50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Three

Thanks for explaining it, I was wondering if it was something I should be concerned about but hadn't managed to get sufficiently interested to actually do something.

They were amongst my favourites.

Talking of other books, I just picked up Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer for 31p each for the kindle and was delighted to get the audible editions included.

I've also added the Percival book to my list. Thanks for the recommendation

Just catching up with the thread which has resulted in me adding another four books to my wishlist - gah.

5. The Blue Hour, by Paula Hawkins. Not quite a bold for me but I liked it a lot. An island only reachable by causeway, a reclusive artist, a horrible posh family, and a plot that's tricksy to the last. I thought it was a very good thriller and the equally lovely nature writing elevated it for me.

6. Whale Fall, by Elizabeth O'Connor. Absolutely bloody brilliant. It is 1938, and 18 year old Manod lives with her father and sister on a remote island off the Welsh coast. The population is dwindling and two English ethnographers visit the island to document its culture. This was so evocative, I could picture everything perfectly. Manod is an extraordinary character and I didn't want to let go of her. Although they're not at all alike in plot, it reminded me quite a bit of A Month in the Country.

12 The Marches: Border Walks with my Father - Rory Stewart This was a slog. I enjoyed the two other books I have read by Rory Stewart but this was very bitty and didn’t really deliver on what I was hoping for (and what I think he was aiming for). There is a lot of reminiscing about his childhood and his relationship with his father, mixed in with Rory walking across the north of England and south of Scotland in a not very coherent manner, talking to lots of people on the way and never getting to the bottom of what the point of it all is. His immense disappointment about the way in which the landscape has changed over the centuries and the fact that people don’t always stay in the village they were born in is very evident and quite weird. He was clearly aiming for a sweeping cultural history with a deep message, but didn’t find it, and decided to write the book anyway. It feels a bit self-indulgent and I was quite disappointed with the book overall. That said, there were some very interesting bits and food for thought - certainly not a bad book, just not what it should have been.

@ChessieFL interested in your review of Mania. I'm not sure how I feel about Lionel Shriver these days, she seems like a bit of an anti-woke warrior. I did like Kevin but really didn't like Big Brother.

@lifeturnsonadime I think Rivals is by far the best the Jilly if you fancy trying another.

18. Grey Wolf - Louise Penny. More of the same from Penny. I feel like these are giving me diminishing returns these days. So many references to past books in this one, especially the one about a monastery that I found a bit dull the first time round. It also feels like every plot is basically a rift on the same one now.

19. Nesting - Roisín O'Donnell. This on the other hand was brilliant, a definite bold. I chose it as it's a debut novel that a lot of people are predicting may be chosen for the Woman's Prize. It's about Ciara, a mother of 2 young children, who leaves her controlling husband. She has no money, friends or a job as he has effectively isolated her and her family is in England. What unfolds is a really tense, traumatic story about how hard it is for Ciara to get away and start again, not helped by Dublin's housing problem. The writing is great especially at showing how hard it is coping with the constant questions and attention that toddlers need, while trying to work out what you need to do, as well as addressing the question of what constitutes abuse. There were several times I had to stop listening as it was so tense. So lots of trigger warnings, but also excellent. I'm hope it does make the Woman's Prize as deserves to be widely read.

35. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

Ruth Galloway #12

As per. More of the same. Not very believable this one

@CornishLizard I quite often buy copies to keep of books I've read from the library, generally when they come up as Kindle deals or in charity shops.

Hoorah @lifeturnsonadime I am glad you liked it!

Thanks for the new thread OP, mindful I'm 18 pages in before finding it!
My reads so far:

1. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Gamus
2. Standing by The Wall - Mick Herron
3. The Secret Hours - Mick Herron
4. A Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde
5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
6. Crusaders - Dan Jones
7. Dubliners - James Joyce
8. Man in the Queue - Josephine Tey
9. A Shilling for Candles - Josephine Tey
10. 1984 - George Orwell
11. The Franchise Affair - Josephine Tey
12. The Cracked Mirror - Chris Brookmyre
13. To Love and Be Wise - Josephine Tey
14. Lancaster and York - Alison Weir
15. Daughter of Time - Jospehine Tey
16. The Singing Sands - Josephine Tey

And most recent reads -

17 . Polo - Jilly Cooper - this is the first time I've read anything of Jilly Cooper and my goodness this is LONG and as someone else says it has a LOT of polo. It's of it's time but essentially a convoluted love story. With a bit of raunchiness, I'm not convinced I'll read any more of them.

