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.

@MegBusset its the word cry - pto presumably because of scams!

Yes, exactly that - I meant to asterisk it but it was late and I forgot….

96 A Dark-Adapted Eye - Barbara Vine

This is the story of the Longley family, which is a complicated one with sisters and cousins and half brothers. From the outside, our (initially) unnamed narrator lets us know that her aunt Vera was executed for murder. We then follow all the complicated strands of the family history and bitterness that led to the tragic outcome. An interesting if sometimes confusing story!

39 What they Knew - Marion Todd. 4th in the series of DI Clare Mackay novels. I got it for 99p on Kindle so worth it for the price. I've read the previous ones and got the next for 99p too. I also picked up the 6th and 7th for 50p each in a charity shop so I'll probably end up reading all 9 eventually!

@JaninaDuszejko thanks for the suggestion. I’m not convinced she would go for them. Her brother liked them. Therefore she will hate them just to make a point 🙄

Time’s Witness by Michael Malone Second in the North Carolina detective series following Uncivil Seasons. In this one the narrator is the other of the two lead detectives from the one in the first book which adds interest - and feels like a switch up a gear in this one as the voice is more interesting.

George Hall has been on Death Row for 7 years for shooting a police officer - but his defence lawyer was lacklustre and there may have been more to the story. As with Uncivil Seasons, the book is as much about structural inequality and the horror of the death penalty as it is about the mystery - causes propounded at a length that even if it were needed when the book was published in the 1980s, isn’t now. I got quite bogged down with it in the middle. But the court case finale is exciting and I was glad to have persevered.

@AgualusasLover – how fabulous! Happy spending!

@AlmanbyRoadtrip – I loved Dept Q. I’m contemplating reading the books, but I don’t know how I’ll digest them with the Edinburgh (and English lol) flavour. In the books, is Carl Morck from outwith Copenhagan? It seemed like a deliberate choice to make him English in the Netflix adaptation.

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

Lydia’s fiancé Freddie dies in a car accident, and she’s struggling to cope when she realises that when she falls asleep she returns to a world where Freddie is still alive. Which
life will she eventually choose? This was fine albeit predictable.

The Time Travelling Estate Agent by Dale Bradford

An estate agent in 2019 discovers a time travel portal that sends him back to 3 July 1976, where he tries to solve things to make his own and other people’s lives better. This was a Kindle Unlimited book. It was ok but the main character was not particularly likeable and the book was not very well written. There are better time travel books out there, if that’s your thing.

@ReginaChase good to see someone else enjoying Marion Todd’s books. They’re really solid police procedurals with a likeable main character. I’d say the Elly Griffiths fans would enjoy them.

27 The In-Between by Christos Tsiolkas

I surprised myself by enjoying The Slap earlier this year, so decided to give this a go as it was a 99p deal. And I also enjoyed this, although it is quite a different novel. Pericles (Perry), a Greek Australian, is recovering from the devastating end to a long love affair with a married man. He meets Ivan, who has suffered heartbreak of a different kind. Can they find a more peaceful type of happiness together? That's it, really; we see Perry and Ivan in the context of various other friends and lovers. And having sex - there's a lot of sex. But at its heart (and it's a much warmer heart than we see in The Slap), this is a story of the redemptive power of love and care - and goodness knows, we could all do with a bit more of that at the moment. I like Tsiolkas's characters; they come off the page in a way few can manage. I don't always like what he says, but I'm willing to put up with quite a lot to get to know these people, feet of clay and all.

Nesting and The Frozen People are both 99p in the daily deals today, if anyone’s been waiting for them to go down in price. There’s also Broken Country which I enjoyed earlier this year, and The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean which I thought was a bit rubbish but lots on Goodreads love it.

None of this is true by Lisa Jewell

Gobbled this up in about three days. One of those books where you know a dark secret is coming out, the title suggests an unreliable narrator and you're pretty sure you don't want to know the dark secret but you're damn well going to read the conclusion! Characters with depth and lots of unsettling feeling.

