I read THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien for the read-along, which was enormous fun. An impossible book to describe or recommend in the usual way. You just have to do it, and once you have, you understand why it works. Also THE CONFUSIONS OF YOUNG TÖRLESS by Robert Musil, alongside looking at Schiele all month. A short book that took me ages, because it is emotionally heavy and asks to be taken in small doses rather than breezed through. Disturbing, deep, and I’m glad I stayed with it. And CLARA READS PROUST by Stéphane Carlier, about a hairdresser who finds a copy of Swann’s Way left behind in her salon, starts reading it nine months later, and has her life changed by it. Plus steady progress with Proust himself, now just over two hundred pages into volume one, and a stack of books on Schiele. I must admit this was one of the hardest month to keep up with all the reading due to never ending heatwaves that we’ve been having here lately.
I read CONTRAPPOSTO by Dave Eggers, which I enjoyed with some reservations. It is a book about art and ateliers and realistic figure drawing and I do that. I also read MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman, on the suggestion of a friend, and I did not like it. I found it implausible and amateurish and I don’t what to say to my friend who truly loved it. I’m currently reading BONJOUR TRISTESSE and BROTHERS KARAMAZOV with Henry Elliott and GRAPES OF WRATH with Haley Larsen. JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart is my next irl book club read and I’m looking forward to starting that one.
I suggest to your friend who loved MY FRIENDS, just say, "It wasn't for me." BTW, I loved MY FRIENDS, too. So many of Backman's books deliver the same message: Don't make assumptions about people, either as a reader about his characters or about people in your own life. I cannot hear that advice too often. Have you read and liked or disliked any other of his books?
I thoroughly enjoyed SUPER-INFINITE, a biography of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, read several times through a moving comic book/graphic novella by Shaun Tan called THE ARRIVAL, and also finished THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO by Ann Radcliffe, NOT THE END OF THE WORLD by Hannah Ritchie, the last EMMA M LION book, and ONE DAY EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad. I’m finally making progress on and getting a lot of THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME by Olivia Laing and THE BOOK OF HOURS by Rilke.
I've just requested the return of Treacle Walker from my granddaughter! Can't wait to join this mini slow read.
I do occasional stints as a volunteer mentor with Sail Training Ireland and was away at sea last week and downloaded Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst on to my Kindle. It's a true story of a couple who planned to sail from the UK to New Zealand but a whale interrupted their voyage in the middle of the Pacific - a perfect read while at sea.
As a contrast I have Maggie O'Farrell's 'Land' now in my sights for my next read.
I finished three extraordinary and challenging books in June. I’m really enjoying stretching my non literature background mind with these books by the way. It’s not always a walk in the park, but I come out on the other side enthralled.
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders is a clever rendering of Lincoln mourning the loss of his son Willie in February 1862. He visits the corpse of his son while, unbeknownst to him, ghosts cavort and argue and discuss in his midst. These ghosts inhabit the bardo, the transitional phase between death and rebirth. They are all stuck in the bardo for one reason or another. Saunders bases his novel on some truth and creatively engineers the rest of the story that makes for a wild read. The story’s theatricality makes it also a worthwhile listen on audio … with many very famous people reading their assigned parts.
THE INHERITORS by William Golding presented a perspective shift in which I needed to get into the mind of a Neanderthal confronting the unusual behaviors of the new ones, the sapiens. Beyond this challenge of perspective, I found the book heart wrenching and thought provoking… going to leave it there as I do not want to give away the ending for those who are still reading.
THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien is a fantastical story about a somewhat innocent somewhat rogueish murderer who spends the novel in pursuit of treasure in a black box. Think Alice in Wonderland for adults. This one was more difficult for me to complete, but I am so so so glad I did. The treasure of an ending was delicious.
I’m probably in no position to evaluate innovation in fiction…playing catch up in this area. I will say that reading Bardo after reading the non-fiction Team of Rivals was fulfilling as I was able to step into that world in a different way.
I jumped ahead and finished DOCTOR ZHIVAGO with Cams slow read. Started THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER by Richard Preston, so far very good! Read CARELESS PEOPLE after reading of the author being gagged and can’t talk about the book. And WHISTLER by Ann Patchett.
