i'm slowly getting through the complete works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Woolf, Austen, The Brontes, Eliot, Trollope. it's part of a broader canonical read through.

I've really only had two reading projects that I dedicated myself to. The Great Books of the Western World and the Harvard Classics. I inherited both sets from my grandmother and even though it took me over 30 years I've read both sets. I don't claim to understand them all but I've read them all

i have too many and all of them because of you the order is like that: (1. (book tag i saw through you) reading all books I haven’t read or sort them out if I really do not want to read them any further) 2. starting your western canon starter kit at least till the victorian era 3. my first five biographies (steve approved) and that in a row 4. starting with comics and look if it is something for me 5. rereading at least 2 books ( I think I will do it even though I feel like I have not even read enough books to go to this step) I want to be done with this list before 2025 and point one will probably take 5 more months from now on

Last year I went through all the Shakespeare plays in order by assumed publication dates. For each play I read the play and/or listened to the Archangel audiobook, listened to BBC radio performances, watched at least one production on youtube, and watched a university lecture where I could. Many were rereads, of course, but this was more in depth than just reading a play. I've also been reading all of a few published lists, and have certain authors each year I focus on reading. I really ought to lay out many of my reading projects going on this year and make a video soon. I do tend to finish most of my reading projects. I am all caught up in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series, I finished Lillian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who series, etc. I still have maybe 2 Jussi Adler Olsen books to finish in his Department Q series. I have been dragging a bit finishing all of Louis L'Amour and Andre Norton, but should finish both this year. I just have to get enough momentum and be able to get the books, in order if possible, and I usually finish my reading projects in a matter of months or weeks.

I had a kind of a project this past December when, in my dotage, I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings for the very first time.

I’ve been reading through the early Australian short stories and novels - mostly between 1800-1930s It’s interesting to see what occupied the minds of the people here at that time, - even though it was well before the time that my family had moved here. I tend not to have a formal plan, it takes the fun out of it for me and makes it feel like a chore.

My friend and I are reading British Victorian novels, alternating between men and women. It's been a great way to learn about Victorian society and a lot of fun comparing them.

I have three ongoing book projects: 1) A slow read through of the Western Canon. I've only recently begun this and I'm only on Thucydides. 2) Reading the number one best Fiction book of every year of Steve's "Best of" fiction list going all the way back to 1990. I have the full list, but I have not begun yet since I'm slowly accumulating copies of each book first. 3) Reading every book on my fiction bookcase. I love fiction so I often have trouble deciding which book to read next (I want to read them ALL right away!) so to tempor my indecisiveness I am going in order based on how I organized my fiction shelves. I'm quite fond of that idea and it's a real relief.

I did that one year with Shakespeare, I got the idea from the dreaded Ben, but didn't follow his nonsense, and I believe he went over time. I read a lot around Shakespeare too. It was great. The other project I did recently was a year-long read of the Greek plays, which to use your word was "wonderous". I am doing Historathon this year as it's not prescriptive apart from the quarterly periods. My poetry project this year is Alexander Pope, and I'm having to read slowly, but that is fine. He's worth the effort.

I'm reading Hodgkin's eight-volume 'The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire'. Found most of the set at a flea market, having never heard of it. Did some research, then went looking for the missing volumes. Started reading once I had them all. I read lots of other books, different genres, one at a time, in between the Hodgkin volumes, which I come back to every three or four months, so the whole 'project' will take about two years. Taking similar approach to Durant's (and Durant's) 'The Story of Civilization'.

Steve David Copperfield is pure magic! Maybe just read it one more time. Great video - love this theme.

@Tolstoy111

5 ай бұрын

I’ve noticed it either grabs people completely or leaves them cold.

Yes, I have reading projects. They're all slow going, as I always get sidetracked with other books. I have my Howard and Lovecraft book read. For Howard, the only thing I still have to read are his Fight Stories, westerns, Almuric, and Skull Face. I also have books of his and Lovecraft's poetry. And to top it off, are the Collected Letters between Howard and Lovecraft. My next big one all the books by Tolkien that aren't The Hobbit, LORT, or The Silmarillion. I've read The Children of Hurin, Beren And Luthien, and The Book of Lost Tales Vol. 1 & 2. Of course I'd probably make better headway if I didn't keep rereading The Hobbit and LOTR. And last year, I mostly read the Dune saga and related books about the Dune books, movies and tv series. That put a stop to my Tolkien book reads. That brings me to my Dune project of making a collection of cool Dune quotes from all six books on my Kindle. I eventually want to organize them into my own version of the Orange Catholic Bible, of cool Dune quotes. And of course I try to read newer and older Fantasy and Sci-Fi books. I must be turning into a grumpy old man. Every time I get going on other books I think, This is cool and all, but I'd rather just reread Conan, Lord of the Rings or Dune again. Things were better back in my day. Even though I grew up in the 80s. Not the 60s or 40s. So I stop the newer books, like I just did with The Dark Forrest by, Cixin Liu. And go back to what I realy like.

