Kristel's Reading Journey in 2026, Part 3

It is officially summer in the northern hemisphere. I woke to a beautiful red morning sky because rain was moving in. I am an active and dedicated member of online reading communities and face-to-face bookclubs, particularly on Goodreads and LibraryThing. I've added Storygraph this year and will be doing the BenReadsChallenge and the 2026 Book Chain. I have been doing the bookspinbingo challenge on Litsy for several years. Lists are my thing! I enjoy spending time with family, my church group friends, and pickleball group.

Reading Goals

British Author Challenge 2026

Wildcard: To Be Read List

January:
Richard Adams - The Plague Dogs
Cressida Cowell - How to Train Your Dragon
February:
Elizabeth Chadwick - Lady of the English
Nevil Shute
March: Obscure Works Blue Ruin
April:
Kit de Waal My Name is Leon
Stephen Fry -
May:
M. M. Kaye
Iain M. Banks - Surface Detail
June:
The Stuarts and Interregnum (1603-1714)
Paradise Lost - John Milton

July:
Natalie Haynes - The Thousand Ships
Mohsin Hamid -

August:
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala &
Melvyn Bragg

September:
Xinran
George MacDonald Fraser

October: Monty Python

November:
Natasha Pulley
Siegfried Sassoon

December:
Jodi Taylor
JRR Tolkien

1001 Books
Year long read:
U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / 1919 / The Big Money - John Dos Passos
Completed The 42nd Parallel February
1919 completed April

Quarterly Reads:
1st (January - March): The Betrothed Completed February.
2nd (April - June): Melmoth the Wanderer READ
3rd (July - September) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle READ
4th (October - December): Gravity’s Rainbow

BOTM schedule
January
To Each His Own - Completed
Transit - Completed

February
Waiting for the Dark, Waiting for the Light - Klima Completed

March:
Myra Breckenridge - Gore Vidal Completed

April: Smith - Szcryplorski
The Red Room - Strindberg COMPLETED

May: Tabucchi - Van Eeden
Some Prefer Nettles - Junichiro Tanizaki COMPLETED
On the Eve - Ivan Turgenev - COMPLETED

June: Wharton - Zweig
Sexing the Cherry - Winterson - COMPLETED

July La Fanu - Macdonaldd
Time of the Hero -Mario Vargas Llosa
Feast of the Goat -Mario Vargas Llosa

August: Pater - Rhys
Typical: Stories - Padgett Powell

September: Rice - Sandel

October: Nobokov - Pasternak

November: Machines - Melville

December: Mendoz - Musil

TBR takedown and wine pairings
1, Fifth Business - Robertson Davies (A)
April 2. Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture - Apostolos Doxiadis (A)
3. Berlin Alexanderplatz - Alfred Döblin (A)
4. The Green Man - Kingsley Amis (A)
May 5. Journey to the End of Night - Louis-Ferdinand Céline COMPLETED Pinot Noir
6. The Castle - Kafka (H)
7. The Trial - Kafka (H)
January #8 Joseph Andrews - Henry Fielding (H) wine pairing Quinta Das Carvalhas 10 year old Tawny Porto
9. Eugenie Grandet - Balzac (H)
10, Roxana - Daniel Defoe (H)
11. The Marble Faun - Hawthorne (B), AW
12. Mr. Vertigo - Paul Auster, AW
13. The Untouchable - Banville AW
JUNE 14 The Singapore Grip - Farrell (AW)
15, Disgrace - Coetzee, (K) AW
16, The Swimming Pool Library - Hollinghurst AW
17. Night at the Circus - Carter AW
February 18. The Drowned World - Ballard (AW)
July 19, The Return of the Native - Hardy (H)
20. Nightwood - Djuna Barnes (H)
March21, Malone Dies - Beckett (H)
22. Erewhon - Samuel Butler (H)
23. The Lambs of London - Ackroyd AW
24. The Robber Bride - Atwood (L)

Kristel's 100 Best
British https://www.librarything.com/topic/377087#9101123
North American
https://www.librarything.com/topic/377087#9101740
Other English works
https://www.librarything.com/topic/377087#9103048
Best translated Fiction
https://www.librarything.com/topic/377087#9105160

Favored Lists:
Booker https://www.librarything.com/topic/364640#8636081
Pulitzer https://www.librarything.com/topic/364640#8636091
1001 combined list
https://www.librarything.com/topic/363193#8617418

July's Plan
1. Exodus - Leon Uris, TIOLI #1 COMPLETED
2. Dogsong - Gary Paulson, shared read, TIOLI #2
3. A Stranger at Green Knowe - Lucy Boston, TIOLI 3
4. This is my America - Kim Johnson, TIOLI #4
5. The Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa - TIOLI 7
6. The Last White Man - Mohsin Hamid TIOLI 8, BAC
7. Red - Ted Dekker, TIOLI 8
8. The Truth about White Lies - Olivia Cole, TIOLI 8
9. Blue Heaven - C.J.Box TIOLI 8
10. Cuba, TBD,
11. The Blue Book of Nebo - Manon Steffan Ros, #9
12. Yellowface - Kuang, shared read, TIOLI #10 COMPLETED
13. The Return of the Native - Hardy, TIOLI #11
14. The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford #12, Pulitzer
15. All the Kings Men - Robert Pen Warren #12, Pulitizeer
16. Salt to the Sea - Sepetys, shared read, TIOLI #13
17. The Half-life of Marie Curie Gunderson, TIOLI 14
18. There is no Antimemetics Division - qtnm, TIOLI #15, COMPLETED
19. A Thousand Ships - Natalie Haynes TIOLI #15
20. Moth Smoke - Mohsin Hamid BAC

Happy July, Kristel. Happy New Thread. I did play indoor PB yesterday. They play rally scoring at that particular location and I don't care for it but we still got some fun games in. I will take a break today and go hang out with Jackson. Keep cool. Ugh!

