50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Five

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the fifth 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 or / and maybe authors as well of books you've read or going to read? It makes it much easier to keep track. Some of us like to bring over lists to the next thread- again, this is up to you.

The first thread of the year is here, the second thread here , the third thread here and the fourth thread here.

Place marking on the new thread - thanks southeast.

Thanks @Southeastdwellerhere’s my list.

1 Redemption by Jussi Adler-Olsen
2 Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron
3 The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B Tyson
4 Exhalation by Ted Chiang
5 Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
6 Guilty by Jussi Adler-Olsen
7 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
8 Relive by KJ Nelson
9 The Party on Laurel Street by Ruth Heald
10 Zikora by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
11 To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
12 Buried by Jussi Adler-Olsen
13 The Rose Arbor by Rhys Bowen
14 Old Filth by Jane Gardam
15 The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen
16 All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
17 The Scarred Woman by Jussi Adler-Olsen
18 Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
19 Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
20 The Other Times of Caroline Tangent by Ivan D Wainwright
21 The Whisper Man by Alex North
22 1066: The Year of Three Battles by Frank McLynn
23 Victim 2117 by Jussi Adler-Olsen
24 The Shadow Murders by Jussi Adler-Olsen
25 Locked In by Jussi Adler-Olsen
26 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
27 The Night We First Met by Clare Swatman
28 Black Rock Bay by Brianna Labuskes
29 Passing by Nella Larsen
30 Web by John Wyndham
31 Find Me by Anne Frasier
32 The Outsiders by SE Hinton
33 The Reckoning by DM Taylor
34 Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
35 The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
36 Finding Suzy: The Hunt For Missing Estate Agent Suzy Lamplugh and ‘Mr Kipper’ by David Videcette
37 Truth and Lies by Caroline Mitchell
38 The Day Tripper by James Goodhand
39 The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
40 Saturation Point by Adrian Tchaikovsky
41 The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner
42 Diva by Daisy Goodwin
43 The Burning by Jane Casey

Thanks for the shiny new thread south.

Two non fiction reviews:

14 Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. Fern was diagnosed as autistic in 2021, and her autism is a huge part of this book - much more than, for example, what it's like to be a stand-up comedian. I didn't think it was as funny as the straplines promised (several describe is as "hilarious"), in fact I found several parts quite distressing, as she had some awful experiences as a child / student, but I did enjoy its insight and honesty - it's genuinely no-holds-barred.

15 The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry. I would tend to describe myself as a liberal feminist, so this book and I got off to a tricky start as it begins with a scathing criticism of liberal feminism and I thought "hmmm this isn't for me". However, we both moved past that, and I have to admit that I then went on to agree with a lot of what she said. The basic premise is that the move in recent decades towards casual sex may seem like progress towards feminism (i.e. women can enjoy sex with lots of different people without being judged), but, if you accept that most women actually prefer having sex with a committed partner, it really favours the interests of heterosexual men more than women, as they are more likely (on average) to be keen on casual sex and are now more able to find willing partners to have sex with. Lots of discussion about things like consent, porn, prostitution, marriage. It's readable, well-researched and very thought provoking, if slightly depressing at times. I would love to get my 17yo DD to read it (and my DSs too come to that), but I think I'm unlikely to succeed!

Thanks @Southeastdweller

The author of one of my favourite books - A Long Way From Verona - and many other good ones, Jane Gardam, has died aged 96. Time for a big reading/ rereading project of her novels, short stories, children's books....

Thanks @Southeastdweller

Murder While you Work by Susan Scarlett
I think I’ve now read all of these. They’re all in a similar vein - nice girl wins nice man who is her social superior. This one had murder along the way though. Not a whodunnit because we know from the start who the baddie is, but more of a why and how did they dunnit. A simple and old fashioned easy read. I enjoyed it.

Just went to buy Enigma and it turns out I've already read it. I did a search on here for my review and it says I liked it!

