50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Eight

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the eighth 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 , the sixth thread here and the seventh thread here

@ChessieFL I'd love to visit the house too. Apparently the author's daughter-in-law, who lives there now, does allow people to visit on appointment, or at least she used to. I did try sending an email to her last summer, but didn't get an answer, and I don't know if my information is completely out of date.

126 . Day by Michael Cunningham

A book set in Brooklyn, taking snapshots of a family over a 3 year period, including the pandemic.

My word I thought this dull. I was so uninterested and bored by it all, very wanky stuff. I only didn’t DNF because it was >300 pages. It sent me to sleep at one point. Very easily my worst book this year. Snoozefest.

That’s a shame bibliomania. The website implies it’s still open so hopefully it is still
possible to visit. Even just looking round the gardens and seeing the outside of the house would be lovely.

129. Paper Cup - Karen Campbell. I think several of you read this and recommended it a couple of years ago but I'm just getting round to it. It's about Kelly, a homeless woman in Glasgow, who goes on a sort of pilgrimage to Dumfries & Galloway after a traumatic incident. I thought this was excellent, who a great balance of insight into homelessness and how someone can fall through the cracks, and some beautiful descriptions of the Scottish countryside. I particularly loved some of the local words to describe the landscape which I hadn't heard of before. A bold.

130. Memento Mori - Muriel Spark. This is about various old people who are getting phone calls telling them to remember they will die. There are different side stories and blackmails going on, and amusing characters. I liked the grannies ward in the hospital.

And I have DNF'd Electric Spark which is the new Muriel Spark biography that was on the shortlist for the Bailey Gifford prize. It was just a bit too dense for me, and I realised I'd rather read her books than read about her in excruciating detail.

40 Lady Tan's Circle of Women - Lisa See
This is a historical novel based on the life of a female doctor in 15th century China - at a time when Confucius held that "an educated woman is a useless woman".

Despite this, Tan Yunxian is raised by her grandparents to be supremely useful as she learns about women's ailments, mainly but not exclusively related to motherhood. Arranged marriages, friendships that transcend social status, the pressure to produce sons and being hidden away behind the walls of the family estate are considerable barriers to Tan's career as a doctor.
I didn't love this as much as The Island of Sea Women based in Korea but I did find it fascinating, and all the more so to know it was inspired by a true story, by a woman who really existed.

I'm going to say that I really disagree that Wide Sargasso Sea has been overhyped. I first read it in my teens, before university, and I think it wasn't on my reading lists because the course that included Jean Rhys was earlier 20th century lit and included her much earlier novels and not WSS or her later short story collection (there were several decades between the publication of her earlier work and WSS).

I think that the issue is about the portrayal of characters - it may be hard to really like both Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. And that might be an argument for the literary power of both books.

I think it's fine to express dislike of a book, that it does nothing for you - but I disagree very much with the argument that my or anyone else's dislike means that it has no literary merit.

@elkiedee I’m assuming that’s directed at me. I said that in my opinion it has no literary merit. You’re obviously perfectly within your rights to disagree with me.

I don’t rate Jane Eyre either, so it’s not that I dislike WSS because it’s taking a hatchet to Brontë. I just think it’s a badly considered and constructed work. I’m an English teacher and pretty well read, so I do think I’m allowed to express an opinion about literary merit, just as you’re able to believe it’s a work of genius, if you so desire.

207 Summerwater - Sarah Moss

I have started and not finished at least one Sarah Moss in my time, so as this was short (200 pages), 99p in the monthly deals and being televised from this weekend, I thought I would read it.

It was ok. Little snapshots of different families in different wooden cabins on a rainy holiday park in Scotland, stitched together with the nocturnal life of a deer. Quite lyrical in places. I think perhaps I am not a Sarah Moss person, though I will have another shot sometime at the other ones I have (Ghost Wall, Night Waking, My Good Bright Wolf)

41 The only plane in the sky – Garrett M. Graff
Recommended on these threads a considerable while back, this is a blow by blow account of the 11th of September.
I started this in August and have only just finished it. I read it in a piecemeal manner, partly due to the subject matter and partly due to the way the content was organised. I feel pretty bad about slating this as it is without a doubt important to record the experiences of so many people at such a time and it's quite a feat to have collected so much first-hand eye-witness content. So I won't slate it. But it wasn't for me.

