50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

I do believe we've reached maximum posts on this thread with this the last one, so I'll start another.

#52 A Woman of Opinion by Sean Lusk

This book was recommended by a friend. I enjoyed it at first but decided to abandon it halfway through as I became bored with it. It probably could have done with being shorter, but maybe it's my fault ..... I have a lot going on with my health so maybe that's why I couldn't persevere with it.

Book 46
The Gathering - C J Tudor
Deadhart Alaska.

A boy is discover with his throat ripped out, very much like a murder twenty five years earlier.

In this novel, humans are living in close proximity with a vampyr colony, the humans are restless, angry, they want the colony culled.

So to try to decide if this is a terrible murder, or the work of a vampyr, detective Barbara Atkinson is sent to Deadhart, being an expert in this field, she has to decide to cull or not to cull.

More deaths follow, a storm blows in, can Barbara solve the murder before the town takes its revenge.

A very weird novel, not really my thing, but interesting in its way.

Yes not one of her best Maggiemaybe, but she's still my go to author after Lisa Jewell for that genre.

51. A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder, Louise Candlish

I’m left a little discombobulated by this. I love Louise Candlish’s books and couldn’t wait to read this tale of what goes on behind closed doors at a luxury mansion house apartment block, and at first I found it enthralling. But as it got into its last third I became less convinced, came to dislike every character, and thought there were just too many twists and turns. The ending seemed rushed as well. Still, a mediocre Louise Candlish is still a good read imho.

TerriBull, yes I agree, she doesn’t shrink from uncomfortable subjects.
This is definitely at times difficult reading, but it’s worth it, a really first class read.

Sarah, I've only recently discovered Joyce Carol Oates, she's a very good writer of often disturbing content.

Lost track of my numbers.

The Figurine by Victoria Hislop
I'm about to give up on this. I was interested in the early part, with Helena as a child, but finding her and the story getting a bit boring.
Some reviewers say the same although many think it's a wonderful story.

#76. From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming.

Book 45
Fox - Joyce Carol Oates

Mr Fox is a middle school teacher, not just any middle school teacher, but English teacher at the exclusive Langhorne Academy, whose brilliant pupils are expected to sail into Ivy League colleges.

Mr Fox is relatively young, and very handsome, all his pupils adore him, infact everyone adores him, the Headmistress P Cady is delighted with her new English master.

Mr Fox is also a paedophile, an evil, predatory pervert, grooming his youngest and most innocent girls, drugging them and abusing them, then putting his sick photographs on his website, ‘Sleeping Beauties’ he calls them his Little Kittens, and expresses undying love for them, but only until they become too old.

Then Mr Fox is found flung from his car in an isolated ravine, murder? Suicide? Or accident?
Enter Detectives Zwender and Odom, utterly sickened by their findings. but determined to solve the mystery.

The ending is unexpected but very satisfying.
The subject matter is quite difficult at times, but this is a first rate read, a definite 10/10

#8. Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Thomas Gradgrind is determined that his children have an education based on reason and fact with no room for fanciful nursery rhymes. This strict adherence to facts later has profound consequences for his children in their adult lives.
Based in a fictional northern mill town in the 19th century, this is Dickens probably at his best in terms of satirising Victorian industrial practices. If you can get past the interminably long sentences and the use of vernacular then the last third of the book is worth reading. I did struggle to keep going though.

I agree, not one of her best, but she is still one of my favourite writers

I don't think "Redhead" is one of her best, TerriBull.

I've read quite a few of Anne Tyler's books and enjoyed them very much. Coincidentally I got Redhead by the Side of the Road out of the library a couple of weeks ago, but it just didn't grab me after a couple of chapters, so I took it back.

Sparklefizz

#51 Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

I was surprised to see from the book cover that this was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020. I enjoyed it but wouldn't rave about it. 6/10

I tried one or two of her books after reading about them here, but not really my ‘thing’.

#51 Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

I was surprised to see from the book cover that this was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020. I enjoyed it but wouldn't rave about it. 6/10

#75. Strangers On A Train by Patricia Highsmith.

94-One Perfect Family-Anna Jacobs
The last in the Ellindale series. This has been written so sensitively about adoption and Autism. A satisfying end to a great series.

Book 43: Murder in Norfolk by Sadie Norman
Book 44: Murder in a Cottage by Sadie Norman
Book 45: Murder in a Lake by Sadie Norman - All three police Murder stories Entertaining but nothing special.
Book 46: The House of Lamentations by C J McLean-The final book in the Seeker series set in Flanders in the last months of Oliver Cromwell. They Stuart and Spanish forces have been defeated by English and French armies. The King's cause seems finished. One last throw of the dice is planned. Can Captain Damien Seeker stop them? A great read set in Bruges. This is a great series. Almost as good as C. J Sansom .
Book 47: The Winter List by.S.G.Maclean - 1660 Cromwell is dead and Charles Stuart has become king ,restored to throne. People who supported Cromwells protectorate are hunted as traitors. Royalist Anne Winter,a Royalist spy is trying to find evidence of guilt or innocence on the Winter List. This book rounds off the Seeker series. Very exciting with twists and turns. I have loved this series. Now what to read next?

#50 Missing Julia by Catherine Dunne.
This book was ok but nothing special in my view. Julia, a doctor, goes missing without trace, leaving behind her loving partner, her daughter and grandchildren, and even her cat, and has clearly been planning this for weeks/months. Her departure is both deliberate and final.

I just couldn't accept that someone would distress their family and friends so terribly for the reason that transpired in the end, as she clearly wanted to be found (and forgiven).

I became annoyed with her thoughtlessness. 5/10

50. The Protest, Rob Rinder

Having really enjoyed Rob Rinder’s previous two books, I was very much looking forward to this one, and it didn’t disappoint. Well rounded characters, good plots, and lots of insight into the life of the Old Bailey and barristers’ chambers. Adam Green, the main protagonist, and his mother are endearing and believable. I’m now looking forward to book 4 (and hoping for a TV series ).

TerriBull

Sparklefizz

Oreo

Sparklefizz

#47 How not to be a Political Wife by Sarah Vine - a memoir.

I bet that’s a really good read.

It was very interesting!

I bet it is too! Quite indiscreet from the couple of excerpts I'd read, particularly as to what she attributed to David Cameron. Dislike him even more than I did before having read some of his alleged comments, if that's at all possible. I can't stand the man.

She is very loyal to Cameron's wife, Samantha, even though they are no longer speaking.

Sparklefizz

Oreo

Sparklefizz

#47 How not to be a Political Wife by Sarah Vine - a memoir.

I bet that’s a really good read.

It was very interesting!

I bet it is too! Quite indiscreet from the couple of excerpts I'd read, particularly as to what she attributed to David Cameron. Dislike him even more than I did before having read some of his alleged comments, if that's at all possible. I can't stand the man.

Sara1954

Another fan of Jane Harper, The Survivors wasn’t my favourite, but I have just watched a good Netflix adaptation, worth a watch if you enjoyed the book x

Thanks for that. I'll look out for it on NF

Oreo

Sparklefizz

#47 How not to be a Political Wife by Sarah Vine - a memoir.

I bet that’s a really good read.

It was very interesting!