Oh and Dickens novels, all Hardy novels. All of Ibsen plays (I’m Norwegian) , obviously all of Shakespeare. Knut Hamsun collected works. Reading my roots projects so classic Norwegian literature. I guess I have more than I thought 🙈

My first reading project , 66 years ago, was the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories, all of which I read in a month, and occasionally ever after. My next, in high school, was all of Herman Melville works (excepting his poetry,)from Mardi on. Next, all of the works of Wittgenstein (largely the lecture notes taken by his devoted students as well as Ray Monk's wonderful biography ,Norman Malcolm's book on Wittgenstein's lengthy visit with him in the US., and Bruce Duffy's novel The World as I Found It. Then all of the major Stoics, followed by all of the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (this is the genesis of my present project of reading all of Anne Carson's work). Because of your antipathy to philosophy, I will just mention that I have read all of Hume except for his histories, all of Spinoza, all of Schopenhauer, and all of Thomas Hobbes. I find it difficult to understand your antipathy, especially given you delight in the worlds constructed by science fiction writers. Philosophers, too, construct worlds, often fascinating ones, and I am very taken by the worlds they beautifully build. ,

I reread the entire Sherlock Holmes canon every couple of years. I also made a determined effort to read all of Vonnegut and finished that. I started Chuck Palahniuk a few years ago but didn't finish that project -- too repetitive. I've been amassing John Steinbeck books lately in preparation for that project. Fun video, Steve.

My reading projects are typically very relaxed, with annual quotas rather than deadlines. For example, I aim to read all of P.G.Wodehouse, but to savour it I will limit myself to 2 or 3 Jeeves books a year. Same goes for Frank Herbert’s Dune series (1 book a year). This year however I’m giving myself more rigid goals. By the end of this year I hope to have read all of Shakesoeare’s Henriad and the collected works of the “big six” romantic poets.

Thank you for taking this on, even though your definition of a book project is completely different to anybody else's. Systematic reread? It will take me the next 20+ years to NOT finish Trollope! I'm loving reading everyone's responses. Thank you for bring this to your audience, it's exactly the kind of nosey, bookish thing that scratches an itch!

I was an avid lover of Dickens when I was in my early teens. I’m sure that nostalgia adds to my love. A project I have yet to explore is Russian writers. I have yet to read a Russian I did not love.

Hi Steve. When will you outline your February read along of Marie Antoinette (Antonia Fraser)? I am newish to book tube and I am uneducated in the different activities on the channel and how they work. I have my copy of the book (somewhat amazed at taking this book out of the library) a title I wouldn’t have selected on my own. Your high regard for the author and statement that it covers more than the standard beheadings etc. spurred me to join your “event”.

My reading projects tend to be the focus of most of my reading time. I read pretty quickly (though not as fast as you, Steve). I have two big reading projects planned for this year: 1. Sword and Sorcery. I will be rereading all of Howard's Conan, Moorcock's Elric, and Lieber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series. The plan is to finish by July 2. I have 5 different annotated editions of Dracula. I will be reading all 5 concurrently, comparing the text, annotations, and critical matter included. I'll start this in August with the goal of finishing by Halloween. Right now I'm rereading all of Jim Butcher's novels, who is my favorite guilty pleasure author.

Current reading project: Reading all of the Ray Bradbury on my shelf.

I have about a 50% success rate with projects I set for myself. I DID manage to read all of Proust's novel in one summer. I DID manage to read 3 books each of Flaubert, DeLillo and Nabokov last year, as I'd planned. Yet I wanted to read The Idiot and Demons in January this year, and instead I've read nothing due to a horrific reading slump. Last year was my worst reading year numbers-wise since 2015, and this year is off to a terrible start. Help!

@stretmediq

5 ай бұрын

Don't worry about that just read what you want and even though it may take years one day you'll look back and find you've completed your project

Please talk about the Iris Murdoch books you’re reading. Maybe a video on three or four at a time. I would love to know what you think about them.

I like reading eras or books of a like genre and style as projects for myself

I very spontaneously started a reading project for myself at the very start of January, reading The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, after hankering to start it but always putting it off for something else since it's a big read. I like to snack on it day by day, might read something else alongside it, not sure yet, but i am loving it. i figured i'd keep my first reading project a smaller goal (: I've always set a goal in the back of my mind to read all of Sylvia Plath too, so I guess i could combine them into one.

