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.

Ahh, thanks for the birthday wishes!

I'm turning to this chat for some recommendations!
I've just learned my 21yo niece hasn't read a book since she left school because she doesn't know what to read. She loves things like lotr, game of thrones etc on tv so ideally something fantasy but more accessible than the Lord of the rings books. Also I don't think she'd like anything with too much smut

Anyone have any suggestions for her? It's not really my preferred genre so I'm a bit lost for what to suggest

I’m not really a fantasy reader but I think the popular ones are Brandon Sanderson and Robin Hobb? Maybe look at their series?

@satelliteheart Robin Hobb is a good call as recommended by eine. Maybe try Peter McLean too. First is traditional fantasy, second is grimdark- generally smutless. Tell her to avoid romantasy if she doesn’t like spice. Brandon Sanderson is popular too- very into the mechanics of the magic though so he doesn’t put as much time into believable well rounded characters.

I think if you're not really a reader, Romantasy may be just what you need!

My teen really enjoyed Fourth Wing and sequels, and there's a bit of shagging but not too excessive.
I love Robin Hobb, and there's loads of them - start with the assassin and work through. I think Brandon Sanderson is a bit heavy for a newbie.

When I was her age, I really liked the David Eddings Belgariad series - lightweight but fun - no sex iirc.

Angela Slatter writes some great gothic fantasy with strong female leads. The Murmuring Bones The Path Of Thorns etc.

Thanks all, lots of recommendations! Romantasy was my concern as I know she won't want anything too graphic and I have the impression things like acotar are pretty sex-focused, although I haven't read any myself so wasn't sure. But if Fourth Wing isn't too smutty that might be a good first book. I'll have a little dig into all the suggestions and see what I think will suit her best

Thanks you lovely lot!

35 Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes.
On my grading system this gets a bold*. It wouldn't normally be my sort of thing but I'm so glad I read it even though it left me sobbing.

@ReginaChaseoh I absolutely loved that book too. So emotional.

Still toiling through Precipe and hating it. I’m so far in now that I’m determined to finish it though.

My darling Venetian I’d like
To get into your pants every night
There’s a crisis in Europe
Young men cruelly slaughtered
But a shag would make everything right

Venitia

@satelliteheart as a YA fantasy fan I loved Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series

81. The Secrets of Flowers - Sally Page

This is the third book of hers I have read (and the third published, though apparently the first written; it secured her an agent). As with the other two, it's a slightly whimsical story of a 40-something woman, Emma, changing her life (in this case - chucking in science to become a florist after her husband's death).

The story alternates between Emma in the present day and Violet in the early part of the 20th century, with Violet being a child much affected by flowers as she grows up. As Emma begins researching the history of flowers on the Titanic, it's only a mild spoiler to say we begin to see how the past and present strands are intertwined.

I liked the character of Emma very much and would have preferred to stick with her rather than switching every chapter, so not a bold, but still, a nice read.

(exam stress in the household so I am looking for light books at present!)

I’ve been reading a few books from the International Booker longlist for the first time- a mix of those I could get in my library and a few that interested me enough to buy. My favourite of them has so far been Under the Eye of the Big Bird but I still have quite a few left to read (including the winner Heart Lamp which was announced last night). So far I’ve enjoyed reading them- even some of the more off the wall entries, just because they’ve been something a bit different from the norm.
2 more finished this week so far.

75 Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
Short novel about a man taking his elderly, dying mother on a road trip. I can’t remember if I reviewed this before- menopause brain. It’s darkly comedic at times but also just dark at others. Both, despite their wealth, are dealing with past issues including their fathers, abuse and historical reverberations.

76 On the Calculation of Volume- Volume 1- Solvej Balle
Tara Selter wakes up to the 18th of November every day. At first, she tries to find her way out, but as time goes on she settles into it a bit more. She contemplates her life, how to interact with the world including her husband, and her place in it. It’s actually much more interesting than this synopsis would suggest and quite profound at times without being too pretentious. It’s the first of 7 volumes (5 already published in Denmark, 2 here) and it’s got my interested enough to buy volume 2 when I’m in town today. Not bold but engaging.

I just watched the winner awarded @ÚlldemoShúl - Max Porter gave a stonking speech 🥹

The only one of the shortlist I've read was On The Calculation Of Vol which I really liked - not a bold for me either but will definitely read the next one. Also want to read Big Bird and will read the winner - it's good that so many indie presses were on the Longlist.

Yes @Stowickthevast I loved his speech which makes me want to read more of his books too!

