While I didn’t join an “official” A to Z reading challenge this year, I did my own thing and tracked it on the FREE 2026 Reading Challenge Tracker Spreadsheet. It was fun to slot books into different letters based on their titles (and re-arrange them a few times), and while I didn’t get to I, X and Y (although there is still time), I still count this as a win! My goal was to complete the letters from my normal reading habits.
A – Astral Library, Kate Quinn ★★★★ A book about book lovers, and where you can disappear into a World of books – well I really wish that was real!
B – Brigands & Breadknives, Travis Baldree ★★★★ It’s a cozy adventure fantasy, and we follow Fern, a bookselling ratkin, who wants something different with her life. And boy does she find it!
C – Cursed Daughter, Oyinkan Braithwaite ★★★★ This is an epic multi-generational story set in Nigeria, of the Falodun family women who have been cursed by a betrayed first wife.
D – The Diamond Eye, Kate Quinn ★★★★★ Kate Quinn is the GOAT of historical fiction novels – no one can convinve me otherwise! The Diamond Eye is a brilliantly told story of a female Russian sniper in the 1930’s.
E – The Enchanted Greenhouse, Sarah Beth Durst ★★★★ The World building in this book is stupendous! We get detailed, vibrant descriptions of the greenhouses which are each like mini-exosystems on the island.
F – A Box Full of Darkness, Simone St. James ★★★★★ This book has an atmospheric, creepy vibe. 3 siblings return to their childhood home, drawn by a message from their long dead younger brother, but the town where they grew up in is a place where a lot of disturbing things happen
G – A Guardian and a Thief, Megha Majumdar ★★★★ This book was an unexpected surprise and really tugged on my emotions. It’s set in India where famine has caused scarcity. “Ma” is leaving her job at a shelter / food bank to migrate to America with her father and daughter. But their passports get stolen, and she is trying desperately to get them back.
H – The Hallmarked Man, Robert Galbraith ★★★★ The 8th book in the Cormoran Strike detective novels. Cormoran has finally … FINALLY … acknowledged he has feelings for Robin, but will he do something about it?!
I
J – Jamaica Road, Lisa Smith ★★★★★ The story of 2 teenagers who meet in high school in South London. They are both minorities, both Jamaican – although 1 is British born and the other is newly arrived. Their stories intertwine and twist, separate, come back together.
K – Kin, Tayari Jones ★★★★★ Tayari Jones knows how to tell a story! I got caught up reading about the lives of cradle friends Vernice and Annie, 2 motherless girls growing up in the small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana.
L – Love by the Book, Jessica George ★★★★ A novel about female friendships and the difficulties forming them in adulthood is not something I’ve come across much in fiction, and the story was so refreshing and well done.
M – The Midnight Bargain, C.L. Polk ★★★★ The Clayborns are in severe debt, and they pin their hopes on their daughter securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling. But Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children.
N – But Not Too Bold, Havhe Pueyo ★★★★ Weird horror done right! The story is weird, the people in it are weird and I enjoyed all of the weirdness.
O – The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison ★★★ This is the story of Ulcetha, who gets left a clue by his best friend who has died. He tracks it down and finds something related to the reason he was dismissed from his University studies 5 years previously.
P – Plum, Andy Anderegg ★★★ We follow “J” from her childhood through adulthood. She is not OK. No one in this book is OK. So it was hard to read at times.
Q – Queenie is Working On It, Candice Carty-Williams ★★★★ Queenie is as with the first book, still a larger than life character!
R – The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar ★★★★ The story is about the bond of 2 close sisters, their duty to the enchanted Willows and each other.
S – The Spellshop, Sarah Beth Durst ★★★★★ A cozy fantasy about Kiela, a librarian in charge of spell books, who escapes the city with her sentient plant Caz, and some of the books during the revolution.
T – The True True Story of Raja the Gullible, Rabih Alameddine ★★★★★ This is about the life of Raja, a 63 year old philosophy teacher, as he tells it .. snarky attitude and all. Brilliantly done.
U – Under One Roof, Ali Hazelwood ★★★★★ An enemies to lovers romance novella that I just inhaled!
V – The Death of Vivek Oji, Akwaeke Emezi ★★★★★ This book got me in the best way possible! From the beginning we know that Vivek died, and we meet all the people that played an important part in his life from birth – his parents, his grandmother, his parents friends and his friends. He grew up in Nigeria and the book also gives us a wonderful sense of place with details about the culture.
W – Wolf Worm, T. Kingfisher ★★★★ There are darker things at work than the Carolina woods. What happened to Sonia’s predecessor, Halder’s wife? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?” Creepy woods, terrifying bugs – get ready to be creeped out in the best … most hideous way possible!
X
Y
What does your A to Z reading challenge for book titles look like – are there any letters missing? Do you have any recommendations for the letters I, X and Y that I’m missing?
Z – Bat Eaters and Other Names for Cora Zeng, Kylie Lee Baker ★★★★★ Get ready to feel all the feels. It’s sad, dark, depressing, real and raw. This novel is set during COVID times, in NY, when anti-Asian rhetoric was getting more brazen.
And that’s the alphabet! 23 books, nine five-star reads, and a whole lot of genre hopping, from the cozy comfort of The Spellshop to the creeping dread of Wolf Worm. I’m still stumped on I, X, and Y, so I need your help: what would you read for those letters? Drop your suggestions in the comments, and tell me your own favorite pick from this list.
