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.

Interesting discussions. I was one of those feeling upset by the way the original discussions were going, because I’m well aware that many of the books I read are not as ‘literary’ as some, and I have read and enjoyed (although not loved) all the ‘popular’ books mentioned. Glad it’s all been clarified and I’m definitely in agreement that everyone should just read what they want to read, literary or not. I do agree that the more literary books I read are more likely to stay with me but equally I have really enjoyed books that are perhaps not seen with much regard in literary circles.

Anyway, some recent reads:

Famous Last Words - Gillian McAllister

Camilla is shocked one day when her husband disappears but is then found holding people hostage in a warehouse before escaping. Seven years later she’s rebuilt her life but still wants to find out the truth. This was fine, kept me interested.

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent - Judi Dench

Fabulous, gossipy and insightful. I will revisit this in future when I read/watch Shakespeare.

The Wedding People - Alison Espach

This was a random pick from the library. Phoebe has recently split from her husband and goes to a luxury hotel intending to end her life. However she finds she’s the only guest there not involved in a wedding, and as she gradually gets to know the wedding guests she reflects on her life. There were some aspects that required some suspension of disbelief (it doesn’t really ring true that she would get to know the guests that well that quickly) but I did like Phoebe as a character and wanted to know how her story resolved.

Doh, I'm another one who missed the new thread and thought it was awfully quiet over there!

I've really enjoyed the discussion today and not sure anyone really needs my perspective but in for a penny, in for a pound. I also don't think 'books for people who don't read' is necessarily pejorative - I think of it as the books everyone buys for a beach read that then land en masse at the charity shop. Perhaps another way of saying blockbusters - in my youth it was the annual Wilbur Smith that all the 'grown ups' seemed to be reading. I read all sorts of things (including a lot of my beloved Jilly Cooper and Marian Keyes) including the very hyped books and the only issue I have with them is often that they can't possibly live up to the hype.

When I was a teenager I used to read anything and everything, and then as an adult I got a bit more cautious and stuck in a bit of a crime/thriller rut. I think because I worked a lot and had limited free time to read I needed a book to be almost guaranteed to capture my attention, and that stopped me reading more experimentally. One of my favourite things about this is thread is that it shook me out of my rut and guided me to things I wouldn't otherwise have picked up.

I have never finished a Dickens, despite having studied Bleak House for English A level. That my explain my less-than-stellar grade.

@Pickandmixusername I know you've had other answers, but I think I 'want' people to read because it's one of the great joys of my life, and I hope other people can find that enjoyment too. But of course if it's not their thing that's absolutely fine.

UlldemoShul I'm glad you asked! I just finished the Hendrix - a bold for me but it did take a while to get going.

3. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, by Grady Hendrix. In 1970s Florida, there is a home for pregnant teenagers who have been sent away by their families to have their babies in secret. Four of the girls borrow a book of magic from the bookmobile, and when they realise the spells work, things spiral out of control. This was wildly entertaining and broke my heart at least 5 times over. It's almost 500 pages long and I still didn't want it to end.

4. What have you done?, by Shari Lapena. In a sleepy town in Vermont where nothing much happens, a local girl is found dead, shattering the community. It's expertly plotted but I wasn't very invested in the characters. I thought I'd figured out who the killer was, got very annoyed towards the end when I was wrong, then startled at the last minute when there was another twist and it turned out I was right after all. It's written from multiple POVs, one of which seemed quite flat and inauthentic, but it turned out this was an important plot point, so that was very well done. Very fast paced and full of dialogue, it was a quick read. Not a bold, but a decent option if you're a crime aficionado.

Did anyone like Creation Lake?
I'm not warming to it so far.

100% with you there Remus.

