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.

my list so far:

1. the teacher by Frieda McFadden
2. family doctor by J.M. Dalgeish
3. 101 who made the UK by Christopher Townley
4. A borrowed path by Imogen Clark
5. The further north you go by Tom Morton
6. The girl in the midnight maze by Cathy Heywood
7. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8. Every move you make by C L Taylor
9. The answer is no by Fredrik Backman
10. Tell me how this ends by Jo Leevers
11. The wrong daughter by Dandy Smith
12. Not from round here: memoirs of a southerner up north by Bradley Chermside
13. *Islands of Abandonment* by Cal Flyn
14. The bookshop ladies by Faith Hogan
15. This one life by Amanda Prowse
16. *The marriage code* by Brooke Burroughs
17. Lonely planet guide to a region near me
18. Get the yak out by Christian Celind
19. The sea house by Louise Douglas
20. The name curse by Brooke Burroughs
21. The Scottish Isles by Mary Jane Walker
22. *Happyish* by Jeanette Escudero
23. Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyes
24. *The last past of Billy McQueen* by Neil Alexander

This is on my TBR, I'm quite looking forward to reading it.

Interesting @bettbburg I have Islands Of Abandonment on my TBR, worth bumping up then?

Good GRIEF! I have refreshed a few times today and thought I had renewed my previous title of killer of MN threads. I am VERY pleased to see you.

Quick update of my modest list thus far:

2025 book list

1. Odyssey- Stephen Fry
2. The Hogfather - Terry Pratchett
3. Walk The Blue Fields - Clare Keegan
4. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
5. Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne
6. The House of Fortune - Jesse Burton
7. Wool - Hugh Howey
8. Shift - Hugh Howey

some interesting recommendations on the thread which I am keen to check out. I feel I might have burst out my rut of last year

I bumped it up based on a recommendation and wasn't disappointed so I'd say yes.

Placemarking but also wanted to say I was so annoyed by the ending of CCM that I have never read another book by LdB!

I'm a bit dismayed by the turn in the discussion. I have no problem with everyone saying whether or not they enjoyed a book and if so, why or why not, if they want to. But I don't believe in this idea of bestsellers for people who don't read and/or don't buy books. Because quite simply there are a lot of people who don't read or buy many books, and they're not likely to make a book a bestseller. Also, I find it really snobbish and dismissive.

I enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. In the case of LIC, I can see lots of improbabilities but still thought it was quite a good read. I liked When the Crawdads Sing while I was reading it but have since been put off the author by something I read or heard (I can't really remember what). I've enjoyed the Thursday Murder Club books and We Solve Murders too.

I haven't read Captain Corelli's Mandolin though I do have a Kindle copy, probably bought as a deal at some point - not sure I'll ever get to it. I'm a bit put off by my perception of the politics of the novel and its author. Give me the eccentric feminist fantasy of LIC any day, or even EO. However, that's my personal reason for not wanting to read it.

On Matt Haig, I did read How to Stop Time and The Midnight Library - I am quite interested in the conceptions of time or alternate lives - I liked HTST better. The books were ok and I've bought some of his other novels, but I'm not quite sure so much commercial fiction by men gets talked about it as if it's more than it is, compared to similar books by women. I also don't like some of the things he's posted on social media or said in interviews. There was a period when a lot of writers and people with a high profile in mainstream and social media made lots of claims about their ideas on kindness and struggles with mental health, except when it came to people they disagreed with (politically) when it suddenly became ok to accuse others of prejudice while using some really obnoxious language including mental health tropes and different types of racism.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

For what it's worth, I am not a fan of the recent judgemental attitude and the misnomer "books for people who don't read". It simply does not sit well in a group where I have read a hundred versions of - it doesn't matter a jot WHAT you read, just read! We all come down hard on a book from time to time. That's part of the raison d'être of this thread. A blanket dismissal of a 'type of reader' feels a step too far for me. I have always encouraged my DDs who are both dyslexic and have been very reluctant readers growing up to 'just read'. These days it's quite surprising (and refreshing!) to see what they reach for in terms of reading matter.

Anyway, here's my list.

• An Island Wedding – Jenny Colgan
• Red Sauce, Brown Sauce – Felicity Cloake
• The Christmas Bookhunt – Jenny Colgan
• When the dust settles – Lucy Easthope
• The answer is no – Fredrik Backman
• A little life – Hanya Yanagihara
• This much is true – Miriam Margoyles

Currently reading My friends by Hisham Matar (too early to comment), One good turn by Kate Atkinson (loving this) and listening to Waterlog by Roger Deakin (also thoroughly enjoying). And on that note I'm off for a cold-water dip this morning!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig really pissed me off. I do like conceptual fiction but I really thought this was ridiculous. How many people would have the option to be an Olympian, rock star or highly respected academic.. etc.