My favorite book of June is I WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR (2025) by Eugene Yelchin. Yelchin recounts his life as a young man in Leningrad in the late 1970s as a struggling young artist. He is approaching the age of military conscription and attempts to avoid service which will likely send him to Afghanistan. I won't give anything else away, but young Yelchin's favorite book is War and Peace and it is featured throughout the memoir.
I just finished THE BEHEADING GAME by Rebecca Lehman (where Anne Boleyn sews her head back on a proceeds to try to wreak vengeance on Henry VIII). A bit campy but good fun. I love love loved NONESUCH by Francis Spufford. Must read even if you have become jaded with World War II historical fiction. The characters in the book are wonderful and even more interesting than the (again) rather fantastical plot. Beware, though: it ends with a cliff-hanger.
Definitely good for right after Bring up the Bodies. An amuse-bouche, if you will, for The Mirror and the Light. Except...it does give a different take on what happens next (if you don't already know...)
I'm in the midst of a few books right now. I'm reading a couple of chapters a day of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR by Victoria Goddard, and I just started my advance copy of THE INTRIGUE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I am enjoying all of them so far.
How are you finding THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO at a couple of chapters a day? It’s been sitting on my list as a holiday read, but I keep hearing how addictive it is, and it isn’t short either. My worry is that if I start it in July I won’t get anything else done all month, and I have a few things I need to actually finish. Tempting though. Maybe the couple-of-chapters-a-day approach is the answer to reading it without it swallowing everything else. I wonder…
I've been enjoying reading it this way! A couple of chapters before bed has been a great way to get through it. It would be so easy to get lost in it for a whole day, but at bedtime I would just fall asleep if I read too long (that happens no matter how exciting a book is). It helps give you a sense of the serialized nature of it, too, since you have to wait a bit to find out what happens.
I am about 1/4 into THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY by Kiran Desai on audio and enjoying it. Also just finished THE INHERITORS - heartbreaking and so thought-provoking (thank you, Simon!). I read it last in college for an excellent anthro class on popularization of prehistory in art and literature. I was encouraged to pick up KINDRED: NEANDERTHAL LIFE LIVE DEATH AND ART by Rebecca Wragg Sykes again - it's a good (and factually corrective) companion to Golding's novel. I've always been interested in the role that imagination plays in archaeology/paleontology. I wonder how (or if) Golding would change his novel in light of new evidence.
I also recently read THE CORRESPONDENT (by Virginia Evans, enjoyable), THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (a reread of a favorite by Penelope Fitzgerald) and WHAT WE CAN KNOW (Ian Mcewan - not as great as I hoped). For light fun, I listened to THE ROAD TO ROSWELL (Connie Willis - silly, a good book for walks). I'm looking forward to TREACLE WALKER, and I have a few more Ali Smiths lined up.
June has been a better reading month for me than May was! First up was THE HACIENDA by Isabel Canas, for one of my online book clubs. I've never read any Mexican Gothic and horror is generally not my thing... this definitely wasn't my cup of tea. On the plus side, however, there was a "hot priest"! lol
I re-read IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn for an upcoming online book club -- my suggestion. I first read it more than two years ago and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since then. Not an easy read (WWI, shades of REGENERATION...), but beautifully written. I hope the others like it too!
Next was THE MITFORD AFFAIR by Marie Benedict, recommended by a friend, about the Mitford sisters (the three oldest in particular) in the years leading up to and including WWII. I knew a bit about them, and while this was a novel, it was interesting to learn more about them -- made me want to read some non-fiction about the family.
This past weekend I finished EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes, which was an utterly predictable rom-com, but a pleasant read nevertheless.
In progress: still plugging away at THE FORSYTE SAGA by John Galsworthy (currently about 60% through) -- I'm doing that one as a slow buddy read with an online friend.
My online D.E. Stevenson fan group just started a slow readalong of STILL GLIDES THE STREAM together, which will take us most of the summer.
And I just started LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe. I read SAY NOTHING when it first came out and have not stopped raving about it since... I have a feeling I'll be doing the same with this one. Completely riveting.
