Reading Recap: July 2025
Summer Break, August Books, and Bookish Fun in July
I set aside one post per month to highlight my reading life. Books of Titans is a reading project aimed at seeking the ancient paths by reading The Immortal Books by 200 authors chronologically over the next 15 years. Thank you for following my journey.
July Reading Recap
Summer Break
Each year, I divide my reading into 5 parts:
January - February | Complete Reading of the Bible
March - June | Spring Semester of The Immortal Books
July | Summer Break
August - November | Fall Semester of The Immortal Books
December | Winter Break
I’m just coming off my July summer break of reading and here's what I read:
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World / Selena Wisnom
This was so cool! It was a great overview of Ashurbanipal, Cuneiform, and Ashurbanipal’s famous library. We have 30,000+ tablets that have survived from that library, and this book highlights the contents of that library. I loved it. Here’s my podcast episode about the book.The Idea Machine / Joel J Miller (not pictured)
This is such an incredible book. Joel J. Miller digs into the history of the book and it is utterly fascinating. I had no idea the extent that Christians played in the development and preservation of the book. Joel masterfully ties together the physical object, the ideas therein, and the natural progression to today’s large learning models. This is a must read for lovers of the written word.
The Picture of Dorian Gray / Oscar Wilde
What a story! Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain, trading his soul for eternal youth. His portrait, painted by a friend, begins to take on the wages of his sin while his aging body retains its 20-year-old beauty. It’s a novel looking at the influence of others, the pursuit of pleasure, and consequences of debauchery. It’s a devastating story, one I vividly remember from a first reading in 2002. This is one of my favorite novels. Here’s my podcast episode about the book.An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic / Daniel Mendelsohn
This is a beautiful book. Dr. Mendelsohn ties together Homer’s Odyssey, the relationship with his father, and his profession of teaching the classics. It provides an incredible format of relaying the lessons from The Odyssey from a variety of viewpoints. If you like The Odyssey, you will love this book. I learned so much about the epic within the context of a father/son relationship. I loved it. Here’s my podcast episode about the book.Bryce and the Lost Pearl / Derek Holser & Zach Fay
A delightful story with parallel worlds, mistakes and forgiveness, and moving towards the light. I loved the references to Tolkien, Lewis, MacDonald, and others.John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs / Ian Leslie (not pictured, listened to the audiobook)
There are forty-three chapters in this book and they are all titled after songs by the Beatles, John Lennon, and/or Paul McCartney. Ian Leslie does a brilliant job of highlighting the inspiration for each song, identifying John or Paul as the initiator, discussing unique features of each song, and sharing the reasons for the lyrics, music, and/or recording style.
August Reading Plan
Focus: Allen Levi
Normally, I’d be returning to The Immortal Books in August, but I’m taking a slight detour to focus on books by Allen Levi. I booked Allen for two events in Franklin, TN at the beginning of September and I want to be well-prepared for his visit. I read Theo of Golden last December and loved it. I’ll first re-read that, and then I’ll read his earlier non-fiction work, The Last Sweet Mile, about the death of his brother.
Theo of Golden will also be the book we cover in this month’s Short Great Books reading group. If you’d like to join, simply become a paid subscriber on this Substack and I’ll send out Zoom details for our discussion. We’ll be meeting on Wednesday, August 13th from 7 - 9pm Central Time.
After Allen Levi, my plan is to start working my way through the works of Plato in chronological order.
July Bookish Adventures
July was jam-packed with delightful book-related fun. Here were some of the highlights:
Jeff Barry, author of Go to Hell Ole Miss, did a book signing at Landmark Booksellers on July 4th. It was fun getting a few moments to talk to him.
I traveled to Scotland and England between July 9th - 14th to attend the Hutchmoot UK Conference. I got to hear the opening lines of the upcoming epic poem Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad read by Malcolm Guite, led a seminar about the Art of Reading, and packed in 5 Edinburgh bookstore visits.
Landmark Booksellers, where I’m business manager, celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 16th. We had a wonderful celebration with a number of authors, staff members, and the wider community.
We had the Tennessee Antiquarian Book Fair in Franklin, TN with rare book vendors from across the USA. I connected with other bookseller friends like Shane Gottwals and Stan Shelley. Stan is perhaps the greatest seller of C.S. Lewis books in the United States and is always a delight to talk to.