19 What I ate in one year - Stanley Tucci
I fell head over heels in love with Stan 3 years ago as I listened to him narrate his memoire, Taste. I've been looking forward to a further dalliance with Mr Tucci but this, while a nice enough encounter, was far from the enchanted moment I spent with him in 2022. I couldn't quite shake a slight undercurrent of snobbism every time Tucci described a dish/restaurant/ingredient that wasn't quite up to his extremely high standards and this has tarnished our burgeoning love affair. Fear not, he's still funny, charming and often self-deprecating - and talks with great passion about food, family and friends. I had foolishly placed him on a pedestal after our initial tryst but now I know he is simply human, and can be just as disparaging about a sloppy, over-priced meal as the rest of us. Apart from the moments when I felt he needed a gentle reminder that many people don't have enough food to satisfy their basic needs, this was a fun and engaging read.

53 Burnt Shadows – Kamila Shamsie. Oh this was good, a bold for me. It starts on the 9th of August 1945 in Nagasaki. Hiroko survives and everyone she loves dies. She is a Hibakusha, a bomb survivor and hates this label. She moves to Dehli, where her German fiancé was from and meets up with his family. She learns Urdu from one of the Muslim members of staff and they fall in love. Now in 1947, the violence with the backdrop of partition means they flee to Istanbul. Unable to return to India, they settle in Karachi. Hiroko is an incredible character. She will stay with me for a long time.

54 The Convenience Store by the Sea – Sonoko Machida trans Bruno Navasky. Quirky and charming. Loved it.

Love the sound of Burnt Shadows @Tarragon123 Have added it to my ever growing wishlist

Finished it. I don’t know if I read a different book to everybody else, but I didn’t rate this.

I hated the clumsy insertion of Rupert Brooke into it and generally thought the novel really dragged.

The letters, whilst shocking of course, were repetitive and all rather pathetic, which I understand the point of, but it led to some very tedious reading. There were so many characters, several of whom had several names and I found myself zoning out and unable to always remember who everybody was. I also found that I really didn’t care who was who, because they mostly blurred into a cycle of poshness and yet more glasses of brandy in the club.

Very glad it’s over.

See my previous review of Precipice, @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie. I don’t think it was one of Harris's better books, let's say.

Thankfully, I stumbled across this by accident. I had a look at some older WPF and she won for Home Fire in 2018. My library didn't have that, but had Burnt Shadows and I was intrigued by the premise. I'm going to look out Home Fire and her others.

36 Conclave - Robert Harris. I was really enjoying this but found the ending disappointing. It could have been so much better but the twist re the new pope after all the other previous revelations regarding the front runners was just a bridge too far

Yes @ReginaChase I do agree that the twist in Conclave was absolute tosh after a pretty good novel throughout

Glad it wasn't just me. I'd forgotten your lukewarm review. I must admit that I liked the detective character more than anybody else, although he seemed to have an awful lot of luck, which didn't seem entirely plausible.

Latest Reads:

The Library Book compiled by Rebecca Gray. A series of short stories, articles and book extracts written in praise of libraries.
I stumbled across this looking for Bookish on, appropriately enough, my library app. It was published in 2012 when many libraries were under threat from the coalition government and has a starry list of contributors including Lucy Mangan, Ann Cleeves, Caitlin Moran, China Miéville, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Julian Barnes, Kate Mosse, Lionel Shriver, Stephen Fry, Susan Hill, Van McDermid, Zadie Smith and of course Alan Bennett. As always with this kind of book it was a mixed bag with some contributions better than others but I enjoyed dipping into it every now and then.

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagen. Wrong book at the wrong time for me. I quite enjoyed the first half when the friends visit my old stomping ground Manchester and attend a seminal concert. I found the second half depressing having had quite enough cancer related doom and gloom in my life recently to not want to read about it for ‘pleasure’.

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins Valdez. Civil Townsend, a black nurse working in Alabama in the early 70’s uncovers
a shocking medical conspiracy to prevent black women from reproducing by enforced birth control. Based on actual events this book started really well but I thought the trial element dragged a bit. The romantic attachment of two of the protagonist’s seemed shoe horned into the story too - not everything has to be a love story 🙄

The Names by Florence Knapp. On her way to register the birth of her son, downtrodden wife and mother Cora muses on whether she should give her son the name Gordon - as dictated by her abusive husband, her own choice Julian, or the more daring Bear which her daughter Maia favours. In a ‘Sliding Doors’ meets ‘Life After Life’ scenario we then follow three different stories each dictated by which name she ultimately chooses. We jump forward 7 years (shades of ‘The Hearts Invisible Furies’ as a PP said) in each scenario and catch up with the protagonist’s lives.
I enjoyed this and thought it was an impressive debut novel that pulled off the ‘big concept’ idea.