50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

I hope I didn`t come over as criticizing, it wasn`t meant that way.

Hellogirl1

I hope it isn`t too topical Juno, seeing as the pope is quite ill at the moment.

I hope so too. I apologise for any distress caused; I did not mean to suggest that life was imitating art. I had not realised that Pope Francis was so ill.

I completed my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge in 2019/2020 - such a great challenge. Read books I would never have chosen, just because of events that were happening at the time, and I wanted to know more. Shuggie Bain won the Booker prize so I read that - brilliant. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane - The Underground Railway. I would encourage everyone to give it a go. The books do not have to be the length of Shantaram but it is amazing how one book leads to another. Enjoy and Happy Reading.

I hope it isn`t too topical Juno, seeing as the pope is quite ill at the moment.

#10 Conclave Robert Harris.
Quite topical as I believe the film based on this novel won the BAFTÀ for best film yesterday.
The Pope has died unexpectedly and as Dean of the College of Cardinals it is the duty of Cardinal Lomeli to oversee the conclave, the election of the new pope. All cardinals under eighty must be sequestered in the Sistine chapel until one of their number is chosen. The book is an account of how this takes place and the ancient traditions and ceremonies. Secrets, scandals and shifting group dynamics lead eventually to a decision and a surprising twist. I read this due to TerriBull's recommendation a few days ago and in turn highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it.

Greyduster, I loved the Rizzoli and Isles series, but then I`ve loved every Tess Gerritsen book that I`ve read.

Nahsma, I really loved The Miniaturist, have you read The House of Fortune? I really loved that as well

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney I started it in December but finished in January

Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Caught by Harlen Coben

Mystery of the Strange Messages by Enid Blyton I'm reliving my childhood

I have temporarily deserted excitements of the ancient Britons and their struggles with the Romans to read a detective novel by Tess Gerritsen - The Killing Place. It’s one of the Rizzoli and Isles series, which I am an avid fan of on tv, but I’ve never read the books. I got it from the library and unfortunately it’s the last in a series, so reading them the wrong way round.

Goldieoldie15

Help!!! I know there are threads available here but I can rarely find one. And how do I join this one? And where’s the one on 2024 books? Oh am so incompetent!

Look for ‘The Not So New 2024 Books A Year Part Two’ under ‘Books’ Forum.

Help!!! I know there are threads available here but I can rarely find one. And how do I join this one? And where’s the one on 2024 books? Oh am so incompetent!

Hallo fellow readers. I cannot believe I have only just found this thread, but will be joining in. Reading is a passion of mine , for all my life, and books have helped me face many difficulties and comforted me and excited me . I have always been a book reader and had a book by my bed, and others all being read at the same time. i always read before going to sleep, usually trying to read something funny or calming to take my mind off problems of the day and pain. Tend to have two or three there to choose from and at the moment have "the no1 Ladies Dectective Agency" by Alexander McCall smith. They are set in Botswana and are not what you think of as detective stories. It is much more the lovely Mma Precious Ramotswe using her common sense and observations to deal with things. She has a rather prickly assistant Mma Makutsi, who is prone to remind everyone of her 98% exam results etc, and there are lots of other great charactors. I find them funny and full of common sense and a sense of botswana too. Really recommend them. Funnily enough I cannot get on with another series he has set in scotland. Usually when I find a new author tend to read all their books, but dont care for that group.

Books are so important to me, it is a sort of addiction I suppose but am happy to remain addicted. When I started to work in London I really felt like withdrawal symptoms as I just couldnt get the chance to read as much as I used to until I got organised. So then I had the books by the bed, and then books that had to be sorted by an unusual criteria, they had to be small and light, as they had to fit into my bag so that I was able to read them on the tube, and finally had another book on the go in my drawer at work. Reading was disapproved of by the supervisor, until she accepted that actually it was a good thing. I was working in Overseas telegrams and when we were working on the radio links to south america you could be sat there for literally 20 minutes as they tried to get a connection. You couldnt do another job as y ou did not know when you would be put through, you couldnt leave the seat in case they came on quickly, so the usual thing would be for people to chat to other operators. So as I explained, my reading meant that I was immediately available to work, did not disturb other people and was quiet. She rather begrudingly saw my point and so I was happily able to continue reading , but you could see that she really disapproved of my having my mind far away from them once I was engrossed with y book!!

