What We're Reading

Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, published September 2025, is a wryly humorous dystopian novel set in the future, in a Great Britain transformed into a scattered archipelago by climate change. The story unfolds in the library of a monastery where scholars retreat to study the remnants of civilization. The story pieces together memories that unravel a mystery. The novel asks whether the past we recall is true, reflecting on the fragility of memory and culture.

A fast-paced novel set in the world of reality TV. After an accident derails his football career, a guy becomes a breakout star on a reality show. He wins, but a decade later, his life unravels in a public scandal. He navigates physical and emotional challenges in his quest for redemption. The story explores the cost of fame, the pain of reinvention, and the difficulty of escaping a televised past. A debut novel by Lovell Holder published in Dec 2025. 

Written by Benjamin Wood, published in July 2025, is an atmospheric novel set in the 1960s, following a shy young man living with his mother in a small town. Hemmed in by class, family history, and limited opportunity, he works as a shanker while yearning for artistic fulfillment. When an American film director arrives, he questions his path. It's a moving portrait of coming of age, small-town life, and the power of art and relationships.

 NYT bestseller by Fredrik Backman published in 2025 about four teenagers who become besties on a seaside pier. Their bond inspires  art—an iconic painting featuring three mysterious figures. Twenty-five years later, an artist unravels the connection between the artwork and the lives it depicts, discovering the enduring, transformative power of friendship and art. 

A prequel to Chocolat by Joanne Harris, published in May of 2025. A twenty-one-year-old arrives in Marseille becoming a waitress. Under an eccentric’s mentorship, she discovers her passion for cooking, has a secret romance, and falls for chocolate. Things are going great until she gets messed up in a  conspiracy that threatens everything. 

Written by Hannah Pittard, published in July of 2025, this irreverent novel tells the story of a female writer’s life thrown into turmoil when she discovers her ex-husband’s debut novel will include an unflattering portrayal of her. Through sharp humor, the book explores desire, domesticity, freedom, art and the complexities of being a woman. 

Booker Prize 2025 winner, David Szalay’s novel, follows an alienated man whose life is shaped by trauma. It traces his life, from an abused teen to a soldier, and eventually to success in London. Flesh explores masculinity, loneliness, and unprocessed pain. If you want sad and contemplative, Flesh is it. 

A darkly comedic, action-packed story follows a reclusive journalist estranged from his family after the 2016 election. When his grandchildren track him down seeking help, a militia kidnaps them, forcing him out of hiding to rescue them. Setting him on a wild ride with a bunch of characters. Written by Jess Walter, published June 2025.

Frode Grytten wrote this novel about memory, mortality, and love, published in 2023. On what he knows will be his final day, a ferry driver embarks on his last journey along the fjord, with ghosts of his past resurfacing at each stop. Its a meditation on how the smallest memories often become the most significant. 

Kevin Wilson wrote this dysfunctional-family road-trip novel, published in 2025. It's the story of a lonely girl whose life and adventure begin when a half-brother shows up. Setting them on a cross-country drive to track down their father and meet their other half-siblings. 

Written by Hayley Gelfuso published in 2025 it weaves the lives of two women. The first growing up in the “time space,” surrounded by books with memories of those who witnessed history. She fights to defend it when the government comes  to erase inconvenient memories,