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

Eine I have read The Glass Lake and remember really liking it, but it was years ago and I can’t remember much about it now. I will reread it at some point soon.

@ChessieFLoh great!

I also read The Glass Lake and can't remember anything about it but I loved it and read it more than once!

61 Austral by Carlos Fonseca

Latest Shelterbox pick. I thought I was going to love this but it faded in the second half. Julio is summoned to a remote artists' colony in Argentina to edit a manuscript written by Aliza, the lover he last saw 30 years ago. In the interim she suffered a stroke which rendered her aphasic. The first part of the novel interweaves Julio's present day experience of the colony with Aliza's manuscript, which is about her father's research into an anti-semitic colony in the Peruvian Amazon. There are parallels drawn between Aliza's aphasia and the last survivor of a tribe killed by the diseases brought by the settlers, who is the last protector of an almost-lost language. I really loved this part, it was very thought-provoking about language and memory. The second half involves further journeys as Aliza's real purpose in asking Julio to edit the first manuscript is revealed. This just got a bit too complicated for me; there were too many shifts and changes and the insights got rather lost. It wad all beautifully written and translated, though.

122 . Sky Daddy by Kate Folk

I think I’m the third to read this. A woman named Linda has a plane fetish and is desperate to die in a plane crash.

I found this maybe a bit too strange, a bit too OTT, I read it quickly but didn’t love it I’m sorry to say.

#16 An Experiment in Love Hilary Mantel
Someone (apologies I dont remember who) mentioned Mantel on the kadt thread and coincidently this book popped up on the first page of amazon. I bought it impulsively thinking it might break my reading block and it did.
This is my type of novel - i knew from reading the first couple of pages of the kindle sample that i would get along with it. Carmel arrives at university in London to study law in 1970. Living in an austere women's only hall of residence she encounters two old friends from her Lancashire grammar school, Karina (who has a working class background like herself) and more middle class Julianne. The novel shifts between the girls lives and relationships in 1970 and their catholic childhood in Lancashire.

Mantel's evocation of childhood is completely on point. She captures the powerlessness, and the brutal friendships of young girls completely. It is rather reminiscent of Attwood's Cats Eye. There are a lot of parallels with Mantel's memoir. You can see she is drawing from life.
Unusually for Mantel it is told in the first person and sometimes the narrator speaks to us directly. We are told it isnt a novel about anorexia (that Carmel develops at university), bur about appetite. Food references are constant throughout, but not in a pleasant way. It is more than a simple of coming of age story, but because I am not an author I find it hard to describe why. The ending was sudden, brutal and unexpected. Im not really sure what i think about it.
Overall, i didnt enjoy it as much as A Change of Climate, but still a really interesting and engaging read (i finished it in 2 days after not reading a book for weeks).

Just finished Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reis. This book has been much hyped as with most TJR books. It's a quick read but I have just decided she isn't for me. I find her style very pedestrian. Occasionally she bursts into quite didactic passages but most of it is straightforward character with dialogue. The space setting does add another dimension (boom boom) but otherwise it's just a story about women, family and love. Nothing special.

@Piggywaspushed How strange. I was just thinking about Atmosphere and how much I didn’t like it this morning. I have liked her Shared Universe stuff, so I’m prepared to give her one last chance!

Taylor Jenkins Reid only really works for me when I have an interest in whatever sphere she has chosen - I really enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo because I am interested in Golden Age Hollywood. Malibu Rising was ok, but I’m not that bothered by celebrity. I haven’t bothered with Carrie Soto (not into tennis) and Daisy whatever (I don’t follow music particularly and bands in the western sense ) and I find she puts a lot of this sort of detail in.

The Scapegoat Daphne do Maurier
Very loose addition to my October reads. This is a mystery and doesn’t really contain the gothic or eerie tropes of some of her more well known books. John, a lecturer on French history with a pedestrian life meets Jean - his doppelgänger - a French count with a rather laissez faire approach to life. After a night out drinking John wakes to discover that Jean has run off with his clothes, car and life. John is picked up by the chauffeur and assumes Jean’s life at St Gilles.

