Read:
A Circle of Quiet – Madeleine L’Engle (Harper Collins, 1972)
The Rise & Fall of Great Powers – Tom Rachman (Anchor Canada, 2014)
The Good Eye – Jess Gibson (Knopf Canada, 2026)
City Like Water – Dorothy Tse (Gray Wolf Press, 2026) (translated from Chinese by Natascha Bruce)
The Witch – Marie Ndiaye (Vintage Books, 2026) (translated from French by Jordan Stump)
Shooting Up – Jonathan Tepper (Constable, 2026)
Property Values – Charles Demers (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018)
Currently Reading:
Prophet Song – Paul Lynch
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Damned If I Do – Percival Everett
Thoughts:
I haven’t written a lot of reviews in July and some of that is largely due to the fact that I’ve finished books and then felt like I don’t have that much to say about them. I closed the book, set it down, and then largely forgot about it. That sounds like “damning with faint praise” but I don’t necessarily mean it that way. I’ve enjoyed the books that I’ve read in July, it’s simply that many of them haven’t sparked much reaction from me. I have to wonder if that’s more about where my head is right now than the books themselves. I do have a review of Shooting Up scheduled for next week and am trying to plan my August reading around some things that hopefully excite me a bit more.
2026 Reading Goals:
69/100 books (7 in June)
Theological: 0/12
Translated Works: 8/12 (City Like Water from Chinese and The Witch from French)
Pre-2025 TBR: 11/25 (none in July)
Goliaths: 6/6 (none in July)
Owned: 15/25 (A Circle of Quiet, The Rise & Fall of Great Powers, and City Like Water)
Current TBR: 199 (previously 191)
What’s Next:
I’m not a big movie person but I was interested in seeing The Odyssey, so Peter and I went earlier this week and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, I’m largely familiar with the story but I’ve never actually read it. So I think that’s going to be next off of my 10 Books of Summer List, while the movie is fresh in my mind and I can better compare. I also found a copy of Natalie Haynes’ Pandora’s Jar at a second hand sale so I’m going to try and read that at the same time.
The Golem and the Jinni – Helene Wecker
A Fortune of Sand – Ruta Sepetys
Prophet Song – Paul Lynch
The Boy from the Sea – Garrett Carr
The Odyssey – Homer (translated by Emily Wilson)
Abiding Dependence – Ron Block
Babel – R.F. Kuang
The Rise & Fall of Great Powers – Tom Rachman
A Horse at Night – Amina Cain
A Circle of Quiet – Madeleine L’Engle
What Pearl Read:
The War That Saved My Life – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Top Story – Kelly Yang
Chef’s Secret – Kelly Yang
The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish – Karina Yan Glaser
Cream Buns and Crime – Robin Stevens
Death at the Lighthouse – Alasdair Beckett-King
The Vanderbeekers on the Road – Karina Yan Glaser
Hotel Magnifique – Emily Taylor
The War I Finally Won – Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Pearl’s Reading Goal:
61/100
Karissa Reads Books 