Summer arrived, and I was ready to immerse myself in my reading! Then the World Cup started, and Norway exceeded expectations. Not only was I absorbed in the matches, but I was also doom-scrolling Erling Braut Haaland memes and following all sorts of other World Cup content. It didn’t help that, after a five-star start to the month, my next few reads failed to hold my attention in quite the same way. Reading sadly took a back seat, and I fell behind on my carefully planned reading challenges progress. But luckily, as August approached, my enthusiasm for reading picked up again, and I’m now back on track to completing my work’s summer reading challenge as well as my other reading challenges.

How has your summer reading been so far?  

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) 📖
Narrated by Hattie Morahan 🎧

This was a book that came highly recommended by friends and had been lingering on my library holds list for months. I finally accepted it—both ebook and audiobook—so I could make room for more holds. I loved it. I was immediately drawn in. A passionate first love followed by heartbreak, a happy but strained marriage, a love triangle. And a murder mystery and trial on top of it all. I was thoroughly engaged in the characters and story with its twists and turns. Highly recommend it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book by a new-to-me author; A book from my TBR list
• Read Around the World: Western Europe (England)

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (2011) 📖
Narrated by Hope Davis 🎧

Having enjoyed many of Ann Patchett’s other books, I came in with high hopes for this one, but it fell a bit short. I did appreciate Patchett’s writing and was intrigued by the setting in the Amazon, but otherwise I was disappointed and at times frustrated by the pacing of the story and the characters. Then the ending was a total shocker which even further decreased my overall impression of the book. But others have loved this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book more than 10 years old; A book featuring an older protagonist
• Read My Own Shelf: Purchased from Parnassus Books

A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman (2026) 📖

I was drawn to this book for its setting on a sheep station in remote Western Australia. Opening in 1958 and spanning decades, it follows a family whose lives are forever changed first by an accident that claimed the lives of the father and oldest son and then soon thereafter another tragedy that took the life of another sibling. It was a fascinating look at life in this part of the world, but there was so much tragedy for one family. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book related to the World Cup in some way; A family saga
• Read Around the World: Oceania (Australia)

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (2026) 📖
Narrated by Jenna Lamia and January LaVoy 🎧

I am in the minority with this one! I did appreciate the setting of 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, where the Great Depression had reached both the poor and the wealthy, as well as the strong female characters, all with so much personality. The story followed three main characters—Meg, an unadoptable 11-year-old orphan; Birdie who comes to Oxford seeking help from her newly married sister; and Charlie, a woman with a complicated past determined to find her child—who came together and persevered. Unfortunately, I wasn’t completely onboard with their solution, and the ending felt a little too easy. And it was long. I started with the audiobook, which was excellent, but eventually added the ebook so I could speed things along. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A BIG book; A book about a period of USA’s history
• Read Around the World: North America (Mississippi, USA)

Elskeren by Helene Flood (2021) 📖
(The Lover translated from the Norwegian by Alison McCullough)

Set in Oslo, Norway, this is a slow burn thriller from the first person perspective of a woman who finds herself in a difficult situation when her lover, who’s also her upstairs neighbor, is found dead. She is questioned alongside her husband and the other residents. Everyone is a suspect. Knowing she can’t hide the calls, emails, and texts from the police, she makes a deal with them to tell all in exchange for a few days to tell her husband about the affair. The story jumps back and forth in time and came together well with a satisfying ending. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book with love in the title or on the cover; A book from my TBR list
• Nordic Literature Reading Challenge: Norway (Free Choice)
• Read Around the World: Nordic Countries (Norway)
• Read My Own Shelf

The Guests by Agnes Ravatn (2022) 📖
Translated from the Norwegian by Rosie Hedger

I did not like this one, and I hate admitting that. I’ve read her two other books in English translation, The Bird Tribunal (Reading Lately, June 2019) and The Seven Doors (Reading Lately, September 2020), both of which I really enjoyed. I was looking forward to the setting of this one, at a summer cottage in the Oslo Fjord. The two main characters are staying as guests in what turns out to be a luxury cabin. Upon meeting the neighbors, they get into a spiral of lies when they pretend to be the owners of the cabin. Unfortunately, I did not like the main female character at all. I couldn’t get behind the constant lying. I can’t even remember how it ended. Sadly, the best thing about the book was that it was short.

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book with a character who goes on vacation; A book in translation
• Read My Own Shelf

What have you been reading lately?

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