50 Books Challenge 2025 Part One

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the first thread of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2025, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

If possible, please can you embolden your titles and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track, especially when the threads move quickly at this time of the year.

Who's in for this year?

Love the Laura Freeman book, inaptonym.. There's a certain self-lacerating intelligence to all three memoirs.

Up thread someone mentioned receiving the Folio edition of Rebecca; earlier tonight an email from Folio Society arrived, with the link for their sale:

https://www.foliosociety.com/sale

(I'm not buying any books in January at least but may interest others)
(But I am having to strongly resist that Emily Dickinson)

Just seen on another thread that David Lodge has died. Really enjoyed some of his books. Nice Work is a great one for evoking the 1980s.

I've just ditched Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis.

Described as "a motivational book that challenges women to let go of false beliefs that hold them back from finding success. It offers practical tips for achieving one's goals and encourages readers to take control of their lives and dreams."

She kept talking about God. I got to 57% and wasn't feeling it, so that's a DNF.

@Zireael , the Auschwitz Museum actually tweeted a few years ago that "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" should be avoided by anyone who studies or teaches about the history of the Holocaust. I'm not a fan of John Boyne. I'm sure he means well, but ugh.

@inaptonym thanks for the rec of The Reading Cure; it sounds very interesting.

I love David Lodge and am sad to learn of his passing. Changing Places and Small World are particularly brilliant. I was acquainted for a few years with the American academic who supposedly inspired the character of Morris Zapp (we were at the same uni for awhile), and honestly, Zapp is truer to life than one might imagine 😂

I think I read Changing Places as a student, and Morris Zapp seemed entirely plausible. I don't think the Director of my course (a fairly flexible Combined Studies degree - but the Director was also an English Literature lecturer) inspired David Lodge, but he would have fitted in well to a satirical campus novel (or sitcom). I can't remember the book but a friend found a very pretentious contribution at the back of something he was reading by this man.

Me! Currently reading Weyward by Emilia Hart. Enjoying it so far.

I finished off 2024 with All The Colours of the Dark after reading rave review after rave review. Biggest load of wank I’ve ever read and it’s ANOTHER book with a foul mouthed over sexualised little girl.

Pepe your train encounter made me laugh. Nothing worse than being trapped with a bore.

Stowick I enjoyed seeing the Booker retrospective display. Sadly too far for me to travel. I am slowly still plodding through all the old lists and think I need to prioritise that rather than the SHINY NEW temptations of the library. I read a lot of ok-ish books last year that had I waited, probably wouldn't have bothered with. The older end of the lists has some real gems in.

Cassandre my RAF time was when I was young and idealistic. They knocked a lot of sense into me. The flooding aftermath is slowly getting sorted. Devastating for those involved.

Meditations for Mortals - Oliver Burkeman The latest life advice from the same guy as Four Thousand Weeks. In this he talks about living a better life by setting goals and priorities in a realistic way that won't lead to failure.

I needed to hear a lot of this. Every year I go in all guns blazing on resolutions and burn out by Feb. I then set the same goals again the following year. Hoping this will help me break the cycle. It's sound advice without being prescriptive or patronising.

@FortunaMajor, I used my Christmas book token to purchase Meditations for Mortals. I saw Oliver Burkeman speak last year and really appreciated the ideas he was talking about so am hoping it will be useful and wise.

I am another David Lodge fan. I re-read Changing Places a couple of years ago and was struck by how well observed and warm it was. I have met some Morris Zapps in my time, too. And some Phillip Swallows.

I really rate The Antidote by Burkeman, but wasn't so impressed by Four Thousand Weeks. Sounds like Meditations for Mortals is worth a listen ( though on the whole my problems are less around setting priorities than acceptance & avoiding doom-loop thinking so perhaps not so relevant to me, maybe I just need to listen to The Antidote again)

Strong Female Character by Fern Brady

Well known on here I think, lots of reviews last year. I jumped on it for 99p in the sale recently.

I've not heard of Fern Brady as I don't watch a lot of comedy panel shows that she describes being on, but she must be 'semi famous' and is coming out as autistic after being diagnosed late in life. She has some huge struggles growing up compounded by some poor decision making. My heart broke for her time and again that she didn't have a friend or family member take her to a GP and get to the bottom of it earlier.

I'll join. I'm definitely in my reading era. Had a target of 12books last year and ended on 88. I'm aiming for 52 this year. Already feel a bit slower as I'm still on the book I started last year. Currently reading Circe by Madeline Miller. I'm really enjoying it so far. Different from other things I've read.
Have enjoyed reading all the posts and added loads to my want to read list!

I would love to join as I’m determined to get through more of my pile books. I have access to a great book swap shelf so am always seeing and grabbing ones I want to read. I usually have an audio book as a well as a physical book on the go so in theory should be able to hit 50. I often use this thread for book inspiration so about time I joined!

