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.

23 Kindle books is awesome @Tarragon123

"Wee Shona" 5 is on my wishlist but I'm trying to mostly stick to RWYO...

re Mick Herron, confusingly it's only the US edition of Standing by the Wall that collects the 3 Slough House novellas (The List, The Catch, The Drop) along with the Roddy Ho Ho Ho Christmas short story of the title (fun but slight). The UK edition is just the short story, and the novellas are sold separately here. I love them but all main characters (John Bachelor, JK Coe, Lech Wicinski) and supporting have been folded into the main series as of Bad Actors so we're unlikely to get more.
Dolphin Junction only has one SH story (Lamb background, meh). Another meh for me was Nobody Walks, a standalone thriller, more violent than the main series and utterly devoid of humour, but it does detail Coe's backstory and features Dame Ingrid going Full Villain, for any completists.

US/UK publishing shenanigans have been annoying me in the context of prize lists too. I like longlists to introduce me to new books, not stuff I've either already read or DNFed years ago, especially not the INTERNATIONAL Booker. Since Americans are eligible for the main prize anyway can we at least have some consistency in our globalised Anglophone culture blob 🫠
(Not that my RL bookgroup has just chosen SolenOHFUCKNOid for our next read or anything....)

Anyway, now it's been longlisted for the International Booker, belated review of:

Under the Eye of the Big Bird - Hiromi Kawakami (tr. Asa Yoneda)
Far-future SF with humanity on the brink of extinction, or perhaps already past it: scattered over a blighted earth in tiny, isolated communities, evolving wildly different societies and biologies. It’s made up of 14 short stories, mostly first-person and small-scale, which provided an accessible way in to this initially alienating world. I'm not usually a fan of the 'mosaic' novel format but as characters and details recurred it felt more and more novelistic, and ultimately did cohere into a whole. The distinct voices were well done in translation, including some clever pronoun juggling for clones, chill slacker dudespeak for an ‘anaboliser’ monologue, Ray Bradbury-ish small-town American for one schoolgirl coming of age in a society very focused on 'Freedom'.

While I read this for an SF bookgroup (which mostly ended up discussing it as New Wave cosy catastrophe homage) I think this is very accessible to general fic/litfic readers too, actually more so than to dedicated fans of hard or pop SF: more Emily St. John Mandel than Cixin Liu or Andy Weir. It was low on plot/action, gently melancholic in mood and not at all interested in techy aspects e.g. computers essentially function as libraries and post-boxes. Instead, the primary preoccupations are with reproduction, identity, memory, education and relationships (esp. romantic and mother-child) - treated with a complexity and ambivalence which will be familiar to readers of Kawakami’s writing in other genres; it especially complemented her timeslip novel The Third Love (written after this but translated earlier) which explored similar themes in Heian, Edo and contemporary Japan.

Overall, I really enjoyed the mythic and dreamlike feel, the deceptively limpid style, slowly putting the pieces of this world together and seeing the author’s take on AI, biotech and new societies. However, the penultimate story totally killed the mood by laboriously spelling out things which I thought were far better left implicit, open and, well, speculative. Still very readable, with some memorable images and moments, and enough to chew on ideas-wise that the gentleness didn't lull me to sleep. The translation lag adds another layer - this was originally published in 2016, and I suspect she might take a different approach now.

I've also read the other Japanese longlistee Hunchback in the original (no doubt missing a lot of nuance) but will wait to read Polly Barton's translation before reviewing here - while not my favourite translator she seems a great fit for this book, so I'm looking forward to it!

22 - Mythos - Stephen Fry (Audible)

A re-telling of some of the Greek myths, narrated and written by Stephen Fry.

Entertaining and enjoyable listen. Recommend

Lol at SolenOHFUCKNOoid @inaptonym
One of my book clubs decided not to chose it thankfully as it's so long and divisive.

Which ones have you already read or dnf? Interested to know what to avoid!

Oh just saw your follow up. Ignore me.

46. False Tidings: A Fool’s Errand. Stephen J. Grant
    A medieval fantasy, which was slightly bonkers if I'm honest. William has been raised by monks, never left his village and knows nothing of life outside his books really. But he some how ends up being knighted and sent on a quest to find a magic crystal. There were Witches, a eunuch and a killer pet monkey. I did enjoy this, but it's so strange I can't really explain it!

47. The Trips. Pat Murray
    Carl is a British man on death row in America. The Trips is him looking back on his life and reflecting on how he ended up there. He's generally a piece of low life, woman hating scum. He basically blames his mum and his sister for everything and worships his dad. Even though his dad left and basically ignored him for years. Admittedly his Mum had an affair, but that doesn't mean Dad shouldn't have so been a dad.

