so-soI am still working on the Booker longlist and was excited that this one was a shorter read. Little did I know it would take me the longest amount of time to read and honestly in the end the effort didn‘t seem worth it to me. It is not a bad book, it just didn‘t click with me.
pickIt‘s 9 yrs since Teresa lost her mom, and now after having lost her dad, she returns to the Greek village. The thing is, we‘re told this on the blurb, but after having read the book the Greeks she meets doesn‘t know
When she returns she tries to reconnect with the people she met the last time, but as she finds out nothing stays the same and people change
I enjoyed meeting Niko, Xanthe and especially Petros
pickIf now is everything, Pepper has chosen to use it for an afternoon snooze.
My 12th from the #Booker longlist is one to read slowly and carefully. Layered and indirect. Teresa returns to a coastal town in Greece to mourn and read Homer. And she instead spends a lot of time insinuating herself into the private lives of locals. The reader has to work out the actual story and what she‘s doing. Recommended, but know it‘s difficult.
#Booker2025
pick6-13 Sep 2025
#Bookerlonglist2025 9
Another book I enjoyed, but did not love, from the longlist.
On the death of her father, Teresa returns to the Greek seaside village she visited on the death of her mother nine years earlier to find some things change and some stay the same.
Perhaps it is just that I am more introverted than Teresa but I did find the depth of her discussions she had with the villagers somewhat unlikely. But some lovely writing
So tempted to DNF...
Does it miraculously improve in the last fifty pages?
#Booker2025
@JenP @AnneCecilie
@TheKidUpstairs @Leniverse
@Chelsea.Poole @rmaclean4
@JamieArc @BarbaraBB
@Graywacke @Ruthiella
@ChaoticMissAdventures @vikaplus321 @squirrelbrain
pickOne Boat, by Jonathan Buckley (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(shock!)
Premise: A woman returns to the same small Greek village nine years after her first visit to grieve, reflect, and connect with herself.
Review: This seems to be among the more polarizing books on this year‘s Booker longlist and I understand why. There are things about it I found infuriating and things that I found utterly captivating. ⬇️
pickBook #2 for our panel is One Boat. Check out the reviews in link below and leave a comment with your reviews. We were split on this one. Who do you agree with? #bookerprize
https://thereadersroom.org/2025/08/25/2025-booker-longlist-one-boat-by-jonathan-...
pick#BookerLonglist #4
Nothing much happens is this meandering novel about a women revisiting the Greek village she went to nine years ago to grieve her mother‘s death. Now she has lost her father. She notices the changes in the village and reacquaints with some of the people she met the first time.
It was nice to spend some time with the narrator yet I am not sure what the books is about or why it is nominated for the Booker Prize. A light pick
AnneCecilie, TheKidUpstairs, Chelsea.Poole, rmaclean4, squirrelbrain, Graywacke, ImperfectCJ, Mattsbookaday
pick#bookerlonglist book 6
I chose this one first from the hard copy Booker books that I have as it has the lowest GR score on the longlist, but I really liked it!
It reminded me very much of Deborah Levy‘s August Blue, not only for the Greek setting, but also for its introspective nature.
It did veer a little bit towards didacticism on occasion, around the subject of philosophy, but they‘re only short passages in an otherwise interesting book.
BookishTrish, JenP, AnneCecilie, TheKidUpstairs, Leniverse, charl08, Chelsea.Poole, rmaclean4, JamieArc, BarbaraBB, Graywacke, Ruthiella, ChaoticMissAdventures, vikaplus321
Why, yes, I did just spend considerable time choosing bookmarks to match my weekend reads!
The cream book is an undressed ‘The Homemade God‘.
@Oryx - recognise the lilac bookmark? 😊
One Boat | 
