2025 52 Book Challenge

1. A pun in the title - Dying fall / Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. 

Charming Bill Slider mystery packed full of chapter heading puns. The title (a quote from Shakespeare about music (thank you O-level English lit)) also appears to be the CoD, or is it?....

2. A character with red hair.

After she's gone / Camilla Grebe.

Enjoyed The ice beneath her, but After she's gone is in a different league. Gripping  crine novel with some great twists and brilliant characterisation. I loved Jake!

3. Title starts with letter M - Mr. Godley's Phantom / Mal Peet.

Fabulous book. Part ghost story / police procedural / literary fiction. I've never read anything quite like it.

4. Title starts with letter N - Normal rules don't apply / Kate Atkinson.

Weird but compelling collection of interlinked short stories. I particularly enjoyed the tales of Franklin, murder, and the talking horse and dog.

5. Plot includes a heist - The monk / Tim Sullivan.

The theft of a valuable art work forms a small but vitally important part of the plot.

6. Genre 1. Set in Spring - The long divorce / Edmund Crispin. Crime fiction.

Novel opens on June 2nd and ends a few days later. As challenge is quite specific about summer running from the summer solstice have placed it in the Spring challenge rather than summer.

I love Edmund Crispin. He is an absolute joy to read. Often very funny, his plots can be whackily implausible, yet he pulls it all together beautifully. Other reason I love him? His main job was as a musician. I just wish he had written more. Long divorce is one of his best.

7. Genre 2:Set in summer - At the sign of the Jack o' / Lantern / Myrtle Reed. 

A comic novel published in 1905, this was one of my Mum's favourite books. She adored it, and I realised that I'd never actually read it all the way through (I just used to read extracts to her when I was a teenager). Although very much of its time, it is very funny as a young married couple unexpectedly inherit a house and are then besieged by relatives on the make. 

I just wish I'd read it as Mum did in pre-internet news. Curious about the author I was shocked to read about her sad life, somehow it took the shine off what is really a wonderfully funny book.

8. Genre 3 : Set in Autumn.

Part set in Autumn - Bright air Black / David Vann (Literary fiction)

Extraordinarily powerful re-telling of the story of Medea. The subject matter makes for difficult reading but the writing is wonderful.

9. Genre 4 : Set in Winter.

Smith / Leon Garfield. Children's fiction. 

Somehow I missed out on reading Leon Garfield as a child when he was very popular (I blame it on the Puffin Club's over exuberant marketing campaign), which was a shame as Smith is quite brilliant. So glad I've finally "discovered" him.

10. Author's last name is also a first name - The city of God / Michael Russell.

War time thriller set in Rome. The latest in a long series featuring Irish detecive, Stefan Gilespie, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to read the rest. Historical detail is wonderful (and rather disturbing), but it's also an excellent thriller. Highly recommended.

12. Has a moon on the cover - Eight hours to England / Anthony Quayle.

During the Second World War distinguished actor Anthony Quayle served with SOE in Albania. He was reluctant to speak about his wartime service, but he did publish this novel, which is largely based on his own experience.

Quayle really can write. In fact it's one of the best wartime novels I've ever read. He's very honest about the complexities of working within difficult political situations, and Albania was particularly tricky, with a civil war threatening to break out on top of the German invasion. It also struck me reading it how very young so many of the characters are. Their courage, adaptability, and intelligence in such a difficult situation is awe inspiring.

Eight hours from England is one of a series of wartime novels newly re-published by the Imperial War Museum. I'm looking forward to reading more of them.

13. Title is 10 letters or less - Blackouts / Justin Torres.

As two former lovers recall their past lives, the book with its odd mixture of fiction and non-fiction provides a glimpse of historical erasures and oppresion.

Interesting and powerful, often uncomfortable reading.

15. Includes Latin American history - The motorcycle diaries / Ernesto Che Guevara. The young Guevara goes on a road trip through South America, which provides the inspiration that will turn him into a revolutionary. Fascinating short read.

16. Author has won an Edgar award - Towards zero / Agatha Christie.

Who else to choose for this category but the amazing Agatha?

17. Told in verse. The odyssey / Homer.

Surprisingly funny in places, I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed this 3000 year old classic.

Although my translation was prose (translated by no less a person than Lawrence of Arabia who was obsessed by the Odyssey) the original Ancient Greek work was an epic poem, so I think it qualifies.