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller
My list so far:
1 A Song for Lya- George RR Martin
2 The Razor’s Edge- W Somerset Maugham
3 Right Ho Jeeves (Audio) PG Wodehouse
4 Into Thin Air- Jon Krakauer
5 Held- Anne Michaels
6 The Women’s Room- Marilyn French
7 The Anxious Generation- Jonathan Haidt
8 The House of Doors- Tan Twan Eng
9 The Warden- Anthony Trollope
10 Day One- Abigail Dean
11 The Hanging Tree (audio)- Ben Aaronovitch
12 Arrangements in Blue- Amy Tan
13 A Bit of a Stretch (audio) - Chris Atkins
14 Confessions- Catherine Airey
15 A Canticle for Leibowitz- Walter Miller
16 Minor Detail- Adania Shibli
17 Anything is Possible- Elizabeth Strout
18 Just One Damned Thing after Another (audio) - Jodi Taylor
19 Knife- Salman Rushdie
20 The Boy from the Sea- Garrett Carr
21 The Guermentes Way- Volume 3 In Search of Lost Time- Marcel Proust
22 The Broken Afternoon- Simon Mason
23 Creation Lake (audio) - Rachel Kushner
24 The Peepshow- Kate Summerscale
25 Of War and Ruin- Ryan Cahill
26 Life without Children- Roddy Doyle
27 A Very Private School (audio)- Charles Spencer
28 Lost and Never Found- Simon Mason
29 Birding- Rose Ruane
30 Crooked Seed (audio) - Karen Jennings
31 The Artist- Lucy Steeds
32 A Little Trickerie- Rosanna Pike
33 Somewhere Else (audio) - Jenny Daiches
34 Oh William- Elizabeth Strout
35 The Ministry of Time- Kaliane Bradle
36 Agent Zo - Clare Mulley
37 The Persians- Sanam Mahloudji
38 Watching from the Dark (audio)- Gytha Lodge
39 Good Girl- Aria Aber
40 Fundamentally- Nussaibah Younis
41 Lucy by the Sea- Elizabeth Strout
42 Private Revolutions (audio) Yuan Yang
43 Dream Hotel- Laila Lalami
44 Dream Count- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
45 Under the Eye of the Big Bird- Hiromi Kawakami
46 The Iliad- Homer (Lattimore translation is bold, read and liked Emily Wilson’s too)
47 A Single Thread (audio)- Neneh Cherry
48 Amma- Saraid da Silva
49 Reservoir Bitches- Dahlia de la Cerda
50 Nesting- Roisin O’Donnell
51 James (audio)- Percival Everitt
52 Tell me Everything- Elizabeth Strout
53 Mrs March- Virginia Feito
54 The Silence of the Girls (audio) Pat Barker
55 Fever in the Heartland- Timothy Egan
56 Bad day in Black Rock- Kevin Power
57 The Women of Troy (audio)- Pat Barker
58 Those who Leave and Those who Stay- Elena Ferrante
59 Medea and other plays- Euripides
60 Chasing the Dead- Tim Weaver
61 The Voyage Home (audio)- Pat Barker
62 The Art Thief- Michael Finkel

Checking in - thanks for the new thread!

