50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Three

Sending best wishes to you @PepeLePew with 🫖 and 🍰 which is
a winning combination paired with 📚.

I have a bench in my kitchen where I like to sit and read (with a small table close by for tea and cake). It's lovely on warm, sunny days (currently not the case, sadly. It's cold and damp and grey). These days I'm more likely to sit on the sofa in the sitting room or in bed. Winter here in Ireland lasts up to April, I think. Six months of Winter, six months of non-Winter.

Sounds like a wonderful plan @PepeLePew

I shall report back on progress. I think - despite my many books-on-the-go - I may be lacking the one book to rule them all that makes me absolutely desperate to get stuck in. But actually just finishing off some of the ones I'm working my way through would feel like a win, too. I plan to start the day downstairs on the sofa, then shall move upstairs as at this time of year, there is a patch of sunshine on my bed from about 2pm to 5pm that is absolutely wonderful to curl up in and read.

Hurray for Cake @PepeLePew

@PepeLePew
Strictly Abstemious sounds like the title of a cosy mystery series featuring a former ballroom dancer turned sleuthing nun.

I like hearing about where and when others read. I usually have multiple books on the go because different places/times call for different formats. Would definitely be far less domesticated if audiobooks weren't a thing! As it is, I still skip all the noisy chores 😅

33. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Audible)

I think @Sadik recommended this, many thanks.

Charles, a robot valet, malfunctions and kills his master, seeking to be fixed or at least find a new valet position, Charles embarks on a Hero's Journey, can he be a Protagonist or does he live to serve?

This was good, if not a bold. It's very episodic. I think it probably would work better as Audible because of how the robots talk to each other comes alive and would be flat and repetitive on the page

Definitely worth a credit if you have a spare. A lot to say about the worrying future of AI. Not as good as Annie Bot because it looks more to the darkly comic side rather than serious discourse.

I haven't read any other Adrian Tchaikovsky - would take recommendations. I do have Children Of Time on TBR, but I think that's part of a series.

Cake! That is such a good idea. I've lost weight since January (intentionally; not linked to possible health issues) and am trying to figure out how to go from strictly abstemious to letting a little more joy into my diet and a single amazing piece of cake is almost certainly part of the answer! 🍰

Ooh interesting! I’m definitely more likely to actually read it if there’s a readalong so that would be great 😊

Sorry - I see my numbering and spacing went to pot!

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage might be enough interest for the next read. It’s been on my list for years, and I’ve deliberately not read any of the new retellings because I haven’t read the source (I do realise this is not at all necessary).

First post for the year and it's been a good start - although I usually start well ahead and lose ground later on. A lovely holiday helped! Favourites in bold....

1. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

1. The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher

1. The Women who wouldn't wheesht - ed Susan Dalgety

1. How to kill your family by Bella Mackie

1. The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle

1. Sydney by Jan Morris

1. Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

1. Being Henry; the Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler

1. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Wishing you all the best with the test results @PepeLePew . I like the idea of carving out specific reading time. I have been away from reading so long that all my borrowbox books have auto returned & i have had to start something new. Not a good sign.

@PepeLePew I usually spend one day every weekend sitting in the kitchen with all the books I am reading basically doing all the laundry. I only really do 30 min washes and might cook as well, but I basically read in between all day long. I audio whilst loading and unloading and then might do a section of a chapter in my non fiction then a chapter of a novel. I am rather shit at being more organised for laundry in the week, but I have to admit I do like this routine a lot.

@PepeLePew hope you get some reassurance soon. In the meantime, Saturdays with books, tea and cake sound perfect

4. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

A collection of short musings (some were magazine articles) by an author I'd heard of in connection with her films but never read. An easy and light read with some moving and thought provoking moments.

After two non fiction books I'm going to read a novel next 😀

Hoping all well @PepeLePew and that you have some excellent books and good tea for your Saturday sessions. Cake too?

Virtue rewarded!

Thank you, biblio and also for the gentle
yet well aimed reminder that it is indeed better after Parkrun. I hate the idea of it and the trudge but it is always a good feeling to come home, shower and flop on the sofa.

Hope you get good health news soon @PepeLePew Saturdays with tea and books sound very restorative. I sometimes do similar - if I've managed a slog around Parkrun that morning (and got cold and wet), it's even sweeter.

Found you all. Wondered why no one was posting on the old thread, realised you were all over here having a fascinating discussion about why people do or don't read. I have nothing to add apart from to thank you for reminding me of Barthes' distinction which I find very helpful. I read for pleasure and to challenge myself so balance is important to me and I try for a balance of readerly and writerly books as I go.

Reading so far this year has been a little chaotic. I have about five books on the go and can't seem to finish any of them. I am waiting for a hospital referral for some mildly concerning test results and as a consequence focus is definitely an issue. I'm contemplating designating Saturday as a "reading day" where I do nothing but read or listen to audiobooks. It takes some planning but I find it very restorative - requirements are a good set of options to choose from and a large pot of tea.

@elkiedee well prepared to believe it was me, not Elly Griffiths, who was at fault here 😀

I also read it (as a physical book) interleaved with the Ben McIntyre on Kindle which probably had more of my attention. I may well start from the beginning of the Brighton Mysteries one day, when I am not trying to do RWYO.

Going back up the thread a bit, @ShackletonSailingSouth ,@bibliomania and @úlldemoshúl you’ve inspired me to read Emily Wilson’s Odyssey which a good friend gave me a few years ago and has been on the shelf ever since - I’m not very good at reading poetry but it’s a beautiful book and I really should read it. I’ll try to do a bit each day, starting after the Monte Cristo readalong finishes.

re Rachel Kushner - I found The Mars Room more engaging than Creation Lake, though I'm still aiming to try to review the latter book.

I thought that the first part of The Other Bennett Girl was far too long and slow - eventually the pace picked up a bit, and I enjoyed it more, but if I ever gave up on books I don't think I would have got so far.

@SheilaFentiman The Midnight Hour is actually about #6 in the series, although at the beginning Emma was a supporting character. I really like these books and the shift in focus from Edgar and Max to Emma and the young working class woman Meg, but this isn't the best place to start.

21 The Whisper Man by Alex North

Twenty years ago a serial killer killed 5 children before he was caught. Now another child is abducted in a similar way. Is is a copycat, or is the wrong man in jail? This had some supernatural elements that were more interesting than the murder mystery, but unfortunately weren’t fully explored. Overall this was just a bit confusing, not very good, and the juxtaposition of the two father / son relationships was very clumsy.

28 The Midnight Hour - Elly Griffiths

Bought this by accident in a charity shop haul last year and didn’t realise at that time that it wasn’t a Ruth Galloway. Instead, I have rocked up on something like the third Brighton mystery. I therefore found the cast of characters rather confusing!

Bert Billington, a former theatre producer, dies suddenly after lunch - when rat poison is found in his system, his wife Verity falls under suspicion and engages Emma Holmes and Sam(antha) Collins to investigate from their private detective agency.

Rather awkwardly, the police are also investigating, as Emma is married to “the Super” Edgar Stephens.

Lots of theatrical bods about, and everyone is either currently or has in the past, worked together, shagged each other, sometimes both!

WDC Meg was a nice character and ended up teaming up with Emma a few times, but the resolution was a bit rushed and this won’t go down as one of my faves of hers.