What I’m Reading : Episode 59, July 2025
Is it really two months since I last did a “What I’m Reading” post? Sam, from Taking On a World of Words, hosts WWW Wednesday,, the idea being that we do this meme each week. I choose to do it just once a month. Well that was the intention but we all know what happens to good intentions don’t we? Maybe I’ll do better next month and actually remember before the month is almost over.
What I just finished reading
Most of my reading lately has been in support of #20booksof summer or rather, in my case, 10booksofsummer. I’ve just finished book number 5 — Fatal Isles by Maria Adolfsson. This is the first in a police procedural series set Doggerland, an island nation that lies somewhere between the UK and Scandinavia. Doggerland doesn’t actually exist but Adolfsson renders the place so well I went looking for it on a map. There are seven more books in the series.
What I’m reading now
Book number 6 for #10booksofsummer is a rare venture, for me, into non fiction. The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper. This book recounts the attempts to find and bring to justice the person believed to have caused huge bushfires in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2009. What became known as Black Saturday wiped out large swathes of trees, caused multiple deaths and hundreds of injuries. Police were quick to arrest a man believed responsible for two of the fires but it was left to a jury to decide if he was as dangerous as the police maintained, or a vulnerable individual with mental health issues.
What I’ll read next
I was thinking to read The Interview, a new novel by J David Simons which is due to be published at the end of August. It features a disgraced TV talk-show host who sees the death of the US President as a way to revive his career. I loved his last novel, An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful, so was delighted to receive a review copy of the new book.
That was the plan until this morning when i was notified that The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller was ready for collection. I’ve loved all his previous novels and this new one, set in Somerset shortly after the end of World War 2, looks to be just as fascinating. I’m now in a dilemma — do I stick to my plan and read The Interview which would tick off another book for #10booksofsummer or go off piste and read Andrew Miller? .
What do you think? Which of these two books would you read next if they were resting on your bookshelves??
Sheree @ Keeping Up With The Penguins
Oooh I *love* The Arsonist – looking forward to hearing what you think!
BookerTalk
Her insights into the way people with autism respond differently to circumstances. We tend to think the condition has certain set characteristics but she shows this is far from the truth
Liz Dexter
I’d swap the Miller into your Books of Summer and bingo, done!
BookerTalk
That would be an option for sure if I had a books of summer reading list but I chose instead a more relaxed approach where I just chose books from my bookcase of books unread for more than a year…..
TravellinPenguin
The Chloe Hooper book is one I really enjoyed.
BookerTalk
I learned a lot about autism as a result of reading this
margaret21
Oi! I thought you weren’t doing challenges any more! However, I am here to urge you to go off piste. Wot Susan of ‘A life in Books’ said. She said it for me too.
BookerTalk
You’re right, I’m not doing challenges. I view 20booksofsummer as more of a mini project where I’m not trying too hard to meet a goal or read specific books from a list.
margaret21
I’ll let you off then …
A Life in Books
The Miller was one of my books of last year. I’ll just leave that there…
BookerTalk
In that case i think I can guess what you would advocate I read next…
WordsAndPeace
I’m not familiar with your titles.
Last book I finished: Voici demain, by Valentin Musso
Am reading: House of Light, by Mary Oliver
Am listening to: Proust, roman familial, by Laure Murat
BookerTalk
I don’t know any of your titles either 🙂
castlebooks
For momentum, I would go with the review book that had you excited. Less than a week to go till the Booker Longlist. I have a feeling it will be disappointing this year.
BookerTalk
Trouble is I’m also excited about the Andrew Miller! Maybe I shall just have to toss a coin to decide.
As for the Booker – when I started this blog I was so excited about the longlist that I’d rush to the library as soon as it was announced so I could get reading the books I didn’t know. I haven’t done that for a few years now.
Carol
Read 25 pages of each and see which one is most compelling! 🤷♀️
BookerTalk
That’s an interesting strategy, I’ll give it a go