1. The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah [P]
2. The Fifth Risk - Michael Lewis (NF) [P]
3. Deadly Cross - James Patterson [P]
4. The Silent Wife - Karin Slaughter
5. Apples Never Fall - Liane Moriarty
6. The Lost Notebook - Louise Douglas
7. The Sky Beneath Us - Fiona Valpy
8. The Sea House - Louise Douglas
9. Giraffe & Flamingo - Curtis Sittenfield (short story)
10. Red Sauce, Brown Sauce - Felicity Cloake (NF) [P]
11. Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose - Alison Weir
12. This Is Why We Lied - Karin Slaughter
13. Drowning Rose - Marika Cobbold
14. The Long Call - Ann Cleeves
15. The Glassmaker - Tracy Chevalier
16. Hex - Jennie Fagan
17. Taken as Red - Anoushka Asthana
18. Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes
19. Never Never - Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
20. The Stranger Diaries - Elly Griffiths
21. Velocity - Dean Koontz
22. Bone and Cane - David Belbin
23. The Keeper of Stories - Sally Page
24. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent - Judi Dench (NF)
25. The Postscript Murders - Elly Griffiths
26. Layla - Colleen Hoover
27. The Spy and the Traitor - Ben McIntyre (NF)
28. The Midnight Hour - Elly Griffiths [P]
29. Goodfellowe MP - Michael Dobbs
30. Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 - Mitchell Zuckoff (NF)
31. The Man of My Dreams - Curtis Sittenfield
32. The Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connolly
33. Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown - Alison Weir
34. Over Sharing - Jane Fallon
35. The Return - Victoria Hislop
36. Bleeding Heart Yard - Elly Griffiths
37. A Bookshop of One’s Own - Jane Cholmeley (NF)
38. Storm In A Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life - Helen Czerski (NF)
39. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
40. A Most Desirable Marriage - Hilary Boyd
41. Daughter - Jane Shemilt
42. Vaxxers - Prof Sarah Gilbert and Dr Catherine Green (NF) [P]
43. Careless People - Sarah Wynn-Williams (NF)
44. The Report - Jessica Francis Kane
45. The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato
46. The Lying Game - Tess Stimson
47. Fatherland - Robert Harris (P)
48. The Infidelity Chain - Tess Stimson
49. The Book of Two Ways - Jodi Picoult
50. Reading Lessons - Carol Atherton (NF)
51. How I Caused the Credit Crunch - Tetsuya Ishikawa (NF)
52. Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty
53. and how does that make you feel? - Joshua Fletcher
54. Still Midnight - Denise Mina
55. A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict - Ilan Pappe (NF) (P)
56. The Secret By The Lake - Louise Douglas
57. A Heart That Works - Rob Delaney
58. The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson (P)
59. A Spark of Light - Jodi Picoult (P)
60. Famous Last Words - Gillian McAllister
61. The Reversal - Michael Connelly
62. A Spy in the Family - Paul Henderson and David Gardner (P) (NF)
63. A Curious Career - Lynn Barber (P) (NF)
64. The Shadow Wife - Diane Chamberlain
65. The Searcher - Tana French
66. The Hunter - Tana French
67. The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths
68. Promising Young Woman - Caroline O’Donoghue
69. No Mercy - Martina Cole
70. Reminders of Him - Colleen Hoover
71. Conclave - Robert Harris

Sorry to hear that. I loved Bilgewater as a teen.

Just checking in.

Thank you for the new thread Southeastdweller! Here's a continuation of my list from last time;

11. Tunnel 29: Helena Merriman
12. Creation Lake: Rachel Kushner
13. Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners: Olly Richards
14. Lady Living Alone: Norah Lofts
15. The Colony: Audrey Magee
16. Gone Away (Mrs Malory #1): Hazel Holt
17. After Midnight: Irmgard Keun (trans. Anthea Bell)
18. Perfect Prepositions: Short Stories in Italian: Olly Richards
19. Minor Detail: Adania Shibli (trans. Elisabeth Jaquette)
20. My Friends: Hisham Matar
21. Martin Chuzzlewit: Charles Dickens
22. Sarà perchè ti amo: Serena Giuliano
23. The Greengage Summer: Rumor Godden
24. Annie Bot: Sierra Greer
25. Where Stands a Wingèd Sentry: Margaret Kennedy
26. The Late Mattia Pascal: Luigi Pirandello (trans. William Weaver)
27. Chez les Flamands (Maigret #15): Georges Simenon
28. The Safekeep: Yael van der Wouden
29. Nesting: Róisín O'Donnell
30. Conclave: Robert Harris

I'm enjoying Glorious Exploits at the moment. It's certainly different. I'm finding it impossible not to picture the two lead characters from the 'Young Offenders' (I don't know if anyone knows the Irish film and sitcom about two young lads from Cork who constantly get into trouble and have run-ins with the law). The chat and banter are very similar.

Edit to change Green to Greer

Thank you southeast. Have just caught up with Persephone Books' absurd comment on TBR piles on the last thread. It shows a lack of spiritual feeling. I'm not religious any more but I continue to have a holy sense of hope that one day I will read eg both volumes of Roman Roads in Britain, which I inherited from my mother's TBR pile in 1995.

1) The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson
2) Bad Fruit by Ella King
3) Unruly by David Mitchell
4) Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
5) Butter by Asako Yuzuki
6) North Woods by Daniel Mason
7) Nothing Left to Fear From Hell by Alan Warner
8) How to Solve your own Murder by Kristen Perrin
9) The Palace by Gareth Russell
10) Strange Pictures by Uketsu
11) Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire
12) The List of Suspicious Things by Jenny Godfrey
13) The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
14) One of the Good Guys by Amarinta Hall
15) Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream
16) Precipice by Robert Harris

That may be a thread record @PermanentTemporary!

