What I’ve Been Reading
Thoughts on the books I read in Q3 2024
This article is a new installment in a series of “mini reviews” of my reading. Previous installments in the series, along with other compilations, appear below:
2024: Q1 • Q2 • Q3
2023: Q1 • Q2 • Q3 • Q4
2022: Q1 • Q2 • Q3 • Q4
2021: Q3 • Q4
2020: Complete Reading List • Summer Book Recommendations
2019: Holiday Book Recommendations
2018: Holiday Book Recommendations
Full Listing of All Book Reviews Published Since 2009
Persian Fire
Author: Tom Holland
Year of Publication: 2005
Length: 401 pages
I read Herodotus in June as part of my Great Books reading project. Although the Landmark Edition provides a great deal of context helpful to the modern reader, I have often found it interesting to pair historical works with contemporary books. I read Tom Holland’s Dominion in 2023, so I was already aware of his narrative style and approach to putting history in context.
I believe that it was wise to read Herodotus before Persian Fire since I could view Holland’s work as a 30,000 foot view of the situation rather than as an authoritative history. Holland had the advantage of centuries of additional scholarship and he was not afraid to challenge some of the more fanciful elements in Herodotus, particularly the wild exaggeration of the Persian forces that invaded Greece.
Greeks considered the Persians and all other non-Greeks to be “barbarians” since they saw their society as the most enlightened civilization. So, it was ironic to read Holland’s account of how Persians viewed the Greeks. From the Persian perspective, the Greeks were the barbarians and amounted to nothing more than annoying “terrorist” states. The fact that a Greek alliance was able to repel Persia shocked the Persians and propelled Athens to decades of dominance in Greece and the Aegean, an era that ended only in the ruins of the Peloponnesian War, the “forever war” of the fifth century BC, documented so well by Thucydides.
History of the Peloponnesian War
Author: Thucydides
Year of Publication: Late 5th Century BC
Length: 636 pages
Thucydides wanted his history of the Peloponnesian War to be a “possession for all time.” Thousands of years later, his book is one of the most important works of antiquity. The book helps the reader understand the forces that lead to war which have not materially changed because these forces are governed by human nature. Weaponry has become exponentially more deadly but human nature has barely changed.
Thucydides was not only a historian but an active participant in the Peloponnesian War. He also had exposure to both sides in the conflict since he was exiled from Athens after a failed military expedition. However, aside from a few references to himself, Thucydides admirably keeps himself out of the narrative and seems to retain his objectivity.
I will refrain from further comments here since I wrote a longer article about the book in August.
Read my article about Thucydides
Hillbilly Elegy
Author: J.D. Vance
Year of Publication: 2016
Length: 261 pages
I first read J.D. Vance’s memoir in the third quarter of 2021, but this was long before he was selected as a candidate for the Vice Presidency. Here are my notes on the book from my first reading:
I first heard about this book during the 2016 election cycle when it was much discussed as a window into the difficulties faced by lower income white people in rural Appalachia and the Midwest. The author subsequently entered politics and is running for election to the United States Senate in 2022 in Ohio. I found the book genuine rather than a typical puff piece written by politicians as they prepare to run for office. In fact, some of the stories in the book are so awful that it is hard to believe that Vance had political ambitions at the time it was written. I have no direct exposure to Vance’s world other than driving through rural Appalachia myself on a few occasions. As an obvious outsider, I’ve always been treated politely, but always as an outsider. I came away from the book with a somewhat better understanding of the problems of the region.
My impression of the book is unchanged. It is clearly a genuine book written by a man who overcame massive obstacles to the success he ultimately attained. That being said, Vance has clearly undergone a political metamorphosis over the past several years, particularly since his successful United States Senate race in 2022. Most obvious is his change of opinion regarding Donald Trump. There is nothing inherently wrong with changing one’s opinion when the facts change, but have the facts changed or is Vance simply changing his tune for political reasons? I suspect the latter, although this is nothing new in politics. It is very alluring to run for an office that’s a heartbeat away from the most powerful political office in the world.
I doubt anyone on the fence in this election will be swayed by reading this book. The better reason to read it is to gain the insights into poverty in Appalachia which presumably was Vance’s original reason to write the book long before he was involved in electoral politics.
A Soldier of the Great War
Author: Mark Helprin
Year of Publication: 1991
Length: 860 pages
I was familiar with the author from reading Digital Barbarism in 2009 which is a work of non-fiction and one of the first books I wrote about on The Rational Walk. For some reason, it took me fifteen years to return to Helprin, but this time I chose one of his novels. I was not disappointed.
The story is initially set near Rome in the 1960s, long after the First World War. Alessandro Giuliani was an old man on the way to catch a tram to take him to the town where his granddaughter’s family lived. When the driver refuses to stop for a young man running to catch the tram, Alessandro exits in protest. Stranded on the road since the tram was the last scheduled for the day, the men start walking toward their destinations. This sets the scene for Alessandro to tell the young man the story of his life in a series of flashbacks that comprise the majority of the book.
