50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

Hello everyone

I’m new to this thread so I hope it’s ok to just jump in!

I’m currently reading “The Sun in The Morning” by MM Kaye. It’s the first part of her autobiography and covers her childhood in India.

If the name is familiar, it might be because she wrote “The Far Pavilions”. Does anyone remember that being on TV? Must have been around the 1980s. I remember loving it at the time.

She was born in about 1908 and her father worked for the Indian Civil Service. Although both her parents were English, she grew up surrounded by Indian staff (parents back then didn’t spend that much time with their children did they) and she was more fluent in several Indian languages than in English.

She really brings India to life with all its sounds and scents. She describes the people and the beautiful scenery with views of the Himalaya mountains. There were no cars where she lived, just rickshaws and carts. Her town was quite isolated so the ex-pats got together to create concerts, theatre productions and so on, both for their own entertainment and as fundraisers during WW1. It's a fascinating glimpse of a bygone age.

I am loving this book so far, and may well read the other two volumes too.

I’m looking forward to finding out what other people are reading as well!

I read a lot but am bad at posting regularly, which is why I haven't joined in with this interesting thread (yet!).

However, I have just read The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble. It was a Pot Luck from our local library, where you pick up a book wrapped in brown paper and borrow it without knowing what it is as part of a winter bingo (don't ask). Otherwise I wouldn't have persevered to the end. It was depressing as it was all about aging and dying, and as a bonus it was written in the present tense, which I don't like (although I know that others do). Has anyone read it and liked it, or disliked it?

I remember reading Margaret Drabble many years ago and as far as I remember, quite enjoying her books, but this one was so disappointing that I wanted to tell somebody about it. Thank you for the opportunity and I will try to join in more regularly, as it is so interesting to see what others have read.

*Dodie

I too loved ‘I Capture the Castle’ Jam. Read it about 20 years ago. I was only thinking about it the other day. I think I might re-read it this year. I didn’t realise Dodi Smith also wrote ‘101 Dalmations’.

Book 25, Skylarks at Sunset, another by Rita Bradshaw. I enjoy her books, mostly set in the North East, during the late 19th or early 20th centuries.

👋🏾FGT2 Yep, definitely agree with some of the alien names! 😆

I’m a’ Space Baby’ born between the achievements of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin- the Space Race was part of the wallpaper in our family🧑🏾‍🚀 Add Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, Bleep&Booster and Stingray and you get a Grandma who builds cardboard/blanket rockets with the Grandkids instead of dens/forts! 😂

Though SF&F is my 1st love, I do read other genres, comedy, philosophy/spiritual, children’s and YA, biographies, literary fiction, classics etc.

Just read I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith- and You Are Here by David Nicholls (local Book Club book) which generated conversation about trains and the Beeching Cuts in 1963 and the majesty of the Moors and The Secret Garden and Lorna Doone.

New books= Strong Female Character by Fern Brady, The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Mieville and (new Book Club book) The Dilemma by BA Paris.

No. 14 Miss Austen by Gill Hornby. This was a re-read after watching the tv dramatisation recently.

I quite enjoyed it and Gill Hornby's writing is good. Cassandra Austen, Jane Austen's sister, is known to have destroyed Jane's letters in order to preserve her legacy, and this story is based around that.

Cassandra returns to the village of Kintbury (where incidentally I gather the author lives herself), because she knows that in some corner of the vicarage where she is staying, there's a cache of letters written by her sister Jane.

This is a novel so the content of the letters plus the unfolding of the story around them is imagined.

Everything in the Austen family and households revolved around Jane, her mercurial moods and her writing. I don't know if this is truly how it was but I confess Jane came across as self-centred and not particularly likeable. Cassy devoted her whole life to Jane to the exclusion of a possible marriage and children. I did finish the book but I was getting fed up with Jane towards the end.

I first read this book about 5 years ago and perhaps I became fed up with it then too, but there've been hundreds of books "under the bridge" since then so I can't remember.

I would give it 7/10.

22. Find Her Alive by DS Butler.

Book 9: Entry Island by Peter May- I didn't enjoy this.
Book 10: Straw in the Wind by Carol Cole
Book 11: Maxwell's Summer by M. J.Trow

I would add that the Ruth Galloways were unique, I think many of us enjoyed them for Ruth's complicated personal life, rather than the plots, I do wish Ellie Griffiths would consider bringing her back. George Cross doesn't have a significant other in his life the books are more about his personal quirks and his complicated familial and colleague relationships. I think he is a well drawn memorable character as are others in crime novels have been, Vera, Jimmy Perez for example.

TerriBull

It's The Dentist, I did read that one, it would be a good one to start with, at the beginning, see what you think.

Thank you TerriBull

Have just finished ‘Making A Killing’ the latest Cara Hunter (Adam Fawley) novel.

It was good when I got into it.