I was going to start reading the Tarzan novels one a month for the next two years.

I have lots of authors that I'm reading all of their novels/short stories (Trollope, Austen, the Brontes, Eliot, Hardy just to name a few). I don't like to read biography/autobio of them because while I can separate the author from their work, it's harder for me to do if I start not liking them as a person (see Stephen King... he needs his X/Twitter taken away 😅). I'm also working through the Pulitzer Prize list because I didn't realize how many of them I owned already. I'm fine DNFing if I don't like the book (more of the modern ones I'll not likely read (there are exceptions) because they're quality stinks IMO. But I want to find ones I love just as much as Lonesome Dove and The Road and a few others).

I'm thrilled to see you understand the knitting bug! My latest project is reading a lot of non-southern regional literature--especially literature from the very late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Have any favorites to recommend?

I started reading the biography of James Merrill. I have a collection of his letters too, and I’ve been slowly reading his poetry for a while now. I suppose that’s one reading project that has formed without my intending it.

Hi Steve, I'm a recent subscriber to your channel and I don't care what anyone else says......I love your videos and your opinions. I don't know if I can ask you questions here but I'd like to ask you a few. First, would you give me your opinion on a good biography of T. E. Lawrence? Secondly, would you recommend a good book about the history of the Israel/Palestine relationship.....sort of a beginner's guide I guess. Lastly, I'd like to know your thoughts on book series that are started by one author but continued by another, i.e., Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series or Robert B. Parker's Jess Stone series. Hoping to hear from you.

You should talk about them more! It’s some of the most interesting things to listen to. I have a few reading projects. Well maybe more than a few. I’m reading through a Western Canon list, but of course this is a life long project, and I want to re-read and expand on it for the rest of my life. Other than that I’m also doing the 1001 list. Stephen King fiction in publication order Wilbur Smith in publication order Ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian history.

I don’t do reading projects. I am a huge mood reader. I started reading a book by the romance author Maya Banks and I had to read a few of her other books. I have to be in the mood for the books I pick. It’s what I feel at the moment when it comes to my reading. I don’t do TBR’s or think ahead to what I want to read.

Back in 2022, I devoted most of the year to finally finishing The Wheel of Time, last year was the year of Sanderson, where I attempted to read at least one book by him per month (I failed to read anything of his in December). This year, I started a multi year Stephen King reread

my only project this year is to try and close out or catch up with at least 40 open series without starting any new ones, its hard when you see everyone getting excited about books and I know I can’t justify adding yet more open series

🎉🎉 15.8K subscribers 🎉🎉

@saintdonoghue

5 ай бұрын

DO you mind? It's STAYING at 15.8, young lady! FOREVER!

@stretmediq

5 ай бұрын

@@saintdonoghue Steve doesn't have to worry about size lol

I want to read all of the novels of a few authors - I have an Excel file with a tab per author with chronological titles and try to make some progress each year - Dickens, Gaskell, Woolf, Barnes, etc. :) I know I can't put too much pressure on myself but I try to read at least one Dickens per year as an example. Another one is to read all of the Shakespeare plays - trying to read about one each quarter :)

I do this all the time lol I think it's fun.

Recently, I’ve decided to read books from the 50s and 60s. Started with Han Suyin. Now I want to try Iris Murdoch. You’ve piqued my interest!. So it’s more period reading than a specific author.

I Myself Am Reading All Of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot Novels In Publication Order. In Addition To The Many Other Books In Which I Have An Intrest.

@GuiltyFeat

5 ай бұрын

I'm also reading the Poirot books in publication order. I reckon at 3-4 a year, that should see me through the next 20 years or so.

Every so often I get persuaded by someone's enthusiasm to pick up Trollope again, but I think it's a lost cause with me. I love Dickens, but I recognise that a lot of the melodrama just isn't going to land with modern audiences, it certainly doesn't with me. I can't think of an author that had such an intimate relationship with his audience, and he gave them what they wanted, but that can be a problem for people today who don't have the same tastes. The death of Little Nell, for example, strikes us as blatant pandering, but the Victorians ate that stuff up with a spoon.

A huge number of BookTubers I follow are doing or have done a systematic deep dive into Stephen King - I can’t think of another author with such a fan base. Everything in publication order. I haven’t read horror, so I can’t fathom the appeal. There’s no author in second place.

@saintdonoghue

5 ай бұрын

Oh I agree completely - when it comes to reading projects like this on BookTube, nobody even comes close to King

If we know anything about Steve, it's that he's a big knitter.