18 . An Expert in Murder - Nicola Upson - I have @SheilaFentiman to thank for this recommendation based on the reading of the Tey Series. In this book (which is the start of a series I will continue) Josephine Tey is a character rather than the author, she is going to London to watch the final week of a play she has written when her superfan is murdered on a train at Kings Cross, I don't want to give too much away but I really did enjoy this straight after reading all of the Alan Grant books. Thanks Sheila! I'm going to read more!

Yes that counts Sheila!

😄Remus

Interested to hear you felt the same about Western Wind, Terpsichore - and I really enjoyed Orbital too, was that that sent me looking for her earlier books.

Ooh no. Sorry- I haven’t read it yet! But lots of people said it’s great iirc,

12 Experience - Martin Amis

Utterly brilliant autobiography - recommended by several of you lot, for which thank you. Where my last literary memoir (My Good Bright Wolf) buried its revelations under layers of distancing techniques, this cuts straight to the chase in an altogether more human, engaging and often very funny way. Particularly warm and moving on the illness and death of his father Kingsley.

I’ve had a run of four good/excellent books!

Mania by Lionel Shriver

Set in an alternative USA where it’s no longer acceptable to call people stupid, and nobody is allowed to appear cleverer than anyone else. This starts quite benignly but the ‘mental parity’ movement grows until it’s at a point where qualifications are no longer essential for any jobs and the rest of the world will no longer deal with or buy anything from the US because it’s all such poor quality. While this is not happening to us, there are lots of parallels with real life examples of people being cancelled for holding different views and I found it a really interesting read. Shriver’s style isn’t for everyone but I do recommend this for the ideas in it.

Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

The fourth in the Marlow Murder Club series and probably my favourite so far, featuring amateur dramatics and a murder on a boat. These books aren’t great literature and the writing is sometimes a bit too clunky and expository, but I enjoy the stories and they’re great for a day when you just want to be entertained and don’t want anything taxing.

The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha

The Agarwal family gathers on a remote Scottish island to hear their father’s plans for his multi-million pound petrochemical business, but when the announcement isn’t as expected how will they all react? While this isn’t a particularly original story (I feel like I have read a lot of books recently of groups trapped on remote islands with things going wrong) this is done well and I really liked reading about the dynamics between the various family members and how it’s gradually revealed what’s happened in the past to make them all into the people they are now.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart

I raced through this. It’s partly a modern missing person mystery, part historical mystery/family saga and part supernatural/fairytale. I really enjoyed the story of both time periods and all the characters. Recommended if you like this sort of thing.

I think you’ve hit the nail exactly on the head with that word 'austere', Cornish. I read it a couple of years ago and struggled to put my finger on why I didn’t love it as much as I anticipated I would - but yes, that’s why.

Funnily enough, I’m one of the few who really enjoyed Orbital, though.

@CornishLizard does it count if you buy it on Kindle to make sure you have it there even if you also own the paperback?

If so, The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah would qualify, for me.

I also own most Dorothy L Sayers on Kindle despite having read my mum's paperback versions many times.

Meant to add above - sorry you're having a tough time Roman.

Also I picked up Red Love from the library after Remus purchased it already having read it - what a high bar for a recommendation. Has anyone else done this for any books (in case any of us need more on our tbr)?

34. The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

Ruth Galloway #11

I overdid these last year, but then I got into a terrible slump in the last week or so, and couldn't get anything started, so I thought I'd go for an easy read.

As per, keep returning for the characters not the investigations but this one wasn't so bad. Lots of twists and red herrings.