Ooh, part three! Here's my list for 2025 to date:

1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
2 Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro
3 The Party by Tessa Hadley
4 Human Acts by Han Kang
5 Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
6 Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn
7 A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
8 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
9 Before My Actual Heart Breaks by Tish Delaney
10 The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
11 Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo
12 The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
13 She's Always Hungry by Eliza Clarke
14 A Pale View of Hills by Kazou Ishiguro
15 Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (hard pass!)
16 Piglet by Lottie Hazell
17 The White Album by Joan Didion
18 Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
19 The Raptures by Jan Carson (almost a bold)
20 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
21 Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan
22 Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
23 Passing by Nella Larsen
24 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (almost a bold)
25 Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
26 All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks
27 Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks

I'm doing a year long slow read of the Wolf Hall trilogy, so I'm about a third of the way through Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I'll count this when I finish it in April!

I seem to be on a non fiction kick and am about a third of the way through We Don't Know Ourselves by Fintan O'Toole. This is quite a dense book, so I've been dipping in and out of it and will count it whenever I manage to finish it. I'm about to start 28. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner.

Looking forward to going through everyone's lists!

Good girls - Hadley Freeman
I thought her previous book, House of glass, was exceptional and I seem to remember this memoir of her suffering and recovery from anorexia was also well received in here.
This is a subject I know little about and I liked the interweaving of interviews and information about research alongside her recollections. I’m glad I read it,
learnt lots of new things and very glad that Hadley recovered but it left me feeling very sad for all the women in the book who didn’t. I can see how this would be an incredibly useful book if you were someone who had more direct experience with the illness.

Thanks for the new thread southeast!

Here’s my list:

1 Notes for Neuro Navigators - Jolene Stockman
2 Years That Changed History: 1215 - Dorsey Armstrong
3 The Darcy Myth - Rachel Feder
4 To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
5 Matrescence - Lucy Jones
6 Strong Foundations - Clare Bourne
7 Alexa, What is There to Know About Love? - Brian Bilston
8 The Voyage Home - Pat Barker
9 The Medieval World - Dorsey Armstrong
10 I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was - Ruby Wax
11 One for the Money - Janet Evanovich

12 The Golden Mole - Katherine Rundell
Brief exploration of wonders of the natural world, taking in curious animals facts and historical human misconceptions. Fine for what it was and well read by Lenny Henry, but pretty insubstantial really.

I’m reading Glorious Exploits right now, and so far I think it’s a perfect example of what books (novels) can give you: it makes horrific events real and human. It’s one thing to know the bare fact that a war crime occurred and 7,000 Athenians died of exposure and starvation; it’s another to see it through the eyes of a fellow, flawed, human individual. That’s why people should read, IMHO.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh I was actually talking about Creation Lake to a friend yesterday who was also a bit bogged down by it. There were things that I liked about it and things that I didn't think worked. It's definitely not the thriller it was marketed as. Sadie is an unlovable, flawed main character but I did find some of her observations and descriptions quite amusing. The philosophical interludes of Bruno musing about neanderthals didn't work as well for me and interrupted the pace of the book, but on the whole I think it was an interesting read, with a satisfying finale.

16. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks. I first read this when I was a teen in the early 90s, but picked up an edition last year to celebrate it's 40th anniversary. On a reread, I'm still impressed by Bank's characterisation and writing. I'd say it fits in better with today's shock horror books - people like Eliza Clark - and was really ahead of its time. I love the way the final reveal makes you reassess what's gone before. It's not perfect, the Eric sub-plot isn't fully developed, but a good read.

Thank you @Stowickthevast Appreciate that! I'm not long into it but it seems all over the place.

@noodlezoodle I've just returned Witchcraft for Wayward Girls to the library unfinished! I reached 3 hours and still wasn’t loving it- I may try it again on paper rather than audio based on your shining recommendation.

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh I just started Creation Lake to replace WFWG on audio last night. I’ve only listened to one chapter and it was quite amusing in tone- but your question makes we wonder if this will end up being another audio DNF.
Maybe my problem is audio at the moment- I’ve DNFed at least a couple (Pachinko and WFWG) that others have loved.

I have just finished 2 bold books in paperback over the weekend.

21 The Guermantes Way- In Seach of Lost Time Volume 3 by Marcel Proust
This has been my favourite volume so far. Our narrator has grown up a bit and less obsessive and spends a lot less time worshipping women he doesn’t really know and places he’s never been. Instead he takes his first tentative steps into society and continues to become a selfish snob. He treats the only people who treat him well with disdain (Saint Loup, Albertine and Francoise). But through all this there are some brilliant insights, a terrible grief and some personal growth. This one moved a lot faster and only took me 3 months to read. I plan to read one more volume this year.