18. A character who can fly - The reindeer hunters / Lars Mytting.

The second in the Sister Bells trilogy (no, I haven't read the first), this was a wonderful book. I absolutely loved it, and can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy.

19. Has short chapters - I, Julian / Claire Gilbert.

Delightful fictionalized account of the life and times of Julian of Norwich interspersed with sections from her work.

Beautifully written, profoundly moving, and an oddly refreshing read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

21. Character's name in the title - Barnaby Rudge / Charles Dickens.

Many years ago an elderly landlady told me that she had been obsessed by Barnaby Rudge as a teenager. Have no idea why it took me 30 years to get round to reading it, but I have been completely captivated. I've nearly missed appointments because of it, have muttered and gasped at the goings on, and cared so much for Barnaby, the raven and the multitude of characters.

It has one of the nastiest villains in the whole of Dickens, but also some of the nicest people. And Dickens can write, there's little of the sentimentality here that can get in the way of the plot in some of his other novels. The descriptions of the Gordon riots are almost journalistic, and all the more terrifying for that. It really is an extraordinary book, and I am already missing it!

22.  Found family trope - Sisters under the rising sun / Heather Morris.

Based on a true story, it tells of the lives of women living in a civilian internment camp in WWII Sumatra. Much of the background to the story, albeit told in a more fictionalised context had previously been told in the BBC series Tenko, and as non-fiction in Women behind the wire, which gave context to Tenko.

You can't doubt the power of Morris's plot or the bravery of the real life women, and there were some new facts here that I hadn't known before, but I found her writing style quite distracting. The dialogue was often very poor. Which was a real pity because I so wanted to praise this book.

23. Has a sprayed edge - Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen

I read a Kindle copy. And my own personal hard copies of Pride and Prejudice are spray edge free, but there are load of decorative editions of Pride and prejudice including this rather gorgeous one...

24. Title is a spoiler - The spy who came in from the cold / John Le Carre.

The spoiler in this case really doesn't matter as it is the process of how the spy comes in from the cold is what is important. I've re-read this book several times, and it's one of those which really repays re-reading. It's a wonderful book. Not just a great spy novel, but a great novel.

25. Breaks the fourth wall - Death at the sign of the Rook / Kate Atkinson.

Wonderful book in which Jackson Brodie hunts down a stolen painting and crosses paths with a murderer.

It's a gloriously sunny tale which as well s being clever kept me laughing throughout. Crime fiction fans will enjoy the nods to Christie, Sayer, Marsh and Galbraith, along with The cat and the canary (and every old dark house film or book you've ever seen or read)  a nod to The Shining, and of course not forgetting Cluedo (which surely was inspired by Christie and creepy old house films).

It doesn't shy away from more serious matter, but there is a real joy that just bubbles through.

The fact that Kate Atkinson was writing this alongside her historical novel Shrines of Gaiety is astounding.

26. More than a million copies sold - The Master and Margarita / Mikhail Bulgakov (translation - Michael Glenny).

With this translation I've now read all six of the printed English translations (there are apparently two more on Russian e-platforms). The Glenny is fuller than the Ginsberg translation, but not as complete as more recent translations. Some consider it to be nearest to the samizdat versions that hit the streets of the USSR as explosively as Woland and his accompanying mischief makers. 

It may be incomplete, but I loved this translation. It felt like being hugged by an old and much loved friend.

27. Features a magician - This rough magic / Mary Stewart.

Perhaps a bit of an imaginative leap here for the challenge but with its frequent references to Prospero and the plot of The Tempest, this sunny thriler seemed to fit the challenge perfectly. With its loving depiction of Corfu before it became a tourist destination it would be a perfect read for a chilly winter's day.

30. In the public domain - A study in scarlet / Arthur Conan Doyle.

Holmes meets Watson in the first of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Great fun.

31. Audiobook has multiple narrators.

The ice beneath her / Camilla Grebe.

Decent Scandi Noir with a clever twist. With three unreliable narrators, it was perfect for this challenge.

32. Includes a diary entry.

A parson in wartime / the Boston diary of the Reverend Arthur Hopkins, 1943-1945.

Utterly charming diary produced for Mass Observation by a vicar based in rural Lincolnshire, in the midst of many major Second World War airfields. Sometimes funny and often surprising, I loved this. 

33. A standalone novel.

Whistle in the dark / Emma Healey.

Both the story of a family in crisis, and a mystery. Whistle in the dark is well written with good characters, and a great sense of humour. Not normally my sort of read but thoroughly enjoyed it.

