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?

I have never actually heard of David Lodge, but I love a book set in the academic world so have popped Changing Places into my basket.

Thanks for your insightful and interesting comments cassandre and inaptonym. You are absolutely right cassandre - it is presented as what it is, an artistic expression of personal experience, not a therapeutic resource or a self-help book. I read the book on that basis and very much admired and enjoyed it, but didn’t want to recommend it unreservedly. If I were or become a parent of a child affected by the condition, not reading in a state of equilibrium, and having sought the book out for insight into the condition, I fear the impact it might have.

5.Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop. Kenji Ueda. Trans. Emily Balistrieri

This was originally written in Japanese, and is another book that I started last year. I thought I'd finished it, so was a little surprised to see that I was actually just under half way through. It's a series of (very loosely linked) short stories, so the 2 month gap didn't matter. I'm fairly new to translated Japanese works, but I've quite quickly become a fan of them. I don't know if it's just the ones I've read, but they have such a gentle, almost magical quality to them. Even when nothing in particular happens they are so lovely to read. I feel very relaxed having read it.

This series of short stories all feature the stationery shop in Ginza, an area of Tokyo, and it's mysterious owner Ken-chan. I think, if I could meet one fictional character, I'd possibly choose him. He somehow knows exactly what his customers need, not just in the stationery sense, but what their heart and soul need too. And he gives the impression that stationery has a soul too and that we have to treat it with respect.

The actual stories themselves had varied themes, from love to loss, via business and gratitude. I think my favourite story was Fountain Pen, mainly because of the beautiful relationship between Nitta and his Grandmother. I used to love writing to my own Grandma, and receiving her replies, usually on flower fairy paper. I've still got them all in a box and give them a re-read every so often.

The only thing I think this book lacked was a list of Japanese terminology, as at times I didn't know what things meant and had to Google them. Having said that, it's also sparked a bit of an interest in Japanese writing. Lucky for me, DS2 knows a bit about it so could explain what it meant when it mentioned names containing the kanji for "seas" despite the name itself not having that word.

First book of the year and it's a DNF! A Venetian Reckoning, the fourth book in Donna Leon's Brunetti series. I was really liking the series up until now but I've abandoned this one 50 pages from the end as there's a really horrifically graphic description of sexual violence towards a woman I just wasn't expecting. It's really put me off reading more of the series- I hadn't realised it but up until now the series really has followed the rules of cosy crime (the murder happens off the page/ generally it happens to someone who deserves it/ no graphic violence). So it turns out cosy crime is my limit these days and think I'll be leaving the rest of this series alone!

On the positive side, listening to Bournville by Jonathan Coe on audiobook and that's brilliant so far.

Also, I love this thread- whenever I lose enthusiasm for reading, this is always where I come back to :)

Second book of the year is Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason. This is the third in his D I Wilkins series and I enjoyed it as much as the first two. A whodunnit set in Oxford, featuring two very different inspectors both named R Wilkins. All the books have a well plotted murder mystery, together with the ups and downs of the relationship between the two DIs. Ryan is great character - sort of an English and more likeable Harry Bosch.

The first thread always goes fast!

So Late In The Day by Claire Keegan

Her writing is so evocative and I always want more but I hesitate to count this as a book. I will, mostly because I know I have a few more Stephen Kings to slog through which will offset this short book!

The thread will have filled up and I'll still be reading Mansfield Park.

@changedmyname24 – welcome! Looking forward to a librarian’s perspective 😊

@rzb – welcome! My first time on this thread, I read a lot of Chalet School books. I now love ‘reading’ Audible, having previously been a bit sniffy about them. The rules are, they are your rules, you decide.

@inaptonym – interesting about Berlin. We visited there in Sept 22 and I have no recollection of the Stepping Stones. Obviously, there were larger memorials etc for us to visit.

@cassandre – what is the controversy about the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas? Is it because we see it through the eyes of a Nazi official’s son? Are we meant to feel more sorry for him than the millions of Jews, plus LGBT, Gypsy Roma, Communists and anyone else murdered? I haven’t read it and don’t intend to.

@ShesNotACowShesAFox – I recently finished Weyward via Audible. Loved it and couldn’t get through it quickly enough.

@RazorstormUnicorn – my daughter is a huge Fern Brady fan. She’s been on my radar for a few years and is fairly well known in Scotland, I would say. DD loved her book and I will get round to it.

@awaysolong – welcome!

@ÚlldemoShúl – well done!! We can do this!

@BlueFairyBugsBooks – that’s sounds interesting. I didn’t know about the Clark family being Quakers.

@AgualusasLover – oooh, I love an audible with a good narrator. I have a couple of credits, so I may investigate Derek Jacobi

I have been very good today. I was out and about shopping and wondered into Waterstones. Dear 50 Bookers, I resisted temptation and didn’t buy anything. I was tempted, but I know its ridiculous to buy anything else until I make a dent in my TBR. DP is currently dismantling the tree, so I will be able to get into my bookshelves and do a count. The good news is that I am down to 36 books on my Kindle as one of the books wasn’t shown as read for some reason.

I go on holiday on Tuesday, so will make a good dent in this while I am away. I’m contemplating taking a library book with my as well, as its Spook Street and I have another 4 (I think?) that follow on, so I think it makes sense to do that. I’ve got another library book, My Friends by Hisham Matar and that’s due back on Monday. I’m 39% completed, so should get that finished today/tomorrow. I can always renew online if need be. We are expecting very bad weather tomorrow and have taken down most of the decorations today which was my plan, so I should have some lovely reading time.

