The Plan

They say that writing down goals increases one's chances of actually reaching them. To test that theory I've created this space to post my "great books" reading plan. I am not following any one list or canon, but drawing from several according to my desire for breadth, relevance, and practicality. I should note that by "relevance" I mean works that have been highly influential or have high artistic, religious, or scientific merit within the Western (Judeo-Christian-Greco-Roman-European) tradition. My overarching goal is to better understand my culture, which is why works from other great civilizations aren't included in this project unless they had an influence on the West.

I posted the first version of this list earlier, but will be leaving that one alone. This list will get updated and expanded as I progress (assuming I progress!), and will be a record of where I've been and where I intend to go.

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General Preparation

• The Well-Educated Mind (Bauer) √
• How to Read a Book (Adler & Van Doren) √
• The Trivium (Sr. Miriam Joseph)

Context (to be read concurrently)

• Oxford Atlas of World History (O'Brien)
• New History of the World (Roberts)
• Encyclopedia of World History (Stearns)
• The Story of Art (Gombrich)
• Gardner's Art Through the Ages (12th ed.)
• Music in Western Civilization (Wright)

References

• Oxford Classical Dictionary
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (2005)
• ye olde internette

Mesopotamia

• Myths from Mesopotamia (Dalley)
• chapter on Gilgamesh in Ancient Epic Poetry (Beye)

Ancient Egypt

• The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Faulkner)

Hebrew Bible

• Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible
• with support from the Oxford Bible Commentary

Preparation for Ancient Greece

• Ancient Greece (Pomeroy)
• Classical Mythology (Morford & Lenardon)

Homer

• Iliad & Odyssey (Lattimore)
• chapters up to Homer in Ancient Epic Poetry (Beye)
• A Companion to the Iliad: Based on the Translation by Richmond Lattimore (Willcock)
• Homer's Odyssey: A Companion to the Tranlsation of Richmond Lattimore (Jones)

Hesiod (Lattimore)

Greek Lyrics (Lattimore)

Greek Drama

• Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (Greene and Lattimore)
• Aristophanes: all or part?

History

• Herodotus: The Histories
• Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War

Hippocrates

Plato

Aristotle

to be continued...

Comments

[Imani]

It pleases and gratifies me to see you specifically cite Lattimore's translations for the Homer epics. I received Fagles' translation of "The Odyssey" for Christmas and, well, it lacks...everything for me except "readability". It sent me rushing to my copy of Lattimore's "The Iliad" to remind me that Homer's poetry was supposed to be exciting.

Which seems strange considering all the love Fagle gets for his stuff. Not that I'm an expert.

[Stefanie]

Wow Sylvia, did I copy from your reading list or did you copy from mine? :-)

[Sylvia]

Imani, I agree with you completely. I've read snippets of both and like you say, Fagles is easy to read but that's about it. Maybe that's what some people want but I'd rather have to work a little harder to read something more beautiful.

Stefanie, I copied from everyone's reading list!

[goldscribe]

I am encouraged to expand my own reading..
Your list has some books I have skimmed but never seriously sat down to read. I think I may change this and actually try to improve upon my knowledge and fully embrace reading The Book of the Dead.
I always admire your literary pursuits..and you inspire me to further mine.

oh and HAPPY NBW YEAR!

[Ian Daniel Stewart]

I highly recommend Lattimore's translation of The Iliad – not that I read Greek or anything, mind you, I can only vouch for it's readability. I ended up reading Fitzgerald's translation for a greater sense of poetical breadth. If that makes sense. I wanted someone else to tell me the story.

I was thinking about buying Fagle's translation of the Aeneid when it finally makes it's way to the bargain bin. Happily, for me, that's where the classics wind up in our times.

[Sylvia]

Thanks for you thoughts, Ian.

Goodness, there is quite a crop of new book bloggers these days! The more the merrier, I say.

[turtlebella]

hee hee, I read some of the comments to my honey - who was, in a former life - well, just a former version of his present life, a classicist - thinking that he might have some insight about the various translations of Homer. And he said that he didn't get very worked up about any of the translations. Which surprised me cos I know that he loves Homer (whoever Homer was but that's another topic and one that I find ENDlessly fascinating). It took me a moment but then I was like DUH! Cos he reads them in the original. Damn classicists!

All that aside, you've quite the plan! I'm very impressed and wish my reading was anywhere as near varied (in terms of different genres)!

[Sylvia]

It must be nice to have your own pet classicist! I once had a beau with a B.A. and got so frustrated because he didn't want to spend all his time telling me everything he knew about history and literature. The nerve!