35. Written in the third person.

Gigi, and The cat / Colette

A short story and a novella both told in the third person. I do find The cat hard going, it's a very odd story. But I've always loved Gigi. I had forgotten how short it is (just 50 odd pages) that Lerner and Loewe managed to manufacture a full length musical from it is rather miraculous.

36. Final sentence is less than six words long.

Call for the dead / John Le Carre.

How could I have forgotten how good Le Carre's first novel is? Short, but a real gem.

38. An adventure story - Hope under fire / Caroline Dunford.

Enjoyable wartime adventure. The latest in a long series about Hope and her mother, both of whom work in intelligence. Hugely enjoyable. It was the first. Am looking forward to going back and reading the others.

39. Has an epigram.

Death keeps his court / Anselm Audley

40. Stream of consciousness narrative - Cities of the plain / Proust.

Bot a stream of consciousness novel but there are large swathes of stream of consciousness in the narrative. Proust can be intensely irritating, but then he will write with such beauty that you forgive him.

41. Cover font is in a primary colour - The bone road / N.E. Solomons.

Excellent thriller set in Bosnia where a disappearance leads to memories of old crimes. Decent characters, especially the lead detective, who I loved, and a great sense of place.

42. Non-human antagonist -

Had a bit of a mix-up earlier in the year in the 52 Book Challenge 2025 between protagonists and antagonists (hence the Flush review below) so have just re-done it. Both novels coincidentally involve dogs! Lily and the octopus / Steven Rowley. The octopus of the title is actually a tumour and a fearsome antagonist. Lily is the author's beloved elderly feisty dachshund. You know it's going to be sad, but it's also oddly uplifting, told with great sensitivity, a good dash of magic realism, and humour. I did enjoy it.

Flush / Virginia Woolf.

I adored this book. The life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning told through the eyes of her beloved cocker spaniel. Such a beautiful story, whether you''re a dog or poetry lover.

43. Explores social class.

Part of the furniture / Mary Wesley.

I forget how much I enjoy Mary Wesley's writing until I read another of her books. Part of the furniture has become a favourite. Juno Marlowe's background encourages others to treat her as less than well. Even her own relatives are influenced by this, until Juno finds shelter from the Blitz and a very different family...

44. A celebrity on the cover.

Tommasino / Tony Scotland.

Two for the price of one - Georgian composer Thomas Linley Junior, and his sister, Elizabeth, a singing superstar of the day.

Charming biography, with a fascinating mystery at its heart. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

45. Author releases more than one book a year. 

Last flight to Stalingrad / Graham Hurley.

I found this a tricky prompt. It's not a regular occurrence, but Hurley has released more than a book a year across the multiple series and standalones that he writes over the last 30 years.

Oddly had completely forgotten when I borrow this from the library that I had read it before. The plot seems very memorable so no idea why it had faded so completely from my memory. Would like to read more of Hurley's work after reacquainting myself with this one.

46. Read in a -ber month.

The expat affair / Kimberly Belle

47. I think it was blue

Saints of New York / R.J. Ellory.

Lots of blue references. A bluey / green cover, set in the New York Police Department (NYPD Blue!), and a depressed detective with a liking for the Blues.

48. Related to the word "puzzle"

The gathering storm / Winston Churchill

This may seem like a bit of an odd one to use for this challenge but Winston Churchill's first book in the series about the Second World War, and events leading up to it contains a classic quote that is undoubtedly puzzle related. The mystery of the nature of Russia, which he memorably describes as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" - I don't think you can get more puzzle like than that.

Gathering storm is an astonishing read. Very readable, an extraordinary account of events told from the inside. With the way the world currently is, it is also rather terrifying.

49. Set in a country with an active volcano. A matter of latitude / Isobel Blackthorn.

One of those frustrating novels where you spend most of the time shouting at the characters in the hope that they will stop being so stupid. It didn't work...but at least it fitted the challenge :-D

50. Set in the 1940s

Stettin Station / David Downing

51. 300-400 pages long.

Silesian Station / David Downing

52. Published in 2025. Murder in Cairo / Peter Gillman and Emanuele Midolo.

Investigation into the murder of Sunday Times journalist, David Holden. A cold case from the 1970s. Was not entirely convinced by some of the conclusions the authors reached, but it is nevertheless an intriguing story of Cold War espionage and murder