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?

@noodlezoodle spoiler, reading does not make the butler any less uncertain 😁('swhy I loooooove it)

@Terpsichore 😅I thought this would be disqualified for mostly taking place in the 19th C! Though will pop over there with nominations for other possibilities.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie genuinely honoured! (And cringing at all my typos, as usual)

@CoubousAndTourmalet I love fantasy too, though having spent most of my adult life waiting in vain for the next (ASOIAF, Kingkiller, Exiles, Gentlemen Bastards etc.) entry I now stick to standalones, complete series, or authors with a proven track record. Currently only 1.5 books from finishing The First Law which will leave a gaping hole in my reading life.

@inaptonym

I don't think we will see the last two ASOIAF or the last Kingkiller (zero kings killed by the end of book 2, much being the best lute player in all the land) AND even if we do, the gap has been so great I won't remember enough to just pick up where I left off. 😩

Last year was my first 50 bookers thread, and I was slightly intimidated at first. I've also noticed that I read wildly different books to everyone else. That could be because most of my reading is from signing up for book reviews, and the authors who are looking for reviewers aren't usually the well known ones.

But I've felt welcomed by everyone, even if i am slightly worried about recommending something that others then hate!

Last year was my proper year too. Definitely my favourite part of the internet. Though my wallet took a big hit with all the recommendations on here!

Totally agree thaf all categories are welcome. I think a good half of my books are detective/crime fiction and I’m happy with that. 😀

Totally agree with what others have said. The vibe is very much read books (we don't care whether it's a book, ebook or audiobook), come and tell us about them (we don't mind what genre of book you read), and what you thought about them (we don't care how many you read).

I also vary widely in the books I read, sometimes it will be something more literary, other times I just want to read a psychological thriller, or a rom-com, and even the occasional inadvertent smut, with a palate cleaner of Jacobean revenge plays, but the response and discussions are always interesting, even when there are differences of opinion (#TeamButler 😊). Some of my favourite discussions were on Anne of Green Gables and What Katy Did which are children's books, so definitely no book snobs here. I genuinely love the fact that people read such different types of books as there have been so many I would have never thought to try on my own, but I like the sound of them, or think I'll give them a go if a few people on here have liked them.

I'm excited that we have so many new joiners this year, so pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, read your book, and join the nicest corner of the internet in chatting about books of all kinds.

I’m a pretty slow reader - don’t really get the ‘I devoured it in a single sitting’ thing - but get through them piecemeal - reading in my lunch break, reading while DP works in the evenings, dropping my kindle on my face as I fall asleep… Also listen to an hour or two of audiobook most days while walking to work / walking the dog / doing housework.

I have many autistic traits (although not diagnosed) and if I don’t have my reading time, especially on my lunch break, my brain gets scrambled.

Always have at least a paper book, audio and kindle book on the go at any time. Current front runner is To Kill a Mockingbird for book club - amazingly, I never read it at school.

I'm like @LadybirdDaphne in that I normally have a "real book", Kindle book and audio on the go. It sounds obvious but really the way to read more is just read more. I quite often make myself read a chapter before picking up my phone. Or give myself limited phone time followed by reading time as I find it so easy to get sucked into the world of mindless scrolling. Also trying to vaguely model good screen behaviour to the teens.
I also don't watch much tv and try and go to bed at more or less the same time as DC - 9.30-10 - to give myself enough time to read.
I used to read loads of fantasy, SF and detective books. I now mainly read literary books but do intersperse with the odd lighter weight one. No judgement here!

My 2nd read of this year is Unruly by David Mitchell.

It's a history of England's kings and queens. Being Scottish, I am totally confused by anyone before James 1st (6th of Scotland) so i am looking forward to distinguishing between all the Edwards, Henrys etc. * *

I really enjoyed Unruly. And I am English and have a history degree, but still struggle to distinguish between all the pre-Tudor monarchs 🤦‍♀️

3. The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B Tyson

The notorious murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old black child, by 2 white men in 1950s Mississippi, is the central event in this book.

