50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Three

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the third 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 here and the second thread here.

Thanks @Southeastdweller here's my current list, a good start to the year so far.

1 Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen
2 Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron
3 The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B Tyson
4 Exhalation by Ted Chiang
5 Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
6 Guilty by Jussi Adler-Olsen
7 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
8 Relive by KJ Nelson
9 The Party on Laurel Street by Ruth Heald
10 Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
11 To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
12 Buried by Jussi Adler-Olsen
13 The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen
14 Old Filth by Jane Gardam
15 The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen
16 All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
17 The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Thank you for a new thread. Here's my list so far

1. A New Doctor At Orchard Cottage Hospital. Lizzie Lane.

2 Intense Desire. Kris Kassidy

3 Stumbling Stones. Bonnie Suchman

4 Courage For The Clark's Factory Girls. May Ellis

5 Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop. Kenji Ueda. Trans. Emily Balistrieri

6 All The Broken Places. John Boyne

7 Dark Times For The Clark's Factory Girls. May Ellis

8 Alpha Beta Gamma. Malabika Ray

9 Fracture. Elyse Hoffman.

10 The Vengeance of Samuel Val. Elyse Hoffman

11. Black Fox One. Elyse Hoffman

12. Until We Meet. E.V Radwinter

13. I'll Never Cry Again. Roberta Kagan

14. Sweet Pear. Jessica Butler.

15. Adiel and The Fuhrer. Elyse Hoffman

16. The Hangman's Master. Elyse Hoffman

17. Wild Lilacs. Jessica Butler.

18. The Ballroom Girls. Jenny Holmes

19. The Train That Took You Away. Catherine Hokin

20. Sara, My Sara. Florence Wetzel

21. Butterflies. Phill Featherstone

22. Here Lyeth. Johanna Frank

23. Murder by Letter. Carmen Radtke

24. The Family Next Door. Charlotte Stevenson

25. The Family Behind The Walls. Shari J Ryan

26. Datonga. Martin Smalley

27. Invocation. Aileen Erin

28. On The Ledge. Naomi Clarisse.

29. The Look of Death. C C Gilmartin

30. The Little Island Flower Stall. Tilly Tennant.

31. Wolf-blessed. John O’Donnell.

32. Lunar. Chloe Openshaw

33. The Zone of Interest. Martin Amis

34. The Red Magus. Natasha Joy Price

35. Tangles. Kay Smith-Blum

36. The Girl who Saved Them. S.E Rutledge

37. Aristotle for Novelists. Douglas Vigliotti.

38. Family Affairs at the Orchard Cottage Hospital. Lizzie Lane

39. Matritto/Motherhood. Ameena Tabessum

40. Shadow Runner. K.J. Fieler

41. The Promise She Made. Julie Hartley

And my latest read
42. Hitler, Stalin Mum & Dad. Daniel Finkelstein
I think most of you have read this so i don't need to say much, but it was a bold for me.
This is the story of Daniel Finkelstein's parents. His father was persecuted by Stalin, his mother by Hitler. But they both survived. Fascinating, especially his fathers story as I know so much less about life under Stalin.

Thank you for the new thread.

Something that always puts me off a book is seeing tiktok made me buy it appended to the title.

Just checking in, back with an update later on.

Thanks for the new thread Southeast.

Here’s my list so far:

1 A Song for Lya- George RR Martin
2 The Razor’s Edge- W Somerset Maugham
3 Right Ho Jeeves (audio)- PGWodehouse
4 Into Thin Air- Jon Krakauer
5 Held- Anne Michaels
6 The Women’s Room- Marilyn French
7 The Anxious Generation- Jonathan Haidt
8 The House of Doors- Tan Twan Eng
9 The Warden- Anthony Trollope
10 Day One- Abigail Dean
11 The Hanging Tree (audio) - Ben Aaronovitch
12 Arrangements in Blue- Amy Ten
13 A Bit of a Stretch (audio) - Chris Atkins
14 Confessions- Catherine Airey
15 A Canticle for Leibowitz- Walter Miller
16 Minor Detail- Adania Shibli
17 Anything is Possible- Elizabeth Strout
18 Just One Damned Thing after Another (audio) - Jodi Taylor
19 Knife (audio) - Salman Rushdie
20 The Boy from the Sea- Garrett Carr

