50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Four

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fourth 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, the second thread here and the third thread here.

93 Operation Fools Mate 48 ML Baldwin
Book 2 in the Operation Fools Mate trilogy based on the fictional invasion of Britain by the Russians. These books are scarily realistic, the author is, IIRC, ex-army so really knows his stuff. There's lots of military talk, hence it wasn't a bold for me as I kept forgetting what all the acronyms meant. But overall it's an exciting story.

94 The Game. Danny Dagan
This was a bold. The grown up children of 5 billionaires are kidnapped and taken to a remote island. Their parents are contacted with various stages of "the game" which translate into points for the children. At the end of the game the winner will come home, the 4 losers will be returned in coffins. This had a delicious twist at the end, and is part one of a series so I'm excited to see where it goes next.

95 Crossing Paths. Nina Purtee
Book 2 in the Annie's Journey series,and like book 1 I won't be recommending it. Clunky, boring and I just didn't care about anyone.

96 The Tangled Mane. Charlie Tyler
A dual timeline story. Half set in 2005ish sees siblings Lucy and Mikey growing up in a totally neglectful household with a drug addicted mum and no sign of social services. Then in the present day PI Cally is working undercover in a hotel when a body turns up in a bathtub.
The links between the past and present day characters was obvious, and there was a really annoying mistake that saw Lucy playing Doodle Jump on a smartphone a few years before either existed. (OK, smartphones did, but not like we know now, with touchscreen apps)
It was obvious who the killer was, but the whys and hows were a fun mystery and the ending made me cry!

97 Constructing Churchill. Jon Hartless
I picked this book up thinking it was about Churchill, should have read the blurb properly. It was actually a meta novel about the institutions that are publishing and the media and how that means men like Churchill are remembered as THE GREATEST MAN THAT EVER LIVED and so on. I loved and hated this in equal measure. Sometimes I felt the the author thought the reader was stupid,and over explained some things. Then I thought maybe I was stupid and was missing the point. At times the footnotes were longer than the actual story, but maybe that's the point of meta fiction?
It's loosely a fiction about a young black woman who is trying to make it in the publishing world, but not being a rich white man, is pretty much doomed to fail. Bits of it were really funny. Bits were totally irritating.

98 The Countess and the Nazis. Richard Jay Hutto
The true story of Countess Muriel White Seherr-Thoss, an American heiress who married a Prussian count. There was a lot less Nazi than I expected, but it was a fascinating history of European upper classes.

@ChessieFLi used to love Cider With Rosie when I was younger, particularly the way it captured a way of life that was about to disappear. However when I read it again last year I was really shocked by the ending and I can’t see me ever revisiting this book again.

60 Famous Last Words - Gillian McAllister

Read by a few of us now!

It is Cam’s first day back at her job in publishing, after 9 months of maternity leave. But almost as soon as she gets into the office, the news shows her DH, Luke, has taken three hostages at gun point at a warehouse in London. The hostage negotiator, Niall, gets Cam down there to help, and Isabella (one of the hostages, and a policeman’s wife) is released, but then the worst happens - Luke shoots the other two and escapes.

Seven years on, Cam is dating, trying to have Luke declared dead so that she can sell the house and make a new life with DD Poppy. Chapters alternate between Cam and Niall as we see the impact on them, But then Cam starts to sense that someone is watching her…

Gripping, an easy read, Niall, Cam and Cam’s sister were all good characters.

I’m confused about Cider With Rosie I remember really enjoying it when I was 12/13 and don’t remember anything problematic maybe it went straight over my head? Or I didn’t fully understand? Obviously I was very young. I won’t revisit I don’t think

Cider with Rosie is part of a trilogy. The next two are about the author and how he fought in the Spanish Civil War. There is some controversy about how truthful they are, but they are a great read. The first one is As I Walked Out One Summer Morning and the second is A Moment of War.

I looked up my review of Cider With Rosie and it was positive. I do remember that bit at the end though.

I was so intrigued I looked up Cider With Rosie spoiler reviews on Goodreads and was shocked by the incident that everyone is referring to. I’m sure I read this in class at school was largely bored by it and have no recollection of the story. What were they thinking putting this on the syllabus. How times have changed.

I know that’s the thing I’m totally confused about, I loved the book when I was younger and read it quite a few times. I was fully expecting to enjoy revisiting an old favourite last year but I was pretty shocked. I must not have appreciated the significance of ‘the event’ when I was younger but I agree it’s an odd one to have on the school syllabus.

35 The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy

Saul Adler is a historian who is run over while crossing Abbey Road in 1988. Shortly afterwards his girlfriend ends their relationship and Saul embarks on a planned trip to East Germany. As a result of his accident Saul experiences glimpses of the future and is quite emotional during his trip to East Germany, where he unexpectedly fall in love. This was almost a DNF as I found the early section a slog, but really enjoyed the middle section in Germany. The whole thing had a really disjointed, dreamlike, episodic feel, especially later in the book when Saul is again involved in an accident. As he recovers in hospital we start to see glimpses of the episodes seen previously, but from others’ perspectives. It was a bit of a strange one overall, a book without clear cut, easy answers, but I did like it.