Despite it being about a misogynistic POS, this was such a good book. Not a bold, but really very good. It really made me think about stuff

48. Ballet Shoes. Noel Streatfeild. Had to read this after seeing it at The National. Can't imagine I need to say what it's about, but it's my all time favourite book and therefore a bold. I love the old fashioned language!

@BlueFairyBugsBooks - I have also just finished post-theatre trip:

13. Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild

A re-read to reassure myself about what had changed for the theatre production. A lovely trip down memory lane although some slightly weird grammar at times.

@Stowickthevast is your bookgroup open to newbies or 👀😆 What will you be reading instead of the Brodernist masterpiece?
My beef is specifically with English translations which have been around for years in other countries, so technically only Solenoid for DNF and On A Woman's Madness - which should have been another, because it was a Fractured Hallucinatory Poetic slog and I got very little out of it beyond finding some of the writing of sexuality quite dated (originally 1982). Although I often get that way about stuff from the 80s/90s - not distant enough to be of historic interest, old enough for me to wince/boggle at. I do still want to try Roemer's Off-White which is meant to be much more straightforward (and recent, 2019).
Having now gone through the longlist in a cooler mood, I'm planning on reading 6-7 (not including the Japanese ones), all under 200 pages so not impossible. Will try to post reviews, and keep them suitably brief! 😅

From the WPNF list the publishing-technicality entry is Why Fish Don't Exist which I actually really enjoyed...FIVE YEARS AGO. Essentially an extended episode of Radiolab / Invisibilia (also Lulu Miller) on scientist David Starr Jordan, mixed with some personal memoir. All in that podcasty smart-but-facetious tone which sometimes jarred with the darkness of the material, very 'Eugenicists, what are they like?! 😜Hey so that other time I tried to off myself <quirky anecdote>' I would still recommend it, and it's short and breezy enough to make a good palate-cleanser for anyone reading the whole list (can imagine the judges greeting it with relief) but... was there not another science/history of book, maybe one which hadn't made a Goodreads BOTY list in 2020 and could've done with the publicity boost?

Waterlog – Roger Deakin
An ode to wild swimming. Deakin swims his way randomly round the UK taking in moats, waterfalls, quarries, rivers, seas, lakes, lochs, lidos, aquaducts and fens. As a fan of wild swimming, I loved it.

13 The Sea House - Louise Douglas Third in the series about Mila, living in Brittany and looking after her teenage sort-of-niece Ani, following the deaths of Ani’s parents (Ani’s mum was Mila’s stepsister and best friend). Mila is still working at the local detective agency and there is a new missing person to track down - as usual, this provides the main storyline of the book, while the mystery about how Ani’s parents died continues in the background. I thought this was a trilogy but it turns out there’ll be at least one more book - this one ends not so much on a cliffhanger as in the middle of a field, as if there should be a couple of extra chapters to round off the story. Disappointing, and the resolution of the main mystery was also not what I was expecting, more melodramatic and less subtle than it should have been. A decent book spoiled by the last few chapters. I’ll still look out for the next one when it comes out though (although if there’s another cliffhanger I’ll throw the book across the room!).

Actually @inaptonym it's an online one so anyone can join! But you may not want to as the choice for next month is either Under the Eye of Big Bird (currently in the lead in the poll), the Book of Disappearance (which I voted for) or the 40 year old book.

Agree that they could come up with 16 books published in the last year.

I read Whale on the International Booker last year which was another 20 year old book that I found incredibly depressing in it's misogynistic views.

Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng

This was published in 2014 so there is a distinct possibility everyone here has already read this and I am late to the party, but what an excellent book!

Lydia has died (not a spoiler its on the cover and/or page 2). The book goes forward to show how her family deal with this, and back to how her parents got together and life hurdles until past catches up with present.

I often struggle with multi time line books, but in this case it was easy to know which time line you were in so I could just let the story flow over me. No character was 100% lovable. Everyone had flaws but in a human way, not in an 'oops better give this perfect person a bad habit so they are relatable' way.

I will be seeking out her other books. I am not very good at posting my list on here, but if I did I think this would be a bold.

@TimeforaGandT what did you think of the show? I loved it. Cried and laughed.

I found this phrase in the book to be particularly peculiar.

I'm doing a Kazou Ishiguro readalong this year - ten books in ten months, in the order they were published.

This month it was 34. An Artist of the Floating World

I read this for the first time last year, so it was still quite fresh in my mind. His writing just draws you in - I found myself smiling after the first few paragraphs. The unreliable main character is brilliantly done.