So, another book I am reading at the moment is The Trustee from the Tool Room by Neville Shute. Of course rather old fashioned in style but a good read. a man who would hardly be noticed in the crowd but who is actually an expect in his own field , never been abroad or anything, suddenly has to take himself away from everything he knows as his sister and her husband are killed in a shipwreck. He has been looking after their daughter whilst they travel and now finds there is no money to cover the childs upbringing and knows that there must be something in the wreck. How he manages to get himself across half the world and the weaving in of his expertise in a something, and also the showing that not everyone needs book learning and there are other ways of being good at something all comes across. We sailed so that side of it meant an extra enjoyment but I really enjoyed all of it and the acknowledgement that you can have a lot of knowledge and be an expert in your field from a practical point of view and that exams and looking at maps etc do not always mean you are better.

I started the year with "Ask Not" The Kennedy men and the women they destroyed by Maureen Callahan. It was a horror story from.beginning to end. From Joe Kennedy, through to JFK , Robert and Ted, these were men without morals. What is worse is that their sons were no better. They got away with murder, literally and believed they could do anything they wanted and would always be protected. One of those sons, Robert Kennedy jnr is now in charge of health in the Trump administration. The book has been meticulously researched which makes it even more chilling.

Book 17, The Missing Family, by Tim Weaver. I bought this last weekend from a voluntary charity stall in a service area, and it was a bloomin` good read.
For fans of childrens` books, those by Michael Morpego are quite good, and not TOO short.

What an interesting thread.
I have just finished There are Rivers in the Sky, the latest novel by Elif Shafak. It is beautifully written and I really enjoyed it.

Indigo8

I think children's books might be cheating as some take about 2.5 minutes to read.

I agree some are so lovely. I still enjoy illustrated books.

Speaking as a Children's Librarian (retired), I have read and enjoyed many children's books from picture books to teenage. Whilst I agree that picture books might be considered outside the scope of this challenge, some in the category for children who are somewhat older are definitely not a quick read! Think: J K Rowling, Terry Pratchett, Cressida Cowell ("How to train your dragon"), Lemony Snicket ("A series of unfortunate events"), David Walliams, Susan Cooper, Arthur Ransome, C S Lewis, etc, etc! (I think I'm showing my age now!!)

I'd love to know, should I, for example, try once again to read the Swallows and Amazon series - I hated them as a child, so only ever read S&A, and that because I was forced to! - would that count?

For anyone that’s read William Boyd’s The Romantic - Channel 5 The Expedition (I think it’s called) Ben Fogle follows in the footsteps of David Livingston, Speke and Burton to find the source of the Nile.

An avid reader I would like to join this thread. I’m currently reading Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier. Set in the American Civil War, I love the love story of Ada and Inman, and the friendship of Ada and Ruby but find CF rather too wordy in his descriptions of the terrain. Earlier this year I re-read all 5 volumes of the Cazalet Chronicles,by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which I adore!

To be added to my list, Any Human Heart by William Boyd,
Just great. Also Alan Bennett with his Collected Works.
He just doesn't write quickly enough.
The Magic Army by Leslie Thomas, it funny too.

#17. The Body In The Dales by JR Ellis.

11. Strange Sally Diamond, Liz Nugent

I expected to enjoy this a lot more than I did. The story was compelling, but I found the characterisation lacking, and the writing style very flat - at times it felt to me as though the author was writing for a child (though the subject matter was definitely adult). I do realise that I’m in the minority here, but I’d been looking forward to this one and was a bit disappointed.

#9 The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer A bit gruesome in parts with torture scenes, but a very good story - conspiracy theory meets Lisbeth Salander.

Read and enjoyed this last year. Very evocative of the time pre-war and afterwards. Relatable characters.

Read Huckleberry Finn in January, much darker than I thought, and now I'm.almost finished Wuthering Heights.

Please may I join? I've just finished The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton - a book group choice which was utterly wonderful - and am starting Birds of Passage by Bernice Rubens. Her The Honourable Member was a joy, so I have high hopes.