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've bought Queer Georgians and a vegetarian air fryer book.

Has anybody read Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory?

I got All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville West, Wakenhurst by Michelle Paver,
The Untouchable by John Banville and The Echo of Crows, the final Merrily Watkins book by the late Phil Rickman.

I think I may have read that @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie but can’t remember for sure (which isn’t a great sign tbh)

I hadn’t thought about the layout of teenage sections in libraries before, but the layout does make a difference. In the library that I frequented as a child, there was a distinct zone for the children’s section and it worked really well as it felt very separate from the adult section. I much prefer a zoning approach to just having shelves. The library I used to take my DC to when they were younger had a sort of zone, but it didn’t really work well (some books were on the outside of the zone, where it always felt as it a lively child could annoy other users - this was not helped by a piece of furniture on which young DC could happily stamp so you are always aware that they were probably being too noisy). A proper teenage zone would be lovely but the challenge is library funding I guess.

Curating books for teenage DC is another challenge as they do need more than young adult novels - there needs to be a cross-over between older children’s books and adult books. I’ve mentioned reading Du Maurier as a teen on this thread before - I found her as there was a copy of Frenchman’s Creek in the teenage section of the library. It had a lovely picture on the front and the plot (historical novel with pirates) was an easy jump as it was a genre that I liked. I also found the second of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian books that way - she was an obvious author to read as I’d enjoyed her children’s books. There are modern authors that you could do the same with (Eva Ibbotson is the one that springs to mind). A range of genres is really important too. Then there’s non-fiction too, particularly authors to encourage children to read for pleasure around their studies (this was something I struggled to find as a teenager).

I was sorry to hear that you have dropped Tess @Piggywaspushed- I adored Hardy in my teens. He was the one author where it didn’t seem to matter that it was a bit difficult for me, or that I had missed out chunks, or skipped to the end. I just read and reread his main books. Eventually, I acquired my own copies and happily read chunks as a distraction from homework / revision. I haven’t read his books for years, probably because I spent so much time with them then. I do wonder if something similar to YA & a lack of reading stamina is behind the rise in popularity of graphic novels in the KS2 age range. It’s a tricky issue due to the balance of reading being a hobby and good for children’s mental health, but also a key driver for educational success and the stats of children’s reading suggest that we haven’t got this right as a country.

It's not me that dropped it! I'd still teach it but don't teach English any more. I think they are having the same issues with reluctant readers on English degrees. Bonkersness!

My mind is boggling that a reluctant reader would even want to do an English degree (or even an A-Level).

I think that, on average, only one or two of any Literature A Level class I’ve ever run reads anything other than the set texts.

62 Strange Sally Diamond - Liz Nugent I think most people have read this, I’m late to the party as usual! I didn’t like it, I’m afraid - really grim story, hated the ending, and the simplistic writing style was obviously a choice to show us Sally’s perspective but it didn’t work for me as there was no difference in style when the POV switched to someone else. The occasional bit of humour didn’t make up for the rest of it.

It was a DNF for me.

89. The Labyrinth Makers - Anthony Price

A recent 99p acquisition from when Kindle suddenly had a job lot of classic green Penguins recently. I thought this was going to be a detective novel but it turned into a rather Le Carré-esque tale of postwar intelligence, published in 1970 and set a couple of years earlier.
Dr David Audley is pushed, rather against his will, into investigating when the remains of a WW2 pilot - and his plane - are found after a lake is drained. The Russians are sniffing around and British intelligence don’t know what they’re trying to find. Was the dead pilot, Steerforth, smuggling cargo? And if so, where and what is it?
This was a very well-written, proper, old-fashioned page-turner, so imagine my delight when I found that it’s the first in a series of nineteen novels. And all £2.99 on Kindle…I must admit I’m tempted. I definitely want to read more about Audley and his crew.

Oh dear heaven!

218 Play It Again - Alan Rusbridger

I absolutely loved this. Picked it up in a charity shop, largely on the strength of Toby Jones playing Rusbridger (who was editor in chief of the Guardian until 2015) in the docudrama The Hack.

Anyway, this is in a strange way a great companion piece to Hack Attack by guardian journo Nick Davies, as it covers some of the same events, namely Andy Coulson, phone hacking by the News of the World etc, as well as the Julian Assange/Wikileaks event.

But that’s far from the main focus of the book, which is in a diary format. Rusbridger, who was a chorister as a boy and learned piano and clarinet to an ok standard, has continued to play music with friends and sets himself the challenge - in 2010 - of trying to learn an extremely difficult piece of Chopin (the first Ballade) in 12 months and to perform it. He tries to commit to practising 20 minutes a day, but can’t always manage that. Along the way, he meets up with piano sellers, pianists, music teachers, neuroscientists (to learn about different types of memory), a lot of keen and talented amateur musicians and a number of prominent figures who are trying to fit music back into their packed lives, for the sense of space and clarity and focus it can bring (Condoleeza Rice being one example).

