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.

Hope you get good health news soon @PepeLePew Saturdays with tea and books sound very restorative. I sometimes do similar - if I've managed a slog around Parkrun that morning (and got cold and wet), it's even sweeter.

Thank you, biblio and also for the gentle
yet well aimed reminder that it is indeed better after Parkrun. I hate the idea of it and the trudge but it is always a good feeling to come home, shower and flop on the sofa.

Virtue rewarded!

Hoping all well @PepeLePew and that you have some excellent books and good tea for your Saturday sessions. Cake too?

4. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

A collection of short musings (some were magazine articles) by an author I'd heard of in connection with her films but never read. An easy and light read with some moving and thought provoking moments.

After two non fiction books I'm going to read a novel next 😀

@PepeLePew hope you get some reassurance soon. In the meantime, Saturdays with books, tea and cake sound perfect

@PepeLePew I usually spend one day every weekend sitting in the kitchen with all the books I am reading basically doing all the laundry. I only really do 30 min washes and might cook as well, but I basically read in between all day long. I audio whilst loading and unloading and then might do a section of a chapter in my non fiction then a chapter of a novel. I am rather shit at being more organised for laundry in the week, but I have to admit I do like this routine a lot.

Wishing you all the best with the test results @PepeLePew . I like the idea of carving out specific reading time. I have been away from reading so long that all my borrowbox books have auto returned & i have had to start something new. Not a good sign.

First post for the year and it's been a good start - although I usually start well ahead and lose ground later on. A lovely holiday helped! Favourites in bold....

1. The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

This was a lovely read - very engaging with some beautifully drawn characters.

1. The Empty House by Rosamunde Pilcher

Disappointing - a bit Mills & Boon!

1. The Women who wouldn't wheesht - ed Susan Dalgety

Enjoyed this more than I thought it would - just a collection of essays from women active in the gender critical movement. Repetitive as some related the same events but always with a different perspective.

1. How to kill your family by Bella Mackie

didn't live up to its publicity. Ok as a read but not a stand out

1. The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle

Also a nice holiday read.

1. Sydney by Jan Morris

You can guess where I was on holiday! This gave some useful info but had an odd snidey slant to it

1. Small Bomb at Dimperley by Lissa Evans

Didn't love this as much as some others on the thread. good holiday read but not great.

1. Being Henry; the Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler

This was an audio book and it was great! Really fun, and from such a humble yet talented actor who peaked too early in his career and struggled to get back. Recommend.

1. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I loved this. Probably because of the time in which it was set which would have put me just a bit younger than Daisy. She would have been one of the cool girls a few years ahead I looked up to at school. I just loved how the different characters looked and experienced the same situation in so many different ways.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage might be enough interest for the next read. It’s been on my list for years, and I’ve deliberately not read any of the new retellings because I haven’t read the source (I do realise this is not at all necessary).

Sorry - I see my numbering and spacing went to pot!

Ooh interesting! I’m definitely more likely to actually read it if there’s a readalong so that would be great 😊

Cake! That is such a good idea. I've lost weight since January (intentionally; not linked to possible health issues) and am trying to figure out how to go from strictly abstemious to letting a little more joy into my diet and a single amazing piece of cake is almost certainly part of the answer! 🍰

33. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Audible)

I think @Sadik recommended this, many thanks.

Charles, a robot valet, malfunctions and kills his master, seeking to be fixed or at least find a new valet position, Charles embarks on a Hero's Journey, can he be a Protagonist or does he live to serve?

This was good, if not a bold. It's very episodic. I think it probably would work better as Audible because of how the robots talk to each other comes alive and would be flat and repetitive on the page

Definitely worth a credit if you have a spare. A lot to say about the worrying future of AI. Not as good as Annie Bot because it looks more to the darkly comic side rather than serious discourse.

I haven't read any other Adrian Tchaikovsky - would take recommendations. I do have Children Of Time on TBR, but I think that's part of a series.

@PepeLePew
Strictly Abstemious sounds like the title of a cosy mystery series featuring a former ballroom dancer turned sleuthing nun.

I like hearing about where and when others read. I usually have multiple books on the go because different places/times call for different formats. Would definitely be far less domesticated if audiobooks weren't a thing! As it is, I still skip all the noisy chores 😅

Hurray for Cake @PepeLePew

I shall report back on progress. I think - despite my many books-on-the-go - I may be lacking the one book to rule them all that makes me absolutely desperate to get stuck in. But actually just finishing off some of the ones I'm working my way through would feel like a win, too. I plan to start the day downstairs on the sofa, then shall move upstairs as at this time of year, there is a patch of sunshine on my bed from about 2pm to 5pm that is absolutely wonderful to curl up in and read.

Sounds like a wonderful plan @PepeLePew

Sending best wishes to you @PepeLePew with 🫖 and 🍰 which is
a winning combination paired with 📚.

I have a bench in my kitchen where I like to sit and read (with a small table close by for tea and cake). It's lovely on warm, sunny days (currently not the case, sadly. It's cold and damp and grey). These days I'm more likely to sit on the sofa in the sitting room or in bed. Winter here in Ireland lasts up to April, I think. Six months of Winter, six months of non-Winter.

Enjoy the cake, I hope you get good answers soon.

(Swallows warm Welshcake fresh from the maen). Best wishes @PepeLePew.

ADHD Explained - Edward Hallowell Adult DD has been diagnosed with inattentive ADHD so I did some reading up on it and am now totally convinced that both I and my DM have it. Then out of the blue DS rang up and said he has also been referred for testing. I’m not sure that at my age pursuing a diagnosis is worth the effort but it explains a LOT. Including my inability to remember what on earth happened in any book I’ve ever read (see below).

Reading my way through When Will There Be Good News Jackson Brodie no 3. I’d read them all previously as they came out so could never remember the characters that connect the books together.

Strictly Abstemious sounds like the title of a cosy mystery series featuring a former ballroom dancer turned sleuthing nun.

It does, @inaptonym and I would so read that book. I do like a sleuthing nun.

One book to rule them all
Love this phrase. Is it cheating if it’s a series?

Best wishes @PepeLePew Tea, cake and books sounds like a good distraction method.

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit I really liked Dogs of War and loved One Day All This Will Be Yours.