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.

I don't seem to have any 'daily deals' on Kindle today, just general deals - anyone else?

Same here Sheila. This happened a few weeks ago and the only way I could get to the daily deals was by googling it. However when I do that now, it does take me to a daily deals page but there’s just one book there!

Ah yes - just tried that and the same thing, one book.

23 Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

I hated this. The Guardian described it as "a brilliantly tense psychological study from a writer who keeps pace with Du Maurier". It had so many glowing reviews.

But I found it dreary and predictable. It was extremely macabre so if you like that sort of thing, this book is for you!

Absolute shite I thought @Arran2024

@LadybirdDaphne I know quite a few people of Nigerian heritage and was telling them all to read Stay With Me I also thought it was gripping but unlike you preferred it to ASOGT

87 The Last Word - Elly Griffiths

The last of the Harbinder Kaur series and not much Harbinder in it, sadly. Rather convoluted set of characters being investigated by Edwin, Natalka and Benedict, involving E and B going undercover at a weekend for aspiring writers. The gang get involved following the sudden death of an author, Melody, whose DD Minnie is convinced she was killed by her DH, despite it looking like natural causes. As the book goes on, the gang find other natural deaths in the writing world and get very suspicious…

A decent read but fair enough to stop the series here, I think!

An expert in murder by Nicola Upson

I wanted to enjoy this- I really like Josephine Tey. But this just didn't do it for me. I am not a huge fan of cozy detective fiction and I found this quite boring. There were passages that I enjoyed and I realise that I enjoy fiction where things happen rather than happenings being described through dialogue and exposition (if that makes sense). Pleased for you if you like that sort of thing, I can see why you would enjoy it as a series, but I won't be seeking out another.

I have loads more to post but I’m on holiday and my iPad is being weird so it will be piecemeal… not that anyone is keeping count!

Not just me then! I'm currently in a holiday cottage in Wales and would normally add it to the book shelf but I don't want to inflict it on anyone else!!

I think my review was just one line, this was silly and a good job it was short. I should’ve been more strident and put more people off!

27 Uneasy Beginnings by Simon Kurt Unsworth and Benjamin Unsworth
Short anthology by the author and his son, which I’d somehow missed from 2020, so picked it up on Kindle for £1.49.
Unsworth is a horror genius but I’m not sure why he’s stopped writing these days, apart from a play based on some of his stories. He doesn’t seem to be engaging with the FB groups he used to either, which is a shame. I hope it’s boredom with the genre rather than anything more serious.
Anyway, the challenge he sets here is to differentiate between some of his early short stories and some written recently by his son. They…..aren’t the best tbh. I’d be harsher if they were by an author I didn’t like for their unique, grotesque and gloriously nightmarish talent for the macabre. Never mind, it’s a few pennies for him and Black Shuck Books and I can’t begrudge that.

@Stowickthevast thanks for your slump busting recommendation- I have it on my kindle so it’s next on the list. I’ve managed to get back into it with The Names by Florence Knapp (hardback) and Pure by Andrew Miller on kindle.

Just finished my latest audio
80 Lies to Tell by Marion Todd
Another episode of Clare Mackay police procedurals. Enjoyable but won’t change the world.

An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor by Michael Smith

This was an interesting biography , mainly about the three Antarctic expeditions Crean went on in the early 1900s with Scott (Discovery and Terra Nova expeditions) and Shackleton (Endurance expedition). There's a lack of material since Crean never kept diaries and didn't write many letters, and there was very little information about his upbringing in County Kerry. I got a lot less out of this about the Endurance expedition than I did reading Frank Worsley's book Shackleton's Boat Journey, but the sections about Scott's ones were new to me. Crean comes across as an absolute hero and tower of strength.

I thought I might be the only person in the world who'd read this!

Speaking of total polar geekery, I've just had a few days in Cardiff. Scott held a farewell dinner in a hotel there before the Terra Nova set sail, and the hotel have kept the wood panelled room intact. I went and begged the nice man on reception for a peek, even though we weren't staying at the hotel. They've even got a copy of the dinner menu (lobster, followed by ham mousse in aspic - sounds disgusting).

It’s a while since I’ve updated. I have been reading but not everything is worth writing about here. I’ve got a free 3 month kindle unlimited trial so I’ve been reading things on there, most of which are just OK. A few that are worth mentioning:

Linden Rise by Richmal Crompton

Starting in the early 1900s and carrying on for around 40-50 years, this follows the Culverton family and their initially young servant Tilly Pound. There’s some great period detail here, and some engaging (and some frankly hideous) characters. However it’s very odd that WW1 isn’t mentioned at all, and the use of a racist slur as a nickname for someone was very jarring and took me out of the story slightly which is a real shame as it might have been a bold otherwise.

Is This Working? - Charlie Colenutt

A collection of interviews of people doing all sorts of different jobs. I found this really interesting although perhaps one to dip into rather than read straight through.

White Silence, Dark Light, Long Shadows and Bad Moon by Jodi Taylor

I love the St Mary’s series, but am less keen on this one - it’s more fantasy/supernatural which isn’t usually my thing. I like Jodi’s writing though and these contain some good ideas and funny bits so I still enjoyed reading them.