I really enjoyed this, it is characteristic du Maurier with the slow unveiling of what the backstory is and what is actually going on, we discover it along with Jean. The writing is wonderful and I have a really clear vision of the chateau, rooms etc.

As ever with du Maurier the ending is a bit ambiguous and leaves you to draw your own conclusions as to what happens next.

87. The Wreckage of Us by Dan Malakin

A wrecked car is found in the woods. It belongs to the wife of a retired police officer but she is nowhere to be found. She is very unwell and barely leaves the house because of chronic illness but where is she?

Passable mystery with obviously signposted twists and turns.

88. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

Thank you so much @DuPainDuVinDuFromage for this recommendation. I tend to steer clear of kindle unlimited reads as a general rule as it is often a sign of poor quality but this was not the case at all here.

Odile lives in a valley. To one side is a valley that is identical but 20 years in the past, to the other side is a valley 20 years in the future. People may visit the other valleys but only under strict rules of non interference and for observation only.

I enjoyed this hugely. It was set in an indeterminate time period where there are cars and buses but no mobiles. It is also written in English but, I believe the writer is Canadian, the names and places are all French names which gives it a slightly uncanny feel.

I liked the writing, the world building, the characters. Yes there were plot holes (where the hell do the cars come from?!) but this didn’t matter. This is a first novel and I would read another by the author.

89. The Examiner by Janice Hallett

As with Hallett’s other novels this is written innovatively. This time it is exclusively through the messages, emails and written assignments uploaded to ‘doodle’- the intranet of the Royal Hastings Art School. An academic has started an MA course in fine art with six participants. The external examiner looks at the documents from the course and thinks there might be something terribly wrong- someone may have gone missing.

I enjoyed this. I found the different voices through the emails worked well.

163 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Very well constructed and written mystery that has been much reviewed on here which encouraged me to make it up my tbr. Engrossing read.

Thanks again to south for keeping us on track with the new thread. For the list-lovers out there I’ll post mine at year end. I’m behind on my reviews so a quick catch up:

.54. The Names - Florence Knapp

Much read here, the book follows the three alternate lives of the same child and his family, lives influenced by the name he was registered with in the days after the Great Storm of 1987. I raced through this engrossing story; it’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. Probably a bold.

.55. The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths

Thanks to all who recommended this: the first in a new series (presumably) featuring time travelling police, with Ali, the main character, going back to early Victorian London to investigate the ancestor of a high-profile politician. The dingy offices and mix of oddball characters brought to mind the world of the Slow Horses, and I felt the time-travel element was handled well. I really enjoyed this and look forward to the next in the series.

.56. Ashes to Admin - Evie King

Another much-read book on here, taking a glimpse into the life of a council funeral officer organising Section 46 funerals, those that used to be known as ‘paupers funerals’. The care the author takes over finding out about the deceased and arranging the ceremony are touching and beyond her remit in many cases. This was another engrossing read, funny, heart-warming, but emotional at times and thought-provoking.

9.Liar by Lesley Pearse

This is about a young lady who hasn’t had the best start in life making her way in the world as a journalist but starting out doing the basic tasks selling advertising space.
However it all turns sinister when she stumbles across a body near her bedsit in Shepherds Bush. This is her moment to get a scoop on the story.
Amelia becomes embroiled in it all and more young ladies are found dead.
Amelia try’s to work out who is the Liar among them.

I really enjoyed this one. I like Lesley Pearse’s writing although I have only read one other of her’s before but yes I recommend. I did kind of guess who it may have been but only towards the middle section. Not a five star bold but a worthy three.

@Southeastdweller thank you for the new thread

192 Shot with Crimson - Nicola Upson

The last (for now) in this series where crime fiction author Josephine Tey is the protagonist. This is set immediately after Dear Little Corpses and starts with Tey on the Queen Mary to America, where she meets up with Alma Hitchcock. Tey’s partner Marta is working on Rebecca with Alfred Hitchcock so there’s also a cameo or two from Daphne du Maurier, most notably when she was a girl at Milton Hall, which helped inspire Manderley.

The deaths are almost incidental - a SFX worker puts a pillow over the face of a Mrs Danvers type and later a younger woman is killed - Archie Penrose is investigating the Milton Hall deaths and there’s lots of WWI resentments as WWII is just kicking off. An easy read.

