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.

I'll look those up, Thanks! I'm still on no buy though

Cake is definitely a good idea, especially when combined with books, @PepeLePew. Sending good thoughts for that horrible in-limbo waiting time.

I'm of the same thinking as you, I've reached this stage in life without an official diagnosis so why bother? DS and my DSis were both recently diagnosed and knowing what I know now, it's obvious that at least one of my parents, possibly both, are ND also. Like you, I also struggle to remember what happens in books 🙈

Same here. I adopted two children who turned out to be neurodivergent. Both have adhd and I realised I have all the symptoms but I haven't pursued a diagnosis. Explains a lot though.

I was quite amazed - My DC are both dyslexic (as is DM but I am not) so this possibly masked things but I kept thinking Oh yes, I do that!

Hope you hear soon @PepeLePew and that reading can provide some distraction.

I think the waiting list for adult ADHD diagnosis is off the charts - 4 years or something. A friend who went private still had to wait 6 months.

17. Gliff - Ali Smith. I think this is probably my favourite of her books so far, although I did also like the seasonal quartet. It has all her trademarks - art, nature, folk lore, playful language - as well as a near future plot. It follows two siblings, Briar (the narrator) and Rose, who are left in a safe house by their mother's partner after being forced out of their own house when a red line is drawn around it. This effectively makes them "unverifiables" who are outside the state. It's funny and sad and just a great novel with the scarily realistic state taking over all parts of life. Apparently it's part of a second novel "Glyph" which will be released this year and will reveal more about this one.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my early 20s (combined type, textbook female presentation) which triggered similar waves of ohh! in the women of my family. It wouldn't surprise me that its incidence would be higher among 50Bookers than the gen pop - the novelty-seeking and ability to hyperfocus on an increasingly eccentric hobby... Sympathies to anyone seeking a diagnosis in the current climate, or with medication issues - total shitshow for the last 18 mo.

@Stowickthevast I loved the first section of Gliff - it had this timeless magic like the best children's books. But I found the post-timeskip part a bit dystopian-thriller-by-numbers - I was begging her to STOP with worldbuilding please 😆Really looking forward to seeing what Glyph will do - if it follows the pattern of How To Be Both I'm sure to like at least half.

My phone went to Eventbrite and I couldn’t link, so screen shot from an email I just received from the National Archives in Kew. For those Slow Horses fans who are close enough. (There is a whole MI5 season and latest exhibition is all about spies and espionage).

Oh, I don’t know why it thinks it’s sensitive. Anyway, Slow Horses writer doing a talk/Q&A thing in June at the National Archives.

8) One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson
I know @BestIsWest is currently re-reading these. I'm discovering the Jackson Brodie series for the first time and absolutely loving them! I read Case Histories last year and this was number 2. Many, many big fat coincidences which may be irritating to real police investigation fans but wasn't an issue for me in the slightest. I was fully caught up in the whole train wreck of it all and her writing actually made me snort on occasion. Very tempted to head on to number 3 immediately but I rarely do that with a series. Hmmmm....

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I'm glad you enjoyed Service Model - I agree, I don't think it would have worked well on paper, but I just loved AT's reading.

Given that you already own it, I'd say that Children of Time is definitely worth reading. There is a sequel that follows on from it (maybe more than one) but IME it doesn't need one and stands alone. I did find it a bit slow to get going, but I'd say it well repays sticking with it, & IIRC most of the 50 Bookers who've read it have enjoyed it (& we're all #teamspider).
My favourite of his books is probably Dogs of War (again, I'd say don't bother with the sequel), I also liked Cage of Souls and Doors of Eden. Wasn't so keen on Shards of Earth but then I'm not particularly into space opera.

I've just finished
16 Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
As a pp mentioned, this is largely a re-formulation of his previous Four Thousand Weeks into a series of chapters intended for day by day reading. I liked it better than FTW, but it is really aimed at desk-job workers. I may have a long to-do list, but all my tasks have a (usually short) expiry date . I'm also old enough to be well aware of the fact that the things that I don't get done (eg the housework) are because I CBA, rather than due to lack of time. Still, he writes well and there were some useful bits in it.