I read or listened to Ann Patchett’s WHISTLER engaging characters and smart dialogue. AP is a lover of humans, you want to hang out with her characters. The audio version is read by her brilliantly, you’d think she was a trained actor.
I am really enjoying the new releases of 2026. I am loving the slow read of WAR AND PEACE. I read MAD MABEL by Sally Hepworth. I loved Mabel and the plot. THE BURNING SIDE by Sara Damoff may be my favorite book of the year. I liked her debut novel, THE BRIGHT SIDE, but her second novel was so good. I read LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe. Keefe is a talented writer and researcher, but this book was not for me. Too many characters that were on the outskirts of the crime. (I really could have used a character chart like the one Simon provides for us for WAR AND PEACE.) GOOD JOY, BAD JOY started my month off. It was a solid read, but not one of my favorites. I am currently reading THE CALAMITY CLUB by Katherine Stockett and am l loving it. Over 600 pages, but it is a worthwhile read so far.
I’ve just finished MARY TUDOR by Anna Whitelock. Taking part in Wolf Crawl last year left me with so many questions and this book helped answer some of them. I then read ROCK PAPER SCISSORS by Alice Feeney as a bit of a palette cleanser (the twist really got me) and have just started DRIVE YOUR PLOUGH OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk, which is promising so far and of course, still working through War & Peace, which continues to surprise me by being an enjoyable read!
I read THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien for the read-along, which was enormous fun. An impossible book to describe or recommend in the usual way. You just have to do it, and once you have, you understand why it works. Also THE CONFUSIONS OF YOUNG TÖRLESS by Robert Musil, alongside looking at Schiele all month. A short book that took me ages, because it is emotionally heavy and asks to be taken in small doses rather than breezed through. Disturbing, deep, and I’m glad I stayed with it. And CLARA READS PROUST by Stéphane Carlier, about a hairdresser who finds a copy of Swann’s Way left behind in her salon, starts reading it nine months later, and has her life changed by it. Plus steady progress with Proust himself, now just over two hundred pages into volume one, and a stack of books on Schiele. I must admit this was one of the hardest month to keep up with all the reading due to never ending heatwaves that we’ve been having here lately.
I read CONTRAPPOSTO by Dave Eggers, which I enjoyed with some reservations. It is a book about art and ateliers and realistic figure drawing and I do that. I also read MY FRIENDS by Fredrik Backman, on the suggestion of a friend, and I did not like it. I found it implausible and amateurish and I don’t what to say to my friend who truly loved it. I’m currently reading BONJOUR TRISTESSE and BROTHERS KARAMAZOV with Henry Elliott and GRAPES OF WRATH with Haley Larsen. JOHN OF JOHN by Douglas Stuart is my next irl book club read and I’m looking forward to starting that one.
I loved Douglas Stewart’s last two books so looking forward to read John of John.
I suggest to your friend who loved MY FRIENDS, just say, "It wasn't for me." BTW, I loved MY FRIENDS, too. So many of Backman's books deliver the same message: Don't make assumptions about people, either as a reader about his characters or about people in your own life. I cannot hear that advice too often. Have you read and liked or disliked any other of his books?
I thoroughly enjoyed SUPER-INFINITE, a biography of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, read several times through a moving comic book/graphic novella by Shaun Tan called THE ARRIVAL, and also finished THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO by Ann Radcliffe, NOT THE END OF THE WORLD by Hannah Ritchie, the last EMMA M LION book, and ONE DAY EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad. I’m finally making progress on and getting a lot of THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME by Olivia Laing and THE BOOK OF HOURS by Rilke.
Ooh, I loved Shaun Tan’s THE ARRIVAL.
It’s so rich!
And THE INHERITORS of course.
Oh and will soon finish ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME IV.
ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME is quite Marmitey, isn’t it? I struggled with it for a while
Yes I can definitely see that. I find it strangely soothing and an interesting allegory.
JAMES by Percival Everett and AFTER YOU'D GONE by Maggie O'Farrell.
I've just requested the return of Treacle Walker from my granddaughter! Can't wait to join this mini slow read.
