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

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh Tunnel 29 was one of my top reads from 2023 (I think I have the year right). Such an amazing story.

Looking forward to it Úll. I visited Berlin two years ago. I was surprised to see how much of the wall remains.

Slow start to the year here but I've finally managed my first two...

Spook Street by Mick Herron

Much reviewed on here, and I only have good things to say too. I think this is the best of the series so far- the funniest and with the most heart. Roddy Ho is my favourite, his interior monologues are absolute gold and one of the stand out moments here for me was the reference to his waist-length leather jacket ('if you've
got it, flaunt it!'). I have fond memories of an earlier book- Slow Horses?- when he completely destroys someone's online existence solely because they beep their horn
at him at a zebra crossing and make him drop a bag of crisps.

Bournville by Jonathan Coe

I liked this but it was more vignette-y than I was expecting, and some sections were more interesting than others- can't say I was enthralled by details of the World Cup 1966! It ends in Covid times, and there's a very sad and semi-autobiographical
ending. Boris Johnson also pops up, which was annoying as I've really been trying to erase him from my consciousness.

Onto the Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley now, which looks promising so far, and The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow on audiobook.

I really liked A Single Thread too @highlandcoo - it's strangely compelling even though it is mainly about a woman embroidering a cushion.

Just broke my Read what you Own Challenge and visited Waterstones. Call it inspection fatigue (2/3 days done and all going well). I picked up a nice little stack.

I agree that A Little Life was unnecessarily bleak and depressing. It felt more like a game where she decided to see how far she could push the characters (well, Jude, more than the others) rather than the unrelenting misery being part of the plot. It isn't the way a book where bad things happen has to go - I agree with @DesdamonasHandkerchief that A Fine Balance got that right because the undeniably awful things happened because of the plot. Unless of course she was just trying to show us that bad things happen to good people in which case the whole thing could have been 25% shorter (at least!).

Love that haul. No one here will judge you for that, you know!

I didn’t care enough about the characters in A Little Life to be sad. I was just a bit bored.

I have two books from Waterstones arriving tomorrow. I’m deliberately not looking at my orders so it will be a surprise, as I’ve forgotten what is being published when.

Tunnel 29 is great. Brooklyn is imo crap - being in German that you don't understand would almost certainly be an improvement on the original.

I found A Fine Balance so miserable that I sort of stopped caring. Maybe I'm just a horrible person.

I'm reading A Tomb with a View and absolutely loving it. Thanks so much to whoever first recommended it.

Lol Remus 😄

Tunnel 29, is that related to the podcast by Helena Merriman about the escapes from East Berlin?

Yes. That's the author.

I DNFd A Fine Balance for being depressing but I've read all of Hanya Yanighara's books 🤷‍♀️

I've read A Fine Balance. I remember approximately nothing about it!

@Thistlebegood – can you imagine having to work with Roddy Ho?? His inner monologues are hilarious though. Catherine Standish is my favourite character.

I have a DNF Quite Ugly One Morning – Chris Brookmyre. I started rereading this, I think having originally read it in 1996 when it first came out. I decided to get it out of the library when you guys were discussing his latest release. It has not aged well. Some language that was dodgy in 1996. I gave up at 27%. I did contemplate getting the Audio as David Tennant was the narrator. But it was abridged and only 5 hours. Weirdly enough, James Nisbet was the face on the cover. Just not for me. I don’t think I’ll be in a hurry to read anymore from CB.

That’s a great little haul, @u

I have Tunnel 29 on my Kindle app. I should really read it soon.

On recent conversations- I hated the Ukranian Tractors and A Little Life. Catherine Standish is also my favourite slow horse (though I do love reading in Roddy’s POV)

Roddy's point of view is funny, but also so horrible that I can't quite laugh.

Oh I like your haul @ÚlldemoShúl . Confessions sound good, will be interested to hear your thoughts. Ofsted is a great reason to break your resolution. Dd2's secondary got their snap review the other day and managed to retain their outstanding grading, although the grades don't exist any more so that's confusing. Another local school also retained their good, so hopefully the inspectors have learnt from some of the horrendous errors of the last few years and are being a bit less harsh.

I read Ukrainian tractors but remember nothing about it.

@Tarragon123 James Nesbitt was Jack P in the TV adaptation

Finally caught up having been busy in work and then away. Good to see all the love for Slow Horses - I finished watching the 4th series last night. I will hold off re-reading Book 5 until the new series is available.

Two more books to add:

5. Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers

Parallel stories which converge: Helen works as an art teacher at a hospital for those with mental health issues whilst William lives a reclusive life with his maiden aunts. Their storylines converge when the final aunt dies. This was a bold for me. I enjoy the author’s style and this didn’t disappoint. Good characters and storyline.

6. Hangman Island - Kate Rhodes

The last/latest in the Isles of Scilly murder mysteries. Members of the lifeboat crew are being targeted with anonymous mail and then one goes missing. Is it because they are part of the crew or more personal?
This book sticks with the core police characters and is spread across different islands (unlike previous books which tend to have been based on one island). I enjoy the mix of police investigation and Ben’s personal life. Does what it says on the tin.

Continuing The Count of Monte Cristo read along and just started an Elizabeth Taylor

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh That is so comical about the library reserving Brooklyn in German for you! Obviously the German translation kept the same title I guess!

I remember enjoying A Short History of Tractors when I read it years ago, but not loving it unreservedly. The black humour struck me as quite eastern European in flavour.

I abhorred A Little Life. It's proper misery porn if you ask me. There's also a subgenre of fanfiction called 'hurt/comfort fic' where one character is injured and another character tries to comfort them. A Little Life reminded me of that trope, but it was worse than much fanfic, ha. I also recall being annoyed by how economically privileged most of the characters are, and how little they seem to be aware of their own privilege.

I also struggled with the bleakness of A Fine Balance, but I would say that novel has literary merit, unlike A Little Life. I'm glad I read it; however, I wouldn't put myself through a reread, because it was just too harrowing.

Same title @cassandre but underneath in very small letters 'Roman' (novel) that I didn't see on the library catalogue and nothing in the description to say it was in German. I'm not motivated enough to apply my rusty German to it. It gave me a laugh anyway!

20. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

Following a chance encounter in a London pub, Irish journalist Rachel reminisces about her college years and her relationships with her best friend James and her tutor Frank Byrne.

This was very very readable but ultimately lacking in depth. There's quite a good plot turn in the final third but the ending was too neat and not at all believable.

A solid 3.5 stars

Can you remember, did he have a Scottish accent? I have no recollection of a TV adaptation.