The Reading Project is independently run to provide reviews of books from a variety of genres, as well as engage in long-term projects of personal interest, including a reading of The Federalist Papers, the works of Homer, novels from the Golden Age of Crime and all the Booker Prize winning novels since 1969. Contributions are welcome. More information can be found in our About page.

▼ Recent Reviews
Mort by Terry Pratchett

30 April 2026

4 stars
Hard Times by Charles Dickens

9 August 2026

3.5 Dickens
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer

4 August 2026

4 stars
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie

8 July 2026

3.5 stars
Night Shift by Stephen King

5 August 2026

3.5 stars
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

26 July 2026

4.5 stars
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

15 July 2026

3.5 stars
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

26 February 2026

2 stars
Pet Semetary by Stephen King

4 February 2026

4 stars
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

6 July 2026

3.5 stars
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

5 June 2026

4 stars
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

30 June 2026

4.5 stars
From Russia, With Love

14 June 2026

4.5 stars
War Music by Christopher Logue

25 June 2026

4.5 stars
Hector and His Kind

25 June 2026

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

13 May 2026

4 stars
The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy

26 June 2026

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel

14 June 2026

4 stars
The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi

16 June 2026

4 stars
An Iliad by Alessandro Baricco

3 June 2026

2.5 stars

▼ Books Currently Being Read
Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
Three Act Tragedy
Agatha Christie
A Hercule Poirot Mystery . . .
Reviewer: Toriaz

Thirteen guests arrive at dinner at the actor’s house. It is to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who chokes on his cocktail, goes into convulsions and dies.

But when his martini glass is sent for chemical analysis, there is no trace of poison – just as Poirot had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there is absolutely no motive.

Reading Progress
30% Complete
The Stand by Stephen King
The Stand
Stephen King
An apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by a virus . . .
Reviewer: Neptunes Bounty

First came the virus. And then came the dreams . . .

A man escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out over 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge - Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the “dark man'”, the apostate of death, the warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil.

Now the survivors must choose between them - and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.

Dr. No by Ian Fleming
Dr. No
Ian Fleming
The sixth James Bond novel . . .
Reviewer: Shadow Moses

Dispatched by M to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6's Jamaica station chief, Bond was expecting a holiday in the sun. But when he discovers a deadly centipede placed in his hotel room, the vacation is over.

On this island, all suspicious activity leads inexorably to Dr. Julius No, a reclusive megalomaniac with steel pincers for hands. To find out what the good doctor is hiding, 007 must enlist the aid of local fisherman Quarrel and alluring beachcomber Honeychile Rider. Together they will combat a local legend the natives call 'the Dragon', before Bond alone must face the most punishing test of all: an obstacle course designed by the sadistic Dr. No himself that measures the limits of the human body's capacity for agony.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Yesteryear
Caro Claire Burke
About this book . . .
Reviewer: bikerbuddy

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and has the social media accounts to prove it. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What Natalie’s followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

Reading Progress
32% Complete
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
In the Miso Soup
Ryu Murakami
A portrait of contemporary Japan . . .
Reviewer: A.R. Tivadar

It's just before New Year, and Frank, an overweight American tourist, has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo's nightlife. But Frank's behaviour is so odd that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion: his client may in fact have murderous desires.

Although Kenji is far from innocent himself, he unwillingly descends with Frank into an inferno of evil, from which only his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Jun, can possibly save him.



▼ Special Reading Projects
Booker Prize 2025 Icon
The Booker Prize
Flesh by David Szalay

With this project we have a long-term commitment to read and review all Booker Prize winners since 1969.

The Booker Prize winner for 2025 is Flesh by David Szalay.

‘At the end of the novel, we don’t know what the protagonist, István, looks like but this never feels like a lack; quite the opposite. Somehow, it’s the absence of words – or the absence of István’s words – that allow us to know István. Early in the book, we know that he cries because the person he’s with tells him not to; later in life, we know he’s balding because he envies another man’s hair; we know he grieves because, for several pages, there are no words at all.

‘I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author, David Szalay, is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him. The writing is spare and that is its great strength. Every word matters; the spaces between the words matter. The book is about living, and the strangeness of living and, as we read, as we turn the pages, we’re glad we’re alive and reading – experiencing – this extraordinary, singular novel.’

- Roddy Doyle, Chair of the Booker Prize 2025

The 2025 Shortlist for the Booker Prize also included:

Project Progress
39 of 62 Booker winners reviewed




View the Booker Prize Winners and those we have reviewed by clicking here.
International Booker Prize Icon 2026
The International Booker Prize
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

The Booker Project also involves a long-term commitment to read and review all International Booker Prize winners since 2016.

The International Booker Prize winner for 2026 is Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ.

‘This book doesn’t shy away from the complexities (both real and fictional) of its journey into the English language. Instead, it uses the hallmarks of a more traditional text – introductions, footnotes, afterwords – to wrap an intriguing metafictional layer around its core love story. Lin King’s deft translation perfectly conveys the nuances of the novel’s narrative voices.

Taiwan Travelogue pulls off an incredible double feat: it succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel. As judges, we’ve enjoyed rich discussions about the many layers of this book. It’s a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel.’

