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

I love Miss Pettigrew, it’s a wonderful book.

Lincoln in the Bardo is on our Bookclub longlist for 2026, so if it's voted for I will be reading it next year.

A couple of reviews of books I've finished recently. I'm also enjoying the full cast versions of Harry Potter on Audible, not read them for about 15 years!

57. Dreamcount by Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is the story of 4 interconnected African women,

Chiamaka is a Nigerian travel writer stuck alone in the US during the early COVID-19 lockdowns. Far from her family in Nigeria, and disconnected from her friends, she starts to reflect on her life and past relationships.

Zikora is a successful Nigerian lawyer in Washington who is facing single parenthood when her boyfriend says he is not ready for fatherhood. Her traditional, emotionally distant Nigerian mother flies in to help her, who surprisingly begins to open up about her own difficult marriage.

Kadiatou was raised in a small Ghanan village, and grew up in the shadow of her vivacious sister, Binta. Binta died tragically during a medical procedure, and Kadi was married off young. After losing both her husband and infant son, Kadi gave birth to another daughter, whom she also named Binta, and struggled to survive. She seeks asylum in the US supports her daughter through hotel cleaning jobs and occasional domestic work for Chiamaka. A hotel guest sexually assaults her, and when she reports the crime, she is not believed, even by her own lawyer and the prosecution collapses.

Omelogor is Chiamaka’s cousin. She is a banker living in Abuja, Nigeria, and she writes a blog called For Men Only and launders money from her bank to redistribute to women-owned small businesses - kind of like a Robin Hood.

It's a meandering, reflecitve read, kind of like a series of interconnected short stories, very character driven. I remember reading and loving Americanah many years ago. I probably didn't enjoy this quite as much, but a bold nonetheless.

58. The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany

The Yacoubian Building was one of the most luxurious and prestigious apartment blocks in Cairo when it was built in 1934, with government ministers, wealthy manufacturers, and foreigners residing or working out of offices there. After the revolution in 1952, many of these residents fled the country and the building fell into decline.

On the roof of the ten-story building are fifty small rooms (one for each apartment), no more than two meters by two meters in area, which were originally used as storage areas and not as living quarters for human beings, but after wealthy residents began moving away, the rooms were gradually taken over by overwhelmingly poor migrants from the Egyptian countryside, arriving in Cairo in the hopes of finding employment. The rooftop community, effectively a slum neighborhood, is a mix of people making their way in life through the corruption and struggles of life in Cairo.
The novel takes place in 1990 with the backdrop of the first Gulf War and the invasion of Kuwait. I don't know enough about Egyptian history and politics to know how accurate it is, but on a personal level I was invested in the characters stories.

I am smiling at the idea of the enormous member petering out. If it had been lost in the editing process, I'd have enjoyed the book much more. I thought it made something that should have been excellent and moving entirely ridiculous.

@AgualusasL0ver I'm so glad you enjoyed Miss Pettigrew.

49.After the Party by Cressida Connelly In 1938 Phyllis and her family return to the UK after years abroad with her husband's work. She initially stays in her sister's grand country house, and begins to engage with her sister's new and rather political social circle. In a separate narrative, an older Phyllis reflects on her life, focusing on a period of imprisonment. The two narratives meet as we discover how Phyllis's actions led to her imprisonment.

I don't want to say to much about what's going here, as I think the slow and subtle reveals worked really well, and turned a run of the mill interwar country house novel into something darker. There's lots to like here, with the changing dynamics of sibling relationships over time a key theme, but it did fizzle out a bit.

For those who have enjoyed her books, Marina Lewycka has died - a few days ago but I've not seen it mentioned.

I didn't realise what an interesting life she led .
BBC News - Marina Lewycka: British-Ukrainian author dies aged 79 - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3k0w4jvxno?app-referrer=deep-link

66 The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

I usually only end up reading one of the Booker shortlist, and this was the one this year as it was my husband's (who reads them all) favourite (Flesh was his least favourite...). As most of you probably already know, the book focuses on two couples, Eric, a country doctor from humble origins and his more upper class wife, Irene, and Bill, the privately educated son of an Eastern European Jewish slum landlord, who is trying his hand at farming, and Rita, his former showgirl wife. Set over a few weeks during the hard winter of 1962 - 3, the couples' lives start to unravel as the snow sets in. I found this a little slow to get going, but once I had, I was absolutely drawn in. Miller evokes both the social mores of the time and the remorseless weather beautifully and economically. Thought-provoking and immersive; recommended.

I am very sad about Marina Lewycka's death. I posted something on Facebook and discovered that we had a few mutual FB friends - a writer called William Hussey* *was on an MA course in writing with her and read an early draft of her first novel. A couple of other writers responded, but the most interesting story for me was someone who worked with Marina Lewycka's partner at the NUM and used to put her up after nights out in Leeds. Apparently she was also active in miners' strike support groups.

128. It's Not a Cult by Joey Batey

After a run of books I really enjoyed it was inevitable I would find one I strongly disliked. This is apparently a folk horror (not a genre I know much about) about a band who write songs dealing with mythological beings they call the Solkats. They develop a cult following and things get out of hand when their fans start to interpret the lyrics as instructions to do dreadful things.

I thought this was a fascinating premise but in my opinion it was mangled through poor and often pretentious writing.

I'm miles behind on both reading and reviews, but I read this post this week and thought it might be right up the 50 bookers' street: https://kate212.substack.com/p/a-definitive-ranking-of-lm-montgomery

I always liked Gilbert Blythe (especially Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert in the 80s TV series). I’ve only ever read the Anne books by Montgomery though, never read any of the others. I do have her complete works on kindle to get to one day!