Obviously, Rusbridger has money, connections and access to places that make this possible, but the book conveys so well the satisfaction of really working at something, making a space for it, caring about improvement but not perfection, clearing your head to better your day and your life. A bold.

I’ve just finished Slough House #2, Dead Lions (Mick Herron). This is not a genre I’d usually go for, it was a bit of an experiment, to try something new, but I’m not a massive fan. I’ve got the third one but I’ll read something else I think. That was book #37 for me. I doubt I’m going to achieve 50, but I think 37 is my best yet.

@Terpsichore looking back I found I read The Labyrinth Makers in 2023, had no idea it was the first in a series. A proper old-school spy thriller but I’ll resist buying more for the sake of the TBR pile.

So interesting about teenage reading habits. From 11-16 all I read was fantasy and horror novels and Oscar Wilde 🤣 then I decided that wasn’t quite cool enough and moved on to Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, Pynchon, Tom Robbins (does anyone still read him?) and that kind of thing in my late teens.

As far as ‘classics’ went, I only read Brontes etc when forced to through English Lit GCSE / A Level and there are still huge chunks of the classic canon I’ve never read (never picked up a Hardy for example).

Both my own teens went through a several years long patch (age 13 to 16 ish) of not reading at all, despite the more or less daily visits to the children’s library from the day they were born, house filled with books etc. I had just got used to the idea that they were gamers, not readers and there was nothing I could do about it. Then all of a sudden I found one had gone and bought a copy of The Secret History and the other was reading Infinite Jest so there is hope 🤣

12 ways to kill your family at Christmas by Natasha Bache

This was as stupid as the title sounds!

A reluctant daughter in law goes to visit the extended family who are rich AF and obviously nasty with it. Why they agreed to two weeks makes no sense. It makes even less sense why they stayed as the bodies start to pile up.

I didn't guess the murderer, but I didn't really try. There were no clues as such apart from the fact everyone was pretty horrible so probably could have done it.

It doesn't even give a particularly good sense of Christmas as they got snowed in for days and days in the Cotswolds (I think it was Cotswolds) which seemed a bit unlikely.

182 Cecily by Annie Garthwaite
The story of the lead up to the Wars of the Roses from the point of view of Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV and Richard III. I soft DNFed this a while back but decided to give it another go after good reviews on here and I’m glad I did. It was an interesting read and Cecily an interesting protagonist- a strong woman for her times (though definitely the mother of a ‘golden child’. None of the others even got a look in). I don’t know a lot about this period of English history so I’m enjoying g the twists and turns and will read the follow up at some stage (also on my kindle. Also bought in a kindle 99p deal)

Glad it’s not just me Remus!

That probably does make sense re A-Level when you start to think about this a bit more (as English is a natural companion subject to languages, history etc.) but it’s still sad reading as they are missing out both on the joy of the subject and on something that really helps you to do well in the subject.

@MegBusset- that is a lovely hopeful story (I’ve read neither The Secret History nor Infinite Jest but will be looking them up).

I mostly read a load of old shite in my teens, I can barely remember titles. I did like a bit of moody dystopian stuff like Orwell and Wyndham as well though. Plus Ian Banks and The Secrer History. I don't mind that I have come to the many of the classics late - I don't think the young me would have got much out of Mrs Dalloway or Middlemarch. As for my own teens I have one who simply does not read for pleasure at all, despite doing fine in English Lit, and one who's just started a literature-heavy degree.

@DuPainDuVinDuFromage oh dear - I'm on the BorrowBox waiting list for Strange Sally Diamond, having quite liked Skin Deep by the same author.

52.Auditon by Katie Kitamura. Opening with our unnamed middle aged narrator, a jobbing stage actor, meeting a young man named Xavier for lunch. Their relationship is at first unclear, but it transpires that Xavier believes that he may be the narrator's son given away many years ago, although the narrator asserts that this cannot be the case. In the second part of the novel the author's relationship with Xavier is different, and it's not explicitly clear how or why their reality has changed.

I am categorising this in Books I Am Not Smart Enough To Get. I think it was supposed to be about the roles we all play and inhibit in daily life, whether consciously or subconsciously, but who knows? Or indeed cares? I felt like there was more time spend on the importance of pastries than on character development (although I agree that pastries are important).

You and me both @StrangewaysHereWeCome(Audition)

Just needed to share today’s charity shop finds with you. I’ve read one already!

I think I can guess which one you made it through in a day, @CornishLizard ! Great finds.

Love a charity shop find! Was stupidly excited to get my hands on a copy of This Thing of Darkness after a charity shop trawl earlier this year

@CornishLizard I had that exact copy of The Quangle Wangle's Hat as a child.

I did too Owl! When the kids were small I bought a Picture Mammoth version (same illustrations but different cover and larger format) but I was so excited to find the one I had as a child. Might give it to my parents for Christmas as they talk about it all the time. Might lock it up somewhere and not share!

It’s such a joy isn’t it Cludgie?