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

51 HHhH - Laurent Binet

I knew this was contentious among threadgoers but in my (clearly shaky) memory it was @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie who hated it (maybe I’m getting it confused with Wolf Hall?!) - anyway second read for me and it absolutely holds up as ‘not just another narrative non-fiction / historical fiction book’. The story itself is incredibly moving, but the interjections from the narrator’s perspective also have something important to say about the limitations of writing about historical events, the blurred lines of truth and honesty and the ethics of taking creative licence with such an important event.

I loved it @MegBusset

Have you read anything else by Binet, @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie ?

The Secret of Cold Hill by Peter James
A couple move into their dream house on a new development and then strange things start happening.

This story was full of predictable tropes and had a predictable ending. A ghost story that was not remotely scary. The book reminded me of something, and it wasn't until I'd finished it that I realised what it reminded me of: the horror stories I and my peers wrote in 5th form English lessons many years ago. Yes, the writing was basic - clunky in places - with one dimensional characters.

I haven’t. Tbh, I was drawn to this one because of the subject matter, so I’m not convinced that other stuff would appeal in the same way. I must have a look at what else he’s done.

I do this too. It definitely helps!

I have Civilisations by Binet on TBR. It’s physical TBR which makes it way down the list

Me too! It was lovely to look around an actual bookshop. I did buy a birthday present for someone else.

I have copied across my list so far

) The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by CS Robertson
2) Bad Fruit by Ella King
3) Unruly by David Mitchell
4) Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent
5) Butter by Asako Yuzuki
6) North Woods by Daniel Mason
7) Nothing Left to Fear From Hell by Alan Warner
8) How to Solve your own Murder by Kristen Perrin
9) The Palace by Gareth Russell
10) Strange Pictures by Uketsu
11) Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire
12) The List of Suspicious Things by Jenny Godfrey
13) The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
14) One of the Good Guys by Amarinta Hall
15) Cloistered by Catherine Coldstream
16) Precipice by Robert Harris
17) The Picnic by Matthew Longo
18) Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
19) Four Shots in the Night by Henry Hemming
20) Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
21) Getting Over Your Parents by the School of Life
22) Sandwich by Catherine Newman
23) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
24) Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
25) The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomas
26) Her Side of the Story by Alba de Cespedes
27) Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
28) Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
29) Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll
30) The Skeleton by Erin Kelly
31) A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith
32) A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson
33) Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
34) Trust by Herman Diaz
35) Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
36) The Wedding People by Alison Espach
37) Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
38) Connective Tissue by Eleanor Thom
39) The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
40) Larry's Party by Carole Shields
41) Ordinary Time by Cathy Rentzenbrink
42) A History of Britain in 10 Enemies by Terry Deary
43) The Artist by Lucy Steeds

I'm still trying to decide what I felt about Havoc @elkiedee . I actually think it would be better as a TV series as I think that type of humour works better on screen than in text.

Loads of people on line were raving about Days Of Light @ÚlldemoShúl. I agree with your assessment, I got rather bored by it and ended up listening to it on double speed.

I picked up Stoneyard Devotional and The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toíbin in the deals, but didn't go past the first couple of pages.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige
A woman is lost on the Appalachian Trail.

This is told in multiple perspectives, including the woman herself, the warden looking for her and her hiking buddy on the trail.

Lots of it was far-fetched and there was a fair bit of unnecessary padding, including Covid which I’m not convinced added much, if anything, to the story.

However, it was very readable and I think those who liked The God of the Woods might like this one too.

Congratulations @AgualusasL0veron reaching 50 books!

46.The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. In the frozen winter of 1963 Irene and Rita become friends more by necessity and proximity rather than choosing. They both reside in rural Somerset and each is pregnant. Irene, married to Eric, a doctor, is from a bohemian middle class background, whereas Rita was a nightclub dancer before marrying Bill, who has recently spent his wealth on acquiring working dairy farm.

This unfolded slowly, but I never felt that it dragged. The descriptions of the desolate and icy landscape were beautifully bleak, and the early 1906s setting manages to feel both quaint and familiarly modern all at once. Each of the four main characters’ struggles are personal, domestic, and intimate, but these quiet struggles still create a mounting sense of drama and tension. Recommended.

Extreme Economies by Richard Davies

A bold, huge thanks to whoever on here recommended this.

Davies investigates 9 very different economies including a refugee camp in Jordan, an aging city in Japan and Kinshasa where they have so many other issues from an economic standpoint he doesn't even get into the children mining cobalt for our rechargeable batteries (he does acknowledge this).

It's so thoughtful and well written and engaging that I looked forward to each section and waited til I had the time read to sit and read the chapter in one go with a drink in hand for sipping and contemplation. I've gone on about it so much DH has downloaded it too and will read it once he has finished his current sci fi saga. I can't wait to talk to him about it!

44) Munich Airport by Greg Baxter
An American man and his father are stranded in Munich Airport due to fog. They have been in Germany for several weeks because their sister/daughter died from anorexia in Berlin and they have come to repatriate her body.

It doesn't sound like a bundle of laughs, and it isn't - but it is a remarkable book, very original. We skip back through the pair's travels in Germany and the son's relationship with his father. But it is so much more

There are no chapters - it just runs page after page, which I found daunting at first, but it made it feel a bit like a stream of consciousness download.