I do occasional stints as a volunteer mentor with Sail Training Ireland and was away at sea last week and downloaded Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst on to my Kindle. It's a true story of a couple who planned to sail from the UK to New Zealand but a whale interrupted their voyage in the middle of the Pacific - a perfect read while at sea.
As a contrast I have Maggie O'Farrell's 'Land' now in my sights for my next read.
I finished three extraordinary and challenging books in June. I’m really enjoying stretching my non literature background mind with these books by the way. It’s not always a walk in the park, but I come out on the other side enthralled.
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders is a clever rendering of Lincoln mourning the loss of his son Willie in February 1862. He visits the corpse of his son while, unbeknownst to him, ghosts cavort and argue and discuss in his midst. These ghosts inhabit the bardo, the transitional phase between death and rebirth. They are all stuck in the bardo for one reason or another. Saunders bases his novel on some truth and creatively engineers the rest of the story that makes for a wild read. The story’s theatricality makes it also a worthwhile listen on audio … with many very famous people reading their assigned parts.
THE INHERITORS by William Golding presented a perspective shift in which I needed to get into the mind of a Neanderthal confronting the unusual behaviors of the new ones, the sapiens. Beyond this challenge of perspective, I found the book heart wrenching and thought provoking… going to leave it there as I do not want to give away the ending for those who are still reading.
THE THIRD POLICEMAN by Flann O’Brien is a fantastical story about a somewhat innocent somewhat rogueish murderer who spends the novel in pursuit of treasure in a black box. Think Alice in Wonderland for adults. This one was more difficult for me to complete, but I am so so so glad I did. The treasure of an ending was delicious.
I greatly enjoyed listening to LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. I didn’t think it was quite as innovative as some thought, but it was good nonetheless.
I’m probably in no position to evaluate innovation in fiction…playing catch up in this area. I will say that reading Bardo after reading the non-fiction Team of Rivals was fulfilling as I was able to step into that world in a different way.
Oh yes, I can see how they would be wonderfully complementary!
I jumped ahead and finished DOCTOR ZHIVAGO with Cams slow read. Started THE DEMON IN THE FREEZER by Richard Preston, so far very good! Read CARELESS PEOPLE after reading of the author being gagged and can’t talk about the book. And WHISTLER by Ann Patchett.
My favorite book of June is I WISH I DIDN'T HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR (2025) by Eugene Yelchin. Yelchin recounts his life as a young man in Leningrad in the late 1970s as a struggling young artist. He is approaching the age of military conscription and attempts to avoid service which will likely send him to Afghanistan. I won't give anything else away, but young Yelchin's favorite book is War and Peace and it is featured throughout the memoir.
I just finished THE BEHEADING GAME by Rebecca Lehman (where Anne Boleyn sews her head back on a proceeds to try to wreak vengeance on Henry VIII). A bit campy but good fun. I love love loved NONESUCH by Francis Spufford. Must read even if you have become jaded with World War II historical fiction. The characters in the book are wonderful and even more interesting than the (again) rather fantastical plot. Beware, though: it ends with a cliff-hanger.
The premise of the Beheading Game reminds me of the short story "Let's Play Dead" by Senaa Ahmad (2021). I'm now interested to compare the two.
I was wondering if The Beheading Game would a very timely read given where we are in Bringing up the Bodies. It sounds like a hoot.
Definitely good for right after Bring up the Bodies. An amuse-bouche, if you will, for The Mirror and the Light. Except...it does give a different take on what happens next (if you don't already know...)
My library just got a couple copies, waiting for mine to come through. Should be a blast!!!
I'm in the midst of a few books right now. I'm reading a couple of chapters a day of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR by Victoria Goddard, and I just started my advance copy of THE INTRIGUE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I am enjoying all of them so far.
How are you finding THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO at a couple of chapters a day? It’s been sitting on my list as a holiday read, but I keep hearing how addictive it is, and it isn’t short either. My worry is that if I start it in July I won’t get anything else done all month, and I have a few things I need to actually finish. Tempting though. Maybe the couple-of-chapters-a-day approach is the answer to reading it without it swallowing everything else. I wonder…
I've been enjoying reading it this way! A couple of chapters before bed has been a great way to get through it. It would be so easy to get lost in it for a whole day, but at bedtime I would just fall asleep if I read too long (that happens no matter how exciting a book is). It helps give you a sense of the serialized nature of it, too, since you have to wait a bit to find out what happens.