Just 4 left now

The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey A blighted and sodden 1491 Somerset village is reeling from the loss of its leading resident to the swollen river. Narrated by the priest over the 4 day aftermath, day by day backwards, we get to know the community and are party to their confessions as they brace themselves for lent. We come to understand the power the church has over the people as the sinister figure of the rural dean comes looking for a scapegoat. An excellent evocation of time and place and the precariousness of eking out a living, it’s refreshing not to have a Tudor in sight but is an austere read. The ending is interesting and reframes things, but I’m not motivated enough to revisit the book, though I think it will stay with me.

30. Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 - Mitchell Zuckoff (NF)

This was excellent and thanks to the poster who recommended it upthread. It wasn't a RWYO but hey, I had a stressful week and book 29 was a bit crap, so I wanted one I knew would hold my interest.

The author is a journalist on a leading Boston newspaper and covered the day itself as well as writing many follow up articles. This follows the stories of specific people on the planes, on the ground, in the Towers and in the Pentagon, whilst also getting across the facts about the hijackers, the FAA and FBI response, the shortcomings in the NYPD and FDNY comms etc. The initial chapters moved between the planes and the targets pre-strikes, so it was like a timeline of the day itself. Really well done.

19. All the Rage: Stories from the Frontline of Beauty 1860-1960, by Virginia Nicholson
This was great fun. I'm not particularly interested in fashion, but I still enjoyed this account of how women have tried their hardest to match up to ever-changing beauty standards over the course of a century. She points out that it's not merely frivolous - for many, it was a high-stakes game for attracting male interest as the only real route to economic stability, although there are rebels along the way too. Beauty standards reflect society's view of what women are mean to be, not just look like. She never loses sight of the individuals, and there are lots of enjoyable quotations about what it felt like for the woman in that moment. For anyone looking to dip into some non-fiction, it might be worth giving this a go.

20. The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd
This is a classic of nature writing, an ecstatic account of the beauties of the Cairngorms, by a women who lived in the area her whole life and knew it with great intimacy. I admired it rather than clasped it to my bosom - I find nature writing to be best when taken in short doses. It's all on a very exalted plane. She looks and listens and touches and inhales the scents and for me, this was a reminder to live in your body. I've never been to the Cairngorms, but I'd like to reread this while there.

13 Haunted: Ghost Stories And Their Afterlives by E Jay Gilbert
Disappointing, doubly so because I asked for this as a birthday present last year, thinking it would be better than it was.
It’s a bit of a rambling mess, drifting off into non sequiturs and never seeing a ghost trope through to its logical end. I spook fairly easily in print but there was nothing here to trouble the mind. It’s the literary equivalent of Danny Robins’ irritating, breathy, over earnest Uncanny and I only finished it because it was a gift.

11 Junk - Melvin Burgess
Gemma and Tar are 14 and have run away from home. They end up in a squat and getting hooked on heroin.
I’m not sure if I enjoyed this or not. I have a feeling it will stay with me a long time. I liked the character development and the ending wasn’t predictable. I’m not a huge fan of every chapter being a different character’s perspective but I can see how it allowed the story to move along.

Remus - sorry, The Secret Hours didn't improve for you.

My latest book is:

11. The Photograph - Penelope Lively

I have enjoyed pretty much all the books I have read by this author, some more than others, and this did not disappoint. The photo of the title is of Kath. Kath is dead but the photo which has recently come to light is raising questions amongst those who knew her: her husband, her sister, her brother-in-law, her niece and the photographer. The chapters are narrated from the standpoints of the different characters mostly in the present day but sometimes dipping back to when Kath was alive. The narrators were very believable and, whilst not an action-packed story, events unfolded, information was revealed and it didn't leave me hanging at the end. Probably a bold.

I've finally finished Republic of Thieves (Scott Lynch, Gentleman Bastards #3) and enjoyed it, although not a bold.

Today I read The Answer is No by Fredrick Backman - it was ok for a short read, but it was a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't particularly recommend it though.

Now I've started Annie Bot which I've been looking forward to.

Went real life shopping today and popped into Waterstones as I was passing. Came out with Transatlantic by Julie Orringer at £3 it was a steal. No idea if it is any good