Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Four

1000 replies

Southeastdweller · 17/03/2025 19:46

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Stowickthevast · 26/03/2025 10:52

Thanks for your reviews on the WP @cassandre I definitely want to read Fundamentally. I'm listening to Dream Count which is quite slow moving, but also the narrator - think it may be Adiche herself in this part - speaks really slowly. May move to 1.5 speed!
I felt similarly about Butter @DuPainDuVinDuFromage . It's interesting how some of the most marketed books of the last year or so - Butter, The Ministry of Time and Yellow Face - have not been that popular on here.

Any thoughts on the non-fiction shortlist? I haven't read any yet but was surprised Ootlin didn't make it as that seemed to be getting a lot of praise. I think the ones that appeal to me are Neneh Cherry, Story of a Heart and Raising Hare.

FortunaMajor · 26/03/2025 11:03

@cassandreI think it's really interesting to see how this group agrees and differs on something concentrated like the WP list. It's handy to know who you broadly align with for recommendations. I pay close attention to the bold lists of certain people at the end of the year.

I also find it interesting how my opinion of a book can change with a bit of time and reflection. The first flush of opinion doesn't always remain for me. Sometimes another review can make me reflect on it more deeply than my initial reaction. This thread is invaluable for this. I'm really grateful for everyone's contributions.

ÚlldemoShúl · 26/03/2025 12:07

I agree with everything @FortunaMajor says above- I love getting an extra insight into books from the reviews on here.
Thanks also for the non-fiction shortlist. I’ve read (and rated) Agent Zo and have Sister in Law, The Story of a Heart and Private Revolutions on audio so will give priority to the shortlisted ones. I’ve heard a lot of praise for Raising Hare. Wildlife reads generally don’t appeal to me but I’ll give it a go if it wins!

FortunaMajor · 26/03/2025 12:25

I'm in two minds on Raising Hare. I think it jumps on the bandwagon of H is for Hawk, but lacks the depth and quality of the writing in that. It's fairly sweet - woman takes in new born leveret and raises it to adulthood, despite many hurdles. There's a bit of mild peril and little bit of sadness. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but the cynic in me finds it a bit affected and self-indulgent.

SheilaFentiman · 26/03/2025 15:29

49. The Book of Two Ways - Jodi Picoult

Parts of this were very good, and I thought it might be a bold, but changed my mind.

The book opens with Dawn surviving a plane crash, and then shows us two timelines - one in Boston, where she lives and works, and one in Egypt, where her former lover Wyatt works.

(In real life, the author's son is an expert on Egypt and there is a lot of academic background in this book).

Dawn left Egypt (and her PhD, and Wyatt) 15 years ago when her mum told her she was dying of cancer. She met Brian - caring for his grandmother - at the hospice and soon began dating him. They have been married with a DD for many years now, and Dawn has retrained as a death doula and left Egyptology behind.

The Book of Two Ways itself is a depiction from Ancient Egypt about the land way and the water way through to heaven, and Brian is a quantum physicist who believes in multiverses. Hence the timelines.

The most interesting part to me was Dawn's work in giving people a good death. Her yearnings and strivings for the life and love unlived, triggered by a minor moment of inattention from Brian, stretch believability a bit, TBH.

IKnowAPlace · 26/03/2025 15:50

@cassandre so good to hear that someone else has read The Forbidden Notebook

I've finished 49. The Remains of The Day by Kazou Ishiguro. It's as I'd remembered it - I adore Ishiguro's writing so his novels will always be a thumbs up for me.

I'm about 75 pages into 50. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and I can't wait to get into bed to read it!

IKnowAPlace · 26/03/2025 15:53

@FortunaMajor I feel a bit flat about the non fiction shortlist. Now, I don't read loads of non fiction - 10-15% or so. I added Ootlin and The Fire We Carry to my wishlist when the longlist came out, and bought Sister in Law.

StrangewaysHereWeCome · 26/03/2025 16:15

Glad you're still #TeamButler @IKnowAPlace 😊

14.Appassionata by Jilly Cooper. I DNFed Polo because, well, of all the bloody polo, and I borrowed The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous thirty years ago, so on to this next instalment from Rutshire. It's the usual silly fun, the only twist being that this time the attractive poshos bonking each other into next week are classical musicians. This setting appealed to me a bit more (and I was pleased to see the amazing Early Music Shop in Saltaire getting a namecheck).

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/03/2025 19:51

I would very much like to see/cuddle/feed a hare.

I have zero interest in reading about a woman rearing a hare. A poem, maybe, but a full book? Nope.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 26/03/2025 19:53

Sylvia Plath could certainly make me want to read about a hare.

Ted Hughes, meanwhile, would probably have the hare dead, savaged and butchered with a crow pecking out its dead eyes.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 26/03/2025 20:18

All this talk of hares just makes me think of the weirdness of Starve Acre !

AlmanbyRoadtrip · 26/03/2025 20:36

Ring The Hill (an old nickname for the hare) by Tom Cox is full of hare folklore. He disappeared up his own backside a bit recently, so I stopped reading his blog and social media, but his nature writing is superb.
I love all things Hare (“Here. Hare here” 😄) and have a few items of folk jewellery with them on.

