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

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
As I said, this was overlong and needed some editing, but I found it fascinating. A horrible, compelling book. Far superior to Never Let me Go, imo. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers, and I do think it's a book that is better for going in knowing nothing, as I did. I don't remember adding it to my wish list or buying it, but I'm glad I did. I think I'll be thinking about it for a good while.

I wanted to know more about some characters @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie , so it could have been longer for me!

226 Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse - David Mitchell

Got this in 2015, collection of columns from 2009ish. Very samey, a dud for me (in fairness to DM, 2025 me wouldnt buy a book like this anyway)

Is that David Mitchell the comedian, not David Mitchell the novelist? I have lots of the latter DM's novels but find the comedian annoying though I quite like his wife, and I do like the radio programme The Unbelievable Truth which is hosted by the comedian DM.

3 more to add to my list:
187 Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
I don’t normally like multigenerational tales as we don’t spend long enough in any era or viewpoint to get immersed in the story but this one was different. It tells the story of a middle class Palestinian family who have flee Nablus in 1967 and move to Kuwait. The story centres around Alia and her husband Atef, though it also tells the stories of her mother, their children and grandchildren. It’s a story of war and displacement and family and despite having the financial means to relocate, it’s still hard to not have anywhere to call home. Beautifully written.

188 A Blind Eye by Marion Todd
This is number 7 in the DI Clare Mackay books and they’ve become very samey. I have 2 more- I’m not sure if I’m going to bother but they are easy audio reads when I’m doing housework etc- it doesn’t really matter if I miss a bit when distracted. Might read/ listen to the last two. Might not bother. It’s a good lesson in bulk buying on offers though as I lost interest in these around book 5.

189 Old Gods Time by Sebastian Barry
I’ve had this on my kindle since it was Booker longlisted back in 2023 (along with 5 more books by Barry- kindle offers again) and I finally got around to it as MIL was reading it when she visited a couple of weeks ago and recommended it. I’m glad she did. It was a bold for me. Tom Kettle is a retired policeman who receives a visit from two of his old colleagues looking into an old case of his. This makes it sound like a thriller and it’s not though there is a mystery within it. Kettle has serious memory issues- and is perhaps suffering from early dementia. We can’t be sure what is his present is true or not though we do learn about the people he has loved in his life. This was beautifully written and Tom is a great character. Loved it. Looking forward to reading the other Barry’s now. So hoarding kindle/ audible books good or bad? Who knows?!

Comedian David Mitchell.

I don’t mind him on TV now and again, but this was a lot of him in one place…

And agree, his wife is definitely his better half 😀

44 The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith
No review needed as I think you're all streets ahead of me as usual. Loved it.

@ÚlldemoShúl I really loved Days Without End by Barry too. I think he does that thing that Colm Toibin does where his books are slightly interlinked.

141. Buckeye - Patrick Ryan. An engrossing story about the intertwined life of 2 couples in small town America from the 30s to the 70s. There is a bit of woo in it - one of the characters communicated with the dead - which might be off putting to some but it's well handled. There are some great lines "People get laid, babies are made, everybody lies to their kids" and interesting characters. it faded a bit towards the end but this definitely kept me entertained.

44. Stet by Diana Athill
A re-read as I picked it off a shelf to say hello and didn’t stop reading. Diana Athill’s best book in my view, containing nested versions of two of her other books and less focused on her family than others. An entertaining account of her decades of work as an acclaimed book editor for André Deutsch. Funny and piercingly honest.

94. Army Without Banners - Ann Stafford

I bought this ages ago because it’s by the co-author of the wonderful epistolary novel Business As Usual, but I didn’t fully take in the description and made the rookie error of assuming it would be similarly light in subject.

It isn’t. Stafford (real name Anne Pedler) volunteered for the Ambulance Service in WW2, and this very thinly-disguised account of her experiences is by 'Mildred Gibson', who reluctantly leaves her comfortable home in the country - despite confessing her reluctance and fear - to go and join her old friend Daphne and a band of other woman doing their bit in the London blitz. 'Gibsy' and co. are called out in raids to help with casualties, risking their lives on many occasions, and encountering scenes of the utmost horror.

Mildred, Daphne and most of the other women volunteers are decidedly 'upper-middle' and the whole class aspect is an interesting sidelight of the book: Mildred interacts with bombed-out Eastenders (plenty of Cockney dialect) and visits various hospitals and settlements for people made homeless after German raids, in what’s clearly intended to get specific messages across; similarly, there are various scenes in which she encounters different branches of the volunteer services. In one instance, she and a colleague come off a gruelling shift and breakfast at the Savoy. But at no point did I feel she patronised at all - if anything, completely the reverse: everyone genuinely is in it together. This reads more like a piece of documentary writing or mass observation than a novel, and its portrayal of the reality of a war in all its dreary, grimy, grinding, terrifying, cold horror is quite remarkable.

I love Diane Athill @PermanentTemporary , she's fascinating.

142. Mothers and Sons - Adam Haslett. This is about Peter, a 40 year old gay immigration lawyer, and his mother Anne, a 60 something lesbian ex-priest. They alternate chapters with Peter's in first person present and Anne's in third person past. Peter is basically estranged from his mother and an immigration case that he is working on brings up old memories of three summer when he was 16 and his father was dying and he was in love with his best friend. This is good in places and the basic story is interesting. There is a bit too much detail in some of the immigration cases going through a cross examination in so much depth and in Spanish then translated to English. Peter is not a particularly compelling character and he has a wacky sister who is involved in various off things that are never really explained. But some of the writing was very good and on the whole it's solid.

