2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Intermezzo by Sally Rooney.

Pages: 464 pages

Length: 1 month (February)

Participants: Missy, Janine, Lina, Min

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

Hello,
I needed a book that would match 3 challenges (yellow, 3+ objects on the cover and contained romance) and this book fit all 3. I’ve never read the writer’s stuff before. Hopefully it ends up being decent or at least better than A Tale of Two Cities (I struggled through that boredom in 2025 so it’s my lowest ranked book I compare things to).
Looking forward to reading with you all in February!

Hi all! I'm looking forward to reading this with you. I've had this on my tbr for a little while, since it was nominated for the goodreads choice award in 2024. I like doing the Goodreads Challenges, and I saw this book was on the list of possible reads for two of the winter ones (Challenge Faves and Star Selections) so it felt like a good time to finally pick it up.

Great that it so perfectly fits those three challenges for you Missy :)

I've only read one of the author's previous works before, Normal People which I was in two minds about. It'll be interesting to see how I feel about this one!

Hello! I don't read a lot of literary fiction (fantasy/romance reader here), and I've never read anything by Sally Rooney so Intermezzo will be a little out of my comfort zone. I'm reading this book as part of the Read and Roam yearly challenge.

Looking forward to sharing my thoughts with my new reading buddies :)

I decided to try audiobooks for February so I can work on my other hobbies (ended up slacking to get through my 48 planned - managed 44), so I’ll have the audio version of this (16 hour) and The Goldfinch (32 hour audio oh my!)

That's going to be many hours of listening Missy! I'm going to be reading a physical copy I've snagged from the library. Will be starting tomorrow, how exciting!

Thanks for the friend invite Min!

And I got my copy of the audio this morning so I’ll start that tomorrow. Still waiting on the Goldfinch copy.
(Also got the physical version of Where the Red Fern Grows which I’m not looking forward to. I refused to read that or watch the movie in 5th grade - and all these years later - but now I’m going to need it for challenges 😣😣)

Good luck with all of your February plans all of you!

(I’m hoping my planned books actually work for that Readathon this month because I don’t plan to add anything new)

This sounds great. Intermezzo has been in my list since my daughter suggested it, so now’s the time. Thank you!

Blākie

If anyone manages to find Menopause in the physical copy, can you drop the sentence and page number please? That’s the only issue with audio. If I hear the word I won’t know what goes with it enough for Finders Reader. Haven’t started listening just yet (almost done with audio of Dragonet Prophecy)

The speaker’s voice sounds really nice ❤️ I’ll be enjoying the audio lol

(view spoiler)[I’m glad I had my headphones in during the sex scene. Would’ve been awkward at work if I had them turned off (hide spoiler)]

I will say I’m glad I did audio because this would’ve been a struggle to get through. Currently 3 and a half hours in (22%). I’ve been listening during work mostly.

Most of my books this month are a lot thicker than I expected so might end up not getting through all 41 like planned. And they are random library books from reading lists I had so won’t know if they are decent or difficult compared to my January mainly owned ones.

41 books in a month!! Gosh I envy you for being a fast reader. I often find myself a little impatient with my own reading speed because there's so many good books I need to get to.

I've started two chapters of Intermezzo, will let you know if I see the word "menopause". So far I'm not sure what to feel about the lack of apostrophes - is this style consistent with Sally Rooney's other books?

I haven't started Intermezzo yet. I didn't want to start two lit fics at once so I'm working my way through The Goldfinch first.

Missy, I always find the team readathons completely mix up my reading for the month (in a fun way!) so I try not to go in with too much planned. Hopefully your books might fit prompts that your team needs, but also I think it's good fun to go new book hunting to try and fill in those last spots. Tricky if your planned reads are based on library holds etc. though!

My copy of Intermezzo is on kindle so I searched for the word 'menopause' for you Missy but it didn't find it.

Min - I think I noticed that in Normal People and found it a little confusing!

Janine wrote: "I haven't started Intermezzo yet. I didn't want to start two lit fics at once so I'm working my way through The Goldfinch first.

Missy, I always find the team readathons completely mix up my read..."

Thank you for looking! Darn! So far I haven't heard any of the 8 I need.

