One Boat | Litsy

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

pick

If 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

Graywacke @rmaclean4 @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @jlhammar @AnnaCecilie @JenP @TheKidUpstairs @charl08 @BookishTrish @Suet624 @kenw3 @vikaplus321 @Mattsbookaday 3d

charl08 Aw! Cute pooch. 3d

dabbe #preciouspepper 🖤🐾🤎 3d

See All 12 Comments

Ruthiella ❤️🐶❤️🐶❤️ 3d

Leftcoastzen 👏🏻🐶 3d

Graywacke @charl08 @dabbe @Ruthiella @Leftcoastzen she‘s very flattered. Thanks all 3d

BarbaraBB Great review. It was a slow burner indeed and well worth it. 2d

Graywacke @BarbaraBB yay! Another fan. It was well worth it me. I‘m glad many of us share affection for this difficult book. 2d

Suet624 How are you feeling about the shortlist selection. 22h

Graywacke @Suet624 I‘m kinda buzzed happy. No Seascraper, or Endling, but I watched the livestream and loved everything they said. And since I‘ve enjoyed all 13 books, i was bound to be content. 🙂 19h

Suet624 Oh, I‘m happy to hear that. It‘s such a challenge to read the long list and I was hoping you weren‘t disappointed. 12h

Graywacke @Suet624 I‘ve been a little obsessed 🙂 (although, correction, I‘ve only read 12. Awaiting Desai‘s new novel) (edited) 5h

54 likes1 stack add12 comments

mjtwo

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

pick

6-13 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

BarbaraBB I agree. Lovely writing but I am not sure what the point of the book was 🤷🏻‍♀️ 1w

17 likes1 comment

charl08

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

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

squirrelbrain No, nothing much changes, so if you don‘t like it now…. 😬 2w

charl08 @squirrelbrain ✅️I should have said "change" not "improve" really, a bit of a loaded question! 2w

Graywacke I‘m only on page 50. What i can say is it‘s unforgiving. I‘ve got to crawl through it, taking notes, or i get lost. Shifts are blurred. Sentences are sneaky. 2w

charl08 @Graywacke hope it rewards your investment of time and effort. 2w

Graywacke @charl08 it might 🙂 2w

33 likes1 stack add5 comments

Mattsbookaday

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

pick

One 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. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday This is a deceptively quiet and introspective book. Not a lot happens on the page — it takes place mostly in journal entries and recorded conversations — but a lot still happens. And already the parts I didn‘t like are fading from memory, leaving only something special in its wake.

Bookish Pair: For me this felt like a more successful version of Rachel Cusk‘s Outline (2014) 3w

BarbaraBB Glad you loved it so much. Love your bookish pairing. It reminded me of the tagged book and I know @squirrelbrain compared it to a Deborah Levy novel

A Separation: A Novel

squirrelbrain I loved this when I read it, but it‘s easily forgotten so it slid down my list. 3w

14 likes1 stack add3 comments

JenP

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

pick

Book #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-...

sprainedbrain, charl08, rmaclean4, BarbaraBB, Graywacke

28 likes

BarbaraBB

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

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

squirrelbrain It meandered rather a lot didn‘t it?! 1mo

BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain Yes… I got a bit lost in it! 1mo

squirrelbrain I did too but I quite liked that! Still, I can‘t remember much of it now and it won‘t be on my shortlist. 1mo

See All 6 Comments

TheKidUpstairs This is on my “if a library near me gets a copy, I'll read it, but I'm not too bothered“ list 😂 I've been able to read most of what I'm interested in from the Longlist, the only one I haven't is Seascraper, but it was just given a release date for North America so I've got it on pre-order! 1mo

Graywacke Some readers really admire this one. Say it‘s philosophical. I hope to read it soon 1mo

Suet624 Well shoot. That‘s too bad. 1mo

86 likes1 stack add6 comments

squirrelbrain

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

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

JamieArc I think I have this one arriving soon. It‘s one I keep seeing popping up with positive reviews. 2mo

BarbaraBB Interesting! I purchased this one too, one of the few. I don‘t think I‘ll read the whole longlist. For now that is 😇 2mo

youneverarrived Loved August Blue - stacking 🤍 2mo

See All 9 Comments

ChaoticMissAdventures Good to know, I wasn't initially drawn to it, but Fitzcarraldo always does things that will make you think. So I might try it if I can get it from the library.
2mo

TrishB I will use your reviews to decide which to read! 2mo

Graywacke Yay. Fantastic 2mo

AnneCecilie Interesting that you are comparing it to Deborah Levy which makes me want to read it more 2mo

Chelsea.Poole I still need to read August Blue, thanks for the reminder and the review for this one! 2mo

squirrelbrain Yes, I think you‘ll like it @youneverarrived 2mo

76 likes5 stack adds9 comments

squirrelbrain

One Boat | Jonathan Buckley

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? 😊

Cuilin I approve the time, energy and art that went into this. 🔖 2mo

TheKidUpstairs Well matched! Glad I'm not the only one who does this 🤣 2mo

Aims42 Love matching bookmarks & books!!! 2mo

See All 12 Comments

AmyG Priorities! 2mo

squirrelbrain Thank you @Cuilin @TheKidUpstairs 😊 - hubby thinks I‘m crazy, but then he uses the SAME BOOKMARK for every book. 🤷‍♀️ 2mo

LeahBergen I love choosing my bookmarks 😆 2mo

TrishB Great stuff 👍🏻 2mo

Oryx Perfect match 2mo

BarbaraBB Time spent with books is always worth it 2mo

Cathythoughts Very nicely done 👌🏻 2mo

Chelsea.Poole Why is it so satisfying having matching bookmarks!? Love your selections. 2mo

youneverarrived Love it! I would do the same 😆 2mo

63 likes1 stack add12 comments

Welcome to Litsy!

Trending Hashtags

Trending Books