50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Seven

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the seventh thread of the 50 Books 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, the fourth thread here , the fifth thread here and the sixth thread

Hopping onto the thread to wish @EineReiseDurchDieZeit a speedy recovery 💐 and to say congratulations to @GrannieMainland on her wonderful news 🌼

I'm intrigued by the adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Is it still on the GCSE syllabus?

I highly recommend the documentary The Librarians on BBC iPlayer about librarians fighting back against book banning in the US.

It is indeed but it's not a popular a choice because it's on the same paper as An Inspector Calls (which dominates) and Animal Farm.

54 The Odyssey - Homer, tr. Emily Wilson I’m on a roll - second book I’ve finished today! It’s taken me months of dipping in, with a concerted effort to spend 10 minutes a day over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve finally reached the (very gruesome) end. Obviously the original is a masterpiece, but so is the translation - the concept of translating this epic (in both senses) in such a way as to retain the meaning while making it understandable and relevant in a culture thousands of years after it was composed, is pretty mind boggling, and she did it in verse too (the phrase “backwards and in heels” comes to mind). The translation reads like a good story and I was fascinated by the notes on translation-related questions and the detailed introduction. Very much a bold.

Small but sweet Waterstones haul.

Popping in as im reading the thread, but sadly not reading any books (totally lost my reading mojo for a variety of reasons i wont bore everyone with).
Congratulations @GrannieMainland - a baby grannie - very exciting 😊
Wishing you a swift recovery @EineReiseDurchDieZeit 💐
Ps - Interesting that there is loads of Kristin Hannah love on the thread. Im the odd one out - hated The Four Winds and another one i read.

PPS loving the cover of The Haunted Wood @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

Kate Summerscale - The Peepshow, Thé murders at 10 Rillington Place

This is billed as a new solution to the events at 10 Rillington Place and an exploration into the murders committed by John Christie.

I struggled with this as I don’t think the author quite knew the angle she was approaching her book from. At times it was a critique of newspapers attempts to get scoops on sensational news stories of the day, sometimes a discussion on social issues in the 50s and 60s and other a look at whether Timothy Evans was responsible of the murder of his wife and daughter.

Individually each of those things would be quite interesting but together the whole thing is very disjointed, and dare I say boring. There are also unnecessary diversions into all sorts of topics like the coronation and the great smog which adds very little. I also didn’t particularly find the newspaper reporter or the novelist who Summerscale uses as the narrative focus of the book interesting. Her new solution to the deaths of Geraldine and Beryl Evans are only introduced in the last chapter which makes no sense if that is the premise of the book.

You can probably tell I would not recommend!

I've been reading slowly of late. I haven't felt up to doing much of any purpose this week as my mum died on Monday. My whole family is in the US so it's a really odd style of grieving - everything very disconnected. My mum was the whole reason I love books I think (maybe also my grandma) . She really encouraged bookworming and I had piles of all the American children' s classics, all the Judy Blumes -and then later in life Carson McCullers , Willa Cather and others.

I did manage to finish Marble Hall Murders, Horowitz's latest Atticus Pund/ Susan Ryeland number. It makes publishing seem to be the most life endangering job on the planet. Very silly and diverting so a decent tonic.

Now on The Land In Winter which is far more serious.

So sorry to hear about your mum @Piggywaspushed 💐

Sorry to hear about your mum @Piggywaspushed it must he hard being so far from family

So sorry for your loss @Piggywaspushed 💐

So sorry @Piggywaspushed thinking of you

Oh, @Piggywaspushed . I'm so sorry.

It's a beauty, isn't it?

Sorry for your loss, @Piggywaspushed

Really sorry, @Piggywaspushed . Sounds like she would be pleased at you finding some consolation in books.

So sorry @Piggywaspushed.

I’m so sorry to hear that @Piggywaspushed . The distance can’t be helping the process of grief. I hope the family you have around you here are supporting you as you need.

Very sorry to hear of your loss @Piggywaspushed. I did a lot of comfort reading of old favourites after my mother died.

I’m so sorry @Piggywaspushed 💐

Oh @Piggywaspushed I'm really sorry to hear about your mum. I hope you can continue to find some comfort in reading .

Thank you everyone. I appreciate your kindness.

So sorry to hear of your loss @Piggywaspushed- that was such a lovely comment about your mother encouraging your to bookworm.

Also best wishes to @EineReiseDurchDieZeitfor your recovery.

27 The Ghost Tree by Barbara Erskine - this was a kindle monthly deal. Barbara Erskine is a new author to me, who I thought I would try as I have seen her mentioned on a few book threads. Ruth moves back to Edinburgh at her father’s death and finds he has a new lodger who is trying to usurp her inheritance. This leads her to read through old family papers and to inadvertently summon the spirit of one of her ancestors - and also that of his enemy. I really enjoyed the start of the book as it was an interesting premise and the descriptions of Edinburgh were very evocative - it was very easy to picture the location of the characters. But then I started to get a bit bored with the characters although it got a bit more exciting towards the end. I think the problem is that the book was trying to do 3 things - a pyschogical thriller about cuckooing and stalking, a historical story based on the writer’s ancestor and a ghost story - and it was just too much for one book. I also thought it was a bit of a shame that the ancestor story was increasingly focussed on the supernatural element, whereas his actual life story was really interesting,

27 The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher - this is another monthly deal. I chose it as I can remember it being very famous - I read one or two Rosamunde Pilcher books years ago because it was so famous but not this one as the library didn’t have it in stock (or it was permanently on loan). I’m not sure what genre it is as the timeframe doesn’t feel long enough for a saga, but it feels similar to a Victorian novel of say Trollope (begins with a family problem and ends with an engagement). Artist’s daughter Penelope has a heart attack and she and her family reflect on their past. Her children plan for her care - but two also plan to appropriate her inheritance from her father. This was very engrossing to read and very evocative especially the descriptions of Cornwall. I thought the author was very clever having an engaging female character from each generation for the reader to identify with. I also liked how unsentimental the description of family relations were - some characters were lovely and other absolutely awful. I meant to mention this when there was the posts about Rosamunde Pilcher books but then I needed something engrossing to read yesterday and raced through it before I got round to posting (which is why it is a bold).

I’m so sorry @Piggywaspushed. I hope you manage to find some suitable comfort reading.

Hope you recover soon @EineReiseDurchDieZeit and congratulations on the pregnancy @GrannieMainland.