That was the last audio I had downloaded so if anyone has one they'd recommend, I'd appreciate it.

I haven’t caught up with the thread due to general pre-Christmas mayhem but just to weigh in (late as always) with the Ishiguro debate, I’m #teambutler, was a bit meh about When we were Orphans (ok but nothing special) and haven’t got round to NLMG yet so with RWYO looming I’ll probably report back late next year 😊.

63. The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective – Sara Lodge

I can’t remember who reviewed this here but thank you, as I’d never have found it otherwise. It takes a look at the lives and work of women detectives, both in real life and those portrayed on stage or page, to understand what the job entailed, how they found themselves in that role and society’s reaction to these pioneers of female empowerment. The broad-brush title of ‘detective’ seems to have entailed looking into anything from social justice, to crime, to espionage, and the book examines the background of some of the most famous (in their day) protagonists. A fascinating look at a little-known aspect of Victorian criminology.

227 The Wise Woman - Philippa Gregory

A bold for me - the wavering of the main character between her possible paths in life (and between god and the devil) were gripping

Our hero Alys is an orphan and a novice nun of 16 at the time of the Reformation (Anne Boleyn is Queen). The story starts with the nunnery burning down and Alys being the only one to escape. She runs back to the wise woman (witch…?) who raised her and taught her the ways of herbs etc, but is soon called to the local castle to try and heal the ailing Lord Hugh. When she succeeds, he keeps her on as his clerk, given her learnings from the convent. Also in the castle is Hugh’s son Hugo (whyyy such similar names, Philippa??) and his wife Catherine, who hasn’t yet been able to bear a child.

Alys falls in love with Hugo and seems to come into her powers of witchcraft.. with tragic consequences. Oh, and the author doesn’t shy away from a sex scene or five.

228 The Glorious Dead - Justin Myers

I’m on holiday!

Myers is an entertaining writer, in the Mhairi McFarlane vein. This is a book about the death of Laurie, mid forties, and how his husband Jo, best friend Viv and other folks in his life cope with it. Their stories are interspersed with extracts from Laurie’s unpublished memoir. Quite difficult to review without spoilers as it whooshes along pleasantly for about half the book, and then several twists enter the chat. A good read.

45 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
Heavily reviewed here I think. I really enjoyed it as a story and the illumination of the history of the Oxford English Dictionary - I thought the mix of fact and fiction was well done.

Not a bold for me which is perhaps harsh, but too many niggles in my mind about Esme and things she does which for the time are startlingly unusual. At one point she is about to go into a pub by herself. There are women now who won’t do that. Pre WWI it sounds incredibly unlikely to me. Lots of others but that stayed with me.

Oh yes, and when a character said she had gone to a particular place to ‘raise awareness’ - in 1913 - I had a bit of a moment. In a book about language! Come on.

I don't think "not a bold" is harsh - I would use a bold for something which is really really good, but there are plenty of books I would suggest to others as enjoyable or of interest to them but I wouldn't consider a bold.

I've read both Pip Williams novels as my mum grew up in Oxford, but also her parents both worked for Oxford University Press from after WWII until they retired, and they had a complete set of the OED in the sitting room. Both novels are a great read but the writing is far from perfect - I have already forgotten specific details but am not surprised that there may be many mistakes and anachronisms.

No Friend to this House by Natalie Haynes is 99p today

I was about to post this - it's another retelling of Greek myth - this time the story of Medea (and of Jason and the Argonauts). I already had a Netgalley tbr but happily bought this from today's deals. I always prefer the published edition, even of an ebook, to advance copies, even if the advance copies are complete with all content, acknowledgements and properly formatted (and often they're not).

Finished another though this one is more of a novella
190 The Most by Jessica Anthony
Kathleen a middle class 1950s housewife and mother gets into the pool at her apartment complex and doesn’t get out. That’s the whole premise! This book reminded me of the tv series Mad Men (which I loved) Kathleen caught up in the frustration of giving up her own desires and her husband Virgil frustrated in his role as breadwinner. It’s a nice look into 1950s concerns which I enjoyed. I just wish it was much longer.

Just read my second book of the year called The Dead of Winter! This one, by Sarah Clegg, is subtitled ' The demons, witches and ghouls of winter' and takes us in entertaining fashion through many of the scarier, largely European traditions of winter. She spends a lot of time writing about guising and yet never seemed to discover is it very much A Thing still in Scotland. It's conversational in style . I did find my attention wandering at times but I think that's a me problem.

I enjoyed her little dry asides in her footnotes. She seems fun.

Re Denzil Meyrick and his Christmas books. It would appear he did write the third before he died. It's available to pre order on Amazon but not actaully being brought out until 2027.

That’s good re Denzil Meyrick. I’ve enjoyed his Christmas books.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Another re-read. We all know how good and how devastating this one is. 100% bold, if one ignores the bit stuck on the end which was added later.

95. Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens

Finished this for the readalong. Comments to come over on that thread in due course, but despite some (inspired) comic relief, this was overwhelmingly a dark and haunted book, with guilt, pain, suffering and secrecy its main themes.