I think that it's different for everyone but, like with any new habit, you just have to force it until it becomes part of your routine. I love reading, so it's not something I have to force very hard.
The first "device" I reach for every morning when my head pops off the pillow is a book. The last thing I do before I go to bed at night is read at least a few pages. If I get to read during the rest of the day, great! But I know I'm going to read a little bit first thing and last thing each day.
One tip I've seen recommended is to force yourself to read one page per day. Just one page. The biggest barrier to reading is starting. Putting down the phone, turning off the TV, or whatever it is you'd otherwise be doing, and reading one page. What'll happen is that you'll end up reading more than one page more often than not.
Maybe try something like that? Set a super small daily reading goal that is imminently achievable and stick to it for a few weeks.
Fantastic list! Kinda tempted to do one myself although i’ve ready done a “big books i wanna read someday” type of post before so it might he redundant. Plus, being a mood reader is an absolute bitch of an experience because one minute i wanna read arthurian legends, another i wanna dive into Shakespeare, and the next i am thoroughly interested in reading war and peace 😂
Since I have 2 to 3 books always going at once, I can have a book that I'm deep reading and a book that I'm mood reading at the same time! For example, I've begun reading both Dante's Inferno and The Pelican Brief by John Grisham this week. They could not be more different!
A very nice list. I considered One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as well. I read Tolkien's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight this year and loved it. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it!
I wish you the best of luck with Genji! I just finished the Tyler translation and have no clue about the Washburn, but it was a very tough text. Excited to read your updates!
Great list! I haven't read any of these but some of these are different places on my TBR list. I am still finalizing my list for next year but will include a lot of C.S. Lewis and other classic works
Narnia is the only of his fiction I have read so far. I have heard good things about his space trilogy but haven't gotten to the yet. Perhaps next year....
Currently reading Virgil's Aeneid -- I'm really enjoying it so far ! I have read Dante's Divine Comedy, so it worked the other way around to what you're trying to do. I can see based on what I'm reading what inspired Dante's masterpiece :)
If you don't mind a "non-fancy" book, read Lonesome Dove. A nice long read (around 850 pages) and the characters are so well developed, you become very vested in the story. I loved it.
I have difficulty with Russian literature translations. Even the ones whose translations have been recommended read formal and rigid. It’s a shame because there are literary masterpieces and many get discouraged reading them for that reason alone.
Nice list, all classics. I really want to read Ovid too. My favorite author Shakespeare constantly references the Metamorphoses but I have not read it yet.
Fantastic list. I've already read a few like One Hundred Years, Frankenstein and Anna Karenina and will try to pick others as and when I get a chance. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the list. I am currently reading Anna Karenina (in @henryeliot 's slow read-along). I have been curious about The Master and Margarita, and this may be the push to get a copy.
Loved Anna Karenina when I first read it, but it was so early in my reading journey that I know I missed so much. I can't wait to get back to it!
I haven't made it to The Master and Margarita yet, but I can tell you that it is the one that was clicked on the most in this Deep Reading List post. It seems to pique a lot of interest (but it may just be that it has the most unique cover lol).
Yes, that cover is eye-catching. I live in Portugal, and sadly the cover for the English version of The Master and Margarita is nowhere near as striking as the one you posted.
For Ulysses, I believe the Gabler edition (1986) is the current standard. For help in understanding the text, I used the Patrick Hastings "Guide..." , and for understanding the references, the Gifford and Seidman "Ulysses Annotated". The online "Joyce Project" is helpful as well. https://www.joyceproject.com
I think that it's different for everyone but, like with any new habit, you just have to force it until it becomes part of your routine. I love reading, so it's not something I have to force very hard.
The first "device" I reach for every morning when my head pops off the pillow is a book. The last thing I do before I go to bed at night is read at least a few pages. If I get to read during the rest of the day, great! But I know I'm going to read a little bit first thing and last thing each day.
One tip I've seen recommended is to force yourself to read one page per day. Just one page. The biggest barrier to reading is starting. Putting down the phone, turning off the TV, or whatever it is you'd otherwise be doing, and reading one page. What'll happen is that you'll end up reading more than one page more often than not.
Maybe try something like that? Set a super small daily reading goal that is imminently achievable and stick to it for a few weeks.