Jonas Jonasson; Rod Bradbury (trans) - The Hundred Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Well, that was fun, and just what I wanted, an undemanding story that almost reads itself. Some of the Forrest Gump moments are a bit too obvious, and to be honest it was only momentum that kept me going through the last thirty or so pages where everything is oh so neatly tied up.

This book felt like a tube book at the time it came out; I actually bought this in a charity shop only last year, and now what's where it will go back to. Onwards, to something non-fiction from the pile of library books that is taking up too much space on my desk...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the thread to move so fast. Great to see so many new people- more reviews to add more books to my TBR
I have been trying to read the books I’ve had longest unread on my kindle at the start of this year. And I’ve bought nothing in 12 days of kindle since Jan 1st so am going to count these as the start of my Read what you Own Challenge.

1 A Song for Lya by George RR Martin (bought in 2011!!!)
This is a sci-fi novella (134 pages) by the Game of Thrones writer which was more thought provoking than I expected. Two telepaths arrive to help out the governor of an Earth colony who is concerned that some humans are beginning to emulate the indigenous people who sacrifice themselves to a parasite once they reach a certain age. Thought-provoking little tale.

2 The Razor’s Edge by W Somerset Maugham (bought 2012)
The protagonist (who is represented as being the author himself so much breaking of the 4th wall here) through his friend art dealer and snob Elliot Templeton, meets a group of young people on and off throughout around 20 years. His tale focuses on Larry Darrell, one of the young people and a seeker of truth and knowledge, and his fiancée, society girl Isabel. I loved the first three quarters of this and thought I was heading for an early bold, but it does become a little bit God-bothery which is not my cuppa. Still a great read up until then.

Still doing my long reads of A Poem for Every… and War and Peace but those will last all year so now on to Into the Air by John Karakauer and The Women’s Room by Marilyn French (both bought 2012 on kindle) Once I’ve done those four I’ll go to some newer purchases and try to alternate throughout the year.

Strangely, I almost mentioned The Women's Room the other day in relation to talk of Catch-22. It took me back to late teens circa 1980 and taking books off the shelves at my parents house - Catch 22, The Women's Room, Fear of Flying, Kinflicks and Vida amongst others... I really should re-visit as I think I have most of them on our own bookshelves now, it would be interesting to see how well (or how badly) they've stood the test of time.

Pepe and Sadik a friend of mine raves about The Happiness Lab podcast by Dr Laurie Santos. I'm not really into podcasts, so I haven't listened to it yet, but figure it could be worth a punt.

4. Courage for the Clark's Factory Girls. May Ellis. Book 2 in the Clark's Factory Girls series, I read book 1 last year and then realised I had an ARC of book 3, but hadn't read book 2. Luckily it was on KU.

These are the kind of books where you know what you're going to get, which I know a lot of people hate. I find them comforting, like an old blanket.

This is set (probably unsurprisingly) in Street, Somerset in 1915-16 and centres around a group of girls who work in the Clark's shoe factory. The Clark family, and many of their staff, were Quakers and therefore conscientious objectors to the war, of course that doesn't mean no one signs up and I'm pretty sure book 3 will see conscription forcing more of them off to war. Of course we've got girls in love, with young men who don't all come come. An unplanned pregnancy for an unwed mother, and horrible men who think women exist only to serve them.

Like I said, it's the sort of book where you know what you're going to get. But the Street setting initially caught my eye. My family used to run a pub in a neighbouring village. And I'm enjoying learning about Quakers and how their beliefs will work alongside war.

@sadik, Meditations is largely Four Thousand Weeks repurposed as a "one thing to do each day" so worth bearing in mind. I liked it but found it hard to extract the things I should be doing so reckon the new approach will be good for me. And thanks for the podcast recommendation, @FortunaMajor - I shall check it out.

I loved The Women's Room when I first read it about 20 years ago but when I tried rereading a couple of years ago I just couldn't get into it and it was a DNF.

Sad to hear about David Lodge. There aren't enough authors who do gently comic but still literary novels.

@ShesNotACowShesAFox I wasn't particularly impressed by All The Colours of the Dark either - and it was way too long!

@FortunaMajor my in laws live in Hertfordshire/Worcestershire and their town keeps being decimated by flooding. All the small businesses on their lovely high street are in real danger of closing, it's very sad.

I'll give that a go, thank you - I listen to lots of podcasts so always glad to find a new one to try

I might see if it's on Spotify premium @PepeLePew - then I can give it a try without committing to an audible credit

A Study in Scarlett Arthur Conan Doyle

I’ve only ever read The Hound of the Baskervilles before and this year I thought I would try and make a start on all the stories. This is also my first successful audio book, read by Derek Jacobi, so I listened whilst cooking/washing up etc. I am sure we are all aware of Holmes. This is the first short novel, where Dr Watson meets Sherlock Holmes. They are called to house on the Brixton Road where a body has been found and despite there being no wound a word is spelt out in blood. Much running around, and false steps from the inept Scotland Yard.

I had a lot of fun with this and am looking forward to the next one.

Sad news about David Lodge. I might have to dig out my well-read copies of Changing Places and Small World for a re-read.