Oh my life, please share my shock and horror. Apparently I just lied to you all when I said I read Case Histories last year. I've just seen that I actually read it in 2022. WTAF!!!

They do say time flies when you're having fun, don't they?!??? 😜

#6. I haven't been entirely honest with you, Miranda Hart
Self-help / memoir of chronic illness. Having a chronic illness myself and being a fan of Miranda already, I was interested to read this, and I did get something out of it for sure. There's some very wise and encouraging advice in it. However I found it too long and repetitive. It could also do with some better editing, both for the length but also to tidy up sentences like "With the world having told me that it was stronger to be fierce and independent, the idea of needing needs still aggravated". Arrrrghh!!

Thanks @Sadik

@nowanearlyNicemum I know exactly what you mean, I've only been keeping a record since 2020 and sometimes get a surprise when I look for things

You are all deeply wonderful people. Thank you for your kind words, it means a lot. I have lots of supportive friends and family but no one I've told about this - they would either worry to the point it would be unhelpful or have their own issues. As and when I have some concrete information I will tell them but until then it feels rather lonely so actually just having a group of people I like and value send good wishes and support my plan for cake + reading is really appreciated.

Sympathies to anyone seeking or trying to come to terms with an ADHD diagnosis. DS is both diagnosed with ADHD and autistic and I'm grateful we navigated the diagnosis phase when waiting lists were shorter. We still have issues with medication access from time to time and his excellent psychiatrist took a sabbatical leaving us with a less excellent colleague but the medication has been really helpful for him. I think I may also have ADHD but have no desire for a diagnosis. Mostly I just thank my lucky stars I navigated education and early career before smartphones were a thing as that would have been fatal to my concentration and focus (as it threatens to be for poor DS much of the time).

People with adhd can cope well with structure - school, college, uni, work. Hobbies like reading a book give structure too. I read all the time and I can see it's a coping strategy. When I adopted and stopped working (and I had a senior job with a bank in the City), everything fell apart. I could hardly organise anything. And it was when my elder daughter was diagnosed with adhd and I started reading up on it and I started to realise how I had benefited from the structure of work and now it had gone...

Enjoy Jackson Brodie @nowanearlyNicemum! I absolutely loved them all. I haven’t read the most recent one as I am waiting for it to be cheaper on kindle.

i am sorry to hear of your health concerns @PepeLePew. I am glad you have a plan for rest on Saturday, however. I adore finding a patch of light like a cat. I do tend to end up snoozing, however.

Listening to audiobooks while driving and doing laundry is the only way I get any amount of reading done. I absolutely cannot read a book when I might get interrupted. So that means I only ever read in bed which means I fall asleep. Thankfully a 45 minute each way drive gets me through a fair amount

The ADHD chat is very interesting also. I have a pre-teen recently diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. DH and I now frequently ponder which tree her apples fell closer to. Frankly given what we now knowit appears she came from two fairly neurodiverse trees

Thinking of you Pepe - I hope you get good news soon and plenty of tea and cake in the meantime 💐

I was diagnosed with ADHD around three years ago, aged 43 ish, can't remember exactly. I did pursue diagnosis, simply because I needed answers. As others have said, it explained a lot. And I would put money on my dad being autistic, possibly mum too.

Thinking of you @PepeLePew

@Stowickthevast thanks for the insights on Gliff. I've read a fair bit of Ali Smith and really want to like her books, but I never fully connect with them. I appreciate her creativity but always feel a little bit let down. I did like some of the seasonal quartet. I've avoided Gliff so far but might cave eventually. Am I mad?

Just catching up and another one thinking of you @PepeLePew. I’ve been absent from these threads this year as DH has recently been diagnosed with skin cancer, despite it being misdiagnosed as eczema twice in the last 8 or so years. It’s come as a huge shock as he’s been having tests for a worrying lump on his throat so we really weren’t expecting this.

Oh gosh @TattiePants I'm so sorry to hear that. I was wondering where you had got to!

@PepeLePew wishing you all the very best.

And to your DH too @TattiePants

Worrying times. I hope you both get reassuring news soon

sending all good wishes to @TattiePants and @PepeLePew. Hoping for the best of outcomes