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
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

8 October 2024

The School Run by Ali Lowe

7 October 2024

The Ravenmaster by Christopher Skaife

29 September 2024

Held by Anne Michaels

24 September 2024

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

20 September 2024

A Closed and Common Orbit

2 September 2024

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

8 September 2024

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

29 August 2024

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

29 August 2024

Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde

14 August 2024

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

8 August 2024

King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard

30 July 2024

Silas Marner by George Eliot

25 July 2024

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

17 July 2024

Kallocain by Karin Boye

10 July 2024

The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo

3 July 2024

The Ark Sakura by Kōbō Abe

4 July 2024

Think Twice by Harlan Coben

3 July 2024

▼ Books Currently Being Read
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
A classic American tale . . .
Reviewer: bikerbuddy

After he and his good buddy Tom Sawyer had uncovered a small fortune, Huckleberry Finn finds himself restrained by the demands of an overbearing guardian.

Rather than be 'sivilized' by the Widow Douglas, Huckleberry Finn - the grubby but good-natured son of a local drunk - sets off with Jim, an escaped slave, to find freedom on the Mississippi river. With the law on their tail, they navigate a world of robbers, slave hunters and con men, and Huck must choose between what society says is 'right' and his own burgeoning understanding of Jim's friendship and humanity.

Reading Progress
Finished Reading - Review Pending
James by Percival Everett
James
Percival Everett
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024 . . .
Reviewer: bikerbuddy

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson's Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father who recently returned to town. Thus begins a dangerous and transcendent journey by raft along the Mississippi River, toward the elusive promise of free states and beyond. As James and Huck begin to navigate the treacherous waters, each bend in the river holds the promise of both salvation and demise.

With rumours of a brewing war, James must face the burden he carries: the family he is desperate to protect and the constant lie he must live.

Reading Progress
0% Complete
The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
The Cornish Coast Murder
John Bude
From the Golden Age of British Crime . . .
Reviewer: Toriaz

The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the fireside - but heaven forbid that the shadow of any real crime should ever fall across his seaside parish. But the vicar's peace is shattered one stormy night when Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen with a bullet through his head. The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Suspicion seems to fall on Tregarthan's niece, Ruth - but surely that young woman lacks the motive to shoot her uncle dead in cold blood? Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test.

Reading Progress
27% Complete


▼ Special Reading Projects
The Booker Prize
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

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

The Booker Prize winner for 2023 is Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

‘From that first knock at the door, Prophet Song forces us out of our complacency as we follow the terrifying plight of a woman seeking to protect her family in an Ireland descending into totalitarianism. We felt unsettled from the start, submerged in – and haunted by – the sustained claustrophobia of Lynch’s powerfully constructed world. He flinches from nothing, depicting the reality of state violence and displacement and offering no easy consolations.’

- thebookerprizes.com

The 2023 Shortlist for the Booker Prize also included:

Project Progress
36 of 60 Booker winners reviewed




View the Booker Prize Winners and those we have reviewed by clicking here.
International Booker Prize Icon 2024
The International Booker Prize
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

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 2024 is Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck.

‘In luminous prose, Jenny Erpenbeck exposes the complexity of a relationship between a young student and a much older writer, tracking the daily tensions and reversals that mark their intimacy, staying close to the apartments, cafés, and city streets, workplaces and foods of East Berlin. It starts with love and passion, but it’s at least as much about power, art and culture. The self-absorption of the lovers, their descent into a destructive vortex, remains connected to the larger history of East Germany during this period, often meeting history at odd angles.’

- thebookerprizes.com

The 2024 Shortlist for the International Booker Prize also included:

Project Progress
8 of 9 International Booker winners reviewed




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

This project is based around a reading of Homer's The Iliad. Book by book, we provide summaries and provide analyse of aspects specific to each. Each book has a dedicated page which includes art inspired by moments from this epic poem.

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 ancient Greeks regarded this epic poem 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.

For this special reading project I plan to eventually provide summaries of each of the twenty four books of The Iliad, notes on characters and the Greek Gods, a character map and a general discussion at the end.

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

(Please Note: This is an ongoing project and not all pages are complete)

Project Progress
Book 12 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.

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

Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park, Sydney

Centred in Hyde Park, this Art Deco fountain features scenes from Greek Mythology

Everglades, Leura, Blue Mountains, Australia

A former residence, art gallery, cafe and garden which hosts outdoor theatrical performances


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