(NNNM worries you will all now think she's a heartless b1tch)

Out Of Time - Jodi Taylor

The latest in the Time Police series, a spin-off from St Mary’s. here the Time Police, along with Max from St Mary’s, are battling dinosaurs in Wales. This one was fun as usual but it was annoying that Taylor seemed to have completely forgotten a key plot development from the St Mary’s series that would have affected what happened in this book. I do wonder if she’s trying to churn them out too quickly now.

The Witching Hour - various

Collection of ghostly short stories. I enjoyed them all but can’t say I found any of them particularly scary.

The Party - Tessa Hadley

Novella set in the 1940s/1950s about two young women who are invited to a party by two young men. I found this boring and it was too short to properly develop either the plot or the characters.

Murder Most Haunted - Emma Mason

Cosy crime about a group of ghost hunters stuck in a country house by the snow when people start dying. I thought this was fun.

Palace of Shadows - Ray Celestin

Historical ghostly fiction about an artist who is invited to build a mausoleum at the most bizarre house I’ve ever read about. Ghostly goings on ensue. I liked this - not particularly scary but I loved all the descriptions of the house and the Yorkshire Moors setting.

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
(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
(18) Home Front by Kristin Hannah
(19) The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
(20) Fly Away by Kristin Hannah
(21) Night Road by Kristin Hannah
(22) Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah
(23) True Colours by Kristin Hannah
(24) Promise me by Harlan Coben
(25) Long Lost by Harlan Coben
(26) Live Wire by Harlan Coben
(27) The Women by Kristin Hannah - audio book
(28) The French for Love by Fiona Valpy

Latest book....

(29) Wild by Kristin Hannah

Description taken from Amazon:

In the rugged Pacific Northwest of the United States lies the Olympic National Forest – a vast expanse of impenetrable darkness and impossible beauty. From deep within this mysterious woodland, a six-year-old girl appears. Speechless and alone, she offers no clue as to her identity, no hint of her past.

Having retreated to her hometown after a scandal left her career in ruins, child psychiatrist Dr Julia Cates begins working with the extraordinary little girl. Naming her Alice, Julia is determined to free her from a prison of unimaginable fear and isolation, and discover the truth about Alice’s past. The shocking facts of Alice’s life test the limits of Julia’s faith and strength, even as she struggles to make a home for Alice – and find a new one for herself.

Another lovely, enjoyable, easy to read book!

Happy reading everyone 😄

Quoting @Terpsichore to remind you all of the Patricia Brent plot. Thank you for the recommendation, I really enjoyed this.

Just finished this, after waking up multiple times last night and dipping in and out. I thought it delightful, witty and a little bonkers. I have just watched the film on BFI as well, and was reminded that a few of the characters were probably not needed, the film did without Mr Triggs for example, Patricia's employer's FIL, but I quite enjoyed him in the book.

I also bought Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day at the same time (though closed my eyes and paid full price - eek).

The Common Years - Jilly Cooper
Re-read of Dame Jilly’s diaries of living in Putney and walking her dogs on the common in the 70s and 80s. Lovely descriptions of flowers and trees and lots of gossiping about friends and enemies she makes over the years but my God, she was a terrible dog owner.

I’ve let a few reviews build up.
Lincoln in the Bardo- George Saunders
I liked this at the start and found it mildly amusing as well as moving (could have done without the swollen member mind you) but it kind of petered out. I listened on audio which was a full cast including a few big names like Nick Offerman but I kinda lost interest as it went on.

How to Build a Boat- Elaine Feeney
Another book that started better than it finished. Follows Jamie, a young teen on the autistic spectrum and Tessa a teacher in a bad marriage. The two work with Tadhgh, a new teacher in the school to build a boat. It deals with grief and connection but Tadhgh is flat and doesn’t feel real which takes a lot away from the book overall.

The Torrent - Dinuka McKenzie
Enjoyable Aussie police procedural where a heavily pregnant detective investigates a series of robberies and a death during flooding. I liked the main character in this and I also liked that the crimes were not sexually assaulted women for once. Will read more of these.

Hum- Helen Phillips
Set in the near future where AI robots or hums fulfil many of the necessities of mankind and people are ever more dependent on devices, cameras etc. May agrees to have surgery on her face for an experiment so she can make enough money to treat her family. Shenanigans ensue. This was very thought provoking and quite scary and real feeling. However it was also quite slow at times for a short book.