Without giving too much away, it was a follow up to the first AF book, Close To Home, and I read that ages ago.

Could have done with re-reading it first to refresh my memory.

It's The Dentist, I did read that one, it would be a good one to start with, at the beginning, see what you think.

They don't have to be read in order Sparklefizz, the plots are stand alone. George Cross's personal relationships with his parents and close colleagues unfold in successive books. There are 7 in the series, I haven't read them all. I'm not sure which is the first.

TerriBull I am interested in your post re The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan because you mention Ruth Galloway. Should these books be read in order, in which case, which is the first one?

Book 24, Eve and Her Sisters, by Rita Bradshaw. I really enjoyed this. The 3 girls are orphaned when a real life mining disaster kills their father and brothers, and they are evicted from their "tied" cottage.

GrannyBear

No. 4 - Butter by Asako Yuzuki. I really enjoyed this very different book. It’s set in Japan and very much centred on food. I didn’t let my lack of knowledge about Japanese food spoil my enjoyment! Has anyone else read it?

I did GrannyBear, but I didn't like it very much I'm afraid.

17 The Bookseller - Tim Sullivan

The latest in the D S George Cross series, I do think that these books might fill a void for those who loved the Ruth Galloways, insomuch as whilst the plots are stand alone, the back story of the main character's relationships are moved along with each successive story.

George is on the autistic spectrum, and whilst personal and professional relationships are often problematic, he is nevertheless adept at digging beneath the obvious to nail the murderer. In this one we find the bookseller of the piece, Ed Squire who is found stabbed in his shop, young staff member Persephone locked in an upstairs bathroom, has she witnessed the man who killed her boss?. A complicated, inherited family business set up reveals dangerous liaisons with the Russian mafia over the sale of a valuable manuscript and a disgruntled ex partner in the background, DS George Cross is on the case accompanied by his, sympathetic and often long suffering colleague Josie Ottie who has an insight and understanding into George's character and methods. Meanwhile, all is not well on the domestic front, George's father, Raymond, who George has a very close relationship with has suffered a stroke and the re-emergence of his mother Christine who is caring for Raymond causes George some disquiet. A good read for those who enjoy police procedural crime books.

18-The Secret-Katerina Diamond
I've read a couple of other books by her and been delighted, but this one I found a bit confusing, with 3 timelines. I keep notes as I go along (brain not a sharp as it used to be), but my main criticism is that the ending was a bit abrupt, without tying up the loose ends of the investigation. I've now started the next one in the series to see if it carries over, or maybe readers are expected to draw their own conclusion.

No. 5 - Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah. This is Sophie Hannah writing a novel, featuring Hercule Poirot, in the style of Agatha Christie. It simply wasn’t for me. When I want to read Agatha Christie, I’ll read her original works.

No. 4 - Butter by Asako Yuzuki. I really enjoyed this very different book. It’s set in Japan and very much centred on food. I didn’t let my lack of knowledge about Japanese food spoil my enjoyment! Has anyone else read it?

Yes, AliBeeee I agree, Girl A is a harrowing and gripping read. I had to watch some sweet kitten videos on YouTube after reading it to lift my spirits.

#12 was Girl A by Abigail Dean.
Lex is Girl A, “the one who escaped” from her horrific childhood home and raised the alarm to save her siblings. The book is set about 15 years later, when she is a successful lawyer, but she has to return home from New York due to the death of her mother in prison. The story of their childhood, from happier times, to the final terrible days, is gradually revealed as she meets each of her siblings. This was a gripping read, but at times a harrowing one. 8/10

Jamfriedplumpy

Hi everyone, I’ve just read through from the start and wasn’t going to join until I saw Whiff’s post! 😁

I’m an SF&F bookworm, not into horror, graphic torture/sex etc., or much paranormal, but manage to have 2-4 books on the go in a week.
I think I’ve read a book a week so far this year, so is it okay to join and share the SF love?

👋 to you Jfp.
I’m not at all into science fiction! A couple of years ago I read ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ and only because it was our book club read. Gah!
I think I have very little imagination and find aliens and monsters don’t engage me in the least. I find them silly with their made up names like Zork or some such! 😁

But that’s just me.
I realise it’s a very popular genre! Just not for me.

Maggiemaybe

And now I’ve just finished the Audible version of

14. Three Days in June, Anne Tyler

What a treat. I’m a huge Anne Tyler fan, and this gentle story of the three days around Gail and Max’s daughter’s wedding certainly didn’t disappoint. It was a very short listen - not much over 4 hours, so I’ve enjoyed it all today. Off now to see if I can find anything near that quality for my next listen.

Me too Maggiemaybe! it was my book No.3
Such a sweet book with some witty and wry asides from Tyler - her trademark.

And after (for me) the stressful ‘Strange Sally Diamond’ it was a joy and a comfort to read. Tyler writes SO well doesn’t she about homely life in Baltimore.

Off to choose novel No.4 now….