What I’m Reading : Episode 60, August 2025
“What I’m Reading” is my contribution to the WWW Wednesday’s meme run by Sam from Taking On a World of Words. The Ws represent three questions:
- What are you currently reading?
- What did you recently finish reading?
- What do you think you’ll read next?
What I’m reading now
#10booksofsummer has gone so well this year that I’m currently on book 12. This is The Interview by J David Simons which was published this month. The plot centres on a man who was once the biggest name in TV as the host of a mega popular talk show. Now however he’s hiding out in a lakeside cabin for reasons that only become apparent in the final third of the novel. All we know is that his downfall is connected to the US President. I loved Simons’ last novel, An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful, so was delighted to receive a review copy.
What I just finished reading
Birnam Wood is the first novel published by Eleanor Catton since winning the Booker Prize in 2013 with The Luminaries., What a disappointment this new novel turned out to be. It’s about the conflict between an activist gardening group in New Zealand and an egotistical billionaire over land in one of New Zealand’s national parks. I though the environmentalist versus capitalist battle would be fertile ground but this book simply descended into a cliched thriller.
What I’ll read next
I’ve read only one of the Booker Prize longlist titles (The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller) so far so I might take a trip to the library to see if they any of the other longlisted books. I don’t hold out a great deal of hope because it looks like the Booker judges have chosen quite a fair number of titles that are not even published yet.
So plan B could be Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, one of the classics that my husband keeps advocating I read. Or I might go for Marking Time, the second title in the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. It’s been a while since I read and enjoyed the first book The Light Years so it would be good to see what the various members of the extended Cazalet family is up to now.
What do you think? Are there any Booker longlisted titles that you’d recommend? What would get your vote – Grapes of Wrath or Cazalet??
Claire 'Word by Word'
I enjoyed the Booker lonlisted Love Forms by Trinidad author Claire Adam, and I’m planning to read Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny and Susan Choi’s Flashlight.
Like you, I was underwhelmed by Birnam Wood and I’ve also only read the first in the Cazalet chronicles.
I’m reading Percival Everett’s The Trees and planning to start Ann Morgan’s Relearning To Read which sounds intriguing.
BookerTalk
I’ve read the first chapter of Relearning to Read – it certainly gives food for thought
Liz Dexter
Ooh, well done on your 12 books of summer!! I did my 20 but have neglected my blog reading to do it, although I read more than that through the three months.
BookerTalk
I know the feeling Liz because I’ve also struggled to keep up with all the blogs I like to follow
margaret21
Like you, I was hugely disappointed by Birnam Wood. And like you, I’ve read and enjoyed the Andrew Miller. The only other longlisted book I’ve read so far has been Benjamin Wood’s Seascraper, which, as expected did not disappoint. Recommended!
BookerTalk
Seascraper does sound good. I must have missed that one when I looked at the longlist
margaret21
Read it!
BookerTalk
Yes ma’am.
TravellinPenguin
Our book group read Birnam Wood. We were split down the middle of liked it and did not like it. I started out ok then got tired of it. I had to finish it because it was book group but was glad to be done with it. 🌻
BookerTalk
I was glad also when it finished. I liked the idea of the guerilla gardening group but that billionaire figure was just so over the top it was ludicrous
TravellinPenguin
I absolutely agree‼️😄
Cathy746books
I quite enjoyed Birnam Wood. I am currently 700 pages deep into The Luminaries and hoping to finish by Sunday!
BookerTalk
I just couldn’t decide what point the author was trying to make
A Life in Books
I’m reading (and enjoying) J David Simon’s The Responsibility of Love about a novelist on his way to an awards ceremony. I wondered how it had found its way into my pile. Perhaps it was your recommendation of his writing.
BookerTalk
Ooh I don’t know that one but shall have to track down a copy. I’ve no idea how I came across his name but am glad I did
WordsAndPeace
Grapes of Wrath any day!
Last #book I finished: The Last Express (Duncan Maclain Mystery #1), by Baynard H. Kendrick
#Amreading: Mémoires d’Hadrien, by #MargueriteYourcenar
#Amlistening to: Les Ombres du monde, by #MichelBussi
#TBR Reading next: Les Doigts rouges, by #KeigoHigashino
BookerTalk
All new names to me 🙂