I think sometimes it’s quite hard to find books that have a great plot that are also well written. I do enjoy character driven literary fiction as well, although not always and recently found Internezzo to be a bit of a drag for example. One I loved last year that ticked all the boxes for me was The Other Valley.

I think "just READ"ing is absolutely great. I read some utter trash as I'm sure you'll see from my list. I don't care.

What mightily pisses me off about some books Elinor Oliphant and Lessons in Chemistry for example, is the way they are marketed and plugged like they are "must reads". No, they are not "must reads" for me. They are "must avoids".

I'm glad I've realised this as I'll now run like the wind (metaphorically as I am not very fit) from anything marketed as the next big thing anything heartily recommended by Reese Witherspoon too.

Not to start ranting again, but Lessons in Chemistry was marketed as feminist but read as if it was written by a teenaged boy. Just my opinion and you are free to love it and consider it very feminist indeed though

“Books for people who don’t read” is nonsensical. Books are books. I’d rather people read, even if they’re reading things I think are shit, than not read at all. And we all read things that other people might think are shit.

Having said that, there seems to be rather more thread policing on here this year than before, and I can’t say I like it much.

For me, I don't care if people read or not. If they do, I hope they are free to read what they like and not have something they don't really want shoved down their throats by slebs, who, let's face it are getting some.sort of financial compensationfor doing so. But if readers truly enjoy those recommendations and get something out of them, even if it's just a bit of entertainment, that is also fine. But I won't partake myself if I can help it.

Sorry for typos - my phone is just terrible

Thanks for the new thread

Here's my list

1. Polo; Jilly Cooper

2. Five Little Pigs; Agatha Christie

3. Gallows Walk; Giles Ekins

4. Distance; Luna Mason

5. The Drowning Game; Barbara Nickless

6. Detonate; Luna Mason

7. The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie
   This month's read christie challenge. Effectively 13 short stories solved by Miss Marple. I don't normally love short stories but I do love Miss Marple and I enjoyed the format of this. However I did find the "scene changes" not handled at all well. We're with one with group of people for several chapters and then we're suddenly at a different time and a different group with no warning or explanation

Thank you for the new thread - I am still here, still following the thread and still buying books on 99p deals!

I'm 60% through The Republic of Thieves (Scott Lynch, Gentleman Bastards #3), I'm enjoying it but it seems to be taking me ages to get through it!

I read Elinor Oliphant and it was ok, didn't love it.

I've never read CCM, for a really stupid reason - I remember seeing it absolutely everywhere, but I hated the front cover. When I looked it up on Amazon, I saw it and thought "oh it's THAT one!" But maybe I'll be a grown up and give it a go. It won't matter on Kindle anyway.

3 The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Well, I've scuppered my chances of reading 50 books this year by choosing this brick! It took me five weeks to read. But I enjoyed it. I felt a real sense of being transported back to 12th century England. The epic saga revolves around the building of a cathedral so there are some interesting architectural references, if that's something you're interested in. TW, Includes some violence towards women and girls.

My list so far...
(1) The Nurse by Valerie Keogh
(2) The Wrong Child by Julia Crouch and M. J. Arlidge
(3) The Perfect Parents By J.A. Baker
(4) Darkest Fear, written by Harlen Coben
(5) Old Filth by Jane Gardam

Latest book.....

(6) The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam

(Stolen from Google)
Filth (Failed In London, Try Hong Kong) is a successful lawyer when he marries Elisabeth in Hong Kong soon after the War. Reserved, immaculate and courteous, Filth finds it hard to demonstrate his emotions. But Elisabeth is different - a free spirit. She was brought up in the Japanese Internment Camps, which killed both her parents but left her with a lust for survival and an affinity with the Far East. No wonder she is attracted to Filth's hated rival at the Bar - the brash, forceful Veneering. Veneering has a Chinese wife and an adored son - and no difficulty whatsoever in demonstrating his emotions . . .
How Elisabeth turns into Betty and whether she remains loyal to stolid Filth or is swept up by caddish Veneering, makes for a page-turning plot in a perfect novel which is full of surprises and revelations, as well as the humour and eccentricities for which Jane Gardam's writing is famous.

I absolutely loved this book - made me understand first book more.

