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.

Lots of good luck for the results @PepeLePew - fingers crossed for you 🤞

Very sorry to hear about your DH @TattiePants. Does he have a treatment plan?

Oh @TattiePants I'm so sorry to hear that. That's a lot to deal with. Wishing you both good news and peace of mind soon.

Thinking of you and your DH @TattiePants

Hello all. I’m very sorry to everyone who is dealing with difficult health news.

I typed a whole response to the books for people who don’t read debate a few days ago and my phone deleted it, but I won’t re-open that one now!

My recent books are:

The New Life by Tom Crewe. Absolutely loved this. Historical fiction set in the late 19th century around the group of radical medics and thinkers calling for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, against the backdrop of Oscar Wilde’s trial. Moving and empathetic and a great account of an important moment in history.

The Promise by Damian Galgut. Booker winner from a few years ago that I’ve just got round to reading. It follows several members of a white South African family as they repeatedly fail to uphold a promise made to their black housemaid. I thought this was excellent and only not quite a bold because I couldn’t connect with a lot of the characters very well, but still a great book.

The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe. Playful, Kate Atkinson style murder mystery told in different genres, after a left wing blogger is killed attending a right wing political summit during the short Liz Truss premiership. Good fun and easy to read but I found the politics a bit basic and wearisome to be honest (despite I’m pretty certain being on the same wavelength as Coe).

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld. Controversially, maybe the only of her books that I haven’t loved! Daisy and Vi are identical twins who have had psychic powers (or have they?) since childhood. Vi causes chaos by predicting an earthquake in their home city, while Daisy is trying to lead a normal life with her husband and young children. I found bits of it, mainly the dynamics of Daisy’s young family, very enjoyable but overall it felt long and repetitive. So a slight disappointment but still worth reading for me for her depiction of Daisy’s home life and motherhood.

Who's That Girl by Mhairi McFarlane. Always enjoyable and reliable, this one is about Edie, in disgrace from her job in advertising, taking a job ghost writing an autobiography for a handsome film star. What could possibly happen?! Good fun, and I think she has written a sequel more recently.

One perfect couple - Ruth Ware
Five couples are recruited to take part in a new reality show and are flown out to a remote island off of Indonesia to film, however a storm cuts everyone off from outside contact and things turn deadly.

I thought this was going to be a thriller with a whodunit style set up whilst everyone was locked on the island but it was more of a survival story. The villian and motivation was clear from the get go which made the twist at the end pointless. I felt the characters were not developed that well and the narrator Lyla was annoying - despite being a virologist and telling us how her life is based on science, data and reasoning she doesn’t apply any of that to signing up to a reality show. I also didn’t think the ending was particularly strong.

@TattiePants Sorry to hear about your DH. Hope he can get the right treatment speedily. 💐

@GrannieMainland The New Life sounds right up my street.

Sorry to hear about your health worries Pepe and Tattie. Fingers crossed for good outcomes for you both.

@AgualusasLover - thank you for the tip off about the Mick Herron talk. I have booked myself a ticket.

@highlandcoo - I am off to Ballet Shoes this afternoon and can’t wait.

Adding my latest book:

11. The House on the Strand - Daphne du Maurier

I picked this up in a Kindle deal last year and now read as part of RWIO. Dick is staying in Cornwall at the house of his friend, Magnus, a research scientist. Magnus is in London but has left Dick a potion/concoction to experiment with and report back on. When Dick takes some of the potion he is transported back to the time of Edward III in his local area where he can observe events but is unseen whilst still being physically visible in current times. There are some side effects too. However, he becomes obsessed with the personalities he encounters in his step back in time. Dick then has to deal with his wife, stepsons and houseguests who all arrive in Cornwall whilst still trying to time travel, hide the physical side effects and report back to Magnus. I like a bit of time-travel as well as DDM and did enjoy the book but I can see why it’s not one of her well-known ones!

Thank you for all the well wishes.

@Tarahumara he's waiting for surgery on his chest which will then need a skin graft as it's quite a large area. Fingers crossed surgery will be enough and he won't need any further treatment. There are also two areas on his face that he needs to have biopsied. Hopefully they are just sun damage and he'll be given cream to burn them off.

@TimeforaGandT I'm making my way through Daphne du Maurier's lesser known books and recently read The House on the Strand. "! did enjoy the book but I can see why it’s not one of her well-known ones" was exactly my thoughts!

A bit late but I'll bring my list across:

1 Small Bomb at Dimperley, Lissa Evans
2 Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad, Daniel Finkelstein
3 The Secret Hours, Mick Herron
4 All Fours, Miranda July
5 The House on the Strand, Daphne du Maurier
6 The Burning, Jane Casey
7 The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
8 The Reckoning, Jane Casey
9 The Last Girl, Jane Casey
10 Vaxxers: A Pioneering Moment in Scientific History, Sarah Gilbert
11 The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent, Judi Dench
13 Annie Bot, Sierra Greer

I'm annoyed with myself that I didn't buy more of the Slow Horses and Maeve Kerrigan books when they were in the kindle sale. As much as I'm enjoying both series, I can't quite bring myself to pay full price.

Good to see you TattiePants - very sorry to hear about your DH, I hope all goes well 💐

@TattiePants - not really in the same class as My cousin Rachel, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn!

I did feel sorry for Dick’s poor wife too…

@TattiePants hope it all goes well with the planned treatment and nothing more is needed.

@timeforaGandT I've reserved The House on the Strand at the library. Sounds like a different take on time travel, which appeals enough for me to give it a go.

@TimeforaGandT I’m so pleased about Ballet Shoes! I was just about to post this morning to ask if you’d decided to go. Have a lovely time

Just catching up and very sorry to hear about more stressful times, @TattiePants. sending best wishes to your DH and you.

I keep meaning to say it’s great to see how many 50 Bookers have discovered the delights of the Slow Horses - a friend put me onto the series two or three years ago and I read everything that was then available and have been keeping abreast of the series since. Delighted that there’s a new one in prospect later this year. I still haven’t seen the TV adaptation, though. I’m not sure I want to, as it would destroy all the character pictures in my head!

@TattiePants Best wishes to your DH.

Also best wishes to your DH from me @TattiePants And for you 💐

I read The House on the Strand a few years ago and remember really liking it. I'm going to read it again this year.
I read Jamaica Inn recently and loved that. I looked up du Maurier and was surprised to see she had written so many books.

Edit: to remove the random stars in my post.

Fuzzy - have you read The Scapegoat by DDM? I read that last year and enjoyed that too. Again, not a classic but worth reading. It was a bold for me.

Not yet @TimeforaGandT but I'll read it along with The House on the Strand if you say it's good :) I loved rereading Rebecca last year. Really like du Maurier. Oh yes and also the piratey one...Frenchman's Creek. Had to look up the title!* *

Best wishes to you & your dh @TattiePants I hope alk goes well with the treatment.

Echoing the sentiments of everyone else. Hoping all the health problems are satisfactorily resolved. So stressful for you both.

DDM - I loved My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek is just wonderful and I say it all the time - I cannot believe it isn’t better known, all that biting dialogue. Jamaica Inn I read years ago and thought it ok. I always buy her stuff when it pops up on Kindle.

Remus you read it and hated it

That's why it's still languishing on my TBR.

Too much trouser trumpeting you said or something to that effect

Sorry to hear people are struggling health wise. Sending good wishes to everyone

Wishing you and your DH swift healing and positive outcomes @TattiePants.

Not much time for reading at the moment, I'm not happy about it!