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.

@JaninaDuszejko Arthur Mee? We still have that too.

I’m also reading (well listening to) All The Colours Of The Dark. Nearly 2/3rds through. It’s been gripping but it’s feeling a bit aimless at the moment. Hoping it picks up again.

Oooh Stowick I hadn’t read this when I posted the above I completely agree.

Found you! - thanks for the new thread @Southeastdweller

Hope I'm still in time to post my list:

• An Island Wedding – Jenny Colgan
• Red Sauce, Brown Sauce – Felicity Cloake
• The Christmas Bookhunt – Jenny Colgan
• When the dust settles – Lucy Easthope
• The answer is no – Fredrik Backman
• A little life – Hanya Yanagihara
• This much is true – Miriam Margoyles
• One Good Turn – Kate Atkinson
• Waterlog – Roger Deakin
• How to build a boat – Elaine Feeney
• Loosely based on a made-up story – James Blunt
• Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
• Anybody out there? – Marian Keyes
• The Summer of the Bear – Bella Pollen
• When will there be good news? - Kate Atkinson
• Between the stops – Sandi Toksvig

Quite a lot of bolds!

Currently reading Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson (only just started but enjoying so far), still reading My friends - Hisham Matar (and still not feeling the love but I'm about 3/4 through now so...). Also listening to The Hairy Bikers: Blood, Sweat & Tyres – Si King & Dave Myers which is accompanying me well enough on my driving commute this week.

Persephone are clearly wrong - I have many, many books that have been accumulated over the years and every so often I pick one up to read. So there 😛

@JaninaDuszejko
loving the association of titles 7 and 8 in your list :)

16 Good Girls: A Story and Study of Anorexia by Hadley Freeman. Freeman was anorexic for many years as a teen / young woman, including several hospital admissions. This is her story, plus interviews with other sufferers and health care professionals. It was an interesting read, but I agree with someone on last year's thread (sorry I can't remember who) who said they wouldn't necessarily recommend it to the parents of an anorexic girl. I don't think they would find it reassuring.

17 Bad Fruit by Ella King. Lily is 18 and in the summer between school and university. Her relationship with her mother is very complex and difficult, and Lily is struggling to stay loyal to her while also finding her own independence. This was okay. There are some dark themes, but they didn't affect me emotionally because for some reason I wasn't really invested in the characters.

Place-marking:

My list so far...
(1) The Nurse by Valerie Keogh
(2) The Wrong Child by Julia Crouch and M. J. Arlidge
(3) The Perfect Parents By J.A. Baker
(4) Darkest Fear, written by Harlen Coben
(5) Old Filth by Jane Gardam
(6) The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam
(7) Last Friends by Jane Gardam
(8) American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins -
(9) The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden
(10) The Coworker by Frieda McFadden
(11) Maid by Stephanie Land (Audio Book)
(12) The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Latest two books....
(13) The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
(14) Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education
Book by Stephanie Land
(15) Verity by Colleen Hoover
(16) Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
(17) Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

My list so far and and I've knocked off three since my last post.

1. The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

2. Sycamore Gap by LJ Ross

3. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

4. The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

5. The Trial by Rob Rinder

6. The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley

7. Manhunt by Colin Sutton

8. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gamus

9. The Women by Kristen Hannah

10. The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley

11. Katheryn Howard: The Tainted Queen by Alison Weir

12. The Phoenix Ballroom by Ruth Hogan

13. Weyward by Emilia Hart

14. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

15. The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

16. The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer

17. A single Thread by Tracey Chevalier

18. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

19. The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley

20. 10 Minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world by Elif shafek

21. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van pelt

22. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

23. The Girl who Played with Fire – Steig Larsson

24. Atlas by Lucinda Riley

25. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

26. Wicked Beyond Belief – The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

27. Unruly by David Mitchell

28. Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

29. The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I decided to dip my toe back into Fantasy which I loved when I was a teenager back in the 1980s when I would sit and read a whole book in an afternoon as I had nothing else to do. This would have been right up my street as a 14 year old.
Set in a world where the young people are conscripted to fight to protect their homes from undefined evil forces, the most elite being trained as Dragon Riders. Violet is a first year in the Rider school and the story follows her as her powers grow, she bonds with her dragon and gets all flustered by a handsome but mean son of a traitor who is also at the school.
It’s very popular to the point of being overhyped. Readable but nothing special. My more mature (cynical) self can see it is a written to a tight formula – ticking lots of publisher required boxes. School for people with special powers (Harry Potter, XMen) - check, dystopian (Hunger Games, Maze Runner) - check, slightly dodgy relationship dynamics (Fifty Shades, Twilight), check, check.
Too much sex, not enough dragons, I simply got a bit irritated with the number of times she can write the word “pivot” in a relatively short book.
I had to wait a long time to get it from the library, not really worth it.

