Reading Recap: May 2025
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.
May Reading Recap
The Month of Euripides
I spent the month of May finishing the last of the Greek Tragedies. I read the remaining plays by Euripides. He has 19 that survive out of more than 90 that he wrote. I read 18 of those surviving plays (my favorites were Iphigenia at Aulis, Helen, Heracles, and Medea). I even dug into those 70+ that didn’t survive by reading the two green volumes above that highlight fragments of those plays. I find those to be absolutely fascinating.
That concluded my deep dive into the Greek Tragedies. I had planned to read just a few plays by each playwright but loved them so much that I read 32 of the surviving 33 plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (I left one unread just so I didn’t have to live knowing that I didn’t have any left to read). They were some of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in my reading life. Here’s a podcast episode I recorded about the experience reading through these tragedy plays:
June Read Plan - Aristophanes
I’m now moving on from the Greek Tragedies into the Comedies. I plan to read the 11 surviving comedy plays by Aristophanes and also dig into the fragments of his lost plays. I started Clouds yesterday morning and have gotten quite a few laughs already. Comedies were the Saturday Night Live of the time and this play roasts the great philosopher Socrates, who was likely in attendance during the performance in 423BC. I can’t wait to tell you about it in an upcoming podcast episode.
Here’s my plan for June. I’ll be reading the books shown in the photo above in order from bottom to top:
Clouds, Birds, Lysistrata, Women of the Assembly (Aaron Poochigian Translation)
The Wasps, The Poet and the Women (Thesmophoriazusae), The Frogs (David Barrett)
The Acharnians (Alan H. Sommerstein)
The Knights, Peace, Wealth (David Barrett & Alan H. Sommerstein)
Ecclesiazusae, Plutus (Moses Hadas)
Lysistrata (Sarah Ruden)
Aristophanes Fragments (Jeffrey Henderson)
June Reading Group Book
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
I lead a monthly reading group called Short Great Books. I try to pick books that will take you between 2-5 hours to read. We meet in-person at Landmark Booksellers on the 2nd or 3rd Monday of each month and online on the following Wednesday.
This month’s book is The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and the dates/times are as follows:
In Person - Monday, June 16th, 7-9pm at Landmark Booksellers in Franklin, TN
Online - Wednesday, June 18th, 7-9pm Central Time
I suggest this version of the book.
To join online, just become a paid subscriber here for as little as $5/month, and I’ll send you the Zoom call details:
Allen Levi Event
Saturday, September 6th, 2025 | 7pm at the Franklin Theatre in Franklin, TN
I had lunch with a book publisher last year who slid a copy of Theo of Golden across the table and told me to read it immediately. She said she had read the book 5 times in a row. Mind you, this was not a book that she had published but was one she was reading as a fan. I’ve never heard of anyone reading a book 5 times in a row. That intrigued me.
I read Theo of Golden shortly after and absolutely loved it. We began carrying it at Landmark Booksellers and it’s been selling like hot cakes. People have a very strong connection to the book and I’ve had multiple people ask if we could get Allen Levi, the author, in for an event.
Allen will be in Franklin, TN on Saturday, September 6th at 7pm. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, June 6th at 10am CT. Keep a close eye here for the ticket link this upcoming Friday.
Here’s the podcast episode I recorded about Theo of Golden last year:
May Bookish Adventures
My wife Stephanie Staples is a singer-songwriter who performs in Scotland and England. We went to Edinburgh during May and I visited quite a few bookstores during the trip. I highlighted those adventures here:
We also had some killer events at Landmark Booksellers in May. Here’s a photo of Jonathan Rogers, who read portions (in character) from his Wilderking Trilogy:
