My 2026 Reading Challenge
Hey there, I’m Jess ✨. On The Signature, I share reflections on beauty, routines, travel, wellness, culture, and everyday life. For those drawn to a calmer, more intentional way of living, I send a free newsletter each month on the 7th. You're welcome to join.
The beginning of the year is always filled with promise: personal goals to achieve, professional milestones to celebrate, things to recalibrate, finances to reshuffle and ... a towering TBR (To Be Read) list of books to tackle! And I love nothing more than a challenge to keep me accountable.
How well did my reading challenge go in 2025?
In 2025, I read 36 books, mixing many biographies with family dramas, thrillers and romance. I am extremely proud of this achievement which I turned a bit more seamless by blending my Kindle library with my Audible one. I love listening to at least 30 minutes of an audiobook in the morning or whilst walking. That allows me to incorporate reading into my rushed life as well as to have relaxed moments under a blanket with my reader when I have some downtime.
My 2025 Reading Challenge: my best one yet
In 2025, my goal was to read 36 books. From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count, a long-awaited book after a ten-year hiatus to Rob Franklin’s debut novel Great Black Hope, let me share how my ambitious reading challenge went.
Jess
What is my reading ambition for 2026?
For 2026, I will be pushing the envelope further and I want to reach 52 books. It's about one book or audiobook per week. I am sure I could reach that number without even buying a new book as my libraries are bursting - call me a book hoarder! - but you know I easily succumb to new launches as well.
New books launching in 2025 I cannot wait to read
Your TBR (to be read) list is towering but it’s not stopping you from buying new books? I feel you. As I am a good friend, let me help you with freshly launched suggestions that caught my attention lately
Jess
What also helps? I have several books I have started in 2025 (or before!) and have to get them out of the way to read something new.
Here is what I am reading right now (and what's next):
Books that I want to read in 2026: Tayari Jones's Kin / Jennie Godfrey's The Barbecue at Number 9 / Angela Flournoy's The Wilderness
- 📖 On my Kindle: I am reading Kelly Harms's The Seven Day Switch
- 🎧 On my Audible: I am listening to Leila Mottley's The Girls Who Grew Big
- 📚 Next in line could be: Tayari Jones's Kin
Here is what I have read so far in 2026:
Books
People We Meet On Vacation - Emily Henry
- ⭐⭐⭐/5
- I had been interested in reading an Emily Henry book for a long time and the movie adaptation being out made me want to read it
- A dear friend recommended this one and Beach Read, which I want to read in the future
- The book tackles the decade two friends spend meeting yearly for a summer vacation
- We see how their friendship evolved through the years, as well as their lives, their ambition, their goals
- Something happened in their summer trip two years prior and they stopped taking vacations together and talking. We need to find out why
- I found the book too long and a little less light than I was aiming for yet it was an easy read and I didn't even switch on the entertainment on my latest long haul flights to read it
The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
- ⭐⭐/5
- This was one of my book club picks for September 2025 yet I procrastinated and only finished it in March 2026
- In this memoir, the author and her husband Moth become homeless after losing their family home as a consequence of judicial issues
- They decide to tackle the South Coast Salt Path in southern UK backpacking and camping at every stop
- We follow their journey through the grievance of loss, learning to live with less, losing life security and illness, as Moth has a degenerative disease
- I think the book gets into to much logistical detail for me, which made it a cold one and not emotional for me
- Albeit homeless, the book stands on a lot of privilege which was unsettling for me
- I did not love the book but I want to watch the movie adaptation with Gillian Anderson very soon
Dare to Lead - Brené Brown
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- I started reading this book in January 2020 and could not stop screenshotting and share with friends as the book was really resonating with me. A few weeks later, entered pandemic and I stopped reading it
- I recently added it to my Audible and restarted it. I loved the author's narration, it truly felt like a deep conversation with a friend
- This book dives into values, what shames us, the power of feedback, great tools both for our professional and personal lives
- I particularly loved how she related her "where is the ham" story from her personal life to several situations that can occur to work
- Brené Brown is very vulnerable in this book, sharing her fragilities and feedback given by her own teams. Loved that
