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 I loved The Cracked Mirror and wish I’d bought a physical copy so I could lend it to the bookworms in the family. I waited until it was 99p though, because his last one, with the women improbably linked and murders on a remote holiday cottage island, pissed me off at full price so much.

I'm a long term fan of his but I also thought the island one wasn't up to scratch. This one is more than a return to form I think!

@ShelfObsessed

I actually visited the whale museum when I was in Iceland, my son who is autistic found it a very sensory experience as they allowed you to touch the whales and the lights were very dim (he still says it was a highlight for him). Almost made me be OK with the £60! we paid to get in.

I'll likely order that book

I’m glad it wasn’t just me @noodlezoodle ! I could see what he was trying to do with the island one, he does pastiche that usually turns out better than the originals, but yes, it fell very flat.

Ok I'm new on this thread and going to start to list my reads so far this year:

1. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Gammut - I definitely enjoyed this book much more than I thought I was going to after the first few paragraphs. It is whimsical in my opinion with a serious theme about misogyny. Elizabeth Zott and daughter display similar traits to my neurodiverse daughter. I love the authors use of language with six thirty and the tie in at the end with Hasting Research Institute. I'm actually quite keen on trying to watch the Apple TV series as this is one book which will definitely translate.
2. The Secret Hours - Mick Herron (slough house tie in) - I'm not going to talk about the plot too much as there are spoilers for those reading the books in the Slough House series. This is by far my favourite Mick Herron book, it is a great read for fans of the series and connects events mentioned in all of the previous books. I again hope they adapt this one to TV for reasons that will come clear to fans who read it.
3. Standing by the Wall - Mick Herron (slough house novella) - This is a short story mainly focusing on Roddy Ho & Jackson lamb with a tie to both Bad Actors (slough house book 8) and The Secret Hours (see above). Molly Doran sends Jackson Lamb a Christmas present. It's a lovely short story with a Christmas theme. Definitely a good read for any fans of the series.

Next up - I'm currently reading Billy Summers which my daughter bought me for Christmas, the Count of Monte Christo with the read along and I'm going to listen to A Picture of Dorian Grey on audible as I've never read it.

I'm not sure that you'll like Cal Road @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie . It's trying quite hard to be a state of the nation novel I think, and he tries to shoehorn too many stories in. It's also very long.

Lessons in Chemistry series is good @lifeturnsonadime. A few changes from the book but I think they work.

@ShelfObsessed very impressed you're already on book 7 - that's one a day!

This book has been on my wish list for ages. The museum sounds lovely.

@Stowickthevast I fear you’re right.

Ooo I’m new to this thread but what a great idea! I’m in my fantasy era at the moment. The first book I read this year was Quicksilver, I loved it and didn’t want it to end. Currently reading The Serpent and the Wings of Night. Really enjoying this one too, there are three in the series so I’ll hopefully get through them in time for Onyx Storm being released on January 21st.

I’ve got Onyx Storm on pre-order @MessyNDepressy.
Ive also not read 84 CCR but I have added it to the ever growing list along with The Five

Those of you looking for snowy, adventure stories would presumably like The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birthday_Boys

very impressed you're already on book 7 - that's one a day!

Stowickthevast. I’m a very fast reader, have no kids and I’m currently off sick so it’s easier for me but I’m autistic and dyspraxic so often my attention span goes to the other extreme and doesn’t allow me to read anything for months so I’m taking advantage of my attention span while it sticks around and trying to read near constantly. Audiobooks definitely help as I can clean and cook while listening.

@bibliomania sadly, there won’t be time for Greenways this time, but it’s a curated event and ball (dinner I guess).

@BadSpellaSpellaSpella I’m glad that your son enjoyed the Whale Museum so much. That’s the one mentioned that I’d most like to visit.

I hope that my fellow 50 bookers who mentioned that they want to read it enjoy it. It’s definitely worth reading imo even with my petty grumbles.

I really liked The Birthday Boys - if you want the best ever snowy peril book though, then you need The Worst Journey in the World.

I'm a big Christopher Brookmyre fan, particularly his quirky thrillers full of dry black humour and entertaining dialogue. I agree that the island one was disappointing and I feared that he was churning books out too quickly with a corresponding decline in quality. So it's great to hear that he's back on track with The Cracked Mirror. I'm looking forward to the paperback version in May.

The Antarctica book I was thinking of is Sun at Midnight by Rosie Thomas. I don't read her sort of books as a rule, however I thought Other People's Marriages was a very astute and entertaining study of the relationships within a group of friends, so I keep giving her another chance.

Sun at Midnight is a romance set in Antarctica. It's a strange mix of genres which doesn't come off. The author actually did spend a month on a small research station there, and as a result her descriptions of the environment are impressively convincing, but the pretty standard love story with jealousy and unlikely behaviour plus an unbelievable cliffhanger .. not so good.

@Tarahumara I've read the Guardian review of Lean Fall Stand and it sounds interesting. Another one for the list!

4. Exhalation by Ted Chiang

A collection of thought provoking, sci fi short stories. I’m not generally a fan of short stories, but I really enjoyed this book. In fact it would be a definite bold if not for the ‘The Lifecycle of Software Objects’, about intelligent digital pets, which I hated, and which took up a big chunk of the book.

Quick question - what's a definite bold? Obviously most of the titles are in bold? Just checking as i've seen it referenced a few times.

@lifeturnsonadime a bold is a top read. In our full lists we use bold for favourite books and italics for any duds.

Thanks is that indicated by the title being in bold or italics but normal font if neither?

In normal chat/reviews people bold authors and/or titles so they stand out. Then when posting a list e.g. usually at the beginning of a new thread, people will only bold/italic particularly good/bad reads and leave the rest neutral.

Got it, sorry for being slow!

That’s right. When just reviewing one or two books we put the title in bold but in a list it’s:
1 Okay read by Three Stars
2 A Thing of Brilliance by Life Changing
3 What Rubbish by I’m Crap

Not at all @lifeturnsonadime I only got to grips with it last year :)

Although I reviewed it earlier in the thread, for fans of freezing wastes, I am going to plug The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah - set in Alaska, it has a fair amount of frozen landscape 😀