In 2026, I set a goal to read 26 books. I had the lowest expectations of myself, and I stayed true to those expectations, because in January I did not read anything.
I started reading in February, which is why I decided to write a six-month review of my 2026 books at the end of July.
So far, the first six months of reading have been sustainable. I completed my 26-book to read in a year goal, in July. If you are curious, I use Goodreads to track my reading challenge and the books I read.
Books I recommend
I won’t list every book I read this year, but like every other year, I do have some recommendations:
- Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson: An absolute delight to read. Hook after hook after hook. I expected a slow start from a 600+ page fantasy, but there isn’t one. Sanderson gives you a man arguing with his sword, two sisters swapped into the wrong lives, and a magic system built on the selling and purchasing of air. I don’t know how he does it, but I am eager for more Sanderson works.
- A Wanted Man by Lee Child: Lee Child’s writing style is terse, and his hooks kept me going. Jack Reacher is also a well-developed character who has some mystery about him. And that is the mystery I wanted to solve. I don’t know why I started with book number 17 in the series, but once I picked it up and got going, it never felt like I was reading the 17th book in a series. This was also the first paperback I bought and finished this year.
- Odyssey by Stephen Fry: If someone manages a shelf where they list all the books that retell a story thousands of years old with elegance and easy-to-digest prose, then this book should be on that shelf, in the first row.
- Docs as Tests & AI by Manny Silva: If you write or manage docs and want to explore how the docs world is changing in 2026, how it is influenced by LLMs, and how to test your docs deterministically and probabilistically, then this book is for you.
Other stats
The following stats are provided by Goodreads on my account:
- Total books read: 26
- Pages read: 5263
- Longest book: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Wrap up
I am glad I have completed my reading challenge. At the same time, I am eager to read more.
Finally, I have acquired a taste for reading Brandon Sanderson’s books, and I do think highly of him after finishing Warbreaker. I can say it now: I get why he’s famous. I think I’ll be diving more into fantasy as a genre. Maybe I’ll go back to Wheel of Time series after 7 years, which I left half-way. Only time will tell.
Reach out to me. I’d love to hear about some of the books you have read this year or would like to recommend. My ever-growing and never-ending TBR list is waiting :)