Original image of a passage in Seneca’s Phaedra by There Stands the Glass.
The majority of my days now fall into one of two categories: days in which my free time is devoted to reading and days centered on experiencing live music. I’ve read 110 books (so far) in 2025. I’ve attended 161 live music performances on 146 different days (so far) this year. My progress can be tracked here.
Only recently have I been less than delighted by the way in which I’m directing my leisure. I began reading Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th century novel The Tale of Genji three weeks ago. I’ve reached page 1,003 in my 1,090-page edition of the novel. The book has become a burden.
Unlike with music, a field in which I take pride in staying up to date, I’m not particularly concerned with recently published literature. How can I properly process new works if I’m not fully conversant with the classics? A small slice of time remains for me. I have a lot of work to do if I’m to leave this world as a well-read person.
The following is a partial survey of my year in reading.
Favorite: Edward Rice- Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West (1990)
Most entertaining: Victor Hugo- Les Misérables (1862)
Most impactful: Ian McEwan- Lessons (2022)
Most relevant: Amir Tibon- The Gates of Gaza (2024)
My biggest accomplishment: I read three installments of Will and Ariel Durant’s The Story of Civilization series: Volume 1: Our Oriental Heritage (1935), Volume 3: Caesar and Christ (1944) and Volume 4: The Age of Faith (1950).
Best surprise: Denis Diderot- Rameau’s Nephew and Other Works (18th century A.D.)
Book everyone around me tired of hearing about: George Black- Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone (2012)
Biggest disappointment: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1793)
Most challenging: The Harvard Classics, Vol. 27: English Essays from Sir Philip Sidney to Macaulay (1909)
Most outrageous: Apuleius- The Golden Ass or The Metamorphosis (second century A.D.)
Most disturbing: Toni Morrison- Sula (1973)
Best new book: Daniel Kraus- Angel Down (2025)
Best history: Barbara Tuchman- The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 (2012)
Best spiritual: Thomas Merton- The Way of Chuang Tzu (1965)
Best music: Brad Mehldau- Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part 1 (2023)
Best short story collection: The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories (1994)
Best book of local interest: Andy Kirk as told to Amy Lee- Twenty Years on Wheels (1989)
Best poetry: Langston Hughes- The Weary Blues (1954)
Best novel: Willa Cather- One of Ours (1922)
Best play: Seneca- Phaedra (first century A.D.)
Best audiobook: Kid Congo Powers and Chris Campion- Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir (2022)
Longest: Will and Ariel Durant- The Story of Civilization, Volume 4: The Age of Faith (1,196 pages)
Shortest: Wiley Blevins- Follow Me Around Japan (2018, 32 pages)
Most ambitious project: I began reading a few pages of Edward Gibbon’s epic The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776, 1781 and 1781) in bed every night. I plan to complete Decline and the Durants’ Civilizations series in 2028.