Strong recommend.

That might have been me @RazorstormUnicorn - I read it a couple of months ago. Glad you enjoyed it!

I miss the monthly deals being separate to the other deals, and I don’t have the option to filter the list any more. I tend to buy the ones that are high priority on my wish list, then have a mooch through and, like others, I add any interesting ones to my wish list and check in a few days if I actually want them.

106 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

This has been popular on the thread recently, which prompted me to move it to the peak of TBR mountain. I didn’t enjoy this as much as others, for me it was good, but nothing special. So not a bold for me.

196 Close My Eyes - Sophie McKenzie
RWYO. A thriller about Gen, whose child Beth was stillborn nearly 8 years ago... or was she? Gen is visited at the start of the book by Lucy, the sister of her midwife, Mary. Mary has recently died of cancer, and her deathbed confession to Lucy was that Gen's baby was born alive and taken away.

And then Lucy is killed in a hit-and-run shortly after, arousing Gen's suspicions of what happened and of her husband Art still further. Implausible and pacey.

63 My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes' latest Walsh family offering returns to Anna, who is back in Ireland after splitting up with her feathery stroker partner, Angelo, and leaving her fancy job in New York. Perimenopausal and in a mess, Anna starts working for old friends to save their dream of a coastal resort, which is being stymied by small-village hostility. But this brings her back into contact with a major blast from the past, and some difficult memories.

I always enjoy Keyes' books, but this one was a bit too long for me, and not as funny as the best Walsh family sagas. All that said, it was pleasant being back amongst them, and Anna's slow redemption was well done.

My Name is Leon Kit de Waal

Wow! I cannot believe I have had this sitting on my Kindle for so long. I briefly, before I read the 'about this book' confused the subject matter of Andre Aciman's Call Me By Your Name, which I also have not read, but is very far removed from this book.

This is story of 9 year old, mixed race Leon and his new born white brother Jake in the 1980s in Birmingham, set against the Harmsworth Riots. The entire story is told from Leon's POV and he is a perceptive little boy as he has had to grow up quickly. He ends up living with Maureen, a foster carer and makes various other connections. Kit de Waal writes sparingly, convincingly as a child with the weight of the world on his shoulder and the race riots and wider topic of race is there all the way through, strongly but also in the background and it is all the more profound for that.

Some of you know I am a sentimental reader anyway, but I cried and cried and cried through this book, but I wouldn't say Kit de Waal is a sentimental writer (like Elif Shafak for example).

57. The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths

The Ruth Galloway crime novels are popular here, and this book is the first in the series. University lecturer Ruth is called in by the local police force to help solve the disappearance of a girl following a similar unsolved case ten years ago. Her expertise in ancient bones, together with her archaeological knowledge of the local landscape and insights into the contents of a series of letters sent to the police, brings her into the case but also closer to personal danger.

On the face of it I should have loved this type of thing, combining crime and archaeology, but actually I found it a bit underwhelming. The plot was engaging enough and kept me reading, though unusually I figured out whodunnit early on. There were many plot similarities to other books and I just didn’t get on with the characters: Ruth and her flipping obsession with her weight, Cathbad was irritating, Erik also, Nelson, the ex-boyfriend etc. - I can’t explain why but worryingly the only person I was rooting for by the end was the murderer. Also there was a lot of explaining of archaeological terms throughout, which is fair enough but the way it was written felt clunky.

I’ve heard the stories get better as the series goes on, but with the size of my TBR pile I’m afraid I’m going to be Ruthless (pun very much intended) and won’t be carrying on with the series at this time. Maybe I’ll revisit next year?

Admiring your Ruthless pun, @RomanMum . If you don't like the first book in this series, you're not going to suddenly love the rest of them.

@RomanMum I’ve read them all but Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series is far superior

The Zone Of Interest by Martin Amis
This certainly broke my run of fiction duds. I’ve never been an Amis fan, but this was outstanding in its want-to-look-away-can’t-look-away hypnotism.
Set in 1940s, next to a concentration camp, it probably doesn’t need much explanation on here. There are three pov strands - Angelus Thomsen (the closest this book could ever hope to get as a ‘hero’), Paul Doll (camp commander, increasingly bewildered by drugs, alcohol and the fact his wife has opinions of her own) and Szmul (head of the prisoner team who dispose of bodies). In the way the film based on it uses sound to convey the horrors going on, the book obscures the obscenities of the Holocaust behind the everyday lives of the three protagonists. Obscured, but not invisible, ensuring a succession of stomach lurches as the reader teases out what has just happened while the banal bureaucracy breezes along in the foreground.
I don’t think I can do the book any more justice in a review, so I’ll just say it’s a bold that will stay with me.

I found you. I enjoyed never let me go

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver

A re-read of this ghost story set on a pre-WW2 Arctic expedition. I didn’t love it the first time around, but it feels like ghost story season so when it came up in the Kindle deals, I thought it deserved another chance.

A problem with it is that it isn’t very scary. Another is that it shoe-horns a hint of homosexuality in that isn’t terribly credible. Another is that after a lot of very slow stuff, the climax point is rushed and a bit of a mess. And then the ending is all a bit clunky.

I’m being hyper-critical and doing it a bit of a disservice, I think. I’d probably have loved it when I was 13.