22 The Broken Afternoon by Simon Mason
A poster who reads but rarely comments reminded me of these Simon Mason books- I had read and loved the first last year and this is number 2. A pacy police procedural with interesting characters and plenty of twists and turns. DI Ray Wilkins investigates a missing child (trigger warning for this part of the book) while Ryan Wilkins attempts to get reinstated and looks into the death of an old friend and ex-con Mick Dick. Witty and tricksy. Bold read for me. I have one more of these on kindle.

Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin This was a book group choice that I was interested to read for the South Korea location but unfortunately didn’t much enjoy. The narrator is a 70 year old widow with an exhausting job in a care home, whose daughter is priced out of the property market and moves in with her, girlfriend in tow. The narrator has conformed all her life and yet still subsists precariously and dreads declining into the state of incapacity her patients are in. Unfortunately, for me the book didn’t transcend its ‘This Homophobic Woman is Otherwise Fundamentally Decent (see how she cares for her patient!)’ message, perhaps being between the ages of the mother and daughter I am too old to need what felt like an exercise in understanding the older generation by the younger.

@LadybirdDaphne I agree with you on Glorious Exploits. It's not necessarily something I'd have reached for but it was so highly recommended that I decided to give it a go. I finished it a couple of weeks ago now and I'm still thinking about it.

@SheilaFentiman I loved The Spy and the Traitor too, probably my favourite non-fiction book ever. The way they communicated with each other through the brand of shopping bag they were holding or chocolate bar they were eating is the detail that really stuck with me. If you haven't read Agent Zigzag by the same author I'd really recommend it, it's phenomenal as well.

The Other Bennet Sister- Janice Hadlow

This was a disappointment. The first section was great- it's such a clever retelling and Mary's point of view was so convincing. It really made me think what it would be like to be a woman in that time with no chance of marrying and no opportunities and forced to live off charity of family and friends- and the unfairness of then becoming the comedy figure of the 'maiden aunt'. It was shaping up to be something really feminist and interesting then (spoiler alert!) she goes to London, gets a new dress and a new pair of specs and suddenly men are chasing her. I found this really twee by the end.

Interesting, @ÚlldemoShúl I might persevere with it. I have a lovely new hardback from the library. I was thinking it could be a bit hard going based on the first couple of chapters.

I HATED The Other Bennet Sister.

This was my review:

The Other Bennet Sister - can't remember the writer's name and can't be bothered to look it up
Very boring, very long. Full of stilted and unrealistic conversation, and clumsy sledge-hammering into it of lines from Austen. At half the length and with a better writer, it might have worked.
Essentially, it went like this:
boring girl becomes more boring because her mother is a self-absorbed and nasty bitch and her father is an idle cynic. Boring girl reads a lot of boring books and has some boring conversation s whilst the writer re -hashes most of the plot of Pride and Prejudice, giving a b it of a voice to the previously silent housekeeper in order to give boring girl occasional chances to speak. She has one new dress but feels she doesn't deserve it. Boring girl goes to stay with sister but is too boring to fit in. Boring girl goes to stay with friend, but friend has turned into a jealous witch. Boring girl goes to stay with aunt. She doesn't have any new dresses. Boring girl finally buys some new dresses and talks to a bit about Wordsworth. Boring girl has a few orgasms thinking about boring Wordsworth. Boring girl climbs a mountain and gets rained on, but not before achieving spiritual unity with nature. Boring girl falls out with boy and comes down the mountain. Boring girl is sad and lonely and then she isn't because apparently having orgasms over Wordsworth and buying a new dress is enough to win you a man, even though you are boring. The end.

I have been away for sometime .... life being a bit challenging at the moment. Anyway, really want to get back into reading so place marking with my tiny (& currently static) list.

1# Watermelon Marian Keyes
2# Guide Me Home Attica Locke

Sounds like there have been some interesting discussions in my absence. Off to catch up.

