Three Books I'm Reading Now, 6/29/26 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading the newest novel by the author of The Light Between Oceans, M. L. Stedman's Australia-set A Far-Flung Life; I'm listening to Lauren Okie's play on romance tropes, Tropesick; and I'm listening to David Sedaris's newest book of oddball, edgy, and heartwarming essays, The Land and Its People.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman

A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by secrets, hopes, and resignation.

We meet the MacBride family in the 1950s, after a long family history of sheep farming on their million-acre station Meredith Downs.

Patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo while driving on a remote road with his two sons, and one moment leads to a tragedy, loss, and lives changed forevermore.

M. L. Stedman is also the author of The Light Between Oceans.

Click here for more books set in Australia.

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02 Tropesick by Lauren Okie

Katie and Tyler were childhood neighbors and friends, on the verge of young love, then devastated, bound together, and pushed apart by a shared tragedy.

Years later, they are completely estranged. Katie is a ghostwriter for a successful romance author and Tyler is an aspiring literary fiction author in need of a paycheck when chance leads to a shocking meeting--then their pairing for an unlikely project.

Katie is well aware of the power of romance conventions and explains them to Tyler. Meanwhile, Lauren Okie playfully works every imaginable trope into both the story Katie and Tyler are writing and the situations in which they find themselves.

I'm listening to an audiobook version of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Avon.

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03 The Land and Its People: Essays by David Sedaris

In David Sedaris's latest book of essays, he brings his edgy, offbeat humor, acerbic observations, and surprising heart to recounting stories about travel, adventures, mishaps, shortcomings, true friendship, love, families, loss, aging, and the complicated, fascinating, sometimes disappointing nature of human beings.

David Sedaris is also the author of Happy-Go-Lucky, The Best of Me, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Santaland Diaries, and other books.