I have another piece of advice. Audiobooks for classics and especially those that were not to be read but listened to. I just finished Iliad in the newest translation by Caroline Alexander and brilliantly narrated as an audiobook and it was amazing.
Your podcast has been a great companion to a year long reading list of classics from Ted Gioia over at the Honest Broker on Substack. Thanks for the great resource!
Love the post Erik, this really feels like a future post I will write. I am planning on starting my Great books journey in the new year, which is a milestone year for me. Life has meant it’s taken longer than I would have liked to start but start I will. I have read the Gilgamesh book a few months back thinking it was the first book and then saw your post about Enheduana. Luckily it should be arriving shortly. I haven’t quite finished my list but it’s likely to be based on the St John’s college Indianapolis curriculum. Thanks for the inspiration and keep reading and posting!
That's awesome. If you need further inspiration for your final reading list, I link to some of my Great Books list sources at the bottom of this page - https://books.booksoftitans.com/great-books/
I recently decided to tackle my own "white whale" of a book: Spenser's Faerie Queene. I purchased the highly annotated Hamilton edition in 2016 and it sat on the shelf while I read "around" it. I have since purchased a few of the Hackett editions which are published individually by book and they are much more accessible (fewer footnotes) for a first time reader.
I like your idea of reading chronologically. I can already see how Spenser was influenced by Dante, Homer, and Virgil and how these Great Books communicate through time.
Following your posts has been inspiring to keep reading more of the classics. The average publish year of my "completed" stack is moving farther and farther back in time. 😆
I'm wondering how closely you've stuck to your original list. I keep a list but often jump around or see the next "shiny object" in the classics section at a bookstore and go with that instead of staying disciplined to any particular order. I imagine the chronological route helps with that? Thanks for posting.
So far, the broad categories have mostly stayed the same but I'm constantly changing the books therein. For example, Euripides was on my list, but my original plan was to read 3 or 4 of his plays. I've changed that to now reading all 19 of his plays. Also, I call my project Great Books + where I'm pairing each book with a guidebook to help me better understand the author, cultural context, or subject matter. I choose those pretty close to around the time I read the Great Book. Something else I've changed is just being free to add books. They may not be Great Books, but I've added Pindar, Apollonius (to learn about Jason and the Golden Fleece), and Apollodorus (to learn about Heracles).
To complicate matters further, my list of Great Books is a little more than 200. But those 200 are more line items than books. Shakespeare is a line item but I plan to read most of his plays. Euripides is a line item but I'm reading all of his surviving plays.
So yeah, I'm allowing for a lot of flexibility while trying to keep to a structure of roughly 200 final "Great Books." I estimate it will take me 15 years total.
I have another piece of advice. Audiobooks for classics and especially those that were not to be read but listened to. I just finished Iliad in the newest translation by Caroline Alexander and brilliantly narrated as an audiobook and it was amazing.
Your podcast has been a great companion to a year long reading list of classics from Ted Gioia over at the Honest Broker on Substack. Thanks for the great resource!
That’s awesome!
Love the post Erik, this really feels like a future post I will write. I am planning on starting my Great books journey in the new year, which is a milestone year for me. Life has meant it’s taken longer than I would have liked to start but start I will. I have read the Gilgamesh book a few months back thinking it was the first book and then saw your post about Enheduana. Luckily it should be arriving shortly. I haven’t quite finished my list but it’s likely to be based on the St John’s college Indianapolis curriculum. Thanks for the inspiration and keep reading and posting!
That's awesome. If you need further inspiration for your final reading list, I link to some of my Great Books list sources at the bottom of this page - https://books.booksoftitans.com/great-books/
Keep me posted about your journey!
I recently decided to tackle my own "white whale" of a book: Spenser's Faerie Queene. I purchased the highly annotated Hamilton edition in 2016 and it sat on the shelf while I read "around" it. I have since purchased a few of the Hackett editions which are published individually by book and they are much more accessible (fewer footnotes) for a first time reader.
I like your idea of reading chronologically. I can already see how Spenser was influenced by Dante, Homer, and Virgil and how these Great Books communicate through time.
That's awesome! I'm excited about reading Faerie Queen. Have you seen this new version that is coming out? I know the main person behind it and I think it's going to be really neat - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyturtlepress/edmund-spensers-the-faerie-queene-a-prose-rendering/posts/4228423?ref=ksr_email_mktg_auto_backer_project_update_registered_users
I have! I supported the Kickstarter and met the author a few years ago at ALA’s annual conference. I am so looking forward to reading it!
That’s awesome! Yeah, I can’t wait to get this copy.
Following your posts has been inspiring to keep reading more of the classics. The average publish year of my "completed" stack is moving farther and farther back in time. 😆
That's awesome!
I'm wondering how closely you've stuck to your original list. I keep a list but often jump around or see the next "shiny object" in the classics section at a bookstore and go with that instead of staying disciplined to any particular order. I imagine the chronological route helps with that? Thanks for posting.
So far, the broad categories have mostly stayed the same but I'm constantly changing the books therein. For example, Euripides was on my list, but my original plan was to read 3 or 4 of his plays. I've changed that to now reading all 19 of his plays. Also, I call my project Great Books + where I'm pairing each book with a guidebook to help me better understand the author, cultural context, or subject matter. I choose those pretty close to around the time I read the Great Book. Something else I've changed is just being free to add books. They may not be Great Books, but I've added Pindar, Apollonius (to learn about Jason and the Golden Fleece), and Apollodorus (to learn about Heracles).
To complicate matters further, my list of Great Books is a little more than 200. But those 200 are more line items than books. Shakespeare is a line item but I plan to read most of his plays. Euripides is a line item but I'm reading all of his surviving plays.
So yeah, I'm allowing for a lot of flexibility while trying to keep to a structure of roughly 200 final "Great Books." I estimate it will take me 15 years total.
Thanks for sharing more about your process. It sounds like you put a lot of thought into it. You've inspired me to reflect more on my reading plan!