Thanks for the New thread. Just place marking until im awake enough to copy my list over.

1. The Zone Of Interest by Martin Amis
2. Valley Of The Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
3. The List by Yomi Adegoke
4. Here In The Dark by Alexis Soloski
5. Mistborn : The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
6. True Grit by Charles Portis
7. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
8. The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim
9. My Friends by Hisham Matar
10. Polo by Jilly Cooper
11. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
12. The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade
13. Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
14. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
15. There There by Tommy Orange
16. Rogues : True Stories by Patrick Radden Keefe
17. The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
18. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
19. The House Of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
20. The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
21. Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley
22. The Secret Lives Of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
23. Good Material by Dolly Alderton
24. The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
25. A Voyage Around The Queen by Craig Brown
26. A Very Private School by Charles Spencer
27. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea
28. The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
29. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
30. A Pocketful Of Happiness by Richard E Grant
31. Outside The Door by Jane Casey
32. Still Life by Sarah Winman
33. Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
34. The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths
35. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
36. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
37. The Night Hawks by Elly Griffiths
38. The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
39. The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths
40. Firebrand by Elizabeth Fremantle
41. Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald
42. The God Of The Woods by Liz Moore
43. Long Bright River by Liz Moore
44. Him by JD Kirk
45. Slow Horses by Mick Herron
46. The War Of The Worlds by HG Wells
47. Yes Ma’am by Tom Quinn
48. Dead Lions by Mick Herron
49. Real Tigers by Mick Herron
50. The Kellerby Code by Jonny Sweet
51. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
52. The Moon’s A Balloon by David Niven
53. Death At The Sign Of The Rook by Kate Atkinson
54. In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
55. Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
56. Pearl by Siân Hughes
57. All Fours by Miranda July
58. Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
59. The Power Of The Dog by Thomas Savage
60. The Secret Room by Jane Casey
61. Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
62. The Echoes by Evie Wyld
63. Geneva by Richard Armitage

Thank you southeast

@Piggywaspushed. I wanted to pick up on what you said about The Women by Kristen Hannah. It really frustrated me, there was a better book in there trying to get out. Frankie was such a Mary Sue to start with and then it implausibly heaped misery after misery upon her seemingly for miseries sake! It was definitely schlocky as you put it

Thank you southeast

13. Shakespeare: The Man who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench
Inspired to finish this off finally, it's taken me ages. I have enjoyed it but I haven't loved it. Not sure why. I think I have a childish envy of the astounding Judi Dench, and that means I'm reading her thoughts with a permanent deliberate distance, and I read this on my kindle phone app, which I do think takes the edge off the reading experience. But there's some really great moments in this.

Thanks Southeast!

Here’s my list:
2025 books
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
13 Glorious Exploits - Ferdia Lennon
14 Blood and Guts: a history of surgery - Richard Hollingham
15 To Calais, In Ordinary Time - James Meek
16 The Power of Women - Dr Denis Mukwege
17 Oranges are not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson
18 A Life of Meaning - James Hollis
19 Welsh Witchcraft - Mhara Starling
20 Orfeia - Joanne Harris
21 Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens
22 The Once and Future Sex - Eleanor Janega
23 Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers - Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English
24 All Fours - Miranda July

Since I last posted I’ve read:
25 Welsh Fairies - Mhara Starling
More Welsh woo, lots of well-researched folkloric info on Y Tylwyth Teg (aka the Fair Folk).

26 Platonic - Marisa G. Franco
Why friendships are important, and how to foster them. I’ve recently started a new job, so trying to get into a mindset of making connections rather than perceiving other people as a general nuisance.

27 The Resilience Myth - Soraya Chemaly
Sigh. I agreed with the basic message here - a focus on individual resilience upholds capitalism, encouraging people to learn to withstand current conditions rather than working together for change and mutual support. But it was presented very chaotically and isn’t going to change the minds of any committed self-prioritising right wingers.