Emmett was visiting from Chicago, staying with relatives, when he visited a local store. Accounts of exactly what happened between Emmett and the white female owner, Carolyn Bryant, differ wildly, but in a state when a black person simply looking a white person in the eye was a transgression whatever did happen was enough to seal Emmett’s fate. Although the author does try to get to the bottom of events, I think that Emmett’s mother Mamie put it best “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him.”

The author takes care to set the murder in the context of the Jim Crow laws, the lack of legal protection of any kind for black people, the murders and lynchings, and the relations between black and white. Although the author managed to obtain the first interview with Carolyn Bryant, he never loses sight of what this book is about - Emmett Till, showing us the boy and not the legend, and the impact of his murder on his family, friends, black people, the civil rights movement, America, and the world.

This is not an easy read, the injuries suffered by Emmett - a child - were horrific. Oh, but the bravery of those involved, particularly the black people who testified in court, despite knowing this was a likely death sentence, and most of all Emmett’s mother Mamie, whose brave decision to have an open casket for her son’s funeral had such a lasting impact “Let the people see what they did to my boy.”

This was a definite bold, and is free on Kindle Unlimited for those that have it.

Thanks @MamaNewtNewt that’s going on the TBR list

I think I joined this thread in 2018, deliberately to get myself reading again. I was an absolutely voracious reader as a child and in my twenties but when I had kids I did nothing but doomscroll for a few years. I will always be grateful to the 50 bookers for reigniting my love of reading actual books.

I usually read somewhere between 60 and 75 a year. I'm a fast reader and devour crime novels but I do try to intersperse with other things! I have a short commute where I normally get a couple of chapters in, and I read before falling asleep.

Welcome to all the newbies and as already mentioned, there is no judgement here on numbers/genres/book formats

I do have young children but I'm a sahm so manage to find a lot of reading time (helped by my willingness to choose to read over doing housework always). My youngest is still cuddled to sleep at naptime and bedtime so I read the Kindle app on my phone while I'm cuddling him and I normally read for about an hour in bed before I go to sleep too. For Christmas I got a kindle holder and page turner which have been game changing. Now I don't drop my Kindle on my face when I fall asleep, I just lose the page turner remote in my covers

@inaptonym Miss Granby's Secret sounds interesting and it's only 49p on Kindle so have just bought it

@MamaNewtNewt I've also added The Blood of Emmett Till to my tbr, it possibly sounds a bit too upsetting for me but it also sounds like the type of book it's important to read

A lot of my reading is done first thing in the morning before I get up. It is such a luxury to lie in bed for an hour and read (no young DC and I retired last year). If only I could persuade DH to bring me tea in bed it would be perfect.

Just finished The Honjin Murders - Seishi Yokomizo.

The plot: Set in the late 30s and narrated by a writer of detective stories, we follow the seemingly impossible double murder of a couple on their wedding night. There is one clear suspect: a mysterious masked man who has been seen asking questions about the Ichiyanagi family in the village. There is no trace of the murder bar a sword dug into the snow outside the house. A scruffy detective Kosuke Kindaicha (part Columbo, part Sherlock Holmes) is summoned to the village by the uncle of the murdered bride to untangle the seemingly impossible to solve double murder.

Nice winter read, with the bonus, since I enjoyed it, of being the first in a series.

Have moved onto Close to Home - Michael Magee

I hope everyone new to the thread is enjoying being a part of this...community, is that the right word? My days of reading 50+ books a year are long over because of postgraduate studies which I've been embroiled in since 2018. I am also long past caring what anyone thinks of my book choices and opinions. Reading for pleasure is still important to me, it's essentially a self-care activity. I'm currently reading Adrian Edmondson's memoir, enjoyed by many on here last year and it's pretty good so far.

Another audio book, listened to on some lovely long dog walks whilst away from work.