Close to finishing 2 more before the weekend is out I reckon.

carrying through a quote form Eine on the last thread- agreeing that there are books for people who don’t read, but Captain Corelli isn’t one of them- just to say ditto!
Also completely agree with @bettbburg re ‘TikTok made me buy it’ totally off putting to me despite being a lover of BookTube- I think TikTok is associated with teens in my head (as they’re the only people I know in real life who are on it)

Here's my list, thanks as ever to Southeast

1.	The Zone Of Interest by Martin Amis
2.	Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann 
3.	The List by Yomi Adegoke
4.	Here In The Dark by Alexis Soloski
5.	Mistborn : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
6.	True Grit by Charles Portis
7.	The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
8.	The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim
9.	<strong>My Friends</strong> by Hisham Matar
10.	Polo by Jilly Cooper
11.	The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
12.	The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade
13.	<strong>Annie Bot</strong> by Sierra Greer
14.	Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
15.	There There by Tommy Orange
16.	Rogues : True Stories by Patrick Radden Keefe
17.	The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honor&eacute;e Fanonne Jeffers
18.	Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange 
19.	The House Of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
20.	The Rachel Incident by Caroline O&rsquo;Donoghue
21.	<strong>Starve Acre</strong> by Andrew Michael Hurley 
22.	The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
23.	Good Material by Dolly Alderton
24.	The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
25.	<strong>A Voyage Around The Queen</strong> by Craig Brown
26.	<strong>A Very Private School</strong> by Charles Spencer 
27.	<strong>Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent</strong> by Judi Dench and Brendan O&rsquo;Hea
28.	The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott 
29.	<strong>Purple Hibiscus</strong> by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
30.	A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E Grant
31.	<strong>Outside The Door</strong> by Jane Casey
32.	Still Life by Sarah Winman

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller . Regarding EO, I'd say that's definitely a book for people who don't read, or who only read "popular" books, which was what a few of my ex-work colleagues did. Which is fine, but I was a bit annoyed when I mentioned in passing that they might like a new book that was recently released (EO) and I just got blank looks off them before they changed the subject. Two months later they were raving about this fab new book called Eleanor Oliphant 🙄

@ÚlldemoShúl

This year as well as the BBB award, we will have to have the CCC - Captain Corelli Controversy

Love it!

Place marking on the new thread - thanks southeast!

My very short list!

1 Suggested in the Stars by Yoko Tawada. Translated by Margaret Mitsutani
2 Your Wish is my Command by Deena Mohamed
3 The Fraud by Zadie Smith
4 After Midnight by Irmgard Keun. Translated by Anthea Bell.

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Thanks for the new thread! I had a momentary panic there when last one filled up.
I’d put the Thursday Murder Club books in the category of ‘Books for people who don’t read a lot’ too. That’s not to say some of these books aren’t enjoyable which is an important thing. And Dan Brown. Apparently he has a new one coming out this year too. Of course I’ll read it.

I’d put the Thursday Murder Club books in the category of ‘Books for people who don’t read a lot’ too

Defintely!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit 😁

Thanks for the shiny new thread South, back later to update.

Ooh new thread! Thanks @Southeastdweller

11 My Good Bright Wolf - Sarah Moss

I have really mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, as a fellow veteran of the eating-disordered 80s and 90s there was a lot here that really resonated with me. But - her use of the second and third person to refer to herself throughout, and pointing out her own contradictions in the narrative, really jarred for me and made a kind of distance from the narrative where I didn’t know what she was suggesting had actually happened and what was false. I know there’s a point here about the subjectivity of memory but I just think if you’re going to write a memoir then just use ‘I’ and quit the authorly tricks!

edit: sigh, forgot about the name change and now it won’t let me change again for this thread- anyway it’s me, Meg!

