Hi there @1000_Books folks - I think everyone who wanted a chance to select books has had one, yes? If not, let me know, and I’ll put you down for the following month.
It looked like it was my turn, so here’s what I came up with in no particular order. This is the book to read for July 2026, to discuss in August 2026. Poll below!
The Day of the Triffids by John Windham
SF, 1951, 228 pp., 4.01 Goodreads stars
A classic British post-apocalyptic novel about the sudden collapse of human civilization after a mysterious, spectacular meteor shower blinds most of the world’s population. The story focuses on Bill Masen, a “triffidologist” who escapes the blindness because he was in a hospital with his eyes bandaged after a triffid attack. He wakes up to find society in chaos, with the few sighted people forced to survive in a world filled with the blind and threatened by dangerous, mobile, carnivorous plants known as triffids.
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
Adventure, 1922, 236 pp., 4.18
A classic swashbuckling adventure novel about Peter Blood, an Irish physician and former soldier who is unjustly convicted of treason and enslaved in the Caribbean. Driven by injustice, he escapes to become a notorious but honorable pirate captain, seeking to clear his name and win the love of his former master’s niece.
Pigs Have Wings by P.G. Wodehouse
Comedy, 1952, 240 pp., 4.26
A comedic novel by P.G. Wodehouse that follows the chaotic antics of Lord Emsworth at Blandings Castle. The plot centers on a high-stakes pig-rearing competition, romantic entanglements, and various schemes designed to secure the victory of Emsworth’s prize-winning pig.
Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
NF/Adventure, 1948, 240 pp., 4.16
The book details the 1947 journey of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his crew of five men across the Pacific Ocean on a handcrafted balsa wood raft. The expedition was designed to prove Heyerdahl’s controversial theory that Polynesian islands could have been settled by ancient peoples from South America, rather than solely from Southeast Asia.
Ill Met by Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss
NF/WWII, 1950, 196 pp., 3.99
The book detailing the audacious World War II kidnapping of German General Heinrich Kreipe from Nazi-occupied Crete in April 1944. Written by W. Stanley Moss, who was one of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) officers involved, the book is a personal account based on his diary.
Please vote for all the books you’d be willing to read, not just your favorite!
- The Day of the Triffids by John Windham
- Captain Blood by Raphael Sabatini
- Pigs Have Wings by P.G. Wodehouse
- Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
- Ill Met By Moonlight by W. Stanley Moss