2 Paper Cup by Karen Campbell tells the story of homeless Kelly, who lives her life on the streets of Glasgow. We get hints of Kelly’s past life, but her existence is very much day to day survival, meeting her basic needs and keeping safe. Until a chance encounter with a stranger means she is drawn back to her home town and her past life. The book focuses on this journey from Glasgow to her childhood town in southwest Scotland and is filled with stories of the people she meets mixed with memories and revelations about her past life. It’s ultimately a story full of hope and determination and humour in many places and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

@StripyRedSocks I enjoyed the Honjin Murders last year. I read the second in the series ( I think it was the second anyway -Death on Gokumon Island) which I enjoyed in some respects but decided the author was pretty misogynistic which put me off reading any more of them!

Honestly, after announcing less than a week ago that I wasn't going to buy books, and read what I already had, I have bought well over a dozen books. All kindle, and mostly 99p, but still!

2. Intermezzo - Sally Rooney. Widely reviewed everywhere, Rooney's latest follows two brothers in Dublin in the aftermath of their father's death. 32 year old Peter is a successful barrister who is in relationships with two different women - his ex Sylvia who broke up with him after an awful accident to spare him from becoming her career - and Naomi, a 23 year old student, who he has sex with and gives money to. Ivan, the other brother, is 23 and a chess player, who embarks in a relationship with an older woman, Margaret. Each chapter is narrated by one of the brothers in different styles, Peter is more fragmented but also thinks more about culture and academia whereas Ivan is more self involved. We also hear Margaret's POV. I think if you like Rooney, you'll like this and if you don't there nothing to make you change your mind. There's the slightly uneven relationships, slight abuse of control and like of harm, and musings on literature, philosophy and God. The sentence structure of Peter annoyed me a bit - it's very Yodaesque. " milky white his skin", "through Bowers they walked" etc. I also didn't like Peter's ending particularly. But a solid 4 for me. Better than her previous 2 but I still preferred Normal People.

Edited to change the number, I now get what @SheilaFentiman and @EineReiseDurchDieZeit were discussing.

5 Mistborn #1 : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson introduces readers to an intricate and compelling world where ash falls from the sky, mist swirls through the night, and a ruthless ruler, the Lord Ruler , has maintained control over the Final Empire for over a thousand years. This dark, dystopian world is shaped by Allomancy, a unique magic system that grants individuals powers based on the metals they ingest. The oppressed Skaa live in constant fear and subjugation, while the ruling Nobles possess Allomantic abilities and thrive in a society built on fear, inequality, and rigid class structures.

At the heart of the story is Vin, a young, mistrustful girl who discovers that she, too, is a Mistborn, someone capable of using Allomancy to burn metals for extraordinary powers. Vin is swept into a ragtag group of rebels led by the charismatic and mysterious Kelsier, the "Survivor of Hathsin," who plans to overthrow the Lord Ruler’s empire. The novel takes readers on an action-packed journey of intrigue, betrayal, and self-discovery, all set against the backdrop of a society on the brink of revolution.

I've read this in a staggered way over the course of the week. This was a gift from a family member who loves Brandon Sanderson. It was not really my thing. The world building itself is highly convoluted to follow as was the long cast list and I was just getting glazed over and skimming. Despite this, because of it being a gift I do feel obligated to read the next two, to give it a fair shake, maybe it improves on closer acquaintance?

I was just reading the messages a few up from this one and I was thinking what a lovely thing that @Southeastdweller has done all these years (I know that you said you'd taken over from another person but, all the same, it's you that keeps it going). Then this message from you pops up. To answer; yes, I am enjoying it very much, thank you for encouraging so many people to read, and I hope that you are enjoying your post grad studies!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit you’ve had a similar response to Mistborn as I had. Too much complicated magic system, not enough character- and I enjoy fantasy usually. I also found it a bit YA and its sequels even more so- especially the second. It’s a pity because the start with Kelsier and the ashfall was such an interesting world to me. I did like the first two books in Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive but the next two fell prey to the same problems in my opinion.