50 Books Challenge 2025 Part Nine

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the ninth and final thread of the 50 Books Challenge for this year.

The challenge was 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 , the seventh thread here and the eighth thread

@StrangewaysHereWeCome- I like the sound of Haworth (I have walked near there years ago but not been to the Parsonage). I haven’t read The Tenant for years but it may be time for a reread next year as I know that it’s on BorrowBox.
@Tarragon123- I can see why cheese is a problem (I’m not a fan of substitute food). I was just looking at a recipe book shortly before posting & wondering why there is no indexing of the recipes based on allergies etc. It surely isn’t that difficult & would be really useful.

@Frannyisreading& @Zireael- thank you for the lovely Jane Eyre comments - much appreciated (especially given my review was so long).

More reviews to catch up with:

56 The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths
57 The House at Sea’s End by Elly Griffiths
I really enjoyed the first book in the Ruth Galloway series (The Crossing Places) - these don’t have the same atmospheric description of the Norfolk landscape that made the first so compelling, but they are still intriguing mysteries. I managed to work the second one out from the clues, but that is part of the fun of crime writing. The main problem with the book is that the author’s portrayal of Ruth (highly sympathetic) is at odds with Ruth’s actual behaviour. For example: Ruth is regularly bemoaning her weight & that other people are more attractive despite having all of the most eligible men in the book showering her with attention. She is rather judgemental about her friend having affairs with married men, yet her own love life would get exceedingly short shrift I suspect if she posted on MN. We’re told that she is absolutely besotted with her baby, yet she is happy to dump the unfortunate child on any randomly available babysitter so she can go and do various more interesting things (I did like the part where one of her friends finally called her out on this). All if this, I could probably have coped with but her behaviour to her unwitting love rival is absolutely appalling but seemingly justified because Ruth is an archaeologist with a Ph.D whereas the unfortunate Michelle is merely a hairdresser with deplorable habits such as watching S*x in the City and going to the gym on Sunday afternoons. I did like the mystery & will read more but it does feel like there must be better plots to write about middle-aged women’s personal lives.

58 A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
59 The Lilac Bus by Maeve Binchy
These both have a similar structure being short stories about characters who are linked by an event (the first is the opening of a new hotel & the second about people travelling home to a country town on the same bus). I didn’t like these as much as Light a Penny Candle mainly due to the episodic structure - this is partly because I don’t like short stories that much and also because I think Maeve Binchy’s writing style suits the longer structure not least because it gives more opportunities for dialogue, which I think she is very good at writing. Despite this, I did enjoy the stories, especially after the Ruth Galloway books as Maeve Binchy is much better at writing about middle aged women and she isn’t snobbish (there are good & bad characters in all walks of life in her books). The calibre of the men were noticeably better than Light a Penny Candle.

118 Message In The Bones by Dawn Merriman
119 Message In the Fire by Dawn Merriman
120 Message In the Grave by Dawn Merriman

Gabby can sense things when she touches objects. She uses this gift to help others, but is still treated like a freak by most of her town, including her own brother. The first three books were ok, but I really can’t be bothered to read the other 5 books in the series. They are just too slight to hold my interest further.

121 Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King

I’ve mentioned before that I’m reading (re-reading in a lot of cases) all of Stephen King’s books in order. I’ve been stuck on this one for about a year and finally managed to get through it. I don’t think these are especially poor short stories, the problem is more that I’m just not a fan of the form. Glad to be moving on to a full King novel next.

We regularly stay in a holiday cottage near Hebden Bridge and always love visiting Haworth. Also Heptonstall for Sylvia Plath.

Yes we’re going to start a new RWYO thread for the new year as several people want to count theirs. I’ll set it up before Thursday and maybe someone can link on here (and the old one) as I haven’t a clue how to do links!!

122 The Vegetarian by Han Kang

I’m struggling to express how I felt about this book; it was really well written and there’s lots to admire in the exploration of bodily autonomy, the patriarchy and the ways that are available to women to ‘rebel’ in South Korea. The fact that we hear the story from three different viewpoints, but never from the main character herself, was an interesting way of reinforcing these themes. It was an unsettling read at times and I’m not sure I can say that I liked it exactly, but there was something about it that really spoke to me. I’m going to need to sit with this one for a while I think.

@MamaNewtNewt The Vegetarian is unhinged, I loved it!

I loved seeing Sylvia. Stunning location.

My favourite Sarah Moss books were the first two I read: Night Waking and Names for the Sea. I haven't enjoyed her recent ones so much.

123 Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

This is the account of Griet, a fictional maid who is the subject of the famous Vermeer painting. I listened to this on audible and the narrator did a fantastic job - I absolutely loved it.