>I think I know what you are referring to about rally scoring and I don’t like the idea. I will go to the gym today as the courts will be closed tomorrow for Blood Draws.

We had the reddest sky this morning as the rain moved in. Red sky in the morning held true today. Enjoy your Jackson day.

>5 Kristelh: Very ambitious list. There was a reference to Exodus on Jeopardy last night, and it reminded me that it's a title I'd like to get to. I remember it being on my mother's bookshelf back in the day, but it never made its way into my hands, somehow.

Happy new thread, book twin.

I hope you will enjoy A Thousand Ships as much as I currently am.

>8 laytonwoman3rd:, I saw that episode of Jeopardy, Linda, and was excited that I knew the answer. Exodus has been on my want to list for awhile. I won't read my whole list, they're the ones I use on a Bingo card so not all will get read.

>9 PaulCranswick:. Thank you book twin. I hear lots of positives about A Thousand Ships.

Happy new thread, Kristel!

Happy New Thread, Kristel. You always have ambitious plans for your reading. I'd like a good mystery right now, but they can be hard to find. A GOOD one , that is.

>12 drneutron:, Thanks, doc

>13 vancouverdeb:, thank you Deborah. You're right! I often let you find them and then I follow suit. lol

#88 Exodus - Leon Uris
Reason read: TIOLI challenge #1. JBC read for July
Pages: 599

Author: US author, Jewish
Genre: historical fiction

First sentence: "An airplane landed on the runway before a sign that read 'Welcome to Cyprus'."

Happy Sunday, Kristel. I hope you had a nice 4th with the family. Mine was very quiet- just me and Juno. Sue is enjoying a girls weekend in MI. Taking a break from PB this weekend. My knee was sore after playing Friday. I hope to get back to it tomorrow plus we are in for cooler stretch. Yah!!

I have enjoyed a couple of Leon Uris books back in the day but have not read this one.

>16 msf59:, Greetings Mark. My 4th was very quiet and alone but that is okay. Hope your Monday was a good one.

#89 There is no Antimemetics Division - qtnm
Genre: science fiction, horror, Lovecraftianesqe
self published in 2020 but revised in 2025. I had not been aware of this one.
Reason read: BB from @drneutron
Overall rating 3.75
New to me author, male, British
First sentence; Containment protocol: U-0055 is kept in building 67, vault 3011A at the UO Primary Archive Facility at Black River.

Happy new thread, Kristel.

>5 Kristelh: That is an ambitious plan. Good luck! I loved A Thousand Ships. Haynes is great. Have you ever listened to her podcasts?

>19 BLBera: Couldn't agree more, Beth.

>19 BLBera:, >20 PaulCranswick:. I have not listened to her podcasts but it sounds like I need to do that. I hear nothing but good things about Haynes. thanks for stopping by Beth and Paul.

>14 Kristelh: I think you find many good books on your own , Kristel. I did read a good historical mystery, but have yet to review it. It was a lucky find.

Morning, Kristel. It looks like we both had a solo 4th. I am not complaining. I am nearly finished with Land. It will be a top read of the year for me. I am off to play PB and then I will have a Jackson day. All good here.

>22 vancouverdeb: I will look forward to your historical mystery review. Thanks for stopping by Deborah.

>23 msf59:, Morning Mark. Yes, I did not mind my solo 4th. It was nice to have a day to read and hang out with me. I have yet to read anything by O’Farrell which I think is something I should fix one of these days. Which of her works is a favorite of yours? It is raining this morning. A steady rain. I will go to the Y today and play PB and also attend an exercise class. This afternoon I will meet with some ladies to play Mexican Train.

#90 Yellowface - R. F. Kuang
Genre: literary fiction
Reason read: TIOLI #10, shared read
Overall rating 4
New to me author, female, US author
First sentence; The night I watch Athena Liu die, we're celebrating her TV deal with Netflix.

>24 Kristelh: I did finally get to writing my review on the historical mystery, Kristel and I really enjoyed it. I will warn you there is bit of swearing that I didn't care for, but I have another book by the same author and I am looking forward to reading it.

I'll keep Yellowface in mind. Good review, Kristel. My hold came in for Transcription so that will probably be my next read. Nice and short too.

>25 Kristelh: I have yet to read Land by O'Farrell but her two previous novels were real winner IMHO, book twin.

>28 PaulCranswick:. Thanks Paul. I've been advised to start with Hamnet which has "almost" made my read list many times. I guess it is time to get it done.

>27 vancouverdeb:. I think you would like Yellowface, Deborah.