15. Hardy Women - Paula Byrne

I've been battling my way through this for what seems like years and at well over 500 pages it’s a substantial brick of a book, but finally finished, hurrah! Actually it’s interesting - a very thorough exploration of the (many) women in Thomas Hardy's life, from his beloved mother to his succession of sweethearts - quite the ladies' man, was our Tom - and both his wives. My sympathies are with poor Emma, wife number one, whom he treated very badly and who died lonely and neglected while he was already lining up wife-to-be Florence, who comes across as conniving and two-faced here. Depressing that a writer who had such sympathy and deep insight into women in his novels should have been so appallingly bad at relationships in RL.

And talking of bad relationships…

16. Lady Living Alone - Norah Lofts

Latest for the Rather Dated Book Club. A curious novel by this prolific writer of historical fiction, originally published under a male pseudonym. Protagonist Penelope Shadow is - very like Norah Lofts - a writer of historical epics, who suddenly strikes paydirt with a best-seller. Sudden riches enables her to buy a lovely house and enjoy the finer things in life after years of cheeseparing, the slight hitch being that she has a terror of being alone in a house at night. This difficulty leads her to meet the man she eventually marries - but dramatic events have to be undergone before her strange fear leaves her.
This was very readable but I did get extremely exasperated with Penelope, for reasons which other RDBC members will no doubt understand! More to say over on the thread…

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage I know exactly what you mean and agree completely re The Sea House.

On a different note, Slow Houses is 99p at the moment.

Like @bettbburg and @DuPainDuVinDuFromage, I am getting a leeeetle bit fed up with the Mila books (#TeamLuke) and think the rhythm of the storyline on Ani’s parents is all wrong.

I hope not sporadically.

@Tarragon123 That ending is still haunting me. I’m about a third into Bad Actors and enjoying it but a certain storyline remains very enigmatic.

Joining the Mick Herron bandwagon.

20. Dead Lions - Mick Herron. The second of the Slow Horses books. I enjoyed this more than the first, I do like his writing and humour. But I had already seen the series on Apple which I think did spoil it a bit for me even though they change a few bits. I'm currently in season 4 so am thinking I may skip books 3 & 4 and go to 5. If anyone else has also watched and read it, let me know if there's anything important in the books I'll miss by doing this.

21. The Vegetarian - Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith. I'm very late to the party on the as it won The International Booker in 2016 and was first published in 2007. It's very short and very disturbing. The protagonist is Yeong-hye who decides to become a vegetarian after having a disturbing dream about eating meat. We never get her viewpoint though, so she remains an enigmatic central character. The first part is narrated by her (awful) husband and deals more with the vegetarian part of the story; the second part by her brother in law deals with sexual appetites and the final part by her sister deals more with mental health. That's quite a simplistic view though. It's not quite a bold for me but is certainly quite different and will stick with me.

@Tarragon123 I did read the first wee Shona book actually; I can see it was back in 2023 when I check my reading record. Then she slipped off my radar, but I remember enjoying it, especially the setting, so thanks for the reminder.

I seem to be reading a lot of crime books that are the first of a series, so stacking up a lot of future reads!

Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson
Fourth in the Jackson Brodie series. Jackson is seeking the birth parents of a woman in New Zealand and seems to get in the way of several rogue coppers in the process. He never seems to do much actual detecting and the resolution of the story rarely has much to do with him although as usual he is central to many coincidences that bring the characters and story together. Enjoyable though not as good as the last one.

6 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Read for a course. I read this as a child and don’t remember enjoying it at all. I thought the characters were daft and didn’t like the moralising aspect of it. I enjoyed coming back to this as an adult. The magic of the garden and the magic of the children’s discovery of comfort and safety came through much more clearly as an adult. I don’t think it will ever be a favourite but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

7 Utopia by Thomas More

Also read for a course. An ideal society 16th century style. Not rivetting but vaguely interesting for what it was. Can’t say I would recommend reading this recreationally...

8 Frank and Red by Matt Coyne

Really rather sweet. A bereaved man befriends a lonely child who lives next door. The characters were likeable and funny. Not a bold but enjoyable.

11) Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire

A gorgeous read. Set in Northern Ireland during the pandemic, it features a man and his son who leave the city to live by the sea. There they meet Grace, an older women who lives alone, described in the reviews as "having a touch of Olive Kitteridge in her" and her niece. They all have issues around loneliness and despair and having to reconnectwithvthe world. The descriptions of the sea are beautiful. I loved this book.