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

When is the WP for fiction longlist usually announced? Googling isn't bringing up much.

The fiction longlist is 4th March. I’m adding a screenshot here of the dates but it may take some time before it posts.

This morning I discovered that I already had two books on the Women's Prize non fiction longlist, the books by Harriet Wistrich (a campaigning lawyer, was on Desert Island Discs very recently) and Neneh Cherry. Presumably bought in daily deals. I also discovered that the Kate Summerscale book is on offer.

I have quite a lot of other non fiction books borrowed from the library, so will try to resist further library reservations etc for a few weeks, though I will buy any that come up really cheap on Kindle.

Buddy read like with one other person? I enjoy the read-a-longs here and had a buddy read thing of sorts during Covid with two other people which was fun but really an undercover way to check on each other.

Any really, I haven't done one and wondered if it might be fun

So, I finished The Mischief Makers (never any explanation as to the title) . think I have decided what is wrong with it. It's as if Elisabeth Gifford can't decide which bit of the story of Daphne Du Maurier , the Llewellyn -Davies's and JM Barrie's lives she wants to narrate. She flits about everywhere, has several narrative strands, some flashbacks from all over the place, arbitrary changes of tense, changes of perspective, and a not awfully likeable protagonist . This is coupled with an occasionally oddly prosaic style and huge, clunky, unnecessary expository passages to move us on in time. Other than that, it's fine.

Oooh, I might get to go to this next week

Definitely get tickets if you can. It’s a raight good naight.

My Daughter and I went to see P&P Sort Of back in 2021 when it was in London. Absolutely brilliant, the funniest show I have seen at the theatre and can highly recommend.

Link to tour:

prideandprejudicesortof.com/tour-dates

Ooo there's a performance near me! Thats exciting!

Read another book just in one sitting this evening

30. A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E Grant

Memoir. Slightly strange and I think someone else on here did also say they found it slightly strange.

It tells, in diary form, of his wife Joan losing her life to terminal cancer and these very sad reflections.

Then, juxtaposed you have stories like When I Met Jennifer Aniston and I Have A Sculpture Of Barbra Streisand In My Garden and OH THE OSCARS LUVS!

And it doesn't work, the two things really clash.

I did cry, obviously, because I do have a heart but I found the style really jarring and perplexing

@BestIsWest – oops! Soz!

@SheilaFentiman – I’m so glad that you enjoyed The Postscript Murders

23 Five Hundred Miles Away From You – Jenny Colgan (Kindle). I started reading this as I was listening to Empire of the Summer Moon and reading Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad and needed something a bit light hearted. Exactly what you expect from JC. Light, fluffy and a respite from the horror.

Thanks for the link to the tour Southeast. Just booked ‘Pride and Prejudice *Sort Of’ for later in the month. You should be on commission Remus.

I’m just hoping that everyone loves it as much as I did. And if they want to chuck a couple of free petticoats and a few of Darcy’s thousands my way, I won’t complain.

I've started The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughan today, 5 chapters in and it's 4 star read in the making.

Beth Is a naturalist who can't join the society or have her work published under her name. Harry learns of her skills and proposes marriage, which she accepts. When he dies, Beth is visited by two taxonomists who have travelled in the Arctic and are planning an expedition to the Antarctic,

She challenges what was acceptable for women in the 1880s and the two taxonomists also do in their own way (avoiding a spoiler here).

While I'm posting, a daily deal today is Stranger than Fiction: lives of the 20th century novel by Edwin Frank which looks worth a go at that price.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I found the REG book odd too, and I know someone else on the thread shared my thoughts that Joan was either not portrayed that well, or wasn't all that nice. This was my review:

I like Richard E Grant, and found his obvious excitement and enjoyment of his Oscar nomination to be both lovely and refreshing. I started off enjoying this book, the stories of his early career and how he met his wife were weaved together with her later diagnosis and decline, in a way that I thought worked well. Richard and Joan obviously shared a great love over nearly 4 decades, but, and I feel really bad saying this given the content, I found the book overall to have a very superficial feel to it. The compete erasure of his stepson (and I appreciate that this may have been at his request) felt very jarring, and the endless name-dropping, and constant descriptions of gifts and food from their friends, as well as mention of how perfect his daughter is really irritated me by the end. Given the strength of feeling shown by everyone towards Joan, I feel that REG didn't do a very good job of painting a picture of her as I didn't find her anywhere near as charming as I think I was meant to. Yep, if I believed in it, I'd definitely be going to hell for my uncharitable thoughts.

@MamaNewtNewt going to Hell right behind you. Joan sounded a proper horror, even before her diagnosis. I've always thought that about her.

3. The things they carried by Tim O’Brien
A definite bold for me, this is a collection of stories about the Vietnam war exploring memory, how to tell the truth of war when writing and how to deal with loss and guilt. The first story is about the things that solders carry, not just their practical gear but also their expectations, the expectations of their families back home and other feelings, later stories explore what its like to return many years later. There so much packed into the stories that despite being quite a short book I had to pause for a while after each story to fully digest it.

4. Jill by Philip Larkin
Read as part of the dated bookclub – I liked the university and social details but the sections on Jill just did not work for me.

5. The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
This was my holiday read on a recent trip to the states (after browsing some book shops over there I will never moan about book prices in the UK ever again) This was a good entertaining holiday read as the Janice Hallett books are easy to drop in and out of, this one was fine to read or skim through but the ending was fantastic.

The Secret by the Lake (a Louise Douglas) is 99p in the deals

@Southeastdweller or @Letsgetthiswrongagain , do you mind me asking if you think P&P Sort Of is OK for a sensible 10yo to go and see? I know P&P is pretty U rated!

Edit: just seen the theatre advises 12+, so maybe not!

@Pickandmixusername I think the main issue is that it's a bit sweary. I don't think most 10-year-olds will really get it - the irreverence is a lot more fun when you've been taught to be reverent in the first place - but there's enough going on with the staging and the music for them still to enjoy it.

I thought it was hilarious and dd (then turning 17) enjoyed it too.

I've returned Island Wife for a refund. I really disliked her writing style and attitude, I can't remember the last time I had a DNF.

Ah OK, thank you

Hello.
May I join, please? I'm aiming to read 50 books this year.

Here's where I'm at so far:
The Glutton by AK Blakemore
Eerie and strange but gripping and brilliant.

The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas
Terrible in all sorts of ways but strangely didn't hate it.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Slow and disjointed.

The Fraud by Zadie Smith
Boring, long and confusing as hell.

The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
A bit try-hard, some very inaccurate dialogue but pretty entertaining.

Absolution by Alice McDermott
Only about 60% through but absolutely loving it.