Reading Update, July 1st & 8th
Slump be gone!
Happy Monday Tuesday! This is my weekly reading update in the Last/Now/Next format—what I’ve finished, what I’m currently reading, what I’ll be getting to. Usually I just do one week at a time, but last week, all of my time went to my Iranian Book Recommendations newsletter.
Disclaimer: This contains affiliate links to Bookshop.org, where I will earn a commission from qualifying purchases (at no additional cost to you).
⚠️ Content Warnings can be found on The StoryGraph
Last
🚜 Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall | A great, compelling love triangle with a murder trial throughout—I enjoyed this historical literary romance, and can absolutely see why it’s being considered a slump-buster (which I needed), but I don’t think it said anything new. Not that I think it was trying to, either. 4⭐️
Now
🌾 The Antidote by Karen Russell; thank you Knopf and PRH audio for my physical and audiobook copies. | This is a western, climate disaster, historical fiction, magical realism novel—and a chunky one at that—and I’m really enjoying it so far. Very much interested in the characters and the slow, meditative story we’re going on, but I also can’t see myself giving it five stars. Currently at 49%.
☂️ Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (Nevermoor #1) | A whimsical, magical middle grade novel, and first in a series, following a troubled girl who is set to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday. This is my choice for the “Read a Book in a New-to-You Genre” prompt for the National Book Foundation’s Summer Reading Adventure. I’m only a chapter in, but it’s cute and I’m enjoying reading my first middle grade novel as an adult. Currently at 5%.
Next
✏️ Across the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle by Natan Last | This is one of my most-anticipated releases in the second half of 2025, and I just got approved for the e-ARC! Publishing 11/25
🐳 Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor
🌱 Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
🏠 The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Have a good week, happy reading, and I’ll meet you in your inbox on Monday for another Reading Update.
Up Next: June Wrap-Up on Friday
-Olivia
For more frequent happenings and additional ways to support this newsletter: