George Eliot, Middlemarch. I just re-started this (again) after 200 pages because I’m having a heck of a time with my mind wandering while I’m reading. A BBC poll rated Middlemarch the greatest British novel.

Jonathan Anomaly, et al., eds. Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: An Anthology. This was the reader for my Jan Term special topics course. It’s a comprehensive introductory survey to PPE, and the essays made good jumping-off points for a lot of long discussions.

Arthur Pollard, ed. The Representation of Business in English Literature. This is a read for my ongoing book project with Deirdre McCloskey. it’s a very useful set of essays detailing how business was portrayed in different periods in British literature. It’s a good read for someone (like me!) who is a trained economist and who reads a lot but who hasn’t taken a literature course in almost twenty years.

The ESV Study Bible. This thing is comprehensive. I learned recently that I could get the Kindle version for $2.99 because I had bought the hardback.

Melissa de la Cruz, Return to the Isle of the Lost. This is the second in what I assume will be a series of novels that is part of the “Disney’s Descendants” franchise. It was my evening reading with my daughter.

Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book. I listen to the Audible version while I commute, and I suggested to my Econ 426 students that they read it over Christmas break to get an idea of how to read the selections in Anomaly et al., above. It’s a hopeful book suggesting to me that there are no limits to the ways people can improve as readers and thinkers.

Herman Melville, Moby Dick. I read a few “Illustrated Classics” with the older kids (Moby Dick, Oliver Twist, Huckleberry Finn) and asked my oldest if he’d like for me to try to read him the “real” Moby Dick in its entirety. We’re about a third of the way through it now, and I’m amazed at just how complex it is. I finally read it for the first time a couple of years ago, and I doubt that this reading will be my last.

Fritz Lang, Metropolis. I know, it’s not “reading,” but the groundbreaking silent film (which I just saw for the first time maybe a year or two ago) is simply astounding.