Thank you! Great advice! I’ll try that.
I hope you enjoy it!
I am about 1/4 into THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY by Kiran Desai on audio and enjoying it. Also just finished THE INHERITORS - heartbreaking and so thought-provoking (thank you, Simon!). I read it last in college for an excellent anthro class on popularization of prehistory in art and literature. I was encouraged to pick up KINDRED: NEANDERTHAL LIFE LIVE DEATH AND ART by Rebecca Wragg Sykes again - it's a good (and factually corrective) companion to Golding's novel. I've always been interested in the role that imagination plays in archaeology/paleontology. I wonder how (or if) Golding would change his novel in light of new evidence.
I also recently read THE CORRESPONDENT (by Virginia Evans, enjoyable), THE BEGINNING OF SPRING (a reread of a favorite by Penelope Fitzgerald) and WHAT WE CAN KNOW (Ian Mcewan - not as great as I hoped). For light fun, I listened to THE ROAD TO ROSWELL (Connie Willis - silly, a good book for walks). I'm looking forward to TREACLE WALKER, and I have a few more Ali Smiths lined up.
June has been a better reading month for me than May was! First up was THE HACIENDA by Isabel Canas, for one of my online book clubs. I've never read any Mexican Gothic and horror is generally not my thing... this definitely wasn't my cup of tea. On the plus side, however, there was a "hot priest"! lol
I re-read IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn for an upcoming online book club -- my suggestion. I first read it more than two years ago and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since then. Not an easy read (WWI, shades of REGENERATION...), but beautifully written. I hope the others like it too!
Next was THE MITFORD AFFAIR by Marie Benedict, recommended by a friend, about the Mitford sisters (the three oldest in particular) in the years leading up to and including WWII. I knew a bit about them, and while this was a novel, it was interesting to learn more about them -- made me want to read some non-fiction about the family.
This past weekend I finished EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes, which was an utterly predictable rom-com, but a pleasant read nevertheless.
In progress: still plugging away at THE FORSYTE SAGA by John Galsworthy (currently about 60% through) -- I'm doing that one as a slow buddy read with an online friend.
My online D.E. Stevenson fan group just started a slow readalong of STILL GLIDES THE STREAM together, which will take us most of the summer.
And I just started LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe. I read SAY NOTHING when it first came out and have not stopped raving about it since... I have a feeling I'll be doing the same with this one. Completely riveting.
I read or listened to Ann Patchett’s WHISTLER engaging characters and smart dialogue. AP is a lover of humans, you want to hang out with her characters. The audio version is read by her brilliantly, you’d think she was a trained actor.
I am reading '1984' and have just finished 'I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS'.
I am really enjoying the new releases of 2026. I am loving the slow read of WAR AND PEACE. I read MAD MABEL by Sally Hepworth. I loved Mabel and the plot. THE BURNING SIDE by Sara Damoff may be my favorite book of the year. I liked her debut novel, THE BRIGHT SIDE, but her second novel was so good. I read LONDON FALLING by Patrick Radden Keefe. Keefe is a talented writer and researcher, but this book was not for me. Too many characters that were on the outskirts of the crime. (I really could have used a character chart like the one Simon provides for us for WAR AND PEACE.) GOOD JOY, BAD JOY started my month off. It was a solid read, but not one of my favorites. I am currently reading THE CALAMITY CLUB by Katherine Stockett and am l loving it. Over 600 pages, but it is a worthwhile read so far.
I’ve just finished MARY TUDOR by Anna Whitelock. Taking part in Wolf Crawl last year left me with so many questions and this book helped answer some of them. I then read ROCK PAPER SCISSORS by Alice Feeney as a bit of a palette cleanser (the twist really got me) and have just started DRIVE YOUR PLOUGH OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD by Olga Tokarczuk, which is promising so far and of course, still working through War & Peace, which continues to surprise me by being an enjoyable read!