Reading Recap: June 2025
🎠Closing out Greek Tragedies & Comedies
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.
June Reading Recap
Aristophanes & Xenophon
I entered June with high hopes for the Greek comedies by Aristophanes. I started with Clouds and then continued on with Birds, Lysistrata, and Women of the Assembly, all translated by Aaron Poochigian. I was disappointed. The Greek comedies are a far cry from the depth of the Greek tragedies. Perhaps I wasn’t mentally prepared for the different genre, but I had a hard time getting into them.
My original plan was to read all eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes, but I quit after the fifth one, Frogs. I actually really enjoyed Frogs and it sort of redeemed the genre for me a bit. I left wondering if I should have continued on, but I stopped at five and proceeded to Xenophon.
Xenophon is the third Greek historian I’ve read after Herodotus and Thucydides. I really enjoy Greek history. It’s really interesting to read it alongside the Homeric epics and the Greek tragedies. The works of history are a sort of working out of Greek philosophy and thought in real time, in real politik.
Xenophon’s Anabasis tells the thrilling story of the 10,000+ Greek mercenaries who joined Persia’s Cyrus the Younger in an attempt to take the throne of Persia. It does not success and the Greeks are forced to retreat with their tail between their legs. They actually experience worse circumstances on the retreat back. Xenophon is not only the historian but also a major player in the events. He was also a friend and student of Socrates.
I’m closing out the month with The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon. This work is not as famous as his Anabasis or Hellenika, but I’ve been amazed. It’s more of a philosophical book that shows the maturing process of Cyrus the Great and his education along the way. I feel like I’m getting secret knowledge in this one. I plan to cover it on an upcoming podcast episode.
Here are some podcast episodes I recorded of these works:
July Reading Plan
Summer Break!
I split each reading year into five 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
My break months are where I read books that have gathered on my To-Be-Read pile. It’s also a chance to take a mental break from The Immortal Books. For this July, I’m going to do a mix of books and audiobooks. Here’s the plan:
Books:
The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of the Modern World / Selena Wisnom
I’m fascinated by the library of Ashurbanipal. We get Gilgamesh from that library, Ashurbanipal shows up in the Bible, and Ashurbanipal modeled himself after Gilgamesh.The Logic of Tragedy / Philip Vellacott
This one was suggested to me and as a big fan of Greek Tragedy and Vellacott’s translations, I’m looking forward to it.The Idea Machine /
Joel is a friend and local author and this is a book about books. I can’t wait to read it.The Picture of Dorian Gray / Oscar Wilde
I lead a Short Great Books reading group (oh hey, you should join!) and the book for July is Dorian Gray, a book I haven’t read since 2002.An Odyssey: A Father, A Son, and an Epic / Daniel Mendelsohn
I started this book for an event with had with Dr. Mendelsohn at Landmark Booksellers this past month and haven’t finished it.Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others / translation by Stephanie Dalley
I love the works of Mesopotamia so much and this contains some gems I haven’t read yet.
Audiobooks:
John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs / Ian Leslie
of EconTalk Podcast fame. I’m halfway into this audiobook and it is wonderful. I don’t know much about the Beatles and I’m learning a lot.
This one comes as a strong recommendation fromSurrender / Bono
My wife listened to this book and highly recommended it.Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music / Charlie Peacock
Charlie Peacock is a local producer here in Nashville who has worked with some of my favorite artists. We had him in for an event at Landmark last year.
June Bookish Adventures
We had some authors in at Landmark Booksellers this past month that were just incredible. Dr. Daniel Mendelsohn came and spoke about his translation of The Odyssey. It was so neat to hear about his word choices, the translation process, and little snippets of delightful information he learned along the way. Here were some of my key takeaways:
We also had the Great-Great Grandson of Frederick Douglass in to talk about his famous ancestor. Kevin Douglass Greene told about his continued work for the abolition of worldwide slavery, his emphasis on education, and his fight for racial equity. Here were some of my takeaways from that evening:
Each year, Brad Thor signs and personalizes copies of his thrillers for our customers. It’s a great delight to talk to him while he signs. He always has a good pulse on what’s going on in the world.