Just posting my list to place mark 🤦🏻‍♀️

1. The Forgotten Tower, Lulu Taylor
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
3. All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker
4. Pretty Girls, Karin Slaughter
5. Strange Sally Diamond, Liz Nugent
6. Fairy Tale, Stephen King
7. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore
8. The Grey Wolf, Louise Penny
9. Black Woods, Blue Sky, Eowyn Ivey
10. The Little Liar, Mitch Album
11. The List of Suspicious Things, Jennie Godfrey
12. Onyx Storm, Rebecca Yarros

Currently reading The Hunter by Tana French. I actually didn't read the blurb before ordering from the library so thought it'd be a police/detective like her others, but it's not! Enjoying it so far though.

Thank you southeast. I need to do some catching up on the last thread as have been away.

Bringing my list over:

1. Small Bomb at Dimperley - Lissa Evans
2. James - Percival Everett
3. Five Little Pigs - Agatha Christie
4. Spook Street - Mick Herron
5. Shy Creatures - Clare Chambers
6. Hangman Island - Kate Rhodes
7. Blaming - Elizabeth Taylor
8. Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent
9. The Thirteen Problems - Agatha Christie

And adding my latest book:

10. The Wizard of the Kremlin - Giuliano da Empoli

I am still not quite sure what to make of this. In summary, it’s a book about a fictional right hand man/fixer to Putin who fell into the job accidentally but who is meant to make Putin look good. I believe it’s based on a real-life equivalent. It charts the rise of Putin, his approach and the steering of Russian policy. But …..I didn’t love this. It wasn’t a difficult read just not for me.

Report your post and ask MN to change it. Unless you're not bothered of course.

Just hopping on the thread before it gets away from me. Might do my list on Monday when I'm on the laptop.

I have now caught up on the last thread!

I must admit I do tend to swerve the books which are pushed as “must reads” and have not read EO, Lessons in Chemistry or anything by Richard Osman. I did read Captain Correlli about 30 years ago but have little/no recollection so perhaps I should re-read it!

@highlandcoo - I am tempted to book Wednesday afternoon off work to catch Ballet Shoes!

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

On the list of books for people who don't read, can we add Matt Haig? I get disproportionate rage when someone raves about one of his books to me.

My list so far:

1. Private Rites - Julia Armfield
2. Intermezzo - Sally Rooney
3. Rodham - Curtis Sittenfeld
4. Human Acts - Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
5. Exiles - Jane Harper
6. Heat and Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabavala
7. Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors
8. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride
9. Onyx Storm - Rebecca Yarros

10. The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones 11. Parade - Rachel Cusk 12. Annie Bot - Sierra Greer 13. The Love Songs of Boysie Singh - Ingrid Persaud (audio)

And most recently
14. The Road To The Country - Chigozie Obioma.
This is set in the Nigerian civil war and follows Kunle who goes into the Biafran side to find his brother and ends up being recruited to the army. He can't escape and we follow him through the war, looking for his brother and later his lost love. There's also a healthy dose of magical realism with a side character of a seer who is watching Kunle's life unfold in the past. This was a pretty harrowing read. It was his but I was also relieved to finish it.

5 Half-Arse Human: How to live better without burning out
Leena Norms
A cheerful self help guide from the popular booktuber. This was readable but forgettable. Happy to support her work.

Ruth Galloway #14
6 The Locked Room
Elly Griffiths
Loved this one. This is set during the beginning of the pandemic and I think that elevates the story. I'm glad the author didn't avoid it like most authors are. There's definitely a bulge of books set in 2019.

7 Glorious Exploits
Ferdia Lennon
Set in 412BC in Sicily a couple of Unemployed potters decide to put on a play using prisoners trapped in a quarry. This was a book club read I would never have picked up but was really enjoyable.

Yes @Stowickthevast completely agree about Matt Haig!