My 2025 Reading Projects

Series, long reads, and self-improvement

Every year, I pick a behemoth of a classic to tackle. In 2024, I read Don Quixote three pages at a time. In 2023, I listened to all 36 hours of The Brothers Karamozov. Working my way through an intimidating text bit by bit has really added structure to my reading life. I don’t find myself going days without reading because I don’t want to fall behind on the schedule.

However, I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing greater context to these masterpieces and wasn’t taking all I could from the pages. I wanted to understand the historical references and bigger philosophical debates often happening within these texts.

Enter Substack.

After mentioning my long read of Don Quixote, a beloved Pantsuit Politics listener Liz K, whose recommendations I almost always trust and follow, reached out and shared the Substack Footnotes & Tangents. Written by Simon Haisell, F&T is where Simon hosts several year-long slow reads complete with a reading schedule, rich historical background, chat groups, and analysis.

I literally could not sign up fast enough. One of my favorite reading experiences of all time was several years (decades?) into Oprah’s Book Club when she picked classics and had a bevy of top literary scholars on to discuss the texts. I read Anna Karenina and A Tale of Two Cities this way and have been craving a similar experience ever since.

So, this year I am reading Hillary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy along with the F&P community and War & Peace (which Simon doesn’t technically recommend, but I couldn’t help myself!). I am loving every page, every weekly exploration Simon sends, and the way these slow reads provide a sturdy foundation for my reading life. The character summaries for War & Peace alone are worth the price of admission. Every time I think, “Wait, who is this again?!” I just click over to F&P where Simon has a quick sketch for how each character shows up in each chapter! Again, I remember the Oprah Book Club having something similar for Anna Karenina and it’s absolutely essential for Russian literature where there are many many characters with many many different names. Simon hosts several other slow reads if Russian literature isn’t your thing, and there are a plethora of other Substacks that read classics and give the rich background that makes it such a rewarding experience.

We are also hosting another slow read on Pantsuit Politics this year. After working our way through Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, we are reading Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life by Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton. Having an explicitly civic slow read to keep me grounded through all the political tumult has been so beneficial. I’m really looking forward to reading this modern classic and discussing it with Beth and our community.

Another reading project I’ve taken on this year is Ben Meer’s Personal MBA Reading List. I’m not sure how I subscribed to Ben Meer’s newsletter, but he falls in the highly-designed productivity space along with James Clear and Tim Ferris. I read this genre on and off, depending on my mood and personal bandwidth. At some point, I printed out this reading list and found it as I was cleaning off my desk at the end of the year. We faced several business challenges at Pantsuit Politics throughout 2024. Expanding my thinking and skills around being a business owner sounded like a good idea. Plus, I like pushing my boundaries with nonfiction and reading outside my echo chamber. Starting the year with Peter Thiel’s Zero to One fits the bill!

The last reading project I’m working on is using the service Rebind. Rebind is a fascinating website where they train AI on a literary expert (some pretty famous ones like Roxane Gay and Lena Dunham!). You can chat with that expert while reading the classics in their library. I’m working through Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations right now; it has been a unique reading experience. I’m still getting used to the chat function and figuring out how best to use it. Still, I’ve purchased an annual membership and plan to get through as much of the library as possible.

What are your reading projects for this year?