I meant to add, thanks for sharing noodle!

Catching up with the thread so a few pages behind to read. Stayed up to finish this one and a definite bold for me.
Saving Missy by Beth Morrey
I haven’t heard of this author before and looking at the cover of her book have learnt that this is a debut. Have just looked up the author and she has written several books since so will read more that’s for sure. My mum gave me this to read and the main character Missy reminds me of my own mum. Especially the relationship with my brother.
This is about Missy Mrs Carmichael who lives on her own rattling around in a big house drinking sherry. She is lonely. It tells the story of how she begins to slowly make connections with the community she lives in and how each person she meets chips away at her prickly spiky existence. We also go back to her younger years during the war and then how she meets her dashing husband Leo in Cambridge at university. My review honestly doesn’t do this justice. There are just so many layers that I can’t explain. It was profoundly sad but also had me laughing out loud. Excellent 5/5

For anyone who wants to read Orbital (me) and hasn't already got it (also me), it is 99p today on Kindle.

Seascraper is also on there for £1.99. I think this was the best of the Booker long list for many of us.

54 Watership Down - Richard Adams

This has gone straight to the top spot in my ‘best ever audiobooks’ list. I know the book so well I could recite it backwards, but the Audible version narrated by Peter Capaldi just adds a whole other dimension. He’s clearly enjoying himself immensely and has a different voice for every rabbit, not to mention Kehar of course. Just pure and utter listening joy.

Love Watership Down, both book and film, though I have traumatic memories of being shown the film at a playgroup. I’m guessing the organisers weren’t aware of the content but it definitely wasn’t suitable for that age group! I’ve watched it often since then but always end up in tears at the end 😂. The audiobook sounds great.

.59. A Mudlarking Year - Lara Maiklem

A sequel of sorts to her book Mudlarking that I enjoyed a couple of years ago, this is a diary of 2022 relating the author’s visits to the Thames foreshore and the historical gems she found there (figuratively and literally). Among the collecting itself there was some lovely lyrical nature writing and fascinating tangents, including coincidentally a discussion on a similar topic to my last book, The Museum Makers, about the ‘museum of me’ and what makes a collection. Another bold.

I also love Watership Down. Will look out for the audiobook.

55 Shadow Ticket - Thomas Pynchon

Pynchon’s latest novel (a surprise release this year - I didn’t think we’d get any more from him) - this is, sad to say, a bit of a disappointment. Has its moments but despite only being 300 pages long, it was a bit of a slog, though picked up momentum in the last 1/3. It’s an enjoyable enough 1930s detective noir / shaggy dog story but nowhere near the genius levels of Mason & Dixon.

1984 by George Orwell

I think everyone knows the plot of this. I was familiar with the plot but had never actually read it. I am glad I have read it, and it’s interesting to see where terms like Big Brother and Room 101 came from, but I can’t say I enjoyed it much. I’m not a massive fan of dystopian fiction anyway, and I felt here that the characters weren’t very well developed and I would have liked to know more about the world Orwell created.

Julia by Sandra Newman

One of the reasons I wanted to read 1984 now is because I had this on my TBR list, sent to me as part of a subscription. It is a retelling of 1984 from Julia’s point of view and filling in more of her story. I liked that this expanded more on Orwell’s world, and it did add to Julia’s character (who was very flat in the original), but I still found it a bit of a slog to get through. You might love it though if dystopian is your thing.

The Children of Green Know
Jumping on the bandwagon from a few days ago. I don't think I've ever read this, which surprised me. It's a sweet, old fashioned children's ghost story and I did enjoy it, but found it a bit disjointed.

Knowe

@TeamToeBeans – drop me a DM with your email and I’ll see what I can do

@Stowickthevast – I have never read anything by Muriel Spark. An absolute disgrace from an Edinburgh girl who was educated in the same building as MS (not the same school, by a long chalk lol)

I think I’m going to have to revisit Lincoln in the Bardo. I have a physical copy and the Audible version.

119 Joey and Co in the Tirol - Elinor M Brent-Dyer. Joey is particularly insufferable in this book.

120 The Wolf Den – Elodie Harper RWYO. I only bought this in July this year, but as I bought book 2 in the trilogy last Summer, I wanted to crack on with it. This was a hard read. The Wolf Den is a brothel in Pompei, a couple of years before the catastrophe. The brothel is, of course, staffed by slaves, who lead a miserable life. Life is very cheap and there are lots of deaths. However it did brighten up towards the end.

121 The Winter Dead – Lynne McEwan – DI Oliver 6. Just released. Wee Shona and her team have a bloody hammer and two missing men to deal with. Good, solid story.

46) Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
What an amazing book. It is very short but packs a huge amount in to the pages. It features a man who takes his elderly mother on a journey through Switzerland. They are trying to get rid of money she made through investments in the arms industry but this proves harder than they thought. The man is trying to make sense of his family history, which includes Nazis and a super rich father, while looking after his razor-sharp, but physically declining mother.

Some great set pieces and memorable characters.

There is so much in this book, which was long listed for the International Booker Prize this year, I think I may have to reread it.

Easily a 10 out of 10.

Ooh @Arran2024 that sounds like it could be up my street. Have put in a library hold for it!

Ooh, I love Watership Down, I’ve read it a couple of times, at least 20 years ago. Might be due for a re-read, I’m sure I would find new meaning in it, reading it in my 40s, as opposed to late teens.

Thank you @Tarragon123, a PM is on the way.