- This is the kind of book to have at home and read a few lines or chapters for a refresh in the future
- I gifted this book to a new leader in my company whom I am so hopeful about and feel can become one of the greatest leaders around me in the future
Une Chanson Douce - Leila Slimani
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- Read this one in French, but it is translated as The Perfect Nanny or Lullaby in English
- I saw the movie a few months ago on the airplane and made me want to read the book
- This story is about a couple with two little children who are desperate to reconnect, focus on their careers and finding a nanny to make it all work
- The book can be very triggering as it tackles loss, bereavement, death and mental illnesses
- Loved Leila Slimani's penwomanship and attention to detail and human emotion
- The book earned the Prix Goncourt in 2016, a literary prize to the author of the best and most imaginative prose work in french of the year
Room 706 - Ellie Levenson
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- It is considered a thriller but I would put it more in a family drama / personal drama category
- This is the debut novel from Ellie Levenson
- A couple of lovers meet at a hotel in London... that is being hijacked by terrorists
- We deal with the single point of view of the female main character in three distinct timelines: when she met her husband / when she got married and met her lover / presently at the hotel with her lover
- I liked the way the author writes - the FMC and myself have similar thought processes - yet I felt the suspense is very prolonged and lacks real action
- It would be amazing as a TV show
The Heir Apparent - Rebecca Armitage
- ⭐⭐⭐/5
- A Reese's Book Club Pick
- This book will be perfect if you love anything related to royal families as much as I do
- Any similarities with the British Royal Family is not a coincidence as the author wrote about the BRF in the past, especially about Prince Harry in several media platforms
- Although I liked the premise, the book turns a bit soapy at times
- It would be amazing on the screen, as a movie
Audiobooks
The Let Them Theory - Mel Robbins
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- It was delicious to listen to Mel Robbins's narration, it truly felt like I was listening to a conversation
- Mel tackles lots of things we keep heavily close to our hearts such as distance from family, friends, not letting go of resentment, expecting other people to change whilst we don't change ourselves
- The book is filled with delicious anecdotes we can relate to
- Although it has a great flow, sometimes I felt it was just Mel sharing life stories and not really solutions. Letting go of things isn't always that easy and there is no pill for selective amnesia
- Still, I have a lot of ideas to apply. Next time someone bugs me, I will do my best not to take it personal and just think "Let Them"
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- I wanted to listen to a book considered great on audio and this one was highly recommended.
- This is a hard science book detailing how a science teacher, Ryland Grace, is chosen to go to space to protect the solar system (thus Earth) from dying
- You have a unique point of view but it travels through time, from past to present
- Andy Weir has a very clever and funny penmanship
- I am not a STEM person but the science and engineering in this book is so well explained that you understand the concepts easily
- Ray Porter is a tremendous narrator. I am always scared of one narrator audiobooks and he does a stellar job
- This book was adapted on screen and the movie, starred by Ryan Gosling, will be out by the end of March 2026. Cannot wait to watch!
The Scammer - Tiffany D. Jackson
- ⭐⭐/5
- This book is set in a University in the United States and how dynamics change after the former convict brother of one of the students lands in the lives of several female students
- It tackles culture, racism, conspiracy theories and cults
- I always love January LaVoy in audiobooks but I am not a fan of one-voice narrations in fiction
- The book's storyline dragged a lot for me, I did not love it
The Third Gilmore Girl - Kelly Bishop
- ⭐⭐⭐/5
- The biography of the ballet dancer and actress known for her roles in Dirty Dancing and The Gilmore Girls
- I did not know about Kelly Bishop's life in the ballet and musicals, that was a surprise for me
- Loved her narration albeit a bit monotonous
- I think the perfect title would have been the one she gave originally, "At the ballet"
Atomic Habits - James Clear
- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
- I first started reading this book a few years ago
- And then my husband and I listened to it during our road trip in Namibia
- It gives lots of insights about changing mindset for a more organised and goal oriented life
- I think I would benefit from the workbook to put the learnings into action
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