Close to Home and Making A Killing by Cara Hunter

Close to Home was Cara Hunter’s first book, about the disappearance of 8 year old Daisy Mason. Her latest book picks up the Mason family’s story 8 years on. Can’t say much without spoilers but I enjoyed both of these.

Air by John Boyne

A short book about a father and son taking a flight together across the world and getting to know each other better. I really enjoyed this and will look out the others in his ‘elements’ series.

That’ll Teach Her by Maz Evans

A cross between Janice Hallett and Big Little Lies. Some parents start investigating when the school headmistress dies and they suspect someone else’s involvement. A lot of this is told through WhatsApp chats. It’s good fun and I enjoyed it although it does try a bit too hard with all the school clichés.

Westwood by Stella Gibbons

Read for the Rather Dated thread so I’ll save my comments for that.

The Case is Closed- Patricia Wentworth
A very early Miss Silver and the revered knitting and coughing sleuth has only a minor role. Not her best, but not as terrible as the other I reviewed recently. I complained regarding that one that she repeats a coat thing in several of her books; this one was a reminder that she also repeats a note thing. I suppose she churned so many out that repeats are perhaps inevitable, but it’s lazy and annoying imo.

25. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

One of those books I'd had on my book shelf for years but never got round to reading.

I want particularly enjoying the format, where it flits back and forth in time and you don't know what's true or didn't happen.

Then I started to think I had in fact read it before, mainly because of Teddy, the son, being the inspiration for his aunt's book.

And then it clicked - Teddy was the subject of her book "A God in Ruins" and I did read that. I hadn't realised it was the sequel to Life after Life!

78 . Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer (Spotify)

RWYO. Longlisted for the Booker. Had this as Kindle but couldn’t get into it and thought it might work better as audio. I was right. I’m still in my slump but audiobooks are still working for me. I think someone else read this a while ago @Stowickthevast maybe? Anyway :

Lia, a wife, mum and illustrator has previously survived cancer. When the cancer returns we hear its voice as it slowly travels through her body.

As well as the present day narrative and the cancer narrative we delve into Lia’s past as an errant vicars daughter and her obsession with Matthew, her father’s ward

When this works it really works, there’s some beautiful writing in here but from the perspective of audiobook the cancer POV (read by Tamsin Grieg) is overdone and could have been pared back.

This is an accomplished debut though and I would read more by this author. However, I went through losing someone to cancer 20 years ago, I would not advise reading this book if this is a current or recent issue for you.

Eine I did it for book club a couple years ago. I loved it, I also thought the bits with her daughter who was a similar age to mine at the time were very good. But my book club had mixed opinions - it is a tough read and I agree that the cancer parts are a bit over done. The writing is beautiful but agree it needs trigger warnings.

Trying to do better at updating, and have made it to the halfway point just before June!

23 Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid

McDermid's retelling/reclaiming of the story of Macbeth's wife, Gruoch. This is a dual timeline book, with the earlier storyline leading up to Gruoch's meeting with and romance with Macbeth, and the later one some 17 (I think) years later, hiding out after Macbeth's death with her three ladies in waiting. As you can tell from that summary, the story is very different - Duncan is killed on the battlefield, and Gruoch doesn't go mad, although there's blood and gore a-plenty nevertheless. It's short and reasonably compelling, but I suspect not a great deal more accurate than Shakespeare, and lacks the power of the play.

24 Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

This collaboration arose because Finney Boylan, who is trans, had a dream about writing a book with Picoult about a trans character and tweeted about it. Picoult saw the tweet and the book came to be. Unusual starting point aside, this is a fairly run of the mill whodunnit. Olivia has escaped an abusive marriage and returns to her family home to run her father's beekeeping business (lots of fun facts and interesting stuff about bees). Her son Asher has fallen in love with new girl in town Lily - but very soon, Lily is found dead at the bottom of her stairs, and Asher is the chief suspect. I'm a lawyer so UK courtroom dramas are often irritating, but American ones are fine because I can't spot the inaccuracies. I did work out whodunnit, but it was a fun ride.

25 In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes

My husband specialises in finding me classic crime novels for each birthday/ Christmas and this was a good one. Hughes was a pioneer of American noir, a forerunner of Patricia Highsmith in her development of narrative from the killer's point of view. This is probably her most famous novel, and it's great. Dix Steele, a former air ace, has returned to the US after the second world war and, like so many who succeeded in war, doesn't know what to do with himself. He settles in Los Angeles, and it soon becomes apparent that he is responsible for a series of murders of young women. The suspense is not whether he did it, but whether he will be caught - the prospects of which are heightened by the fact that his best friend is a detective on the case. Hughes does a fantastic job of building up a sense of creeping menace; the atmosphere reminded me of Camus' L'Etranger. But I think her real talent lies in evoking a sense of place; Los Angeles is alive in this novel; the heat, the fog from the sea - the first time I've really been able to picture and feel it from a description. Masterly.

congrats on being halfway there @Welshwabbit

I’ve reserved In a Lonely Place, thanks Welshwabbit. Her Expendable Man is on my list too.

Ooh, I've got In a Lonely Place on my kindle. Will bump it up.

I really loved In a Lonely Place - ditto The Expendable Man, which is a corker of a book.