Glad you enjoyed The Thirteen Clocks @CornishLizard - it was recommended to me by a friend so I have passed on to her that the love is spreading!

I don't even know if I have read a Sarah Moss.

Forgive me 50 Bookers for I have sinned. I read 130 books this year and like having a round number so I’m holding the books I’ve read since Christmas over to the 2026 thread and counting them as such because god forbid I end on an odd number!

@EineReiseDurchDieZeit - surely you should be pushing onto 140!

I haven't read any Sarah Moss (unsurprising as I am often late to read what everyone else has read). But I am not feeling I have missed out at the moment given the mixed reviews.

I wish I could fit 10 in @TimeforaGandT

You Are Here by David Nichols

I'm a bit late to the party on this one but it was an enjoyable a read as everyone else suggested.

A group head off for a walking weekend and two of them seem to hit it off but can they make it to a relationship?

I had some problems with the walk Michael are ages for the group. 15 miles on day one with people where you don't know their fitness or hill walking experience is ridiculous. And I didn't keep notes, but I think they walked it in a quicker time than I have ever managed a big day in hills despite everyone being in new boots. I don't think so.

However this does not detract from the two main characters who I loved and want to be friends with. They were so relatable, funny and whimsical, lonely but not sure what to do about it. I shamelessly rooted for them to get together through the whole book. Not a bold for me, but a good love story and 4.75 stars.

@Cherrypi that's very cool that you got a signed copy of the Roy memoir!

@RazorstormUnicorn I'm also a big fan of early Barbara Kingsolver. I want to reread The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven.

@Benvenuto great review of Jane Eyre!

@MamaNewtNewt I agree with everything you say about The Vegetarian.

I love Sarah Moss. Her books aren't always bolds for me, but they're always interesting. I've read all her novels now apart from Night Waking. My favourites are Signs for Lost Children (a sequel to Bodies of Light but it can be read alone) and Ripeness. I also thought her memoir was great; although the constant privilege-checking became exhausting, it was also a kind of visible symptom of her childhood trauma. Since I read her memoir, all of her novels now seem to me to have autobiographical elements (I suppose that's true of most novelists though, to varying degrees). She writes a lot about deprivation and isolation, both physical and emotional, but warmth and humanity and hope are always present as well. Her depiction of patriarchal men in Ghost Wall really resonated with me, and The Fell is one of the best Covid novels I've read to date.

70 The Dead of Winter - Sarah Clegg
Exploration of the darker folkloric traditions surrounding Christmas, generally involving dressing up as some horned or horse-skully monster and causing mayhem until people give you food and booze to make you go away. Very clear-sighted on the fact that most of these traditions have medieval or later origins, and are not remnants of pagan midwinter king sacrifice. Thanks to whoever read this upthread - I think Piggy?

71 Rhyme and Reason - Mark Forsyth
Loved this! The history of English poetry from Chaucer to Eliot and Auden, in the same idiosyncratic and very funny style as his other books such as The Etymologicon. Focuses on the social history of poetry - who was the audience and what sort of thing did they want for their entertainment? Also explains a lot about metre in a light-touch and easily absorbed way. It’s inspired me to seek out some more Wordsworth and Tennyson, for starters.

Yes, it was indeed me!

I like the sound of The Dead Of Winter. We’ve been saying that the Welsh version of the horse-skully creature, the Mari Lwyd, seems so have become really popular this year, no village-turning-tree-lights-ceremony on seems to be without a visit from one. Definitely not something I remember from childhood. Have bought as it’s 99p on Kindle.

Having been disappointed by a couple of non fic folklore / ghost books in the past year or so, I’ve resisted the urge to buy Dead Of Winter but for 99p I might give it a whirl.
The Mari Lwyd is this year’s “oh gosh, we have found such a quaint old tradition, so much more meaningful than boring Father Christmas!” on much of social media. If it didn’t knock on your door in the 1970s then stop making such a fuss now. See also: Krampus.

It appears I already own Dead Of Winter. Must have reviewed it last year, obviously didn’t make much of an impression. Too enamored of Mari Lwyd, maybe?

I thought she was quite interesting on that although it did take up a fair amount of the book. But I come from the starting point of knowing nothing!

49 Killer Content - Kiley Roache

I listened to this on BorrowBox to finish my alphabet reading challenge.

This was ridiculous, and it wasn’t trying to be anything else. Mildly entertaining young-adult nonsense.

A group of obscenely wealthy teenage influencers live the high life in a Malibu beach mansion. When one is murdered the police investigate but the kids solve the murder via livestream to TikTok.

Movie Shoes by Noel Streatfeild**
Not sure how I haven't read this one before. Not her best, but it kept me quiet on a train journey today.