50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Two

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the second 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.

The first thread of the year is

I've finished book #5 Interesting stories for curious people by Bill O'Neill. The stories were reasonably interesting as the title says but overall I thought it was poorly written so I wouldn't recommend it. It read more like a blog that he had turned into a book.

I'm now starting book #6 and am continuing with the ACOTAR series with A Court of Frost and Starlight. I know they are divisive but I've been really enjoying dipping my toes into the fantasy/dark romance genre after years of mainly reading crime novels. This one is a lot shorter than books 2 and 3, which were 600-700 pages so I should be through it pretty quickly if I get into it as much as I have the others.

@CoubousAndTourmalet – I keep a note of my type of book, be it physical, library, kindle or audible. As @EineReiseDurchDieZeit says, it can be a very different experience, however, its entirely up to you.

@highlandcoo – it sounds right up my street! I’m very interested in the Reformation religion and politics.

14 Occupational Hazards – Rory Stewart (Audible). I got this by mistake when 50 Bookers were talking about another RS book! That said, I was happy to read this. Its narrated by RS and covers his time as Deputy Governor in Iraq. Quite incredible the things that he dealt with and at a young age (30).

16. Rogues : True Stories Of Grifters, Killers, Rebels And Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe

I'm counting this, though I probably shouldn't, as I did a LOT of skimming, although it wasn't for me, I did put the time in with it.

I have read a lot of his longform work Say Nothing is superb and Empire Of Pain and The Snakehead were also good.

I found this, a collection of past articles SO DRY, there is a quite interesting one about Mark Burnett who brought Donald Trump to television with The Apprentice, but in general this just didn't hit the spot for me. I will however still keep an eye out for new work by the author.

Oh goodness!

www.thebookseller.com/news/amazon-uk-to-stop-selling-bloomsburys-books

6. Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen

Fun read about a female serial killer. Amusing with a thriller in it. It felt rushed in parts and I'm sure there were plot holes. But it was a quick read and light hearted. Promoted as similar to How To Kill Your Family but not as good.

@SheilaFentiman

I'm wondering if this will mean that anything on my Kindle that has Bloomsbury as the publisher will still work?

I think it should, because you bought it under the contract they had at the time.

@SheilaFentiman it won’t let me open the link. Do they give a reason for it?

….saying negotiations between the giant retailer and the publisher had broken down.
A statement put out by the retailer explained that it had been unable to negotiate new terms with the publisher, despite extending the contract. Bloomsbury has yet to comment but the action could seriously wound the publicly-quoted publisher, and re-open old sores between Amazon and trade publishers over trade terms.

The Amazon statement reads: "Our contract to sell Bloomsbury titles was scheduled to expire last year. We extended the contract under its current terms several times in an effort to reach an agreement, but despite our best efforts over the last seven months, Bloomsbury has refused to engage in a good faith negotiation to discuss a new contract to sell their titles in our store. Unfortunately, the latest extension expires at midnight on the 23rd January and after that time, Amazon will no longer be able to sell Bloomsbury print books in the UK, Europe, and Australia, or Bloomsbury Kindle books worldwide."
It is also a high risk strategy for Amazon, which will disenfranchise a number of Bloomsbury’s bestselling and high profile writers including Sarah J Maas, Gillian Anderson, and JK Rowling. The move extends to the publisher’s print books and Kindle titles, though Amazon stressed that customers could still buy print titles for third-party sellers off its site. Print books sold off its US site are not impacted.

The news comes as the UK Government has increased powers to sanction tech companies by nominating them as having Strategic Market Status, as well as coming just hours after the CMA said it would investigate Google and Apple over their mobile ecosystems.

Amazon’s statement continued: "Our expired terms with Bloomsbury were far out of sync with other publishers who sell books through our store. Unlike other UK publishers, with whom we’ve successfully negotiated in recent years, Bloomsbury has refused to recognize our continued investments in bringing books in all formats to readers."

Thanks @SheilaFentiman It all sounds pretty serious. I wonder will others follow suit.

Thank you for the thread @Southeastdweller . Blimey, 11 pages in! My phone died about 3 days ago and I'm camping out on various laptops. What is rather striking is how much reading I'm getting done without it...

3. My Friends by Hisham Matar
Much loved on these threads last year, and rightly so. Khaled grows up in Libya but lives as an adult in London. In exile he is close to his friends Mustafa and Hosham, a writer whose voice is stilled by his experiences. The story of Libya's dictatorship, revolution and continued suffering is both the backdrop and bound indissolubly to their story. The fourth character perhaps is London, their beloved refuge but also a place where they are drawn to expose themselves to danger again. I found the sensual engagement with the beauties of both their home town of Benghazi and their exile in London very moving.