Onto the next!

I went away for a day and missed the new thread entirely 🤦‍♀️ Thanks, South.

My list so far:

1. Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly
2. A Game of Hide and Seek - Elizabeth Taylor
3. The Peepshow - Kate Summerscale
4. Midnight and Blue - Ian Rankin
5. Perfect English Townhouse - Ros Byam Shaw
6. The Undoing of Violet Claybourne - Emily Critchley
7. There and Back: Diaries 1999 - 2009 - Michael Palin
8. Jill - Philip Larkin
9. Rural Hours - Harriet Baker
10. The Waiting - Michael Connelly
11. The Rising Down - Alexandra Harris
12. The Children’s Bach - Helen Garner
13. The Perfect Stranger - PJ Kavanagh

and 14. A Penknife in my Heart - Nicholas Blake

This was, in a way, like The Perfect Stranger, another offshoot from reading Rural Hours. Nicholas Blake was the crime-writing pseudonym of C. Day Lewis, who had a long and intense affair with Rosamond Lehmann - she moved to the country so they had a place to meet and be together. So there’s something more than a little personal, I felt, about this tale of a man stuck in an unhappy marriage, who’s having an affair and doesn’t see a way out. He chances to meet the cocky, conniving Charles Hammer, who speedily assesses the situation and comes up with the suggestion that they do each other a favour - he wants to dispose of his elderly uncle, who owns the family business and won’t agree to various changes Hammer wants to make. They agree that each of them will murder the other's inconvenient people, thereby leaving no clues to trace back to their own involvement. But, predictably, things go wrong.

If you’re thinking this all sounds remarkably like Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train - it is, and Blake/Lewis somehow managed to write his entire book and get it to press without anyone noticing that her novel (and the film!) had been out for several years. It must have been severely embarrassing, but he added a preface with an apology saying Highsmith been 'charming' about it (hmmm). Sadly his book isn’t terribly good, after all that, but the bits about Ned's philandering do sound entirely authentic (Lewis himself not only had a wife and Lehmann as his lover but ultimately stunned them by leaving them both to marry someone else whose existence they knew nothing about).

I'm another who thinks "books are books". My approach tends to be pretty personal, beforehand does a book intrigue me, and afterwards did I enjoy it. I genuinely don't care who reads what, and although I have a preference for certain types of books (stick time travel in it and I'm in), or other types that tend not to appeal, this is definitely not a hard and fast rule.

One of the things this thread has taught me is that it's often worth trying something that you aren't instinctively drawn to, I've found some fantastic reads that way. I honestly can't see the problem with people reading books recommended as "must reads" by celeb book clubs etc. firstly some of them are good books, but secondly that might be the book that ignites someone's love for reading. As long as people are reading who cares what it is? I think saying whether you like or don't like a book is fine, dismissing certain types of books, or the people who read them, is not.

@BiscuitsBooks I read that last year and absolutely loved it too. I really want to continue the series but I must admit the absolute size of the books is making me put it off a bit.

I think the issue for me is that some of these books hyped as “must reads” are inevitably a letdown as they have raised expectations so high - tends to be the case for me but very happy for others to read them and enjoy them. I read some absolute rubbish so not judging them in that way but just whether I will find them satisfying.

Yes, I agree with your last sentence. I hope nobody thinks I've never been dismissive of other readers. Books, marketing managers at publishing houses and the choices of authors, yes.

But I honestly don't know why people are saying "as long as it gets people reading more isn't that great?"

Why? Why do you want people who aren't naturally inclined to read to start? Genuine question as I don't get it

I'm a massive believer in the idea that anything that gets people reading can only be a good thing.

If someone who hasn't really been into reading picks up a book because they heard Reese saying that it was great, and they enjoy it, how can that be a bad thing? They might then decide to give others books a try, and some will stick to the bestsellers, and that's fine, but others will move on to try other things. Which is great. I just can't see how it matters how someone comes to a certain book, or to reading in general.

@MamaNewtNewt I feel exactly the same - I want to continue with the series but I'm going to put that off to later in the year, or maybe next year.

I agree with people's sentiments about it not mattering what a person reads if it means they're reading. I was known for reading cereals packets at the breakfast table whilst eating. I'm a bit more refined now and don't put cereal boxes on the table anymore 👸

My own pet theory is that I believe that most people can grow to enjoy reading. It's just a case of finding the right book for them, whether that's a sports book, a gothic classic, a mills and boon romance, a space saga, a bestseller, a graphic novel and so on.