Fantastic list! Kinda tempted to do one myself although i’ve ready done a “big books i wanna read someday” type of post before so it might he redundant. Plus, being a mood reader is an absolute bitch of an experience because one minute i wanna read arthurian legends, another i wanna dive into Shakespeare, and the next i am thoroughly interested in reading war and peace 😂
Since I have 2 to 3 books always going at once, I can have a book that I'm deep reading and a book that I'm mood reading at the same time! For example, I've begun reading both Dante's Inferno and The Pelican Brief by John Grisham this week. They could not be more different!
I also have the attention span of a gnat.
Honestly, my list is just finish everything I didn't finish this year lol
Hah, yes. The top of my 2025 list is the bottom of my 2024 list. But I wasn’t on Substack at the beginning of 2024, so shhh, don’t tell anyone :)
I'm still working on my list, but so far, it includes:
•That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
•Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
•The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by an unknown author
• I Was a Slave in Russia by John Noble (reread)
• Animal Farm by George Orwell (reread)
•One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A very nice list. I considered One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as well. I read Tolkien's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight this year and loved it. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on it!
Thank you. I haven't picked a translation of Sir Gawain, but as I'm struggling with Tolkien's Beowulf, I probably won't read Tolkien's Sir Gawain.
Till We Have Faces is a great book 👏
I hear it's Lewis' best novel.
I wish you the best of luck with Genji! I just finished the Tyler translation and have no clue about the Washburn, but it was a very tough text. Excited to read your updates!
Thank you! I'm looking forward to the challenge :)
So many good ones on this list! Starting the year with Dante will be so fun 😂 that book is incredible!
Great list! I haven't read any of these but some of these are different places on my TBR list. I am still finalizing my list for next year but will include a lot of C.S. Lewis and other classic works
Very nice! I do plan to read some C.S. Lewis next year as well. I want to explore some of his fiction outside of Narnia. Any recommendations?
My favorite C.S. Lewis book is Til We Have Faces. I keep coming back to it. I also suggest the audiobook as the narrator is remarkable.
Narnia is the only of his fiction I have read so far. I have heard good things about his space trilogy but haven't gotten to the yet. Perhaps next year....
Currently reading Virgil's Aeneid -- I'm really enjoying it so far ! I have read Dante's Divine Comedy, so it worked the other way around to what you're trying to do. I can see based on what I'm reading what inspired Dante's masterpiece :)
If you don't mind a "non-fancy" book, read Lonesome Dove. A nice long read (around 850 pages) and the characters are so well developed, you become very vested in the story. I loved it.
I agree! Lonesome Dove is phenomenal. One of my favorite books ever. Can't wait to reread it!
I have difficulty with Russian literature translations. Even the ones whose translations have been recommended read formal and rigid. It’s a shame because there are literary masterpieces and many get discouraged reading them for that reason alone.
Good list. Travels with Charlie by Steinbeck is one you should try. A Gentleman in Moscow is also a great one to add.
Nice list, all classics. I really want to read Ovid too. My favorite author Shakespeare constantly references the Metamorphoses but I have not read it yet.
Lovely list. For Joyce, I would steel yourself. Getting the separate annotated Gifford guide as well as Stuart Gilbert’s chapter by chapter guide.
It’s really unlike anything else and not even a novel to be fair. If you can make it through the Circe chapter, then you’re golden! Good luck.
Fantastic list. I've already read a few like One Hundred Years, Frankenstein and Anna Karenina and will try to pick others as and when I get a chance. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the list. I am currently reading Anna Karenina (in @henryeliot 's slow read-along). I have been curious about The Master and Margarita, and this may be the push to get a copy.
Loved Anna Karenina when I first read it, but it was so early in my reading journey that I know I missed so much. I can't wait to get back to it!
I haven't made it to The Master and Margarita yet, but I can tell you that it is the one that was clicked on the most in this Deep Reading List post. It seems to pique a lot of interest (but it may just be that it has the most unique cover lol).
Yes, that cover is eye-catching. I live in Portugal, and sadly the cover for the English version of The Master and Margarita is nowhere near as striking as the one you posted.
For Ulysses, I believe the Gabler edition (1986) is the current standard. For help in understanding the text, I used the Patrick Hastings "Guide..." , and for understanding the references, the Gifford and Seidman "Ulysses Annotated". The online "Joyce Project" is helpful as well. https://www.joyceproject.com
Thank you so much for this guidance. I am definitely intimated by this task later in the year so any help I can get is appreciated!