Last time, I did my mid-year music check-in. Today it’s time to look back at the first six months of my bookish life. But first, the roundup for the past two weeks:
Roundup
Music
Last week’s new releases were quiet since they fell over a long weekend in the US. The biggest release by far was the long-awaited and well-received CONFESSIONS II by Madonna. There’s no question it’s her strongest release in twenty years, but since I don’t have much need for pure dance music like this, I doubt I’ll return to it much. I definitely will spend more time however with SIENNA SPIRO’s debut full-length album The Visitor. Her retro bluesy sound is perfect for hot Summer days. This week my most anticipated album was Loveland by Suki Waterhouse, and it didn’t disappoint.
Albums
- CONFESSIONS II (Madonna)
- The Visitor (SIENNA SPIRO)
- Role Model Hermit (mary in the junkyard)
- Loveland (Suki Waterhouse)
- In the Hour of Chaos (Allison Russell)
Songs
- “Pin-Up Boys” (Westside Cowboys)
- “MORNING DEW (DONK)” (Beyoncé)
- “Take Me Back” (Kygo and Max McNown)
Reading
- My Kind of Guy (Sarina Bowen, 2026)
- Whistler (Ann Patchett, 2026)
- Significant Others (Armistead Maupin, 1987)
- Collected Stories (Oscar Wilde, 1888)
- Sabrina (Nick Drnaso, 2018)
- Villa Coco (Andrew Sean Greer, 2026)
- The Tent (Margaret Atwood, 2006)
- Private Lives (Noel Coward, 1930)
- Transcription (Ben Lerner, 2026)
- John of John (Douglas Stuart, 2026)
- High School (Tegan Quin and Sara Quin, 2019)
- About to Fall Apart (Ashley Hickson-Lovence, 2026)
Focus on: My Bookish Mid-Year Check-in
My patience in waiting to do this list until June was over paid off when I finished my clear number two read of the year so far on June 30. It’s been an interesting reading year so far. I’ve mostly been ‘out’ on new releases, finding them to be a lot of the same thing, yet despite a more backlist-heavy reading year, most of my favourite books still ended up being new releases. Go figure. Below is a roughly ranked top ten along with some superlatives of my reading year so far.
Favourite Novels
- Floodlines (Saleem Haddad, 2026)
- Whistler (Ann Patchett, 2026)
- Fire from Heaven (Mary Renault, 1969)
- Father Material (Alexis Hall, 2026)
- Evenings and Weekends (Oisín McKenna, 2024)
- Tales of the City (Armistead Maupin, 1978)
- Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Elizabeth Taylor, 1971)
- The Long Game (Rachel Reid, 2022 🇨🇦)
- Son of Nobody (Yann Martel, 2026 🇨🇦)
- The Book of I (David Greig, 2025)
Best of the Rest
To spread the wealth, only titles not already listed above will be included here:
- Best Romance: My Kind of Guy (Sarina Bowen, 2026)
- Best Story Collection: TIE: Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri, 1999) AND The Typing Lady (Ruth Ozeki, 2026 🇨🇦-resident))
- Best Play: English (Sanaz Toossi, 2023)
- Best Sci-Fi: The Afterlife Project (Tim Weed, 2025)
- Best Fantasy (and Comedy): Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die (Greer Stothers, 2026 🇨🇦)
- Best Mystery (and Comedy): The Murder at World’s End Ross Montgomery (Ross Montgomery, 2025)
- Best Classic: Offshore (Penelope Fitzgerald, 1979)
Matthew Root 