It’s New Year, New Reading Goals here at Mr B’s, where our team is excitedly picking out their reads for the year ahead. Especially as 2026 has just been named the National Year of Reading: promoting reading for pleasure, and using books as a way to reconnect reading with the things that already inspire us – from playlists and football matches to films, food and family time.
So, if you’re after a fool-proof way to plan out your 2026 reads, then look no further! Featuring 24 different categories of bookish inspiration (plus a free space!), these prompts allow you to pull from your existing shelves… and be pointed in some new literary directions!
Today, we’re highlighting some of our Team’s favourite memoirs and life writing: from mega celebrities to mad cults, childhoods spent with guitar-riffing dads or doomsday preppers, featuring both near-death experiences and total triumphs, and set across the beaches of Corfu, the depths of the Amazon rainforest, and the storied artworks of the Metropolitan Museum – there’s something for everyone in this stack!
We’re also highlighting some of our favourite books with a one-word title: a tried-and-tested mix of classics and contemporary fiction, crossing from literary to dystopia to historical to fantasy to romance, and everything inbetween!
And if you want something that ticks off both boxes in one book? Look no further…
We hope you have fun ticking off the categories, and that this bingo sheet inspires some excellent new reads.
Here’s to 2026 being another year of delightful reading!