50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

25 Caledonian Road Andrew O'Hagan Audible

I'd describe this as a state of the nation book, with a multitude of characters, reflecting the multicultural landscape of London The main character, Campbell Flynn who has left behind his impoverished background of a Glasgow council estate from his early years, is now very much part of a London elite, a Professor and an accredited author/ art critic having just published a book on Vermeer. His comfortable cocoon includes his, honest upstanding, MP sister who has never forgotten her roots in her endeavours to represent that demographic, a much loved wife, Elizabeth, an analyst emanating from old money. Together they share two young adult children who aren't doing anything particularly useful, dabbling in this and that, some of it vacuous still trying to find their place in the ever evolving world into which they've been born. Into Flynn's orbit comes, one of his much favoured students, Milo of part Ethiopian/Irish heritage who whilst becoming his research assistant, is also involved with hacking, his eye on one of Campbell's close friends, a corrupt businessman with links to dodgy Russian Oligarchs. From that source is a spiderweb that delves deep into the underbelly of corruption, most notably links to Polish gangs of people smugglers, culminating in the deaths of people in the back of a lorry as the book draws to its conclusion. There's a lot in this novel, I think I may have absorbed the multi layered sub plots and numerous strands better, if I'd read it rather than listened to it, so I may look to doing that if I come across it at the library at a later stage.

#30. Scaredy Cat by Mark Billingham.

Book 40, The Monument Murders, number 4 in my little stash by Rachel McLean, I`m enjoying them.

26 The House of Glass Sarah Pekkanen

Not to be confused with the excellent book of the same name by Hadley Freeman, this is a mediocre psychological thriller. 8 year old Rose, has become mute after the death of her nanny who fell out of a window from the top floor of the large family house, did she fall or was she pushed??? Attorney, Stella Hudson, has been assigned to assess whether Rose would be better off living with her mother or father after their impending divorce. Interwoven into the narrative, is Stella's own back story of an impoverished upbringing, the death of her widowed mother from a suspected overdose, and a benefactor, an older well heeled man by the name of Charles who steps in to support her as a teenager steering her towards a career in the law and the conundrum of why he has done that. Returning to the present day, everyone in the household is a suspect in the nanny's suspicious death including Rose herself who is portrayed as somewhat of a malevolent devil child, disturbing behaviour and harbouring secrets. Also in the frame is her mother, father and live -in grandma, in particular the father who has been having an affair with the nanny who had recently become pregnant by him.

Book 41, The Millionaire Murders, by Rachel McLean. These books are quite easy reading, but I`m loving them.

18. Hidden Depths, Ann Cleeves

One of the Vera series. Vera is called in to solve the case of a young boy found dead in his bath, surrounded by flowers. Another similar death soon follows. An easy read, and a good plot. It kept me guessing anyway!

19. The Examiner, Janice Hallett

The latest by this author, and in her usual style of texts and messages. I got a bit bogged down halfway through by the rather convoluted goings on and communications of a set of post graduate art students, their tutor and examiners, but I think I got it all in the end! There was certainly some intriguing food for thought in there, and apparently much of it inspired by real life events. Unfortunately I can’t expand on that without giving spoilers, but I would certainly recommend this as an interesting read.

I read both those books Maggiemaybe, Vera, as always reliably good. Found The Examiner heavy going and overly complicated, had to get OH to explain certain points, he read it first and enjoyed it, sometimes I wonder whether we're reading different books

My book no. 6 was okay. Not brilliant but readable. Not too many pages so that pleased me.

I’m on book no.7 now.
I’m absolutely loving it! As good as ‘Home’ for me (so far anyway, a third of the way in).

It’s ’The Rest of our Lives’ by Benjamin Markovits.

I’ve just been told by text (I missed book club on Wednesday as we are in Málaga this week on holiday 🌞) that our next read is a novel (Japanese I think??) called ‘Butter’.

To be honest the cover when I saw it on line puts me off.
I’d never pick it up in a bookshop that’s for sure!
Maybe I ‘shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ ha! 😂

Has anyone read it.
Blimey, it’s nearly 500 pages long ….
That makes it seem worse, for me, as I haven’t actually chosen it!
Gah!

No but I have looked at the synopsis - gourmet cook and serial killer? Nit fir me!

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I’ve just been told by text (I missed book club on Wednesday as we are in Málaga this week on holiday 🌞) that our next read is a novel (Japanese I think??) called ‘Butter’.

To be honest the cover when I saw it on line puts me off.
I’d never pick it up in a bookshop that’s for sure!
Maybe I ‘shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ ha! 😂

Has anyone read it.
Blimey, it’s nearly 500 pages long ….
That makes it seem worse, for me, as I haven’t actually chosen it!
Gah!

Oh dear! Don't let me put you off FGT, my step granddaughter recommended that book to me, with a "you'll love it" not so much, not at all. Her sister was with us the other day, she said "yes she told me that too, it was dire" There you go FGT, you may absolutely love it, do let us know though and don't let it spoil your holiday

I guess that's the downside of joining a book club, I just have, what do you do when you absolutely hate someone else's choice, do you bin it, do you tell them???? I've got it all to come.

#16 The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up Laura Pearson.
Shelley wakes from a coma knowing that she is in hospital because her husband recently tried to kill her and the year is 2007. Beyond that there is much she doesn't remember. The chapters alternate between "Then" and "Now" and we (and she) learn what led to her situation from her memories of her childhood, her mothers abuse at the hands of a partner and how it influences her own experiences. It is not a spoiler to say that this book is about domestic abuse and the often generational cyclical nature of such experiences. It was an easy read however and I enjoyed it.

