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.

@bettbberg thank you, I’ll give it a go. I’m making plans to go to the beach for a swim very soon.

@ÚlldemoShúl I'm listening to The City Changes Its Face at the moment - the audio is so good, you really appreciate how poetic her writing is.

35 Stuart: A Life Backwards - Alexander Masters

Tells the life of Stuart Shorter, a man in his 30s living a chaotic life of intermittent homelessness, drug abuse, crime and violence, and working backwards to the childhood events that set him on this path. Masters was a Cambridge charity worker and campaigner who was friends with Stuart, and this book is unsentimental and often funny - though not always an easy read given its subject matter. Was made into a film so I’m going to check that out.

104 Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah

Read the book after watching the two-season dramatisation on Netflix. IMO the TV version was better, because it gave more time and space to the story.

Kate Mularkey lives on Firefly Lane with her mum, dad and brother. When she is 14, in 1974, Tully Hart moves in across the street with her hippy mother Cloud. The book charts their friendship through high school, university, first job, marriage for Kate and then life in their 40s. Enjoyed it but not a bold.

I’ve reached my target for the year, which was 30. I haven’t been numbering for the thread as just enjoying reading.

There are Rivers in the Sky Elif Shafak

I already really quite like Shafak’s work, enjoy varying chapters between characters and am interested in the history and geography that this book covers so - yes, I really found this interesting and compelling.

I know some have read this already, but a quick overview of plot.

Three timelines linked by a single raindrop (I liked this). We have King Arthur of the Slums and Sewers born into poverty on the banks of the Thames in the nineteenth century; 2014 Narin, a Yazidi girl journeying to Iraq with her grandma along the Tigris; Zaleekhah in 2018 London by the Thames. I’d argue there is a fourth main character - Mesopotamia. The stories intersect in interesting ways, with Zaleekhah’s being the most unconvincing but overall still works for me.

This is a book about conflict, trauma (there are some harrowing passages (someone had to ask me if I was ok on the bus), climate change, most notably via water - I did find the sections on water quite fascinating and adored all the Mesopotamia stuff. I knew a reasonable amount about the Yazidis but I still learnt a lot. My only complaint is Shafak wears her research a little heavy and there are just so many issues - all the stories could fill a separate novel to be honest. She also sometimes over-explains which I find a little frustrating.

Overall, I am still a huge fan and will keep reading her stuff (Honour and The Island of Missing Trees are still my absolute favourites).

Paging @Southeastdweller - 980 posts. Thank you .

@AlmanbyRoadtrip I've just finished this as number 42 of the year and was inspired by your review to read it. Far and away my book of the year so far. Only 208 pages but feels like so much more, I don't think there is a single word wasted. I like that the descriptions of the violence and abuse are restrained yet tell you all you need to know as sometimes this can put off a reader and I think everyone should read this book.

I really liked There Are Rivers in the Sky too @AgualusasLover - her best to date I thought and didn't wear it's research as heavily as the Island Of Missing Trees. I'm still shocked it didn't make the Woman's Prize list.

Another day, another Maeve ..
74. The Cutting Place - Jane Casey. The one where Maeve should have paid more attention to the MN relationship pages. Thought this was a good one and read it in a day. I've only got 3 left and feeling a bit bereft.

I just watched Dept Q which was very enjoyable. Has anyone tried those books?

Glad you liked it @ReginaChase . Agree about not a word wasted and I hadn't noticed the short length - testament to the strength and passion of the writing.

I am not getting through much at the moment. My Dad died a few days ago and there's a lot to do. Everything book I owned didn't appeal so I bought Project Hail Mary. The perfect blend of dark humour, mystery and science that's just difficult enough to try and get my head round. Once again, 50 Bookers provide the exact recommendation when needed! Thank you x

So sorry to hear your news, @AlmanbyRoadtrip. Sending strength.

@AlmanbyRoadtrip so sorry about your dad

Sorry to hear about, @AlmanbyRoadtrip . Wishing you comfort wherever you find it.