Very interesting about the Bloomsbury and Amazon thing, I wonder if JK Rowling will comment about it on X?

8 Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson
Set in the late 90s, a young Scottish doctor with a troubled personal history takes a new job in a failing London hospital. He's aiming for a new start, but then rather too many patients start to die.

I've seen this referred to as 'if Adam Kay wrote a murder mystery', which is a fair description (except the narrator is much less scathing about his patients). It's also got a bit of a feel of early Christopher Brookmyre in the combination of dark humour & a political edge. The thriller element was a little weak, but overall I really enjoyed it & I'll definitely check out the author's other books.

9 The Movement by Ayisha Malik
Author Sara Javid has finally achieved the success she's been aiming for, shortlisted for a major literary prize, when she is overwhelmed by the noise and futility of media & the world more generally. She decides to take her own advice to 'shut the fuck up' and stops speaking. While she has no intention of starting a movement, more and more people begin to follow her lead, causing political and social upheaval.

I liked this a lot, it avoids simple conclusions, and I enjoyed following the stories of various women caught up in the fallout from the Silent Movement.

10 Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Annie is a Stella, a robot 'cuddle bunny' engineered to be the perfect AI girlfriend. She cooks, cleans, and is always ready for sex. Newly divorced Doug sees her as the perfect solution - for a start, unlike his ex-wife, she won't have her own opinions or argue back.
However, Annie also designed so that her personality will learn and develop through interactions with her owner, making her seem increasingly human. She's been programmed to always want to please him, with his displeasure causing her distress. Unfortunately, pleasing Doug isn't always easy, with her increasing attempts to understand what will trigger his anger causing her to annoy him even more.

This is written from Annie's perspective, and again I liked it a lot. It's definitely a book about relationships rather than a hard SF novel about robots, but it also provokes lots of interesting questions about how we interact with AI (as well as making some good old fashioned points about abusive relationships).

Thanks for sharing @SheilaFentiman.

I assume this extends to audible books too? Also concerned that my past purchases will be unavailable. That's the problem with buying digital copies.

12 This Is Why We Lied - Karin Slaughter

A bold! And I finally got through all the currently published Will Trent books.

Sarah and Will are on a backwoods retreat with no wifi or access by car. Unfortunately, the first thing that happens is that they meet a man - Dave- from Will’s past and the second is Will arrives at a crime scene just in time for a murdered woman - Mercy- to die, imparting one last message to her son, whose father is Dave.

The family of the dead woman are really very creepy and Will and Sarah are essentially trying to solve a locked room mystery, with Faith riding to the rescue half way through (literally- she hitches a lift on a horse). This is a nice balance of gripping mystery and more domestic moments.

@PermanentTemporary My Friends is on my TBR - really looking forward to it

Mansfield Park Jane Austen
A reread since it’s Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. This has never been a favourite and remains that way. Fuzzy reviewed it upthread/last thread and I don’t really differ in my opinion and the story is well known. This story of good Fanny, wet Edmund’s and the wonderfully bright Crawfords dragged in places - notably the nonsense around the play. I wasn’t looking forward to Fanny visiting her family in Portsmouth, but whereas before I just thought Fanny boring before, this time I thought her a right snob. What the appeal to dopey Edmund is I will never know. The last chapter that ties up all the relationships or lack thereof is unsatisfying, especially for Austen where we don’t witness the blossoming love really and there is no ‘moment’ for the happy but rather bland couple.

I don’t think I reread this again, I think this was my final encounter with Mansfield, though Henry Crawford can have my number if he is bored.

Dead Lions by Mick Heron
Okay - I’m in, although still not sure if just for three books or the long haul. This got going much faster than the first and I mostly liked it a lot. All a bit daft, with some crazy shit going down and spies coming in from the cold all over the shop and rather more farts than I felt strictly necessary and too many characters and some jokes that made me cringe and a bit chaotic and convoluted, but on the whole good fun and a few quite moving bits of characterisation amidst the mayhem.

17. The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

This is a multigenerational family saga which focuses on Ailey Pearl Garfield as the main character but also goes right back to her ancestors, basically as far back as you can go. It follows Ailey from childhood to adult life and the story of her ancestors until it comes full circle. It's largely about what it means to be a black woman, a mother, a sister.

When it works, it's fantastic but it's 800 pages long. Two BookTubers, Greg from Supposedly Fun and Andy from RoRo Reads said that this didn't matter but it does.

The modern day story wasn't affected but I felt that the ancestral side kept covering the same ground and in the end there were so many different people I couldn't always remember who was related to who and in what way and I got brassed off with it.

There's also more than one child sexual abuse storyline so if that's a trigger for you I would avoid.

It's a very good book. It could have been at the very least 30% shorter.

