This was the lightest reading year I've had in awhile, if measured by books completed, thanks to law school. However, if measured by pages or words read, I probably read more than ever before.
Until August, my reading schedule was normal. But once school started, I was only able to finish two "fun" books throughout the entire semester. It's not that I didn't have the time to read fun books, but whenever I sat down to do so, there was a small voice inside my head that convinced me that my time was better spent reading books for school. I don't regret that, though. The rationale was that every hour spent studying should, hopefully, be worth it when the semester is over, and though reading fun books helps me learn, it's not as "productive" as being caught up on reading for school. Plus, spending a few hours reading for school helped me get ahead for the week, which allowed me to slow down and make sure I really understand the material, identify the areas I was confused, and come up with specific questions to ask my professors. I don't think I would have had that luxury if I wasn't so ahead.
All that to say, I didn't read as many books in the back half of the year. Still, here are the ones I did read.
I started the year continuing my Ron Chernow and early American history kick by finishing Grant and reading Alexander Hamilton. Being from Missouri, I feel a special connection to Grant. (Though I was surprised that he really didn't spend a lot of time in Missouri.) I also loved smoking cigars while making my way through the pages. I felt an even stronger connection to him then. And I don't know if I didn't pay attention in school well enough, or just forgot, but I don't remember learning anything about what Hamilton did during the early days of America. He was a political genius, even if he was slightly arrogant. I can't help but wonder what impact he would have had on America had he not died so young.
Sitting on a beach in Turks and Caicos, staring off into the vast expanse of the ocean, I was craving a shipwreck book. I started reading Robinson Crusoe, which was fun. Then I picked up Dead Wake by Erik Larson. I listened to the book in 2023, because Scott Brick narrated it and it was phenomenal, but I hadn't read it. It kept me locked in for my six hour flight home from Miami on that trip. It's a phenomenal book. Probably one of my top ten ever.
I then picked up Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough. I wasn't particularly interested in young Roosevelt, I just wanted to read another book by McCullough. However, it was such a fun read. I liked how McCullough embraced Roosevelt's early life, and didn't try to make it yet another Roosevelt biography. By doing so, he allowed the reader to really understand the Roosevelt family, and show how much of what Teddy did with his life was a result of his father, Theodore Sr. The first volume of Edmund Morris' Roosevelt series doesn't even come close to providing the detail and intricacies of the family and Roosevelt's childhood.
After a few biographies, I took a break to read a typical narrative non-fiction book. Ever since I discovered that genre in 2022, I've been obsessed with finding more books in that style. What I've realized, though, is that it's really hard to do that style of writing and make the book mean something. Not that every book needs to have a message, but there needs to be a reason for me to read the book. Maybe some people read for pure entertainment, but I don't. Sailing the Graveyard Sea was a book that was well written—and it was no doubt a unique, riveting story—but I didn't really see the point in reading it. When I finished it, I just kind of felt, like, "Okay..."
Last year for Christmas, I got Robert Caro's LBJ series. I read the first two volumes back-to-back around March and April. They're both amazing. The first volume is big, but the writing is so good and the story is so interesting that it doesn't feel like a slog to get through.
I picked up volume two of William Manchester's The Last Lion, his three-part biography of Winston Churchill, and loved it. Manchester was a beautiful writer. The opening of that book recounts how Churchill spent most of his days as Prime Minister, and I'm pretty sure it was the inspiration for the opening sequences of The Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman. (I started reading volume three, but Manchester died while he was writing that volume and the other author did not have the command of language that Manchester had. I felt it got lost in the details and spends too much time talking about the war movements in North Africa, for example, and not about Churchill.)
When I read Team of Rivals last year, I became enamored with Doris Kearns Goodwin's writing. I was thus excited to see her name on the shelf of a new, delightful book, An Unfinished Love Story. Goodwin's husband, Richard Goodwin, was a speechwriter who worked closely with JFK and LBJ. Throughout his career, he collected dozens of papers, memos, files, and notes into bankers boxes that filled their house. When he passed away, Doris set out on a mission to piece together the era of the sixties while recounting their love story. The finished product was this book: a compendium of stories between the two of them, JFK, LBJ, and other notable political figures of the era. I couldn't put the book down.