Lincoln In The Bardo is another divisive book on here iirc (I loved it!)

53 The Future Of Truth - Werner Herzog

A short collection of interrelated essays around the topic of fake news and how we might deal with it in our rapidly changing world. Herzog is always an enjoyable narrator but I felt this was quite surface level and not really a necessary read. (Do read his autobiography Every Man For Himself And God Against All, though.)

I also loved Lincoln In The Bardo

I ended up loving Lincoln in the Bardo after two false starts (once with the audio, once the actual book). I actually read the book and listened to the audio (with a brilliant cast list) at the same time!

Glad you enjoyed Patricia, @AgualusasL0ver. I haven’t quite finished watching the film yet but I’m finding the details fascinating - the fashions, the London locations in 1919, even the transport. I’ve managed to identify that they really are on a bus going along Oxford St, Regent St and turning into Piccadilly Circus. Still tormented by the location of the boarding-house, which is clearly a real street with a very distinctive (and annoyingly familiar-looking) grand house at the end of it.

The God of the Woods, Liz Moore

Barbara van Laar goes missing from the summer camp her wealthy family own, in echo of the disappearance of her older brother years earlier. This was an enjoyable page turner with the investigation of two disappearances to solve. I did guess what happened to Bear before the reveal but not Barbara. I thought the ending was a little bit naff, particularly a statement about how some of the characters had apparently redeemed themselves!

I’m finally getting around to Killing Thatcher which was recommended after I finished and enjoyed Say Nothing earlier this year. It’s hooked me straight away!

They refer to Bloomsbury in the film, but it’s Bayswater I think in the book, perhaps that might help? The fashion was what I picked up the most. Many more ankles and Patricia’s belts are very modern.

208 Anne Boleyn - Norah Lofts
Easy read about Anne’s life, with the occasional bizarre reference to witchcraft (ie was Anne a witch?)

@ChessieFL I am trudging through The Party at the moment, and taking forever even though it's only about 15 pages long, because it's just not very good. Nice cover art though.

85. The Fledgeling - Frances Faviell

This was an odd one. I’ve read two excellent books by Faviell, A Chelsea Concerto and The Dancing Bear, both thinly-disguised versions of events from her own life; this was her final novel and much more issue-driven.

Sensitive, horribly bullied young National Service recruit Neil deserts and flees for the home of his grandmother, the matriarch who held together her dysfunctional family and brought up Neil and his twin sister, Nona. Now she’s dying, cooped up in a wretched basement room, and wants Neil to hand himself in. But he refuses hysterically, and Nona takes his side in plotting to spirit him away. What none of his family knows is that his tormentor, Mike, is about to turn up. What can they do about Neil, and the problem he’s causing for everyone?

At times this read like a Play for Today, and could easily have been one - it’s almost entirely set in one room and the drama's very televisual, with big set-piece speeches for everyone. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me, not helped by the fact that Neil was wet and a weed and I just wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled. I would have preferred to read more about the grandmother, who was a strong, well-drawn character. A miss rather than a hit for me, ultimately, although the fact that it popped up as a kindle freebie (rather surprisingly) helped soften the disappointment somewhat.

@StrangewaysHereWeCome yes it did drag even though it’s short! The cover art is the best thing about it.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Winifred Watson

A 1938 Cinderella story of sorts. 40 year old, failed governess, almost homeless Miss Pettigrew gets sent to the wrong address by a recruitment agency and gets embroiled in ‘the best day of her life’, the life of her potential employer Miss LaFosse.

I loved all the description of the outfits and getting ready, the glamour and ease. It was a bit risqué with cocaine, multiple lovers and all sorts, and the racist language left me quite startled and I’m not normally shocked and reasonably forgiving (for want of a better expression) about historical context and ways. The white woman was considered too good for the Italian (who made ice cream) and two references to undesirable Jews.

All that said, I did find myself racing through and loving this, in particular the last 20% I was smiling ear to ear.

I will be spending the rest of the afternoon watching the film.

Thank you for the recommendation - think it was @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie and this might be the first time we’ve ever liked the same book! Unless, I have misremembered, which is entirely possible.