Since my library books are thick, I have two audiobooks and four physical going at once to try and get through them better (so far there's only one that's a quick read - Red, White & Royal Blue - I'm really enjoying this one. Might be my first 5 star for the year depending on how it ends).

I have one free spot open depending on the 2/15 achievement that can go toward the prompts if they release them early.

The prompts will be released on 14th Feb so you'll have a bit of time to plan with your team :)

I'm glad you're enjoying Red, White and Royal Blue. I liked that too. Lighthearted and fun. Good you've got a quicker read alongside some slower, literary fictions reads!

I’m waiting on a copy of the physical. Got bored listening to audiobooks

49% of the way now. The lack of quotations isn’t as bad as I expected after dealing with the audio version. How’s it going for you all? Peter is probably my least favorite of the brothers and Ivan seems to have more interesting things going on.

I should finally be getting Goldfinch tomorrow (library catalog says it’s been shipped, audio still says “available soon” 🤦‍♀️)

I am still on Anna Karenina at the moment, but hope to get to this one soon!

I'm a little slow with Intermezzo because I'm reading the hardcopy. It's not one of my "commute books" and I'm pretty much only reading it over the weekends. I have a holiday coming next week so I'm hoping I'll catch up :)

I find that I usually read fantasy/romance/mysteries while commuting, and lit fic/non-fiction when I'm reading at home. Do y'all have "commute" vs "home" books too?

I sometimes try to read in the car but get distracted by the radio or conversations, and it's usually just whatever book I'm currently reading. I never got the physical for Intermezzo because there would've been another wait so I went with the e-book on Libby (always forget that's an option).

None of my 6 remaining words came up during a search sadly. I know we can use the plural or singular form but I've been focusing on the exact (one book had ballots but the word is ballot so I ignored it). I probably won't get through all 41 books, possibly just 21-22 this time.

I've finally finished The Goldfinch so I will start Intermezzo soonish, maybe at the weekend.

I read more mysteries and YA in audiobook format for whilst I'm driving or doing chores, and more romance in physical/ebook format. I struggle to listen to romance, especially if it's spicy! Fantasy and sci fi I'll read in all formats and situations :)

I finished Red, White and Royal Blue. It was an achievement option for romance but now it’s not on the list and I wasn’t given my achievement ribbon. Any idea what gives?

I was looking at the wrong list (found it) but it still hasn’t given me the completion ribbon

I’ll give it 24 hours like the help thing mentions.

I've had that happen a few times Missy. Usually if I give it a day or two it'll appear. Make sure you've set read dates for during the challenge period. One time waiting didn't work, though, but completely deleting the book from my goodreads and then adding it as read again (with the correct dates) fixed it.

Janine wrote: "I've had that happen a few times Missy. Usually if I give it a day or two it'll appear. Make sure you've set read dates for during the challenge period. One time waiting didn't work, though, but co..."

Dates are correct, but I'll try the delete method tomorrow if it doesn't appear. Thank you! It counted toward the main goal number so Goodreads is just being "stingy" on the ribbons lol

I ended up deleting and re-adding (had to make sure I copied my review over too) but I finally got the achievement.

Hello everyone! I'm celebrating Chinese New Year this week, so will have plenty of time read while hiding from all the nosy relatives besieging my home over the next few days.

I've gotten about a third into the book and I'm getting used to the lack of quotation marks - such an odd thing thing to be fussy about, but at times I wasn't sure if what I was reading was a thought or something said out loud.

(view spoiler)[ Peter's chapters also feel really frantic and are not at all pleasant to read, but I do feel like they give a good idea of how chaotic his internal self is in comparison to Ivan - though it might seem the reverse on the outside. (hide spoiler)]

I must admit that getting through Intermezzo is proving to be quite challenging because I don't like reading about toxic relationships. Discussing the book here definitely keeps the motivation up though :)

Happy Chinese New Year Min! Hope you have a good time celebrating this week, along with lots of time to escape and read!

I finally started Intermezzo yesterday and read the first two chapters, 13% in my kindle version.

The lack of quotation marks is a little distracting and I'm really not sure why the author does it, but not too bothersome so I think I'll get used to it again.