Remus! I enjoyed The Other Bennet Sister although can’t remember much about it now.

I might give Simon Mason a go, ÚlldemoShúl. I'm on the library waiting list for Creation Lake, as musings on Neanderthals sound like my kind of thing.

I'm clearing out my painstakingly-acquired mini-library of books assembled for my PhD (the dust!) and am disconcerted to realize its value on the book-buying websites amounts to under a fiver in total. Having failed to monetize it in any way, it has slightly cheered me up that academics I respect aren't producing money-spinners either.

My books so far:

1. A Walk to the Western Isles, After Boswell and Johnson, Frank Delaney
2. Long Story Short, Jodi Taylor
3. The Haunted Wood: A History of Childhood Reading, Sam Leith
4. The Dark Wives, Anne Cleeves
5. Slow Trains to Istanbul, Tom Chesshyre
6. Sweetpea, C J Kuse
7. The Bookseller's Tale, Ann Swinfen
8. Sandwich, Catherine Newman
9. You are Here, David Nicholls
10. Swan Song, Edmund Crispin
11. More Dashing: Further Letters of Patrick Leigh Fermor
12. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Jodi Taylor
13. Holy Disorders, Edmund Crispin
14. The Travel Writing Tribe: Journeys in Search of a Genre, Tim Hannigan
15. The Dictionary People, Sarah Ogilvie
16. Enchanted Islands, Laura Coffey

And most recently:
17. Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I, Tracy Borman
I skimmed a bit as I don't care very much which courtier was in and out of royal favour, but I'm here for the family psychodrama, and the Tudors Bring It. Surprised at feeling sympathy for (Bloody) Mary and also that Hilary Mantel did an amazing job at rehabilitating Thomas Cromwell and possibly overshot the reality.

Withholding stars for now - might change in retrospective depending on what books stick with me. But I enjoyed them all.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie That's a hilarious and very accurate review :) It was when it got to the Wordsworth section that I sped up the audiobook to super fast chipmunk speed, just to get through it, and even then it was too slow. I felt cheated by the climb- at one point that was the only reason I stuck with it- there was so much foreboding about how high the cliff was and how difficult the walk was (particularly for 'ladies') that I was really looking forward to one of the characters meeting a gristly end. Disappointing.

Mary falling screaming to a very messy death would certainly have improved things.

London Rules by Mick Heron
I gobbled this one up in a long lie in and a train ride. Another very good one and I’ve already bought the next one.

The Power of Women by Denis Mukwege

Purchased ages ago based on a recommendation on here and picked up as part of read what you own 😀I hesitated, worried it would be another basically interesting but repetitive non fiction that could have been an article. I decided to go for it as I am so irritated by the headlines from the USA right now, that I wanted to hear from a man who is promoting women's right. So yes, I have just read a book about rape to help me relax and de-stress from current world issues.

Denis Mukwege works in a hospital in the Congo trying to provide maternity care and operating on women who have been raped. Trigger warning here - he includes details of sexual violence that are horrifying. Its so we understand what it is going on, it's not for the sake of it.

I knew the Congo wasn't a safe place but I hadn't understood the half of it. I visited Rwanda in 2019 and went to the genocide museum and missed the fact that many militant groups cross the border and plunder minerals and women.

This man has dedicated his life to healing and raising awareness in return he has had his life and family threatened. He has round the clock UN guards now and rarely leaves his hospital compound. He travels to speak to the UN and conferences on sexual violence in conflicts and he points the finger at governments when it's all talk and no action.

To join this to the chat this thread - this is why I read and I think others 'should' read. So many times books have opened my eyes to what is going on in other parts of the world, it gives me insight to other perspectives, challenges my assumptions and informs me. And sometimes makes me an activist. He writes that emotion without action is useless, and I am reflecting on this. I believe in working in local community/charity/giving back or whatever you want to call it. I am not doing much of it right now and will rectify that at some point.

Feeling quite emotional about the end of this book, the stories in it and the power of words on a page. Going to retreat in embarrassment now! 5 stars and a bold in case anyone is wondering.