Read a good book lately?
How about setting a goal of reading six good books in 2025? That’s one book every two months, starting this month. So, you better get going!
When I say “good,” I mean classic. Search online and you’ll find innumerable lists of the classic works of English literature. They generally list as “The Top Twenty,” or “My Fifteen Favorites,” or “Ten Classics You Must Read…”
But I offer simply this…
Bill’s random choice of six awesome classics you might actually enjoy.
Six is a good start, but our reading plan has to be seven, for how could we leave out the best book ever written, the ultimate classic? It is, by far, the international best-seller of all time. Introducing the… Holy Bible!
We’ll need to imbibe this one every day of the year, so click here for your classic Bible reading plan for 2025. Freely adapt this to what flows in a life-giving rhythm of reading, study, and worship.
We know the great value of the Bible as God’s authoritative word straight to human hearts, but do we appreciate it as the foundation of all great literature in Western civilization? Indeed, the classics are in some way founded in The Classic of all time and eternity.
I find that in the great works every author, whether agreeing with the testimony of sacred Scripture or not, cannot escape dealing with its truth claims and spiritual profundities. The story of good vs. evil, with mankind’s need for redemption and atonement as presented in the Bible, is the story found, implicitly if not explicitly, in every great work subsequently written.
Back to our classics reading plan for 2025…
You’ll note that all my selections are from 19th century Europe or Russia, seedbed of a plethora of great works borne of the Enlightenment to Modern era transition. Rationalism, naturalism, democratism, and industrialism exerted massive societal pressures that exalted humanity and discredited the church. Self-actualization emboldened the populace to eschew religious norms. Against this tide, great thinkers arose who understood the Judeo-Christian ethic as essential to the preservation of all that is good in Western civilization.
Those same societal struggles, amplified, persist in our postmodern era. The challenges our 19th century forbears faced are the challenges we face in the 21st century. Fortunately, the thinking and writing of the authors of the classics are good fruit of Western civilization for us to treasure and pass on to the next generation. By reading the great works, we better understand our Western culture and the forces relentlessly at work to dismantle it.
Hold on just one classic minute. Bill’s book selections are not factual; they’re fiction...
As almost all the classics are! Some would complain, “Fiction isn’t even true. Why should I waste my time reading some made-up story? I don’t want someone’s subjective philosophies—just give me the facts.”
I understand the critique, and it’s great to read the more objective works of history, biography, and science, but this should not discount the contribution fiction makes to societal development. I’ve grown in this understanding through “Tristan and the Classics” on YouTube—a very helpful resource.
Think about it…
Is life objective? Our rational mind wants it to be, but the realities of human feelings, aspirations, hopes, fears, dreams, family expectations, relationships, social contracts, perceptions (I could go on) are anything but objective. This is the stage on which the great thinkers tell their tales that explore the subjectivities of the human soul.
Fiction actually helps us know what it is to be human.
Fiction, then, is not untrue. Think of Jesus’ works of fiction called parables. He was a great rabbinic thinker crafting transcendent stories based on His Father’s ultimate story of creation, sin, and redemption. There’s no way to call the parables “untrue” even though they involve fictional characters in a fictional setting. No, they are quite true in revealing our humanity in light of God’s reality.
Karen Swallow Prior puts it this way: “Fiction simply reflects the linearity and narrative structure of our earthly experience. And the best fiction does even more. The best stories exercise our discernment, cultivate our virtue, and provide the pleasure of discovery and illumination.” Eight Works of Fiction Every Christian Should Read (November 2018)
As Sherlock Holmes said to his trusty colleague, “Watson, you see, but you do not observe.” The seeing part of our humanity is the more objective experience, but the observing part is decidedly subjective because it explores the complexities of who we really are and why we think and behave as we do.
The great works of fiction supply this “observing beyond seeing” as they explore our humanity, often in light of Scripture and the cultural norms of a biblically founded social ethic. While some authors strike explicit Christian themes, others include references and allusions that serve the literary purpose of comparing and contrasting their characters’ lives to those of the Scriptures and other ancient writings.
Enough of a lecture from me on the value of reading the classics. Your questions?
Q: Is it permissible to listen to audiobooks in our classics reading plan?
A: Absolutely!
I get most of my classics in by listening to them. The inherent drawback in listening is that you will be multi-tasking (like me… walking, cycling, cleaning the kitchen, or mopping the floors), so you will need to listen a second time to get all you will want to get out of a book. You may also want to search out an online study aid to help you sort out the (sometimes complex) characters, themes, and literary devices in these great works.
Q: Is it okay to watch movies based on the classics?
A: Absolutely not!
I'm kidding. I think the best movies ever made are the ones from the classics—you’ll find a good flick of each of my six books in the reading plan. It’s just always true that the book is better than the movie, so try to read the book before watching the movie. You can even read and watch simultaneously and find yourself yelling at the TV, “That’s not how it goes in the book! What’s wrong with you?”
Q. Is there more you’d like to say about reading the classics?
A: Absolutely!
But we’re out of time and space, so let’s get reading.
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Bill’s Classics 2025 Reading Plan
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January-February
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860)
Start your year with “great expectations” for enrichment through reading! What better way to start than with the most entertaining and engaging writer in all English literature. With some bizarre twists and turns, Dickens explores classism, ambition, and the journey of self-discovery through young Pip’s quest to rise above his humble beginnings to find that true value lies not in wealth or social status but in personal integrity and genuine human relationships.
March-April
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)
Dickens for the winter, but Brontë brings the spring! The author explores the pursuit of personal independence and self-worth within the constraints of a restrictive Victorian society as amazing Jane struggles with love, social class, and her own moral compass. With masterful infusions of darkness and confusion, Brontë resolves matters of finding love without sacrificing identity, navigating gender roles, and overcoming class oppression.
[My daughter Anna’s favorite, by the way.]
May-June
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumás (1844)
Ok, Jane Eyre was Anna’s favorite—time for mine! Endless adventure, intrigue, and unlikely characters make this a singularly great read. Dumás’ primary theme is revenge and justice explored through Edmond Dantès' pursuit of retribution against those who falsely imprisoned him. Raising question of the morality of vengeance and its consequences on the avenger, the novel posits the role of fate vs. God’s power to transform a life.
July-August
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866)
Summer reading deserves the best, and here it is, if you can bear the weight of guilt our self-righteous protagonist carries around. Dostoevsky dives deep into the psychological effects of committing a crime through Raskolnikov’s struggle with remorse after murdering an unlovely lady, pointing to the idea that the true punishment for a crime is the internal torment of guilt. A story of redemption, the possibility of atonement through suffering, is explored through a supporting character who seeks it from God.
September-October
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1876)
Fall is the season for something obscure, and that is Daniel Deronda, one of my favorite fictional characters, owing to my love for the Jews. Eliot clearly loves them too. She explores identity, particularly the struggle to reconcile one's personal desires with the pull of a hidden heritage, focusing on Daniel’s discovery of his Jewish ancestry and his search for belonging among an ostracized people. The novel portrays the complexities of a Jewish community debating the return to the Promised Land. Who will lead them home?
November-December
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878)
As the days darken, your close of the year will need Tolstoy. In this triumph of 19th century Russian literature, we embrace honorable marriage contrasted with unbridled passion with all its pain and suffering. Tolstoy strikes a pro-family position while exploring the heartaches of family life. Supporting character Levin’s story centers on faith leading to an epiphany of the reason for existence. This literary adventure includes the tensions between conservatives and progressives!
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Happy reading, and God bless the expansion of mind, soul, and spirit that awaits you in reading the Bible and the classics this year.
I’d love to know your favorite classic. Share below!
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