50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I’m going to start The Whalebone Theatre. Not sure how much I actually fancy it to be honest but it’s our book club read!

FriedGreen2 I loved *The Whalebone Theatre8 when I read it last year, I hope you do too.
My first book in 2025 is The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell which is very good, if a bit doomy!
I haven't been on this thread before, but I read a lot, and thought I'd like to keep track. I should be reading "Operation Ark" for our book club on Thursday, but The Marriage Portrait is gripping me!

My #3 was The Last Remains by Elly Griffiths. The final one in the series! I loved it, I really liked the way she brought the series to a conclusion. I’m giving it a rare 10/10, but some of that’s for my overall enjoyment of the whole series, it’s been a pleasure to read.

CanadianGran and Greyduster, I read and enjoyed A Year of Wonders a few years ago, it’s set in Eyam, the plague village in the Cotswolds. I’ve been meaning to reread it after visiting Eyam a couple of years ago.

Notagranny44 I loved The Marriage Portrait too. Towards the end I just couldn't put it down.

Book 2, Keep the Midnight Out, by Alex Gray. Another Superintendant Lorimer story, I really enjoyed it.

2-Blood Line-Mark Billingham.
Detective Inspector Tom Thorne investigates a murder where the victim is clutching a piece of an x-ray. When later another body is found also holding a piece, Tom realises they have a double murder and he starts to find a unusual link.
The killer is targeting the children of a serial killer from 15 years ago.
A real page turner that keeps you guessing right to the end.

Sparklefizz I finished it about 3:00am last night, and I was the same! Highly recommended!

#2 "Pastoral" by Nevil Shute.

I got the Kindle version of this after loving his "The Trustee from the Toolroom" which I read last year. We'll see if it measures up to that. I've got "A Town like Alice* on my Kindle too, but haven't started that yet.

Notagranny44

Sparklefizz I finished it about 3:00am last night, and I was the same! Highly recommended!

I can relate! The tension really built up. Glad you enjoyed it.

I found it terrifying that Asquith and his Cabinet were controlling the war when he was scribbling love letters during Cabinet meetings, and it really brought to mind the quote "Fought by lions, led by donkeys."

Yes, we think we have a lot of useless politicians these days but those in the past seem to have been just as bad, it's just that the public didn't know what they were up to.

#4. The Twist Of A Knife by Anthony Horowitz.

Just finished #3 - Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. It is funny but very sad for those people in the early 1950s, with poverty, solitude and pride affecting single and widowed old people.

I have given up reading " Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, it was billed as a " Tragicomic masterpiece ", I lost the plot after halfway, it got rave reviews on Sarah Cox between the covers show, if anybody else has read it I would be keen to know their opinions.
Starting Charlie Booker "The hell of it all"

3/4 through The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes
Slow reader so don’t think I will manage 50 in a year but will do my best

The Married Man by K L Slater

Livi expects her 'disappeared' husband Richard to return, after 11 years, with lots of money for her.
That was the plan.
Instead there is no money and Livi suspects he's living a happily married life with someone else.

Lots of unexpected turns of events in this story.

No 3.

No. 3 These Days by Lucy Caldwell

This book was a Christmas present from my daughter and the cover looked rather "chick lit" so I was surprised she had bought me this.

I could not have been more wrong! I definitely shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

This book is set in Belfast during WW2 and follows the lives of two sisters - one engaged to be married and the other in a secret relationship with another woman - as they try to survive the horrors of the Belfast Blitz.

The writing is beautiful and has been meticulously researched judging by the references at the back of the book. This is a book that will stay with me. It's poignant and warm and at times heartbreaking. I loved it and will give it 10/10.