Sincere condolences @AlmanbyRoadtrip

So sorry about your dad @AlmanbyRoadtrip 💐

So sorry to hear that @AlmanbyRoadtrip

70. The Real Kenneth Grahame: The Tragedy Behind the Wind in the Willows, Elizabeth Galvin
During the hot weather, I went for an outdoor swim. While sitting on the bank, I decided to dip into the Wind in the Willows - very pleasant it was too. This made me pick up this literary biography. I'd read a previous one so was familiar with the outline of his life, but this one was a bit different in tentatively suggesting that he might have been gay, and also in being somewhat sympathetic to his wife, where previous biographers have been unremittingly hostile. It was interesting, but not escapist - I should perhaps have stuck with his writing, rather than what was written about him.

71. Cotillion, Georgette Heyer
Kitty gets engaged to Freddy with no intention of marrying him, which is fine as he doesn't want to marry her either. She moves to London and starts sorting out everyone else's love life, but what will happen to hers? A frothy delight. This is my second Heyer and it feels like great riches such an enormous back catalogue to explore.

72. City of Buried Ghosts, Chris Lloyd
Standard crime fiction in a foreign setting, this time Spain, or rather Catalonia. I quite liked the references to history, in particular to the legacy of the Franco regime, but it felt a bit painting by numbers and I won't seek out other books in the series unless I was going on holiday there.

73. The Age of Diagnosis, Suzanne O'Sullivan
As with another book I read recently, this expresses scepticism about potential over-diagnosis of a range of milder conditions. She is particularly concerned about the nocebo effect of labelling. When it comes to ADHD, she's not pointing to existing evidence that the labelling is harmful, but saying that it's something that needs to be investigated, so we're not rushing to diagnose on the assumption that it's unambiguously a good thing. She notes that many individuals find the diagnosis helpful, but says that there's isn't research to say whether the diagnosis does have a positive impact on their lives, and then questions herself as to why her impressions of its usefulness should be considered more valid than those who've received the diagnosis. I find that this willingness to question her own views is helpful. It's not a polemic against diagnosis, just a suggestion that we slow down and be willing to consider unintended negative consequences.

AlmanbyRoadtrip so sorry about your news, really glad PHM was a comfort!

Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Book 3 in the series. DS has now finished the entire series and has moved on to The Trials of Apollo. The seven demigods in the prophesy are together and off on a quest (with a couple of side quests snuck in). We only get the viewpoints of four of the seven and the internet does not always agree it was the correct four. Ends on a cliffhanger but I need a break so have started Child of all Nations by Irmgard Keun which from the description is 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit' for grownups.

@AlmanbyRoadtrip I'm so sorry for your loss. 🌺

@FuzzyCaoraDhubh and @AgualusasLover I hope you enjoy Alba de Cespedes; I don't think you'll be disappointed! Yeah, part of my geekiness seems to manifest itself in 'Wow, this author is great, I will now read their entire corpus in chronological order' 😂

My current 'reading through their entire corpus' authors are Annie Ernaux and Elizabeth Taylor. And Alba de Cespedes too, but I've been held back a bit by how few of her works are translated into English.

Last year my new exciting author was Cynthia Harnett and I devoured all of her historical novels for children, but there were only six, so that wasn't too difficult. I've also read almost everything now by Barbara Pym.

When I was younger I went through an Edith Wharton phase and read everything she wrote. That was a long time ago and I remember virtually nothing of her books, alas.

Current candidates for 'I must read their whole corpus' are Natalia Ginzburg and Penelope Fitzgerald, but I haven't started properly working through all their novels yet.