Thank you for the thread @Southeastdweller ! Here’s my list (I ended up concluding that The One was, after all, a stinker - one good idea is not enough to make a decent book when everything else about it is so terrible!):

1. The Girl of Ink and Stars - Kiran Millwood Hargrave
2. Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield
3. My Perfect Friend - Sarah Clarke
4. One of the Good Guys - Araminta Hall
5. A Spy among Friends - Ben Macintyre
6. The Secret Hours - Mick Herron
7. Black Rabbit Hall - Eve Chase
8. The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton
9. No Escape - Lucy Clarke
10. The Poison Pen Letters - Fiona Walker
11. Instructions for a Heatwave - Maggie O’Farrell
12. The Marches: Border Walks with my Father - Rory Stewart
13. The Sea House - Louise Douglas
14. Yellowface - Rebecca Kuang
15. The House of Fortune - Jessie Burton
16. The Muse - Jessie Burton
17. The Birdcage - Eve Chase
18. Butter - Asako Yuzuki (tr. Polly Barton)
19. Airhead - Emily Maitlis
20. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
21. Our Wives under the Sea - Julia Armfield
22. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O’Farrell
23. Just Another Missing Person - Gillian McAllister
24. The Wych Elm - Tana French
25. The One - John Marrs
26. Raven Black - Ann Cleeves

In the TBR thing, I recently read a book I bought in 2014 - was just waiting for the right time!

I read Conclave a few months ago, as I have young kids and never get to go to the cinema. Really enjoyed it. Have been recommended Pompeii as well.

Thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Bringing over my list from the last thread:
30. Amma - Saraid de Silva
31. The Artist - Lucy Steeds
32. Olive, Again - Elizabeth Strout
33. Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout
34. The Book of Disappearance - Ibtisami Azem, translated by Sinan Antoon
35. The Lesser Bohemians - Eimear Macbride
36. Dream Count - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
37. Long Island Compromise - Taffy Brodesser- Anker
38. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
39. Confessions - Catherine Airey
40. I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz
41. Hagstone - Sinéad Gleeson
42. Sunrise On The Reaping - Suzanne Collins
43. The Dream Hotel - Laila Lalami
44. Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains - Susan Elderkin
45. Here One Moment - Liane Moriarty
46. Girls - Kirsty Capes

Glad to hear you're enjoying Glorious Exploits Fuzzy although I don't know the Cork comedians. I think I'm going to choose it for my book club as have been waiting to read it for a while.

Thanks for the new thread, South. I'll add my list after a couple of new reviews while I remember. Both are WW2-related, which was coincidental but happens to work well with the VE Day anniversary.

36. Mrs. Milburn’s Diaries - ed. Peter Donnelly

Not a Mass Observation document but a copious diary kept by Clara Milburn, a 50-something well-to-do wife and mother in the West Midlands. She and her husband lived in a spacious house with a huge garden, which swallowed up much of their time ('dig for Britain' was something they took very seriously). Their son, Alan, was captured very early in the war so spent almost all of it as a POW, and this worry dominates the diary. It’s also very detailed in terms of war news so an interesting historical document, but I have to say it slightly lacks the spark that makes some other wartime diaries so fascinating, although Mrs Milburn was a lively and engaging writer and clearly a woman of admirable spirit.

37. Pastoral - Nevil Shute

Written in wartime and first published in 1944. This was fascinating on so many levels. Peter Marshall is a pilot of Wellington bombers, stationed at an airbase in Oxfordshire. At 22, he’s one of the steadiest, most experienced men in the unit. He enjoys his life, has a tightly-bonded crew and loves fishing, his passion in his time off. When 21-year-old signals officer Gervase (an odd choice of name but hey) Robertson crosses his path, he falls swiftly in love with her, and after just a few meetings, tells her he wants to marry her. But she doesn’t want to marry him. What follows is the story of the drama between them and the impact it has on everyone and everything around them.
I was gripped by this although not for the reasons Shute might have expected of his readers. Gervase is sympathetically-drawn as a mature and thoughtful character who isn’t enjoying her war experience, while Peter seems quite childishly unreflective, happy as long as things are going his way. Yet it’s clear that Shute expects us to sympathise with Peter - which I didn’t. This would be a great Rather Dated read, actually. Anyway, I loved it.