15. The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie This month's read christie challenge book. A group of young people are at a house party in the countryside when one of them ends up dead from supposedly natural causes. A few weeks later another member of the party is killed and the surviving youngsters start their own investigation into what happened. I'm not particularly keen on these Christie books where young aristocrats solve crimes. This one definitely had shades of Tommy and tuppence and I find the t&t books extremely frustrating. I'm definitely more of a fan of the Poirot and Marple books. Having said that, this was enjoyable enough and I didn't see the twist coming or guess whodunnit

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
(6) The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
(7) Last Friends by Jane Gardam
(8) American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins -
(9) The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden (Description taken from Amazon)
Latest book...
(10) The Coworker by Frieda McFadden
(11) Maid by Stephanie Land (Audio Book)
(12) The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Latest two books....
(13) The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
(14) Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
Book by Stephanie Land
(15) Verity by Colleen Hoover

Latest book.....

(16) Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Taken from amazon......

From the New York Times number one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes Kristin Hannah's haunting, heartbreakingly beautiful novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between past and present.

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and travelled the world to become a famous photo journalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, these two estranged women will find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. On his deathbed, their father extracts one last promise from the women in his life.

It begins with a story that is unlike anything the sisters have heard before – a captivating, mysterious love story that spans sixty-five years and moves from frozen, war torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska. The vividly imagined tale brings these three women together in a way that none could have expected. Meredith and Nina will finally learn the secret of their mother's past and uncover a truth so terrible it will shake the foundation of their family and change who they think they are.

Mesmerizing from the first page to the last, Winter Garden is an evocative, lyrically written novel that will long be remembered.

'It’s a tearjerker, but the journey is as lovely – and haunting – as a snow filled winter’s night.' – People

I loved this book - Kristin Hannah is my type of Author!

Can not wait to read more!

Happy reading everyone! :)

55 . Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates

Written by the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project this is an unflinching look at incels, mens rights activists and the manosphere. Interesting for those wanting to know more after watching Adolescence

i think lots of 50 Bookers read this ages ago. I went to buy it and was informed I owned it so I must have had it a few years. It’s 5 years old now and there are certain things that slightly date it as not being completely current but that doesn’t matter too much.

Important but hugely depressing and a bit repetitive, it’s scary to think I probably know men with these secret beliefs.

#13. Happy all the time, Laurie Colwin

I thought I'd love this allegedly funny book about two couples but it was a slog. Guido and Vincent were barely distinguishable from each other and Holly was a 2D character. Misty was the only one with any depth. But nothing happens. Glad it's over!

I was at my Agatha Christie thing this weekend and at least two of the speakers openly expressed their dislike or ambivalence to Tommy and Tuppence - sharp intakes of breath all round the room, which I found hilarious. (Never tried Tommy and Tuppence).

#TeamTommyandTuppence I think they’re fun. Only read two though I think.

I’m going to give an unpopular opinion- I hate Agatha Christie. The books bore me senseless. This is despite loving murder mysteries but has also given me a lifelong aversion to cozy crime.

18 Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

I went to see Cabaret last week and followed up by reading the book that inspired it. Like the musical, I found it a little disconnected, but Isherwood paints a vivid picture of the city's frenetic brightness with an undercurrent of menace stirring. Everyone knows a Sally Bowles (which is why she works) and the writing of the people in general is excellent. The whole of the last section, as Isherwood realises he must leave, is desperately sad, with even the painted on brightness gone, leaving only a skeleton.

PS I like Tommy and Tuppence, especially N or M.* *

36 Finding Suzy: The Hunt For Missing Estate Agent Suzy Lamplugh and ‘Mr Kipper’ by David Videcette

The author is an ex policeman, turned detective fiction writer, who has revisited the case of Suzy Lamplugh who vanished in 1986. Although he turns up a couple of intriguing insights and potential clues there’s little in the way of concrete evidence to support his theories. I also really disliked the way the author cast aspersions on Suzy’s parents. Not recommended but it is free on kindle unlimited so at least I didn’t waste any money on it.

The only Agatha Christie I’ve read is And Then There Were None I rather enjoyed it but wasn’t inspired to read further

@Welshwabbit Cabaret in London? I saw it in December it was AMAZING

Am rereading Pride and Prejudice atm. Did anyone see that Olivia Coleman is slated to play Mrs Bennett in the new version? Big thread on X saying she is much too old.

I did see that. Overrated Emma Corrin as well. The 1990’s P&P is perfect and needs no update

Oh god, what! I am going to look up this P&P, please please do not let Emma Corrin be Lizzie. Please.

I think Christie has a place in the evolution of detective fiction. I don’t actually love her writing, it’s very dialogue heavy and has a real lack of character development. She falls into a space where I need a break, or am
in a slump. I also think it’s partly nostalgia for the Poirot tv series that I watched with with my family - ‘grown up tv’ if you like and her adaptations and quiz shows are two of the main things my family will gather for.

I don’t actually like murder mystery beyond Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie at all to be honest.

Yes! Very enjoyable although I think we will have seen different casts and I felt the current Sally was a bit too good at singing!