Well Terribull my friend and I started this book club 19 years ago! Continuous running thanks to our very first group meet when it got proposed we just meet up every other month. More than that we thought was too prescriptive. Readers (slow, like me) like the chance in between to read our own choices. It has worked so well. Our sixth meet up is just a social event - our Christmas meal.

If we don’t like a book, we can ditch it.
Life’s too short etc.
We have tried many formats over the years for choosing books/venues as I’m sure you can imagine!

grandMattie oh dear!
I’ll start it, see how I go for a decent inroad then decide whether or not to continue!

Let us know Terribull how your venture into book club land goes!

Any other BC members on here? Just curious. 🤔

P.s. yes of course we say if we think a book is dire (and why we think so). We always give our marks out of 10.

One lady, a dear friend who started the group with me, has bought every book. Never on a kindle. Has all of them (5 a year x 20 years so some 100 books now) on a bookcase, with a thick folder of handwritten notes about our meetings/notes/marks. A real catalogue of events I’m sure you’ll agree!

Book 42, The Fossil Beach Murders, the 6th in my stash by Rachel McLean. I`ve ordered the next 3.

I’m in a book club. We don’t take it too seriously - there are just seven of us and you can guarantee there’ll be at least one each session who hasn’t read/finished the book. We meet every six weeks or so at each other’s houses with wine and nibbles, moving on to tea/coffee and cake. To be honest, we spend more time in general chit chat than we do in literary talk, but we enjoy it. We all get the chance to pick a book we fancy and I do like the way we get to read, and often enjoy, books we wouldn’t otherwise have chosen. As a case in point, it seems from our WhatsApp group that people are finding the latest one (North Woods) quite hard going, and it doesn’t really appeal to me. Our library service hasn’t got a copy though and I’m going to have to buy one, so I hope I’m going to enjoy it!

Book 16: Elizabeth's Women by Tracy Borman -An interesting read about the women who supported or in some cases were bullied by Elizabeth 1 . Some of these women do not appear very much in other history books. A good read. I love history.
Book 17: Under Violent Skies by Judi Daykin A police detective story set in Norfolk which I enjoyed.

Thank you to Parsley3 for your recommendation of

20. Here One Moment, Liane Moriarty

Cherry becomes known as The Death Lady after doling out predictions of age of death, cause of death to fellow passengers on a delayed plane. Should they take the warnings seriously?

I’d forgotten just how good this author is! In fact I’ve now downloaded another Liane Moriarty as an audiobook to keep me entertained on my walks to the shop.

I’ve been in book groups for some 40 years. They’ve varied in all sorts of ways, some rather erudite, some where the book is just a sideshow and so on. My previous one to this was the best, I think. There were ten of us and each chose a book which meant we had two ‘free’ months for a summer social and a Christmas lunch. The one I’m in now is smaller and more random with meetings on an as and when basis.

It’s rare that we are all of a piece about a book, either loving or hating. If it’s the latter, we do try to be kind about it while saying it’s not for us. I appreciate a book group as it gets me reading things I’d never otherwise pick up and can be pleasantly surprised.

Thanks everybody for your individual feedback on your book club experiences and I will come back with my own thoughts on any books that we read, although the first one is to be a John Boyne that I loved, happy to read it again. Which brings me to my last book just finished number 27

27 Fire John Boyne

The third of his quartet of novella books, the titles taken from the 4 elements. I've read Water the first one, haven't read the 2nd Earth, and this, the third Fire, unusually for me I didn't enjoy it greatly, due to the subject matter.

Freya, a 30 something surgeon specialising in skin grafts for burns victims, on the surface, she has a very successful existence. The story unfolds in two time frames, an account of her impoverished childhood, born to a teenage mother, who in turn was also born to a teenage mother. Freya is raised for most of the year by her 32 year old grandmother, decamping for the summer holidays to Cornwall, where her fairly disinterested mother lives, perpetually preoccupied with whichever man she's currently attached herself to. Freya expresses a derision towards both the matriarchs who have shaped her early years, in fact the impetus to get away from them moulds her own ambitions. It's during her 12th year, she experiences a series of unnerving events whilst teetering on the cusp of adolescence suggesting what happened to her had been pivotal in her desire to seduce under age boys. One such liaison she involves herself in, potentially jeopardising her successful career as an esteemed surgeon and goes on to produce alarming consequences with a gradual revelation of her murderous past. Quite a departure for him, this is much more in the vein of psychological crime. One character who comes into the book towards the end reveals links with the first book, in the series which was Water, and whilst the books have tenuous links, they are all stand alone.

Book 43, A Winter Love Song, by Rita Bradshaw. A bloomin` good read, set between 1928 and 1950.

#31. Ask Not-The Kennedys and The Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan.

I read that last year Calendargirl. Lovely gossipy read and great photographs from those times! Did you enjoy it?

FGT

Unlike everyone else, I post about my books as I start reading them, not when I finish, so still reading about the Kennedys, after a recommendation on here.

Yes, it is really interesting, and very revealing!

Book 44, The Blue Pool Murders, by Rachel McLean. Continuing with the Dorset murder series. 2 more to go, but there`s another one due out in June.