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

@Arran2024 I really enjoyed Eurotrash as well - it struck a very clever balance between funny and tender.

137. Clown Town, Mick Herron
Latest instalment of the Slow Horses series. More of the same. First Desk plots, and the slow horses get in the way. If you like the series you'll want to read it, and if you don't, this won't convert you.

138. They Found Him Dead, Georgette Heyer
1937 crime fiction. Silas falls of a cliff; his heir is shot through a window. You can understand why the next in line is somewhat nervous. The main detective is as bland as ever and the murderer is obvious, but the author has some fun with the stock characters. I enjoyed the lady explorer and her immaculate husband.

43. Collision on Tenerife by Jon Ziomek and Caroline Hopkins
In depth journalist’s book about the worst air disaster ever (as in number of deaths). If you want to read about it, this is a good, detailed account. I’m always a bit bamboozled by the obligatory American section on whether the survivors have developed a religious faith or not.

The River at Green Knowe
I might have liked this as a nine year old, but as an adult, I thought it was rubbish. I only finished it to see if it went anywhere, and it didn’t.

It had nothing whatsoever to do with the previous book. I thought the previous one disjointed, but this was even more so.

I felt it was trying and failing to be Nesbit. Twaddle. It had nice children and a lovely giant, but it was twaddle all the same.

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with work stuff for the last few months but did manage to read 2 autumn treats:

Clown Town by Mick Herron - I love this series and this was no exception. I wasn’t totally on board towards the end of the book but it carried me along anyway.

The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith another surefire for me.

Hoping to have some more reading time now but meanwhile have fallen too far behind on the Kristin Lavransdatter readalong to catch up with the conversation and am struggling to commit to anything at the moment.

209 A Life of my Own - Claire Tomalin

I liked this a lot - a bold.

This is the autobiography of an established biographer, who is now in her 80s. It’s - unsurprisingly - very well written and is an enlightening account of her career, initially in literary review for eg The Spectator and The Sunday Times where she rose to literary editor and fell out with Andrew Neil over the move to Wapping (amongst other things). An awful lot of casual sexism - in her work, marriage and other relationships- is recounted in a very clear eyed way. The author is just a smidge older than my mother, who became an SAHM, so this gives a view of the untrodden career path. For the last 30 years, she has concentrated on biographies and has covered Dickens, his mistress Ternan, Pepys, Austen and Hardy, amongst others.

The book makes her interesting and admirable more than loveable, and I don’t doubt that was her intent. Fascinating.

In a bit of a reading slump with nothing really igniting a passion for reading at the moment. Latest completed books:

#30. In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Set during the First World War this book details the physical and sexual bullying of upper class boarding schools of the period and the pressure put on young boys to enlist, many before they were old enough to do so. It is reminiscent of Birdsong in its description of the horrors of the First World War trenches. The tragic waste of life during the battle of the Somme is shockingly conveyed, however the central gay love story and sex scenes weren’t for me.

#31. Instructions For A Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell. A was hoping this would be another MO’F book to add to my list of favourites: I Am I Am I Am and Esme Lennox, unfortunately it left me a bit cold (if you’ll excuse the pun) mainly because I didn’t feel involved enough with the characters to care what happened to them.

Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton DNF have had this sitting on my bookshelf for a number of years. Got just past chapter 3 but no just not for me not grabbing me at all. Then when decided to give up had a look on good reads for some reviews on there and the bad ones justify what I suspected of this book so glad I’ve not wasted any more time. I really enjoyed Sister that she wrote but this was just not of that standard.

210 Different Class - Joanne Harris

This is the actual second in the St Oswald’s trilogy and I’m even more annoyed with Amazon now as blueeyedboy would have been a lot better as an “in universe” book if I had read this first.

Anyway. The action moves between the present day (2005) - where Classics Master Roy Straitley is coming to terms with a new headmaster, Harrington, who is also a former pupil - and 1981, when Harrington was one of three Seventh Term pupils joining the school. In 1981, the boys had an English Master, Harry Clarke, who was a friend of Straitley’s and was rather bohemian with the boys, letting them listen to David Bowie and the like. He also tells Straitley that he is gay, much to Roy’s vague discomfort.

In 2005 - having left the school in disgrace, which becomes clearer throughout - Harry Clarke dies and sends some personal effects to Straitley, requesting his ashes be scattered at the school. This fuels Straitley’s battle with the new guard, and old scandals and tragedies being unearthed.

Again, something of a confusing read, but I still like Straitley!

Quentins and Tara Road both Maeve Binchy.

Thanks to whoever it was that resurrected Maeve Binchy on this thread. I really enjoyed re-reading these interconnected books about 90s Dublin. Nice and undemanding.

Moi @BestIsWestshe’s very underrated I feel

There are loads of books on Amazon for 99p, although I can't seem to get an actual list of them all. Black Friday has started.

I am trying to be discerning and not just purchase everything that looks half decent. I really don't want to start next year with loads of unread books on my kindle. I've worked really hard to bring the number of books down in 2025!

Should I get All The Colours Of The Dark?

Or go Christmassy and get Murder under the mistletoe?

10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world?

It's all so tempting!!

I need to update with recent reads but just leaving my rather lovely birthday book pile here for you all to admire!

Ooooo @TimeforaGandTmy favourite non fiction! Hope it doesn’t disappoint

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday @TimeforaGandT! I read and enjoyed The Mitfords and Confessions this year. Les Miserables is my book groups ‘chapter a day’ big read for 2026!

Looking forward to all of them. Les Mis is for the 2026 readalong.

Not helping RWYO but I do own them now.....

Happy birthday. Those are some big reads!

Many happy returns @TimeforaGandT !

Yes, some chunky books! I think I will be dipping in and out of the Mitford letters and doing a chapter a day on Les Mis so it makes them more manageable.

Happy Birthday @TimeforaGandT . Lovely stash!

Happy birthday, @TimeforaGandT ! Excellent reading ahead!

Many happy bookish ones, @TimeforaGandT!

Happy birthday!! I was actually looking at The Forsyte Saga, as it keeps coming up on my streaming services but I feel compelled to read it first. I also thought it would make a skid readalong, but with Les Mis will be 2027 before it can be considered and I can’t really do multiple readalong.

@ÚlldemoShúl you will surely have join us on the Les Mis thread too, since we’ll be doing a chapter a day as well.

Happy birthday @TimeforaGandT. Enjoy your books!

That’s worked out perfectly Agua. Count me in!