30. The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
    I listened to this on Audible in the car on the way back from my daughter’s on Easter Monday. Lovely way to spend a car drive – not too taxing, cosy, dated Whodunit, but well written, better than the Thursday Murder Club genre that is everywhere at the moment (see next review!).
    I bought the whole Alan Grant series in the Audible Sale a few weeks ago, so have more of the same lined up when I need something similar (there’s about 45 hours or so!)

31. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
    I’d had this on hold from the library for ages. I wasn’t really in the mood for it, but it arrived and I knew there was a queue for it, so I dived in.
    Readable but slightly ludicrous plot designed with a screenplay and TV series in mind. Amy is a bodyguard, currently guarding a wealthy writer called Rosie. A mysterious money launderer is trying to frame Amy for the murders of several influencers who have been used as cash mules for money laundering. Amy’s father in law/small time private detective Steve joins them on a jaunt in private jets through several exotic locations looking for clues.
    Spoiler alert – all’s well that ends well, and they decide to set up their own detective agency called We Solve Murders at the end, thus setting up Mr Osman to keep churning them out.
    I’m being a bit harsh, it was entertaining enough while I was sorting out the bedding cupboard, but in no great rush to read more. I might if they come up on Borrowbox (free) and I am in the right mood.

64 . Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey

The novel charts the fortunes of two Irish people in London, Milly and Pip

Milly’s timeline takes place from the late Seventies through to almost present

Pip’s timeline runs across a year in his life in 2017 with reminiscence and flashback

With London as the backdrop we chart love, loss and life through the eyes of these characters whose lives intersect.

I thought this was great, a bold and a pageturner.

I did prefer the Milly chapters and I would also say Milly has it too bleak whereas Pip always lands on his feet but I found this to be a really engrossing novel and, like @elkiedee would thoroughly recommend.

Hello everyone over here!

Our London Lives sounds right up my street.

Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfield. I picked this up at the National Theatre shop when I saw Ballet Shoes as I didn't think I'd read it before. It's set a bit later in the 50s about a very commercial dance school where tweenage girls are placed in troupes to dance at holiday camps and in pantomimes. The owner's nieces are orphaned and sent to live with her - one is a promising ballet dancer and the other is horrified that she's being pushed into doing this kind of 'lesser' dancing. Not as charming as Ballet Shoes but fun escapism and covers lots of the same ground - audition outfits and kind nannies and life as an understudy etc etc.

Frozen River by Ariel Lawhan. Set in the late 18th century shortly after the American Revolution in a small town near Boston in the middle of winter, following the local midwife as she testifies on behalf of a woman who has been raped by a town dignitary. Sort of a small town thriller, where everyone knows everyone and they all remember things that happened 30 years ago, but with lots of interesting detail about setting up a new legal system, and terrifying detail about historic midwifery. Overall it wasn't a great book, too long with too much unnecessary historic detail, and some slightly dodgy racial politics, but I did find it an enjoyable page turner.

@Arran2024 – Precipice sounds right up my street! I’m actually reading another Robert Harris book, Fatherland, atm. And of course I must read Conclave at some point.

@elkiedee – very unreasonable from Persephone. I’m sure most of us have piles going back years. That maybe too far, of course, but a couple of months is ridiculous!

@Southeastdweller – thank you for the nice shiny thread

Meh! Precipice is back up to £4.99. I’d recommend The King’s Witches by Kate Foster, 99p. I've only bought a CJ Sansom 99p. I think because my TBR is just ridiculous, I really want to concentrate on reducing that. Kindle is sitting at 23, which is manageable.

46 Murder at Gulls Nest – Jess Kidd (Audible read by Siobhan McSweeney) I cant remember who mentioned this, but thank you! I loved this. Nora Breem leaves her convent life in the 1950s because a young friend has stopped writing to her. She turns up at the last known place of her friend and mysteries ensue. Charming, cosy crime that I enjoy. Read by the lovely Siobhan McSweeney who I know best as Sister Michael from Derry Girls.

47 The Frozen People – Elly Griffiths. I think I felt the same as other 50 Bookers. Strong characters that I am looking forward to reading more about, but the plot was meh.

33 The Dentist - Tim Sullivan.
I read this on the back of a recommendation on a previous thread. Definitely a bold from me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series if the first is anything to go by.