I am coming to the end of the first book in the ‘Boudica’ series. I had forgotten what a brilliant, insightful writer Manda Scott is. Her research is meticulous. She is to early British history what Mary Renault was to Ancient Greece - unparalleled. The characters leap out from the page and have you both cheering and weeping. By the time I get to book four I will be exhausted and a wreck so I shall have a break and make book 4 “Still Waters and Wild Waves” by the printmaker Angela Harding. Beautiful illustrations and calming text.

I have just finished reading Shipping News by Annie Proulx.
It was a difficult book to read because of the writing style but once I got used to it I thought it kind of helped with creating the feel of the setting. It’s interesting and worth reading .

I have read the Marriage Portrait and like some others here , I absolutely loved it .
I need to find another book to read now 😀

Book 2
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall - Angela Levin

Thankyou to whoever recommended this book last year, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have always liked Camilla, as a big King Charles fan, I always wanted him to be happy, and clearly Camilla makes him very happy.

I didn’t expect any surprises, because it’s not the first of her biographies I’ve read, but instead of the usual digging up of her early life, it’s very focused on the woman she is now, and that is a devoted, kind and very forgiving woman.

Her love for Charles shines brightly, but the book focuses mainly on her charitable work. She supports many charities, and works incredibly hard for them, some parts are very moving, and the Duchess ( as she was then) isn’t above shedding a tear.

There were some unexpected moments, dancing with Craig Revell Horwood, giggling with Dame Judi Dench, her passion for getting children reading, and her support for battered wives and rape victims, all things I was unaware of

I have always thought that if Camilla’s car broke down outside my house, and I brought her in for a cup of tea, we would get on, and now I’m quite convinced of it.

It’s a tribute to Camilla, if you aren’t keen on her this isn’t for you, but if you read it with an open mind, you just might see her in a new light.

Greyduster, yes, it is based on the history of Eyam and how the minister there dealt with the plague. It is written from the point of view of a young widow.

Of course I didn't know the spelling of the town since I was listening to the book! On of the disadvantages of audiobooks.

I like to read a physical book, rather than listen, but I have started a knitting project and just can't manage to knit without looking!

4. Someone We Know, Shari Lapena

Well there’s a lot going on in this affluent neighbourhood. Affairs, house breaking and cyber crime, and of course murders. It’s an enjoyable romp with umpteen twists and turns. A typical Shari Lapena really.

I read this last year, Maggiemaybe, and enjoyed it.

3-A Cornish Stranger-Liz Fenwick.
According to my list I read this in 2020, but reading the back it didn't ring any bells, so I thought I'd do a quick scan read and pass it on. But worryingly I did not remember the story, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Gabe moves to Cornwall to take care of her 92yr old artist grandmother who lives by the River Helford. As Jaunty knows her health is failing, she starts to write notes about her early life for Gabe to read when she's gone.
So this is a story of two lives with some surprising evets along the way.
A great read for any Cornwall lovers.

#4 was Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson.
Set in California in 1977/78, in giant Redwood country. Colleen is an amateur midwife and her husband Rich is a tree topper. As the year of the book progresses, huge divisions appear in their community; are the effects of the chemicals being sprayed to control weed growth causing health problems for the community? If the spraying and logging is stopped, what will happen to this community who depends on the logging for their livelihood?
It took me about 100 pages (of the total 450) to get into this book, but I am glad I persevered. It was engrossing, the characters were real, and it had relevance to current environmental concerns. If it wasn’t for the first 100 pages going into too much detail of the logging process, this could have been a 10/10, but I am giving it 8/10.

I'm reading The madness of crowds , a chief inspector Gamache story, the 17th in the series by Louise Penny but not one of my favourites. I usually romp through them. I've also read J D Vance's autobiography, as it was my book club choice, I would never have read it otherwise. Whatever you think of this man, you have to admire how he has progressed in life despite an appalling upbringing. He says that enrolling in the army as a marine was the making of him.

Just finished Conclave [having seen the film]. Read it in two days - couldn't put it down. Amazing script by Robert Harris.
Now started Katherine by Anya Seaton - oh so different from each other.....