36. Water by John Boyne I've never read a John Boyne book I didn't like and this hit the spot too. It's a short novella, so a quick read, but it has a lot packed in and could easily have been a full novel. Set in Ireland it's the story of Vanessa, whose well known national swim coach husband has just been sent to prison for multiple sexual abuse crimes, and as a high profile couple, she has come in for a lot of blame as well, ie how could she not have known? She has left Dublin, changed her name to Willow and rented a remote cottage on an island. Most of the narrative is her own thoughts, grief for her daughter who has passed away, her difficult relationship with her other daughter, coming to terms with what her husband has done. She does also make connections in the small local community. I didn't expect it to resonate with me so much. My exHusband also committed a crime and went to prison. I was the victim of that crime and so didn't have the guilt and my relationships with my daughters were solid and remain strong, but a lot of Vanessa/Willow's thoughts, especially about the complete change in life trajectory in my 50s and a strange contentment about being alone, was personally close to me.

Elements series by John Boyle all out now - you can read them stand alone but they work well in order as there is a thread running through

https://johnboyne.com/book/the-elements/

I really enjoyed Dept Q as well, so will be keen to hear what you think of the books if you do go for them. Speaking of telly adaptations, I thought The Survivors on Netflix was reasonably well done, and as I have the memory of a goldfish it was a surprise to find out whodunnit, although I remembered a fair few of the red herrings.

24.Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry Tom Kettle is a recently retired police detective. He is contacted by two serving officers investigating a cold case linked to abuse in the Catholic Church, an issue which has affected him both personally and professionally.

Kettle's reflections on the past are coloured by a little memory loss and confusion. Throughout the novel passages that seem real frequently turn out to be daydreams, imaginations, or long-ago recollections, with Kettle still talking to his deceased loved ones as if they were still with him. All of this makes for quite an unsettling read, and the subject matter is obviously harrowing. This was moving and haunting, although not for the faint-hearted or anyone feeling a bit vulnerable.

36 One Perfect Couple - Ruth Ware Lyla, a scientist with no interest in reality TV, is persuaded by her aspiring actor boyfriend to apply for a Love Island-style show where the USP is that the contestants are all real-life couples. Much to her dismay, they are chosen as one of the couples and whisked away to a remote Indonesian island to start filming. But things start to go wrong when Lyla’s boyfriend is the first to be eliminated and she’s stuck there alone with the other couples - and then a devastating storm ravages the island and cuts them off from civilisation…

I enjoyed this, though it’s not one of her best. It’s pretty much a straightforward survival thriller, with a bit of hidden background but no real twist - several possible outcomes occurred to me (despite my minimal imaginative abilities!) but in the end it all turned out to be much more mundane! Worth a read but don’t expect the signature Ruth Ware gothic atmosphere and mystery.

97. Verity - Colleen Hoover

All a bit far fetched, but otherwise, standing gripping CH stuff. OK, but not a bold.

Lowen is down to her last dollar, having just nursed her dying mother in New York. She takes a job ghost writing for an author called Verity Crawford, who is in a vegetative state of some kind after a car crash.

This entails Lowen going to stay in the family house, where husband Jeremy cares for Verity and their son Crew - his two other children with Verity died aged 8. Whilst researching for the books, Lowen discovers a manuscript written by Verity which shows her in a rather sinister light and she begins to wonder if Verity is really totally helpless.

84 This Motherless Land by Nikki May
The story of two cousins - one in Nigeria (Funke) one in England (Liv). When Funke’s mother dies in an accident she’s sent to live with her English relatives. The story dips into both girls POVs through their lives. I believe it’s based loosely on Mansfield Park But I haven’t read it so can’t confirm. It’s pacy and engaging though with some ludicrous twists- a solid 3.5/5 and a great book slump breaking book as recommended by @Stowickthevast

By the way Women’s Prize announcement is on Thursday evening and I find myself kind of uninterested for the first time.
Only book I really liked a lot was The Safekeep. I think All Fours (which I hated) will win though.
In terms of non-fiction I enjoyed most of the shortlist. I thought Raising Hare and Private Revolutions were the weakest and probably The Story of a Heart the best. I think it’s the most likely winner and I dread it being the hare because then I’ll have to listen to the rest of it for completeness sake…
Anyone else have any predictions? @Stowickthevast @cassandre @FortunaMajor ?