Ah The Women’s Room! I also picked it off the bookshelf at home, I was 16 or 17 at the time (42 now) and was blown away by it. I considered it a life changing book. I reread it a few years ago and it just didn’t hit the same and I found it a bit of a slog.

First book of the year finished, which is a carry over from ‘24. Wolf Hall on audio, read by Ben Miles. It is a reread, but in audio format this time. I don’t usually get along with fiction audio books, but this worked really well for me. I’ve brought Bring Up the Bodies to carry on with.

@Tarragon123, i know you didn't ask me, but the issue with The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is basically that it couldn't have happened. There is no way an 8 year old son of a high ranking Nazi official didn't know who Hitler was. He calls him "the Fury" IIRC because that's what he mishears Fuhrer as. And calls Auschwitz "Outwith", again due to mishearing. Now, whilst we know that children do replace misheard words with similar sounding ones that they do know, a German Child wouldn't mishear German words as English ones. It's probably my most hated book ever, and so many people think it's true.

Crikey, this thread's moving quickly.

A final reminder for last year's 50 Bookers, if you haven't already done so and would like to, to post on the Round Up thread next door as I'm pulling the numbers together this weekend... the excitement is building...

So many people underwhelmed at The Women’s Room on reread. It’s making me nervous!
I too read it as a teen- I found it and Valley of the Dolls (which I also intend to reread) on my grandmother’s bookshelf (This was the 80s- she died in the 1970s so I was impressed at how forward thinking my Irish Catholic granny was for her time!). It had a big impact on me then which is why I bought it on kindle. I will give the reread a go (haven’t started yet) and hope it doesn’t end up a DNF or a slog!

@ÚlldemoShúl

How odd for us both to have something random like Valley Of The Dolls on TBR at the same time

Yes @EineReiseDurchDieZeit though to be fair it’s on my bought in 2012 kindle list so it’s been on there a long time! Just remembered that the third one of my granny’s is The Group by Mary McCarthy

1. Cleopatra and Frankenstein Coco Mellors.

really, really dreadful start to the year. I hated this. I’m so bored of much older man, young mucked up woman narratives. Everyone was unlikeable. The writing was average and unnecessarily explicit. Bleurgh. I finished it as it’s a book club pick and I’ll be interested to chat about it.

1. Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
A re-read, I'm sure many of you have read it. Absolutely love it. So funny and touching.

I have just finished my second book of the year The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

Ludicrous but easy psychological thriller.
Sister 1 and husband (have forgotten names already) are off to Venice as a first weekend away since they had twins. They are staying at mega rich sister 2's apartment. Sister 2 and husband are babysitting. Sister 3 was kidnapped as a baby and still missing. Sister 1 spends her time in Venice dressing up in Sister 2 clothes and is being followed by a mysterious man. Husband 2 is murdered in sister 1's house and missing sister 3's dna is found at the scene.
This was OK. No one was particularly believable and the plot was a bit of a stretch as well, but it a decent romp of murder, twists and turns, red herrings and double identities.

This was chosen by my book club so I was a bit of a captive audience, and I will admit I was a bit sceptical about it as I have an inherent prejudice against three word title unputdownable thrillers with twists no one ever sees coming - titles like He Came Back and I See You. Dark covers with a dark house or a silhouette figure walking away. I thought this was of that category and I was right.

It was certainly an easy read written for that mass market. Not that I am sniffy about bestsellers, but I just know the type and know they are not for me.

I gave up on this - dreadful.

I have finished my first 2025 book - a reread (unusual for me) of We Need To talk About Kevin. I am pretty sure I devoured this in Menorca in 2005 first time round. I reread it because I teach the film and the students keep asking me about the book. It was interesting from this point of view. I had completely forgotten it is epistolary and how very different Franklin is in the book and film. The book goes much more into detail of course and the horror of the event is actually pretty salacious where in the film it is only imagined (with some pretty horrific use of sound and the colour red). It is interesting how much is preserved in the film - and what is stripped out (most of Franklin really and the conversations they do have). Eva is really unlikeable for most of the book. Shriver's overwrought sentences and sneering misanthropic tone (which I used to think were Eva , but now wonder how much is Shriver actually empathising with Eva) make it a hard read at first but it does get better and better as it moves inexorably towards the horror of the end.

I prefer the film - economical, artistic, more subtle, less navel gazy, and also less about the violence.

It's a shame Shriver is now such an awful woman and the film has Ezra Miller in it - who is an Official Dickhead. But actually in some ways those problematic facts rather suit the novel and film.

Oh I love this book so much. Have you read Early Morning Riser?

Yes! Also great! Have you read her short stories? I'm not a big story reader so haven't as yet.

@Palegreenstars I thought the cover and title of Cleopatra and Frankenstein was really as interesting as it got. Though I will say, I absolutely could see myself on a night out doing shots at the bar with Frank. I’m not proud of it, but there it is.

My first of the year was Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans. I loved it so much - beautiful writing and pitch perfect characterisation. I thought it was such a fresh take on the Blitz as well; flawed protagonists consumed with the small everyday concerns that ultimately make us human.

Now beginning Dominion by CJ Sansom, an alternative history novel set in a 1950s where Churchill never became PM & Britain signed a treaty with Nazi Germany.

@Piggywaspushed that's a blast from the past book! I have it on my shelves, I think I read it when the film came out and skipped the film. It is a shame about the author.

I'm on a short book 3 - The Party by Tessa Hadley

I'm also participating in a slow read of the Wolf Hall series this year so have the first couple of chapters of Wolf Hall to read this weekend. I've never read any Hilary Mantel and am notoriously intimidated by chunky books, so I thought this might be a good place to start. I'm fairly sure I watched the TV adaptation years ago.

@AgualusasLover it was not without accuracies 🤣.