Alessandro’s life story is one of an idyllic pre-war period on his family’s estate in Rome and as a university student which is interrupted by the First World War. After volunteering for the navy to avoid trench warfare, Alessandro ends up in the trenches anyway, but he is a lucky survivor. The story of the horrors and futility of war from the perspective of a soldier is timeless. The reader feels like part of the action.
We only get glimpses of what happened in Alessandro’s life after the war which is somewhat frustrating. There is much tragedy in his life, but his overall attitude looking back fifty years after the war is still positive and his conversation no doubt changed the trajectory of his young companion’s life. I can’t say much more without revealing spoilers, so I’ll stop other than to say I enjoyed the book and recommend it!
A Death in Cornwall
Author: Daniel Silva
Year of Publication: 2024
Length: 416 pages
Like clockwork, a new Daniel Silva spy novel comes out every July. I have read them all. At this point, however, I feel like the storylines are getting stale and predictable and the characters never seem to change very much. I suppose this might be inevitable for an author who is writing a fairly long book every single year, but of course adopting such an aggressive publication schedule is a choice, not a requirement.
Investors often refer to “moats” when discussing businesses and the same is true for authors, especially those who have built a loyal readership. Will I read Silva’s next novel? The answer is probably yes because they are still entertaining, despite my grouchy comments, and sometimes it is nice to read an undemanding book during the summer months.
Daniel Silva’s novels are the reader’s equivalent of binging on Netflix. But would it hurt to freshen up the plots and bring in fresh new characters? Maybe take a year off and come up with a better novel in 2026?
The Three Theban Plays
Author: Sophocles
Translator: Robert Fagles
Year of Publication: Fifth Century B.C.
Length: 430 pages
After reading Aeschylus during the second quarter, I read Sophocles this summer. It is tragic that only seven of his plays have survived given that he is known to have written well over a hundred. I highly recommend reading the Greek tragedians because they illustrate the never-changing aspects of human nature in very memorable ways. It is almost shocking to see characters from 2,500 years ago react to situations much like people do today. However, in order to fully appreciate these works of art, it is very important to first read Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey and to gain a basic understanding of Greek Mythology.
This book includes three plays by Sophocles covering the story of Oedipus, one of the most cursed characters of Greek Mythology. I wrote an article about these plays so I will not go into further detail here.
Read my article about the Three Theban Plays
Electra and Other Plays
Author: Sophocles
Translator: David Raeburn
Year of Publication: Fifth Century B.C.
Length: 309 pages
This book covers four of Sophocles’ plays, sometimes referred to as the “non-Theban” plays: Electra, Ajax, Women of Trachis, and Philoctetes. Like the Theban plays, each of the plays can be read in one sitting of about two hours and both volumes have detailed notes and introductions to help the modern reader put the stories into context. While I have taken notes on these four plays, I have yet to publish an article. I am considering an article about Electra, one of the main characters in the story of Agamemnon’s ill-fated return from Troy, most comprehensively presented by Aeschylus in The Oresteia trilogy. The story of Electra presented by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides differ in several interesting ways.
ESV Study Bible
Publisher: Crossway
Year of Publication: 2008
Length: 1,128 pages (Genesis to Psalms)
I have read several Study Bibles covering the New Testament and some study guides for selected Old Testament books, but I have never read a Study Bible covering the entire Old and New Testaments. In the third quarter, I started on a six month reading plan covering the entire Bible. My primary purpose this quarter was to better understand the books of the Old Testament covering the ancient history of Israel that coincides with the histories of other ancient civilizations that I have been reading about. This material is primarily presented in 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Also, the Book of Esther includes many details about Persia, and I found this interesting given my recent reading of Herodotus.
This has been a surprisingly time consuming project. Each of the daily readings in my six month plan takes close to an hour when I include the extensive notes included in the ESV Study Bible. In addition, there are substantial introductions to each book as well as each category of book, along with topical essays. I have also been keeping a journal of each day’s readings in order to record my thoughts which helps in my comprehension. This takes an additional fifteen to thirty minutes per day. The pace, particularly for the Psalms and Proverbs, is far too fast and I would probably opt for a twelve month plan if I was starting the project today. However, I plan to complete my six month plan this quarter.
Readers should keep in mind that the ESV Study Bible contains notes and explanations based on Protestant Christianity. This means that the Old Testament books are interpreted from a Protestant perspective, that is, with Jesus Christ seen as the messiah. I am considering reading Robert Atler’s The Hebrew Bible in 2025 which presents the Old Testament as a self-contained unit, that is, from the Jewish perspective. Also Ignatius Press will soon release a Catholic Study Bible covering both the Old and New Testaments, along with the Apocrypha, which is not included in the ESV Study Bible. I might read this book in 2025 or 2026.
As I wrote earlier this year, I think that it is almost impossible to understand western civilization without understanding the Bible, and like all Great Books, readers can get new insights with each reading, assuming that sufficient time and attention is devoted to the project.
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