I agree with Min (view spoiler)[even though I've only read one chapter from each perspective, they read so differently. Peter's first chapter felt a little hard to get through. Very erratic, lots of short, choppy sentences that seem to skip words at the beginning. It felt a bit like a puzzle to read. Ivan's chapter on the other hand flew by and I was instantly engaged. I'm sure it is a characterisation thing, but that doesn't make it easy to read. I actually saw my library had the audio version available too so I've downloaded that and might try listening some of Peter's chapters to see if it has a better flow that way. (hide spoiler)]

Happy Chinese New Year Min!

I'm 65% on the e-book and Peter doesn't improve much (view spoiler)[Summary mentions the two women and he's constantly going back and forth, existential crisis. Just pick one or drop both already! (hide spoiler)]
Ivan is definitely the better of the two

I read quite a lot of this last night, up to ch10 / 52%. It went by really quickly. I did listen to one of Peter's chapters via audio and I liked it. The fragmented style was more poetic listening to it, and I liked hearing it narrated in an Irish accent. I switched back to kindle for my nighttime reading though.

It's funny having a side character with my name in the book. That's quite unusual for me. She doesn't crop up often, and its pronounced differently in the audio to how I say it, but it still surprises me. I wonder how I'd feel reading a book with a main character with my first name!

Does anyone play chess? I haven't played it since I was a teenager I don't think, and probably would fail to remember some of the rules if I tried!

Thank you Janine and Missy! I don't play chess, but I used to play weiqi (also called go/baduk) with my granddad when he was still able to. The rules are simple, but the game does become complicated as it expands.

(view spoiler)[ Peter's relationship with Naomi gives me the ick. I know in some ways they are both using each other, but as someone who is older and also a human rights lawyer Peter should really know better.

I feel so sad for Sylvia, and there's a line that she says which sticks with me because I identify so much with it - "if I can't do something properly, I'd rather not do it at all".

So far, I'm enjoying the romance between Ivan and Margaret though it seems almost too good to be true (I'm only 7 chapters in) (hide spoiler)]

I agree Min. (view spoiler)[For all the talk of the age gap between Margaret and Ivan, the power imbalance between Peter and Naomi is much ickier!

I also identify very much with that line. I don't like doing things half-heartedly and can definitely be a perfectionist. It was that way as a child too and was often remarked on in my school reports! (hide spoiler)]

I finished up reading Intermezzo. I was surprised how much I liked it, after a wobbly start and struggling with the writing style. I switched between audio whilst doing things and then kindle version. The audio version was great and made it easier to sink into the story.

As for the ending. (view spoiler)[I can't say I expected a poly-ish ending to Peter, Naomi and Sylvia's relationships but I like it. I liked the exploration of less conventional relationships, and particularly the discussion about needing to name things, and fit into the expectations people have when that name is applied. (hide spoiler)]

Honestly, if this wasn't a buddy read, I may have DNF'd after that first Peter chapter, but I'm glad I continued and could get past the writing style. It would've been even easier to enjoy with less fragmented, chaotic sentences, and I'm not sure I'm convinced why the author made that choice, but thankfully I enjoyed the story enough!

I tried playing chess with my sister as a kid but could never get the hang of it.

Yay for completing it!

I'm saving the last 100 pages for the readathon so can't finish yet. The buddy read definitely helps stick the book out; I wouldn't have picked this up probably if it was a solo read.

Congrats for completing the book Janine! And all the best for the readathon Missy :) Personally I am struggling through this book and might DNF it.

(view spoiler)[ I have to care about the characters to enjoy a book. So far, I've found Peter and Naomi to be insufferable and Sylvia too saintlike to be relatable. I'm barely hanging on to see how the relationship between Ivan and Margaret will turn out. (hide spoiler)]

I must say that I've come to enjoy the writing, even though it does take some getting used to. I would love to visit Dublin some day!!

Finally finished myself!

(view spoiler)[Teared up a bit during the fight scene and I’m glad they made up at the end. Ivan and Margaret were the better pairing but I’m glad Peter didn’t off himself like he kept thinking as well. (hide spoiler)] Decent story, but I’m glad it’s over lol