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

If I can finish a book today or tomorrow I’ll be finishing on 40 - a satisfying number in itself, and a personal best. But what will I finish? I’m 26% through the first Chalet School book but the text is so tiny I find it quite hard work. I’m also reading Spook Street, which I’m enjoying, but I’m not sure I’ll finish it in time. Could pull an all-nighter I guess 😀

If anyone is trying to sneak in a quick read before new year, A Child's Christmas in Wales is 99p today.

I would also put in a word for A Month in the Country, which is short and as delightful as everyone says.

I also just wizzed through You Are Here @RazorstormUnicorn , agree with your review including the incredulity at the distances! It was a lovely, easy read, perfect for the in between days.

It turns out I can’t count, I had already made it to 30 and that was my 31st. I think it’s pretty unlikely I’ll squeeze another one in before tomorrow but I am going to give it a go.

Oh I love the Noel Streatfield discussion. I think there are quite a few I never read as a child. I learnt about the renaming from You've Got Mail, of all places, when Meg Ryan's character helps a book shop customer find 'the shoe books'.

I've just posted my round up on the other thread - finishing on 118/119, just short of a round number!

I didn’t count and haven’t done so for the last few years. I don’t understand why people care if it’s a round number or not though. Why would it matter?

It’s just pleasing to the soul 😀

Like my dad always used to aim for an exact number of litres when filling his car.

It is just a geeky thing for me really, the actual target is not so important. I didn't number on thread or my journal this year - I just like the EOY email from GoodReads really.

I have a friend who has to have the volume on her tv/ car radio etc at an even number too.
I would just like to have made it to a nice round 200- alas I’m failing that but I’m hoping to finish one more for 198 to make it an even number at least.

My adult daughter is diagnosed autistic (you wouldn't easily know). She hates odd numbers with a passion. Has to have the radio or thermostat on an even number, needs to buy an even number of groceries.

Can’t explain it, it’s all wrong though!

Well, I don't know if this will leave me in odd or even, but it's probably my last read of the year:
The Last Blue Mountain: The Great Karakoram Climbing Tragedy by Ralph Barker
An account of a summit attempt on Mount Haramosh in Pakistan in 1957. Not one I'd heard of; I just found it in a Kindle search. The first half was slow and rather clumsy, but I enjoyed the second half, if it's not wrong to say that two people dying horribly was enjoyable. Only for fans of mountain disasters, but a quick and gripping read overall.

One for you @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie? - I’ve just heard someone review it

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gales-November-Untold-Edmund-Fitzgerald/dp/1324094648/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LMYMLVLLL8G8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.wmG92792HOn6M3MpIThJyYlQFm3okTzzMkDC006Y_ghzwJL6F2tyxxsAAmKIqzxUOSYlRiAIbuRQv3UQZ-W7RisjwxQLUfft_GS7T2PFAus.lciMO39NQjrKjMm3TkoIn9yYLTzBDIHMFubnhtdRLsE&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+gales+of+november+john+bacon&qid=1767118903&sprefix=the+gales%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-1

Thanks @EineReiseDurchDieZeit but I won't be paying £26 for it!!!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie . Thanks, now I've got a Gordon Lightfoot ear worm

I am a cultural vacuum and have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, sorry!

I thought i would finish the year on 79 but I completed The Stand today and its looking likely I'll also finish Immaculate Conception tomorrow also

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYI

Apparently he got permission from all the families

Final book of the year just finished The Dream Home by T.M Logan
This was a great thriller and I raced through it. I thought I knew who could have been the killers but I was clearly very wrong. This is about a family Adam and Jess and there three children who move into a great big Victorian house. A hidden room is discovered and in the space of a week it all goes terribly terribly wrong. Recommended and will definitely read some other books of his if I stumble upon them.

@countrygirl99 @RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie I know that there IS a song but I don’t know the song. I know RE it being £26 but there doesn’t seem to be a Kindle version

@InTheCludgie oh I do hope you thought Immaculate Conception was good !

Oh thanks for that @Arran2024

Well I think I will stay on 49 books this year; I was so hoping I’d get to 50 for the first time ever. Sadly due to having g to work tomorrow it just won’t happen.

I read Tea by the Nursery Fire following a recommendation on this thread a few years back, and I just didn’t get the hype, so unlikely to read any more by Noel Streatfield

@Benvenuto – so some of my recipe books do, but not many. And I picked up the Sainsburys Magazine today which I really enjoy and that has a helpful index at the front. Although I will fiddle about with recipes and hope for the best sometimes lol. I agree with you about Ruth’s character. It annoyed me that so much time is spent on her being concerned about her weight.

I’m also struggling with finishing on an odd number. I’m currently sitting at 130 and I want to finish Memento Mori this month. My stats for this month are very poor. I’ve only finished 6 this month.

I have a few books I’m near the end of that I’m hoping to finish before the end of the year, and while it would be satisfying to finish on a nice round number, I can’t say it would bother me much not to. That said earlier today I made DH hide a glass, in the shape of a stack of books, that MIL got me for Christmas as it bothered me so much I couldn’t bear to have it near me, so I’m in no position to judge.

I wanted one of those glasses but the website didn’t look trustworthy!

You can have mine! I find EVERYTHING about it unsettling, it makes me itch with anxiety.