The Second World War, hardly the lightest of reads, or books for that matter.
9labfs39
>8 Cotswoldreader: Which translation of the Iliad are you reading? I'm currently reading Emily Wilson's newish translation of The Odyssey.
10Cotswoldreader
>9 labfs39: The new translation I have just recieved is by Bruce Heiden but I'll be comparing it to a translation from 1950 by Emile Victor Rieu I think it will be interesting to see how the intervening 75 years may have altered the text in english.
11Cotswoldreader
March 2026 udate:
Murder Most Royal a re-read, these are rather witty books but very relaxing to read.
The Body in the Library
2001: A Space Odyssey I haven't read the Odyssey series for many years but all the excitement about the Artemis II launch rekindled my interest for top-quality science fiction.
The Moving Finger
Aquisitions:
The Odyssey series by Arthur C Clarke: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, 3001: The Final Odyssey
Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way recommended by our reading group
The Midwich Cuckoos
Of Thorn & Briar: A Year with the West Country Hedgelayer
This, My Second Life
Liturgies of the Wild
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
March was a bad month health wise and I was a bit frustrated that I had to turn back to easy reads, but it is much better than no reads at all.
Murder Most Royal a re-read, these are rather witty books but very relaxing to read.
The Body in the Library
2001: A Space Odyssey I haven't read the Odyssey series for many years but all the excitement about the Artemis II launch rekindled my interest for top-quality science fiction.
The Moving Finger
Aquisitions:
The Odyssey series by Arthur C Clarke: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, 2061: Odyssey Three, 3001: The Final Odyssey
Orthodox Prayer Life: The Interior Way recommended by our reading group
The Midwich Cuckoos
Of Thorn & Briar: A Year with the West Country Hedgelayer
This, My Second Life
Liturgies of the Wild
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
March was a bad month health wise and I was a bit frustrated that I had to turn back to easy reads, but it is much better than no reads at all.
12Cotswoldreader
April 2026 update:
2010: Odyssey Two
2061: Odyssey Three
3001: The Final Odyssey
I am so impressed by Arthur C Clarke's writing, not just becuase this is less science fiction and more scicne prediction, but also because reading this today is still relevant and in some ways prescient
Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Truth
Acquisitions
CP Snow the Strangers and Brothers I bought the whole series since these are now difficult to get in physical copy. I have read a couple of books in the series previously but this is a series I have been meaning to read for many years. Not the easiest author to read since is use of language is legendary (keep the dictionary handy).
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
A Murder of Quality by John Le Carre
2010: Odyssey Two
2061: Odyssey Three
3001: The Final Odyssey
I am so impressed by Arthur C Clarke's writing, not just becuase this is less science fiction and more scicne prediction, but also because reading this today is still relevant and in some ways prescient
Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Truth
Acquisitions
CP Snow the Strangers and Brothers I bought the whole series since these are now difficult to get in physical copy. I have read a couple of books in the series previously but this is a series I have been meaning to read for many years. Not the easiest author to read since is use of language is legendary (keep the dictionary handy).
Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie
A Murder of Quality by John Le Carre
14rocketjk
>12 Cotswoldreader: I'm about two-thirds of the way through the Strangers and Brothers series. I generally read one or two per year, so it's a longterm project. There was one novel towards the beginning that I found tedious, but otherwise I've been loving them.
15Cotswoldreader
>14 rocketjk: I have only read the first book, and I got a little annoyed with the main protagonist. Having read other works by CP Snow however I know to stick with it, even if it is tedious at times, becuase it will be worth it.
I also need to pick Proust back up as well, but I feel you really need to be in the right frame of mind for those books, wonderful though they are.
I also need to pick Proust back up as well, but I feel you really need to be in the right frame of mind for those books, wonderful though they are.
16rocketjk
>15 Cotswoldreader: I found that beginning with the third book in the series, The Conscience of the Rich, they became excellent and they've held up that way for me through the books I've read so far. I've now read seven of the eleven books in the series.
17Cotswoldreader
>16 rocketjk: In that case I'll definately make a note to push through to book three, and not give up before then!
18Cotswoldreader
May 2026 Update:
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
You are Mine by Sister Anastasia - Church reading group
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
Anam Cara by John O'Donohue
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sacraments of Healing by Kallistos Ware - Church reading group
Quite a varied month, a few works which definately related to my low energy levels but also a month of finishing off books which had been hanging around. Anam Cara, possibly my least favourite of John O'Donohue's books took a concerted effort to get it finished. Not becuase it was difficult but because I didn't enjoy reading it, and I normally love his books.
Purchases:
Traitor's Legacy by S.J. Parris - I had this as an ARC but amazon had the final version on kindle for 99p so worth swapping it out
After the Funeral by Agatha Chrisie
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Little Women as above
The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - I never read this even as a child
100 Reasons for Living by Richard Carter - Church reading group
Cynics by Anatoly Marienhof
The Cromarty Library Circle by Shona MacLean
With the exception of Little Women and 100 Reasons for Living, everything on the list was a 99p kindle book. Some months there is barely anything worth buying but then you get a deluge. Generally I like having a kindle full of things to read when my health is being awkward, for night time reading or just being confined to bed.
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
You are Mine by Sister Anastasia - Church reading group
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
Anam Cara by John O'Donohue
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Sacraments of Healing by Kallistos Ware - Church reading group
Quite a varied month, a few works which definately related to my low energy levels but also a month of finishing off books which had been hanging around. Anam Cara, possibly my least favourite of John O'Donohue's books took a concerted effort to get it finished. Not becuase it was difficult but because I didn't enjoy reading it, and I normally love his books.
Purchases:
Traitor's Legacy by S.J. Parris - I had this as an ARC but amazon had the final version on kindle for 99p so worth swapping it out
After the Funeral by Agatha Chrisie
Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Little Women as above
The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie
Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - I never read this even as a child
100 Reasons for Living by Richard Carter - Church reading group
Cynics by Anatoly Marienhof
The Cromarty Library Circle by Shona MacLean
With the exception of Little Women and 100 Reasons for Living, everything on the list was a 99p kindle book. Some months there is barely anything worth buying but then you get a deluge. Generally I like having a kindle full of things to read when my health is being awkward, for night time reading or just being confined to bed.