Fate was against me in the Deals. I lost my debit card and haven’t yet put a new one on Amazon so when I tried to buy it promptly said no. Probably for the best. There was anon fiction about borders I fancied.

@elkiedee loving the book reservations. I admire your commitment and it’s obviously Sod’s Law that they rock up in deals.

Also, I wish we still had a use for calling cards.

The Dentist and the next one.in the series is.on.prime

@AgualusasLover
I'm very glad to see books turn up in the Kindle deals, it quite often helps me to make space on maxed out library cards to borrow something else, or to be able to just return a book by the due date. Only my local boroughs libraries charge fines at the moment, but they've raised the fines to the most expensive I've ever seen, and cut the opening hours.

I bought a book called Borderlines: A History of Europe in 29 Borders on 1 May, and it's still 99p, so I'm assuming it's a monthly rather than a daily deal. Books by Robert Harris come up quite regularly so maybe it will come up again, and it might be cheaper next time - I've noticed that a lot of the Daily Deals including several books I really want are coming up at £1.99 rather than 99p (it's still less than the bus fare to libraries in other boroughs - my local libraries are about 7 minutes and 20 minutes walk away respectively, but I have a weekly social thing and occasionally a meeting at the one a bit further away.

Like some of the rest of you, I've inherited some books from my Grandma. Not many as my mum has most of them, and I suspect that when the time comes (wick hopefully won't be for many many years) I will have to fight my brother for them. Despite him not being a reader at all. But that's the way it is my family.
AFAIK the oldest book I have currently is from 1917. It was my Grandma's, but my mum said the name on the inscription in the cover was her neighbour as a child. Although when we sorted the books out she said she didn't know who it was so

113. Godwin's Revenge. O.C Heaton This is book 4 in a series, and as such it's hard to say what it's about as so much has happened. So a series overview is that it's a fast-paced sci-fi thriller series set in the 2010s. Uma (or maybe her dad) has invented a teleportation type system called LEAP. It's doesn't transport "you" as such, but rather has a version of you saved and you are rebuilt as it were when you LEAP. This is initially meant to be an eco thing, but can technically be used to cure illnesses, make your nose smaller/ boobs bigger etc. It flings up so many ethical questions. There's also murder and deception, and kind of everything.

I haven't given any of them 5*s, but I'm not sure why. They "live rent free in my head" as people say, so I'm thinking about upping them.

63 Spiderweb by Penelope Lively
I’ve had this on my kindle for ages and started before the Persephone inflammatory remarks but it’s nice proof that we do read the oldies!
This tells the story of Stella, a 65 year old anthropologist who lived a nomadic lifestyle for years working in varied communities around the world. When she retires she buys a cottage in a small village, not far away from her late best friend’s husband. Another close friend and her wife live relatively close. Stella has always been on the outside observing because of her job and she feels the same in this new village. There’s lots of flashbacks which are a nice comparison with the present day. Stella also has some questionable neighbours and some scenes are from the POV of the sullen teenage boys from up the road. This is a very character driven book- not a lot happens. The writing is beautiful and the themes thought provoking. It could well have been bold but after reaching what seemed like a climax, it just petered out. I’ll definitely read more by Lively.

On the back of the Persephone comment, I'm wondering about starting a challenge thread - read the oldest unread book you own, either physical or on kindle, sometime within the next 4 weeks. Anyone interested? I'm away for the long weekend, so it will be Tuesday by the time I do it.

By oldest, I mean longest possessed.

Have you read Moon Tiger? It’s a masterpiece. Her short stories are great too

@thesecondmrsdewinter20 I haven’t- this was my first Lively. Thanks for the recommendations. Adding them to the ever expanding wishlist!
@bibliomania I did a few of these at the start of this year but am definitely up for it again.

I'm inspired by you in the first place, @ÚlldemoShúl ! I don't know what my oldest physical book is, but Amazon tells me I bought a physical copy of The Corner that Held Them 11 years ago, and I bought a Kindle copy of a book about Genghis Khan 10 years ago.

I have the Bones of Avalon on my Kindle that I bought in 2011. I will start that next

Go @minsmum !

My oldest are She Wolves and A Fraction of the Whole both bought in 2012. I’m not counting the free classics as I’m already in the middle of Middlemarch and War and Peace (and three others including the latest Jane Casey)

My oldest is The oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, which is a huge hardback. It was published in 1989 and I reckon that's when I got it. I asked my mum for it for Christmas. It's such a big book. It has moved house twice with me! I'll give it a go.