Another author I've fallen in love with over the years is Erik Larson. His attention to historical accuracy, as well as his ability to make any historical event read like a gripping novel is unmatched. I was excited to read his latest, A Demon of Unrest, a book about the shelling of Fort Sumter and the early days of the Civil War. I liked the book, but I didn't love it. Partly because I was expecting what Larson's Splendid and the Vile did for how I viewed Churchill to do the same with Lincoln, and that just didn't happen. Still, the story was good and I'll be anxiously waiting for Larson's next book.
Around the Fourth of July, I really wanted to read a short book that recapped much of the revolution and the early days of America. I set out to do this in 2023 with 1776 by David McCullough, but the book was not what I was expecting. The Patriots by Winston Groom scratched that itch. The book is essentially three mini-biographies of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. Instead of going from birth to death in each of them, Groom interweaves their stories together, which was creative and fun. It was just what I was looking to read at the time.
Probably the best book of the year was Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller. Miller interviewed Truman on camera after his presidency—and a lot of Truman's friends, colleagues, and neighbors—for a documentary. But there was some shake-up at the network and the show never aired. Instead of letting all of those tapes go to waste, Miller compiled them into this oral biography. However, it's less a biography akin to McCullough's Truman and more of a series of vignettes from the most important episodes in Truman's life. Miller asks a question about an event, time, or person, and Truman chats about that. The book was filled with hilarious anecdotes and quotes from Truman. It also provided a unique look at Truman's philosophy on leadership and life, which I loved. Like Grant, I feel a very strong affections to Truman, because he was a boy from Missouri who didn't have a special childhood, failed a ton, and yet became the most powerful man in America, all while maintaining his humility. (The one episode in Truman's life I don't like is when he called Oppenheimer a crybaby for telling Truman that he thought he had blood on his hands. But, I see it from Truman's perspective as well—a lot of people think Oppenheimer was being too self-important.)
While I was doing some spiritual soul searching this year, I came across Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle. It's a convicting message, but one that needs to be preached from many pulpits and heard by many young Christian men.
My last big, traditional biography for the year was A. Lincoln by Ronald C. White. This was the first traditional Lincoln biography I decided to read, aside from And There Was Light by Jon Meacham, and it was a tough decision. There are more Lincoln biographies than there are Starbucks! I used one of my favorite sites to decide which one to pick up first: My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies. I read this book at the perfect time, because it gave a lot of attention and detail to Lincoln's legal career, which a lot of biographies skip over. I was most interested in learning about that, because I knew it would make me excited for law school, which was starting in a few weeks when I read this book. That's something that I love about pursuing a legal career: I get to follow in the footsteps of so many great thinkers and writers: Lincoln, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, etc.
It was about here, in August, when most of my fun reading came to a complete halt thanks to law school. However, I did manage to squeeze out a few more books over the semester.
A short and sweet one that caught me off guard was The Art of Money Getting by P.T. Barnum. It's a very short book filled with little ideas about wealth and life. The title is "clickbaity" today, but I imagine when it was published it took people by storm. It's less "hustle bro" culture and more thoughtful questions and paragraphs that cause you to reflect about what you want out of life, business, and work.
Before bed each night, I was able to knock off a few pages of the first volume of Edmund Morris' Theodore Roosevelt series on my Kindle. It's not the ideal way to read a biography, especially one as great as this one, but I made little time throughout the semester for fun reading, so I did what I could. I also prefer physical books, but it's easier to read on a Kindle while comfortable in bed and then go to sleep whenever my eyes start getting too heavy. I loved the first book, and am working my way through the second now.
The day after my last final, I started Feynman's Rainbow by Leonard Mlodinow, and finished it the next day. (I was excited to read a "fun" book.) It was a fun, philosophical read. I was expecting something slightly different, but what it turned out to be was great.
Since I'll spend most of 2025 and 2026 in school, I'm expecting my reading volume will be significantly less. However, hopefully over the summer I can squeeze out a biography or two, and do the same thing over winter break.
If you've read one of these books and want to chat about them, or want more book ideas to read, send me an email! I love chatting about books and history. maberydalton at gmail dot com.