Dear Book Club Readers ---
Thank you all so much for making the book club such a special community.
Your love of great literature is deeply inspiring, and I am endlessly grateful for all of you.
Let's talk about the book club schedule for the new year.
The video above breaks down the books and lectures for the year.
At the bottom of this post, we also have a downloadable document containing my recommended editions and some words of reading advice.
The first five minutes involve me talking about the year gone and saying thank you, so feel free to skip ahead to get straight into the schedule.
You can also see the schedule below the timestamps here.
Video Timestamps:
0:00 looking back over this year
3:00 the benefits of a deep reading program
6:00 revealing the schedule for 2026
Hardcore Literature Book Club Syllabus 2026
Guide to the lecture series for Winter 2026
January – February
Big Read: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1985)
Ancient Greek Tragedy: Oresteia by Aeschylus, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles,
and Medea by Euripides
Guide to the lecture series for Spring 2026
March – April
Big Read: The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1868)
Poetry Appreciation: The Poetry of William Blake
Foundational Thought: The Art of War by Sun Tzu
May – June
Big Read: Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante (2011-14)
Children’s Literature: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (1908)
Short Fiction Appreciation: Short Stories of Clarice Lispector
Foundational Thought: Bhagavad Gita
Guide to the lecture series for Summer 2026
July – August
Big Read: Swann’s Way & Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust
(Volumes One & Two of In Search of Lost Time, 1922)
Advanced Appreciation: Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (1939)
Foundational Thought: Confessions of Augustine (400 AD)
Guide to the lecture series for Autumn 2026
September – October
Big Read: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)
Old English Epic Poetry: Beowulf (c. 975 AD)
Foundational Thought: On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1859)
November – December
Big Read: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
Festive Reading Project: Secret Dickens Novel
There is a downloadable/printable document available attached at the bottom of this post which outlines the aims of this guided reading course, recommended editions, and some words on getting more out of your reading.
Thank you all for reading these great books with so much passion, curiosity, and love. Together, we're going to have our greatest reading year yet.
All love and best wishes,
Benjamin