- thebookerprizes.com

The 2026 Shortlist for the International Booker Prize also included:

Project Progress
10 of 11 International Booker winners reviewed




In the long term, we hope to review all the Booker Prize winners.
Homer and The Epic Cycle
HEADING: The Iliad The Iliad by Homer

This project is based around a reading of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as sources that help us reconstruct the lost poems of The Epic Cycle, books related to the myths of the Trojan War, now lost to us. These books told stories well-known to us but not included in Homer’s surviving poems: the Judgement of Paris; the Trojan Horse; the death of Achilles and other stories.

For each of these lost books we will provide our own summary and commentary using retellings, sources based on the lost poems and scholarship, as well as look at art inspired by the stories. For Homer’s poems we will provide summaries and provide analyse of aspects specific to each book in the epic poems. Each book has a dedicated page which includes art inspired by moments from these epic poems.

Long regarded as one of the pinnacles of Western literature, The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War in its final days, as Achilles, the supreme Grecian warrior, withdraws from the conflict over a disagreement with Agamemnon.

The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ long trek home after the war ends.

The ancient Greeks regarded these poems as a representation of real history, and in the 19th century the Homer enthusiast and amateur archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, excavated what is now believed to be the site of the ancient conflict.

Click here to visit the main page for this special reading project.

(Please Note: This is an ongoing project and pages related to the Epic Cycle remain incomplete)

The Iliad Progress
All books of The Iliad have been completed
The Odyssey Progress
All books of The Odyssey have been completed
The Epic Cycle Progress
Book 0 of 24 Books
The Golden Age of Crime Fiction
The Golden Age of Crime

The Golden Age of Crime Project is an ongoing commitment to read and review books from the Golden era of Crime Fiction.

The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels, predominantly from the 1920s and 1930s. Well known writers of the Golden Age include Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ronald Knox, Anthony Berkeley and G. K. Chesterton.

But these books have roots in earlier works of detective fiction, and there are still mysteries being written today that would fit in with the ‘feel’ of the Golden Age (Anthony Horowitz is an excellent example of a modern day writer of contemporary ‘Golden Age’ mysteries).

For this special reading project I am reading as widely as possible from this era, but especially books by authors suggested by Martin Edwards' study of the period, The Golden Age of Murder.

Martin Edward's The Golden Age of Murder is an account of the Detection Club, featuring some of the most famous crime writers of the first half of the 20th Century, as well as the background to famous and obscure crime fiction from this era. This book was the initial inspiration for this project. You can read our review of this book here.

Click here to visit the main page for this special reading project.

Project Progress
This project has no fixed completion
▼ Reading Projects Completed
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo
Our second long-term Special Reading Project, now complete!

I read Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo as a long term reading project. The book is long, over 1000 pages of small print and 118 chapters. I decided as I read, since I would not always have time to read it consistently, that I would make a chapter by chapter summary.

The novel begins in the period just before Napoleon's escape from the island of Elba. Edmond Dantes is arrested and imprisoned after he is framed as a Napoleon conspirator. This is the story of his escape, how he finds his fortune and seeks revenge on those who betrayed him.

For those interested in reading the book, or simply curious to find out more, click on the cover of the book or click here. You will have access to the full summary I wrote, character notes on the major characters, a downloadable character map I produced, as well as a quick access to my review of the book and a link to the Gutenberg Project, where you can download the book for free.

The Federalist Papers
Our first long-term Special Reading Project

The Federalist Papers were written in 1787 to 1788 to defend the new American Constitution against its critics. They explained the Constitution and have provided future generations guidance as to how the Founding Fathers intended the Constitution to be interpreted.

The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and America's fourth president, James Madison, cover issues of America's independence, including the need to ensure against foreign influence, as well as how the new Federal Government would operate. The Federalist Papers also deal with the separation of the powers of each branch of government, as well as government oversight, which includes the power of Congress to impeach. For these reasons, The Federalist Papers are still important documents which have been referred to in debates about the presidency of Donald Trump.

You can now read summaries and commentaries of all 85 Federalist papers here on the Reading Project.

Michael Duffy profiles some great writers of the last few centuries in a series of interviews that never happened based on things the authors actually said!

Bookish Quote of the Day

The pictures below represent places we have travelled or enjoy. In each picture there is someone who is reading. The photos represent the portability of books and the idea that they might be enjoyed almost anywhere. Click on the Google Earth Symbol to view where each photograph was taken.

South Eveleigh precinct, Redfern

The Light Within art installation at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops, now redeveloped into mixed-use residential, creative, and employment spaces

Cirque du soleil, Sydney

The entrance to Cirque du Soleil in Sydney 2024

Legislative Council Chamber, NSW

The Legislative Council is one of two houses of NSW Parliament, the other being the Legislative Assembly

Mount Panorama, Bathurst

Mount Panorama is the site of the annual Touring Car Race, the Bathurst 1000

Marina Bay Sands Hotel from Supertree Grove

The Supertree is part of a group in Marina Bay Sands Gardens, with the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore, as backdrop

Harry Hartog Bookstore, Penrith

Harry Hartog Bookstore is the newest and largest bookstore in the Penrith region, west of Sydney

Singapore, Flower Dome

The Flower Dome is located in Singapore's Gardens by the Bay

Singapore Botanic Gardens Bandstand

The Bandstand in Singapore Botanic Gardens was erected in 1930 and is now often used for wedding photos.

Swan Lake, Singapore Botanical Gardens

Swan Lake is a small part of Singapore's Botanical Gardens, established in 1859 and honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Old Government House, Parramatta

Residence of ten early governors of New South Wales between 1800 and 1847


Other recommended websites on Neocities!

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