Tom Lake - Ann Patchett

Trapped at home on a cherry farm in Michigan during the pandemic, a mother tells her three daughters the story of her brief career as an actress and her love affair with a man who goes on to become an Oscar winning actor. Life on the cherry farm is described wonderfully and she finds happiness and joy in her family. The play Our Town by Thornton Wilder plays a big part in the story, it’s where she meets the famous actor and she returns to the role she played, Emily, throughout the book. Enjoyed very much.

I’d never heard of Our Town until recently but coincidentally we have tickets for Michael Sheen’s production of it in January. Though I think he’s altered it to be set in Wales.

Glad you liked it Elspeth! I liked the French-Canadian feel of it too.

193 Help Me! - Marianne Power

A freelance journalist in her mid 30s spends a year(ish) following various self help books for a month at a time, and comes out of it knowing herself better, but more in debt.

Slightly flip review for an absorbing read

Feeling a bit twitchy because my TBR list is down to 26 and recently the deals have either been books I've already read or don't fancy. That should last me 3 months so I'm sure I won't run out but it's usually around 40.

Perfume: the story of a murderer by Patrick Suskind
Grenouille is born without any scent himself yet has an unparalleled sense of smell of the world and everything and everyone he encounters. This paradox leads to his quest for the ultimate scent.

Fairly predictable plot twists. At times, pretentious claptrap. I found there to be a lot of Grenouille smells this and Grenouille smells that, which became a little boring. The religious undertones didn't work on any level. Some deeply unpleasant imagery, too. Not my cup of tea.

@WellWish I loathed Perfume when I read it absolute shite.

I loved Tom Lake @BestIsWest, what the audible read by Meryl Streep is fab.

123. Theft - Abdulrazak Gurnah. This is about 3 young people Karim, Badar and Fauzia, growing up in Zanzibar and Tanzania in the 90s. It starts off with Karim's mother who leaves his violent father when Karim is a small boy. She then moves to Dar Es Salam leaving Karim to live with his half brother. At the mother's new house, Badar is employed as a servant. I haven't read anything by Gurnah before but would definitely read more of his work based on this. It's quite a simple story on one level but draws you in and is thought provoking on the rise of tourism in east Africa and the effects on the post colonial world.

62 The Fall of the Red Wall by Steve Rayson

Interesting account of the decline of the Labour vote in the north of England between 2001 and 2019, resulting in the disastrous showing for Labour in the 2019 election. The book does a good job of showing the difficulties in holding together the "broad church" of Labour following Tony Blair's shift to capture the metropolitan liberal vote. The analysis demonstrates that, on average, red wall voters were more socially conservative than most long-term Conservative voters by 2019, but also more economically left wing than most Labour voters. A tough tightrope to walk, as was shown in the decline in the Labour vote over almost two decades in these constituencies - but the combination of Labour's 2019 Brexit policy and Jeremy Corbyn seems to have put the final nail in the coffin. Of course, since this book was written, some of these seats have returned to Labour, but the shallowness of the 2024 election result suggests that could all change again. For me, the most interesting part of the book was its focus on the absence of a clear narrative from Labour in 2019 - a rag bag of attractive policies, but no clear overriding arc, whereas the Conservatives had the very clear "Get Brexit done" message. I think that continues to be true for the current Labour government.

Quite a few typos/publishing errors slightly spoiled my reading pleasure, but this was a thought-provoking analysis.

Hello again, it's nice to see a new thread.

I wanted to update that I finally finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and I'm glad I persevered. I did find it tested my powers of concentration and patience hugely and the "he said" problem never really abated. But there was some wonderful evocative writing, great character development, lovely humour, and often powerful moments of horror too. It made me want to learn more about this era of history and I shall probably attempt book 2 just to see what happens next.

I also wanted to share, not my whole list from the year, but my favourites so far from 118 titles finished:

A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Language of Birds by Jill Dawson
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
All Fours by Miranda July
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Original by Nell Stevens
Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I know I'm late to the party with a lot of these but it was wonderful to discover so many great authors.

@Frannyisreading I’m DESPERATE for Sarah Waters new book