A look at my current "to be read" pile - February 2026

I feel as though it hasn't been that long since I last shared my to be read pile, but it has changed so much that I thought I would share an update!

It is certainly very manageable, even including the hidden downloaded books that I have on my Kindle.

The book that is causing me trouble is The Rose Field by Philip Pullman, the third book in the Book of Dust trilogy which forms a prequel and two sequels to the His Dark Materials trilogy. I loved La Belle Sauvage, the first in the trilogy, but I'm afraid that I found the second one a bit of a slog and I'm not enjoying the third at all. However I want to read it for completeness sake, as I do love the universe in which they are set and I want to know what happens. It's such a shame because I really enjoy the Dark Materials books, I'm hoping will pick up a bit by the end!

A weighty tome which I am looking forward to getting stuck into is IQ84 by Haruki Murakami. I've read and enjoyed a number of Murakami's books, I love the randomness of the stories, and I always enjoy Japanese books. I bought this one as it's set in Tokyo, and I'm planning to read it before we visit this summer. It is a lot larger than I expected, as it's three volumes in one book, so I know that it's going to be one that keeps me busy for a while.

Then I have The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. This is a bit of a wildcard entry - I had a book voucher to spend in Waterstones, I spotted a book that I wanted to buy (The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt) on the "buy one get one half price" table, and I needed to find a second for the offer. This book jumped out at me, it had a little card with a personal recommendation on it as well as having been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction. I hope that I enjoy it!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston came up while I was googling Everest books, and it made up my free book on a recent World of Books order. It's not about Everest but it does involve climbing - it's about the man who became trapped while climbing in Utah and had to amputate his own arm to free himself. I've seen the film based on the book (127 Hours), so I'm familiar with the story, and the children have both studied an extract from the book as part of their English GCSE anthology which brought the story back into my mind. I just hope that it's not too gory!

Then I have the next collection of Everest books, my current interest. Everest by Walt Unsworth is an account of Everest climbing attempts from the very beginning up until I believe around the late 1970s. Into the Silence by Wade Davis is a look at the early Everest expeditions, and High Adventure by Sir Edmund Hillary is the story of the first ascent and the work that got them there. Most of my Everest reading so far has focussed on the more recent history, so I'm looking forward to learning more about the historical climbing attempts.

Finally there's my Kindle. I rarely buy a Kindle book, so these are all ones that I've downloaded for free. There are three books borrowed from the Amazon Prime Reading Library - The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, The Story Collector by Evie Woods and the first Bridgerton book The Duke and I by Julia Quinn. 

I also have David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, inspired by my recent read of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Finally two recent books which I think come from Amazon First Reads - Follow Her by Anna Stothard and Her Beautiful Life by Brianna Labuskes.

I feel that I've got a really varied selection of books to read, some are quite long and detailed books and some are lighter reads. I have a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and they are all books that I'm very much looking forward to reading.

Have you read any of these? I'd love to hear your thoughts!