Clairedebear101286 · 26/03/2025 21:28

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

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.

In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America’s most defining eras—the Great Depression.

Book was brilliant - I loved it!

(14) Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
Book by Stephanie Land

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick
“Raw and inspiring.” —People
“Land is not just exploring her own story, but also the larger implications of what it means to fall between the cracks of American capitalism.” —The NewYorkTimes

From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner—a gripping memoir about college, motherhood, poverty, and life after Maid.

When Stephanie Land set out to write her memoir Maid, she never could have imagined what was to come. Handpicked by President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2019, it was called “an eye-opening journey into the lives of the working poor” (People). Later it was adapted into the hit Netflix series Maid, which was viewed by 67 million households and was Netflix’s fourth most-watched show in 2021, garnering three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Stephanie’s escape out of poverty and abuse in search of a better life inspired millions.

Maid was a story about a housecleaner, but it was also a story about a woman with a dream. In Class, Land takes us with her as she finishes college and pursues her writing career. Facing barriers at every turn including a byzantine loan system, not having enough money for food, navigating the judgments of professors and fellow students who didn’t understand the demands of attending college while under the poverty line—Land finds a way to survive once again, finally graduating in her mid-thirties.

Class paints an intimate and heartbreaking portrait of motherhood as it converges and often conflicts with personal desire and professional ambition. Who has the right to create art? Who has the right to go to college? And what kind of work is valued in our culture? In clear, candid, and moving prose, Class grapples with these questions, offering a searing indictment of America’s educational system and an inspiring testimony of a mother’s triumph against all odds.

Another brilliant book - when I get the chance I would like to read it rather than listen to it as I think I will enjoy it even more.

Happy reading everyone 😀

highlandcoo · 26/03/2025 23:31

@elkiedee were you talking a few pages back about a mini meet-up in London? I really enjoyed the last one. And many thanks again for the books you so generously brought.

I'm due to be in London next week and my planned meeting with a friend has fallen through. Still loads to do and see though so I'll still be there.

I don't want to scupper a more organised meetup because it would be great to do that again with plenty of notice but if any 50Bookers in London fancy meeting for lunch or an early evening glass of wine on Tuesday or Wednesday next week do PM me.

elkiedee · 27/03/2025 00:07

I agree - I would love to start thinking about more organised meetups - was London in May last year? Will pm you about next week though.

elkiedee · 27/03/2025 00:24

Hi @Clairedebear101286
I really liked The Four Winds too - the setting of the story appealed but the book was better than I expected it to be.

JaninaDuszejko · 27/03/2025 05:11

elkiedee · 27/03/2025 00:07

I agree - I would love to start thinking about more organised meetups - was London in May last year? Will pm you about next week though.

Yeah, London was May and Manchester was August.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/03/2025 06:29

I really want to try to be brave and come to a meet up at some point.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 27/03/2025 06:31

Love in a Mist by Susan Scarlett
Absolute twaddle.

Clairedebear101286 · 27/03/2025 06:39

elkiedee · 27/03/2025 00:24

Hi @Clairedebear101286
I really liked The Four Winds too - the setting of the story appealed but the book was better than I expected it to be.

I knew very little about the Great Depression - this book definitely gave me a better insight into what happened.
Kristin Hannah is, in my mind a brilliant story teller - they are not overly intellectual and ones that you analyze (never understood that even at school) just books for what they should be read for - enjoyment!

Stowickthevast · 27/03/2025 07:22

I'd be up for a London meet too but am going on hols next week so don't think I could manage that.

The Ted Hughes comment made me chuckle Remus

MegBusset · 27/03/2025 08:30

I couldn’t make the meet-up last year but definitely interested in a London one :)

MamaNewtNewt · 27/03/2025 08:49

I couldn’t make the meet-up last year either but would love to attend a gathering up north this year. @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I think quite a few of us feel the same way, I have huge social anxiety, so I will see how I feel once it gets nearer and hope I feel up to it at that point. If cake, chatting about books, and a book swap isn’t enough to lure me in then nothing will. 😊

28 Black Rock Bay by Brianna Labuskes

Two female detectives are sent to an insular, cut off island to investigate a body pulled from the ocean. For Mia this is her first time returning to the island since she was part of a suicide pact with two friends, which only she survived. Mia’s memory of that night is limited, but when she returns to the island it looks like there are links between that night and the current case. I’ve read quite a few books by this author now, and they are generally pretty good. This one was just ok, let down by the ending which didn’t really make much sense. All of the author’s books are free on kindle unlimited and the audible version is free too.

MamaNewtNewt · 27/03/2025 08:51

Re the meet up, should we set up a separate chat again to talk logistics like when, where (maybe we could consider other locations in the north this time?) and who wants to come.

FortunaMajor · 27/03/2025 08:53

IKnowAPlace · 26/03/2025 15:53

@FortunaMajor I feel a bit flat about the non fiction shortlist. Now, I don't read loads of non fiction - 10-15% or so. I added Ootlin and The Fire We Carry to my wishlist when the longlist came out, and bought Sister in Law.

I know what you mean. There are some good books on the long list, but the short list feels a bit meh.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is not accepting new messages.
Swipe left for the next trending thread