I fall hard for women writers especially 😂

38. A View of the Harbour, Elizabeth Taylor 4/5
    One of the best Taylor novels I’ve read so far. The cast of characters all live in a small seaside town; they come from many different walks of life, and most of them are lonely in some way: looking for a human connection they haven’t yet found. I liked the way some of the women characters initially seem to have significant blind spots (or in other words to be quite selfish), but Taylor gradually endows them with a deeper, more sympathetic side. This is true of Beth, a novelist and mother; of her best friend Tory, who has an affair with Beth’s husband; and even of Mrs Bracey, who is bedridden and very controlling of her adult daughters.

39. Quiet Girl in a Noisy World: An Introvert’s Story, Debbie Tung 4/5
    This autobiographical graphic novel was recommended by Lucy Mangan in Bookish. It’s short and charming; I read it in a single sitting. I identified with the protagonist in lots of ways (I too have an extrovert husband and use him as a social buffer!). I also typically get dread leading up to social events, and extreme mental/physical exhaustion after the events have ended. That said, unlike the protagonist, I tend to enjoy the events a lot when they’re actually happening. Anyway it’s good to read a defence of solitude. Solitude is brilliant and obviously some of us need it more than others. And when I say need it, I mean NEED it.

40. Theory and Practice, Michelle de Kretser 5/5
    This novel, which reads like a memoir, just won the Stella Prize in Australia. The protagonist, who like the author is from a Sri Lankan immigrant family, is writing a PhD thesis on Virginia Woolf in Melbourne during the heyday of post-structuralist literary theory. I have a soft spot for post-structuralist theory; I studied it a bit later than de Kretser did, and at that point I think it was better integrated with theories of gender and ethics than it was in her time, so more palatable. Anyway, I thought this novel was great. I liked the way it honed in on how our ethical beliefs don’t always jive with how things play out in our day-to-day lives. The narrator is disappointed by Woolf’s casual racism but finds useful ideas to take from Woolf nonetheless.

41. Her Side of the Story, Alba de Céspedes, trans. Jill Foulston 4/5
    As I’ve said before, I’ve fallen head over heels for Alba de Céspedes. She is original and gripping. This isn’t the best book I’ve read by her so far (I preferred The Forbidden Notebook and There’s No Turning Back), but I still found it very compelling. The picture of WW2 Italy forms a powerful backdrop for the book. The heroine is determined to believe in love (as opposed to seeing marriage as an economic/transactional relationship), but things don’t go well for her.

42. Change Your Thinking: Overcome Stress, Combat Anxiety, and Improve Your Life, Sarah Edelman 5/5
    Recommended to me by an Australian friend. I’ve given this book 5 stars not because I think CBT is the be all and end all with regards to therapy, but if you are interested in CBT, this book (by an Australian woman writer) is a remarkable synthesis of CBT ideas, plus an extra chapter at the end about mindfulness, and how CBT strategies and mindfulness strategies interact. A very useful handbook that explains what CBT is all about. I did an online CBT course recently with the NHS in an attempt to try to manage my anxiety better, but I thought this book was actually more useful than the online CBT course. That said, I’m a bookish person who likes to get ideas from books, so I don’t want to over-generalise my own experience.

Sp sorry. My dad died in March - I don't think it's really sunk in properly yet. Hugs xx

💐AlmanbyRoadtrip.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5362462-50-books-challenge-2025-part-six

105 The Women of Troy - Pat Barker

A reread for me - ahead of starting the third in the trilogy.

This continues to tell the story of the women killed, kidnapped and raped in the Trojan war and its aftermath. Again, it is primarily from the viewpoint of Briseis, formerly given to Achilles as a prize. Now Achilles is dead, the war is over (we open with the Horse) and Briseis is married to Alcimus, a noble and confidant of Achilles. Oh, and she’s pregnant with the child of Achilles. The book covers the few months when the Greeks could not leave owing to becalmed weather, and what happens with Pyrrhus (son of Achilles), Agamemnon, Casandra, Hecuba and assorted former noblewomen and slave women. Briseis has a wise if exhausted viewpoint and tries to maintain some sense of self as she survives. A good read.

sending love @AlmanbyRoadtrip - I'm glad reading has been a comfort at such a sad time.