@ÚlldemoShúl I also hated All Fours and think it will win, for the NF side I’d also like Story Of A Heart but I haven’t read either list in full

Looks like we have exactly matched then @EineReiseDurchDieZeit I read all the fiction (the best ones never made the shortlist in my opinion Dream Hotel and The Artist) I’ve only read the shortlist of the non-fiction (apart from DNFing Raising Hare) but have a couple of others on Audible I’ll get to sooner or later.

@ÚlldemoShúl I'm terrible at predicting prizewinners, but I think Safekeep will win maybe?

I don't have a strong favourite to win this year. I love Elizabeth Strout but she is already famous and has won a Pulitzer.

My own shortlist ranking is a bit quirky I think. Tell Me Everything and Good Girl were my favourites (5 stars), followed by Fundamentally and All Fours (4 stars), with Safekeep and The Persians at the bottom (3 stars). I may have judged Safekeep too harshly though. I liked the overarching narrative twist and the hot sex, but found the characters rather unconvincing.

I rated All Fours more highly than most 50-Bookers did, but I'm not sure I want Miranda July to win: she is such a big cheerleader for herself already, ha!

I also loved Dream Count and Dream Hotel, but neither made it to the shortlist.

I haven't read any of the nonfiction list!

A few reviews. I seem to be bolding everything I read lately, which is unusual even for me!

31. Writing on the Hearth, Cynthia Harnett 5/5
    This is the last of Harnett’s six historical novels for children, and it’s excellent. I have so enjoyed reading her books, which I discovered last year thanks to these threads. As is typical of Harnett, historical characters are mixed in with fictional ones, and the historical figures in this book include Alice Chaucer (Chaucer’s granddaughter) and the alleged Oxford necromancer Roger Bolingbroke. Loads of interesting (to me!) detail about rural Oxfordshire and about 15th c. political conflict (foreshadowing the Wars of the Roses). Again I admire Harnett’s characteristic combination of simplicity and erudition.

32. The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, Olaudah Equiano 5/5
    I found out about this 18th c. narrative of a former slave when I read David Olusoga’s excellent book Black and British. This is an extraordinary account of someone who recounts firsthand his African childhood, his experiences as a slave in the Caribbean, and his life as a freed slave in Britain. The stories of sea journeys felt a bit repetitive at times, but I learnt a lot from reading this. Equiano is devoutly Christian, which presumably would have made his narrative more palatable to his contemporary readers, and which enables him to point out the hypocrisy of self-proclaimed white Christians who behave with great cruelty toward Black people. Even as a freed slave, Equiano constantly lives in danger of being captured and enslaved again by whites who refuse to recognise his status as a free man. White people repeatedly betray him by inviting him to work as a partner, and then literally selling him off. A bleak read overall but one that left me with great admiration for someone who succeeded in carving out a life in 18th c. England against the odds.

33. Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity, Robin Ince 5/5
    I heard Robin Ince speak at a festival a few weeks ago and was so charmed that I bought his book on the spot. It didn’t disappoint. As someone who has only realised recently that I almost certainly have ADHD, I found it interesting to read Ince’s account of his own diagnosis at age 52. If you are neurodivergent, reading Ince’s warm, self-deprecating, humorous book will make you realise you’re very much not alone.

34. La Vie extérieure [Things Seen], Annie Ernaux 5/5
    This short work is quite similar in form to Ernaux’s earlier book Journal du dehors [Exteriors]; both are made up of short, readable vignettes of everyday life. Ernaux has sharp insights on everything from people in the metro to the Bosnian War. ‘Life in the world demands everything of you; most works of art, nothing.’

Never Flinch by Stephen King
Another Holly Gibney novel and far from his best. He says in the thanks at the end that it was a difficult one to write and I think that shows. If you’ve read the rest of the series, you’ll probably want to go in anyway, just as I wanted to and would do again, but I’d say this should stay strictly for the Number One Fans.

21 Friends and Purpose by Maff Potts
A book about Camerados and the Public Living Room project, a charity that aims to bring people together in the belief that separating ourselves from each other is the root of multiple problems and that simple actions done with trust can have profound results. I'm lucky and have a lot of hope in my life anyway but this book gave me more.