Reading Recap: October 2024 Books & November Schedule
Thucydides, Xenophon, and a ton of Book Events
I set aside one post per month to highlight my reading life. Books of Titans is a reading project aimed at seeking Truth & beauty through the world’s Great Books. My goal is to immerse myself in 200 Great Books, reading them in chronological order over the next 10 - 15 years. Thank you for following my journey.
October Reading Recap
I’ve spent the entire month of October in this one book, The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. It’s been interesting yet challenging. I’m finding it hard to keep track of everything going on. I expected to read about a war between Athens and Sparta, but what has actually been occurring is a set of proxy wars between allies that surround these two groups. I’m currently in book 5 of 8 and the Athenians and Spartans have barely met directly in combat yet.
Despite using this fantastic Landmark version of the book, it’s just hard to keep all of the allies, locations, and battles straight. At this point, I’m mainly trying to capture the big picture of the war.
The thing I love most about Thucydides is his use of speeches amidst his depiction of the war. These 141 total speeches provide a fascinating look into what generals thought and how armies responded. Some of the speeches are quite memorable and moving. I highlight one of them in a recent podcast episode:
I’m reading this with a Catherine Project reading group where we cover one book a week over Zoom. That has helped tremendously in making my way through this epic work. I’ve also listened to a few podcast episodes (like this one) that have provided helpful background to Thucydides.
November Reading Plan
Once I finish Thucydides, I’ll move right into Xenophon’s Hellenika with my Catherine Project reading group. I’m guessing that will take the entire month of November. If I have any time remaining, I’ll try to fit in a few more tragedies by Euripides. In December, I take a break from the Great Books to read some that have been on my To Be Read pile for a while. Check out my full 2024 reading list here.
October Podcasts
I release podcast episodes each Friday. In addition to the one mentioned above, here are the other episodes from October:
My Bookish Life
I’m going to begin including a new section in these monthly reports highlighting my bookish life. I am the business manager at an amazing bookstore in Franklin, TN called Landmark Booksellers. In this role, I regularly pinch myself in disbelief at who I get to meet, conversations I get to have, and connections I get to make. I thought it’d be fun to begin highlighting these things on a monthly basis.
During October, we had 30+ authors at the bookstore. That’s not regular, but between conferences, a Pumpkinfest festival, and other author events, we had a busy month. A few events stuck out. We had John Hendrix in taking about his new graphic novel The Mythmakers about the friendship between C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien. You must listen to the talk he gave at this link. In the first few minutes, he spoke about imagination in such an incredibly beautiful way.
Mid-month, we had Malcolm Guite in for an event. Malcolm is a poet, smokes a pipe (full ring capacity and all), is an Anglican minister in England, and is the head of the George MacDonald Society. He’s also in the process of writing a four-part epic poem about King Arthur. He read part of it during the event and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I think this poem may be one of the few things written during our lifetimes that outlasts us all. Here is a short clip of him talking about George MacDonald and Lord Byron’s wife that was astonishing:
I got to pick up and drop Malcolm off, and so I got a lot of time talking to him. He is so incredibly well-read and brilliant. I asked him what he thought heaven was like and he responded tying ideas together from Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, and C.S. Lewis. It was lovely.
The next day, we had in Andrew Klavan & Spencer Klavan (no relation 😉). That was the largest event we’ve ever had at Landmark. The photo above shows our staff with Andrew & Spencer. People drove and flew in from all around the country just for that event. It was remarkable.
If you are ever in Franklin or Nashville, stop by Landmark. It’s a special place. People call it a “booklover’s paradise.” Here’s a little taste of what it looks like inside:
Last but not least, I closed out the first reading group I’ve ever led during the month of October. We covered the Iliad over 9 weeks and it was awesome. There were 7 regular attenders and we covered 3 books of the epic per week. For 2025, I’m thinking of doing a series of short Great Books on a monthly basis. This would be in person one Monday evening a month. More details coming soon.
Malcolm Guite's YouTube channel is also a gem. That's awesome y'all were able to have him in Franklin.