Wow, big news about Amazon and Bloomsbury.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I've just been able to download my previously purchased Harry Potter books onto my Kindle app which I'm pretty sure are Bloomsbury books so hopefully it won't impact previously purchased titles

That's great @satelliteheart I haven't been able to check mine yet

This seems to suggest they’ve reached an agreement and are still selling Bloomsbury books

www.aboutamazon.co.uk/news/books-and-authors/amazon-books-bloomsbury-print-kindle-availability

Thank you to southeast for the new thread!

My list so far this year:

1. Sofi Laporte - Lucy and the Duke of Secrets
2. Emma Orchard - What the Lady Wants
3. Darcy McGuire - The Secret Life of a Lady
4. Darcy McGuire - A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
5. Lynn Morrison & Anne Radcliffe - The Missing Diamond
6. Lynn Morrison & Anne Radcliffe - The Ruby Dagger
7. Lynn Morrison & Anne Radcliffe - The Sapphire Intrigue
8. Lynn Morrison & Anne Radcliffe - The Emerald Threads
9. Darcy Burke - A Whisper of Death

10. Darcy Burke - A Whisper at Midnight 11. Emma Orchard - For the Viscount's Eyes Only 12. Jodi Taylor - Lights! Camera! Mayhem! 13. Agatha Christie - Five Little Pigs (audiobook) 14. Andreina Cordani - Murder at the Christmas Emporium 15. Rhys Bowen - We Three Queens 16. Lesley Cookman - Murder in the Green 17. Lesley Cookman - Murder to Music 18. Enid Blyton - Five Go Down to the Sea

TBH most of mine are Kindle Unlimited reads that could fairly be filed under 'easy reading' - I accidentally let the KU membership roll over till the end of January and am just trying to find things to read really - @bettbburg I wish they would send me a special offer, but sadly not!

My bolds so far are Lights! Camera! Mayhem! - the St Mary's Christmas short story from Jodi Taylor, Five Little Pigs as part of the Agatha Christie readalong (which I think @TimeforaGandT, @satelliteheart and @Tarragon123 are also participating in?) and Murder at the Christmas Emporium. The last of those is a clever Christmas locked room mystery, set in an old fashioned department store in London; Merry takes her manager's invitation to a Christmas Eve event at the store and gatecrashes the event, but soon regrets it when people start to die. Twisty turny fun

Like many others (@TimeforaGandT, @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and @BestIsWest , I think?) I haven't got into the Slow Horses books yet, loved the TV series and have the books, but can't get started on them - I'll have to keep trying.

@WelshBookWitch- I quite enjoyed The Trial too - it was interesting to read the legal details about what happens in courts and chambers, I considered the legal profession myself for a while but it was £££ to qualify! Rob Rinder seems like a thoroughly nice chap too, his tweets are often very thoughtful.

@LuckyMauveReaderwe studied Of Mice and Men in Year 9 (as it is now, not in my day ) and I think I'd get a lot more out of it now. I just find Steinbeck incredibly depressing - The Red Pony left our class completely miserable - and haven't been able to face reading any of his books since...

@RomanMum I enjoyed Beyond The Wand much more than I thought I would, it was really interesting to read 'behind the scenes' info from the films, and Tom Felton still seems quite down to earth despite everything!

@Sadik Sometimes People Die was a bold for me last year, found it very clever (if depressing in parts!) and just different to what I was expecting.

Thank you for the interesting reviews of To Kill A Mockingbird and Matrescence @LadybirdDaphne! I also struggled with motherhood when the DC were tiny, it felt like everyone else was enjoying it and knew the 'rules' except me so it would probably have been a bit close to the bone for me then, but I've put it on my TBR list now. I read Mockingbird at school and again, would probably feel much differently about it now - we also read Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry as a contrast. Atticus was our hero at the time!

6 Nuclear War: A Scenario - Annie Jacobson

Hard to describe this as enjoyable , but a grimly fascinating account of what might happen in the event of a nuclear attack on the US. Having grown up in the 80s with the constant Cold War fear of Armageddon it’s a bit depressing to still have to worry about this kind of thing.

13 Drowning Rose - Marika Cobbold

This is from the depths of my kindle in an effort to reduce the Unreads. I enjoyed it. The main character is Eliza and most chapters are told from her POV and a few from the POVs of Sandra (a 16 year old) and Cass (a dying soap star).

Present day Eliza is still mourning the loss of Rose, who drowned when they were 16 year olds at boarding school with Sandra. Rose’s father Ian is Eliza’s godfather; he is now dying and wants to make his peace with Eliza, who blames herself for putting Rose in danger. Slowly, the story evolves i the past and the present. The author captures Sandra’s feelings as an outsider and the delicacy of Eliza’s work (in ceramics conservation) really well. Not quite a bold but definitely a good read.