Crack The Book: A Beginner's Guide to Reading the Great Books

Week 40 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course brings together three demanding—and deeply philosophical—works: Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Grand Inquisitor, and Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil. But before we get started, I offer a short primer on reading Russian lit. The names can be a real challenge!Tolstoy’s novella, written after his spiritual “conversion,” is a devastating meditation on death, meaning, and self-deception—circular in structure but spiraling ever deeper. It may be the finest short work I’ve read so far. Dostoyevsky’s famous parable interrupts the narrative of The Brothers Karamazov to pose unsettling questions about freedom, faith, and institutional power, turning conventional religious assumptions upside down. Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil proved the most challenging: dense, contrary, and deliberately destabilizing, it rejects inherited moral frameworks in favor of examining desire, psychology, and power. Together, these works confront the shifting relationship between God, morality, and the modern self—making this one of the most intellectually intense weeks of the project.We are back next week with French writers who offer a totally different tone. See you soon!LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Week 39 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course takes on nineteenth-century American literature—and to my surprise, it became one of the most enjoyable weeks so far. I went in dreading familiar names and old high-school resentments, but came out newly energized. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (chapters 1–6) was funny, humane, and immediately engaging. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and “The Raven” used ornate language to heighten unease, while Emily Dickinson’s poems felt weightless and startlingly modern. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden was quotable and provocative, if ultimately grating, and Herman Melville surprised me most of all: Bartleby, the Scrivener lingered with quiet power, and the opening of Moby-Dick left me eager for more. This week revealed a real shift in voice and sensibility—and changed my mind about American literature. I’m looking forward to going back and reading more, but first we need to move on to Week 40 and Russian Literature!

We take a little break from our reading list this week for some holiday cheer: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens!I thought I knew this one inside out, which was ridiculous because I had never actually read it. (When will I learn?!) This is a punchy little novel, and you can read it aloud over the course of less than a week with your kids. I hope with this episode to offer a little reassurance and inspiration: You can do this, and you'll be so glad you did.I end with a little discussion of some of the movie adaptations--there are so many! And we will be back next week with Week 39 and a ton of American lit.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Week 38 of Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities Course pairs two seemingly unrelated works: Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (chapters 1–4) and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty. What initially felt random turned out to be an enlightening combination! Darwin’s early chapters focus not on sweeping conclusions but on careful observation—natural selection as a real, ongoing process, and the frustratingly blurry boundary between “species” and “variety.” His meticulous attention to detail is both humbling and persuasive, even if the book’s once-shocking claims now feel familiar. Mill’s On Liberty complements Darwin perfectly by arguing that truth itself depends on open discussion. A society, Mill insists, produces great individuals only when it protects freedom of thought and speech and resists dogma. Read together, these works reveal how revolutionary ideas require not just insight, but a culture willing to debate, question, and change. This week left a lasting impression—and a renewed appreciation for intellectual humility and openness.We have a special Christmas Episode next week--be sure to check in!LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Such a treat this week! My daughter Darcy is joining me to talk about one of her favorite novels, Pride and Prejudice. For me, after several weeks of dense reading, returning to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice felt like revisiting an old friend—but this time, the experience was unexpectedly conflicted. While I still admire the novel’s perfectly engineered rom-com plot and its web of misunderstandings and romances, I found my patience thinner for the Regency language and social codes. What once felt transporting now felt distant and even claustrophobic. The novel’s narrow social world, sparse physical description, and elastic sense of time made the setting feel oddly unreal to a modern reader.What was really fun, and unexpected, was how Darcy helped me reclaim my love of this book. I was just getting over my skis!While I struggled more with the characters than I remembered, Darcy loved Jane in particular. I found that Mrs. Bennet, often dismissed as ridiculous, now struck me as pragmatically rational in a world where marriage determines survival. And the tidy “happily ever after” ending left me missing the moral and emotional complexity I’ve grown used to elsewhere. But for Darcy, it felt like the way the book should end, especially for Jane and Bingley. I hope you enjoy this conversation half as much as I did!LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)The Lizzie Bennett DiariesCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week on Crack the Book, we dive into a fascinating mix of political and philosophical texts from Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities List: the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Communist Manifesto, and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women.I revisit the Declaration with fresh eyes—its sharp list of grievances and its insistence on mutual respect still sparkle with clarity. The Constitution, shorter than I expected, impressed me with how firmly it centers the individual while still designing a workable government.From there we move to Marx and Engels, whose Manifesto frames history as a struggle between classes and calls for radical redistribution of power. Finally, I explore Wollstonecraft’s early feminist argument for women’s education and its importance for society’s progress.Next week: a palate-cleansing turn to Jane Austen. Join me!LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)The Preamble, in case you need a refresher!CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week is all poetry—our first all-poetry week of the Immersive Humanities project! After struggling through young Werther, I decided I needed to step back and understand Romanticism as a movement. I offer a brief review of the history leading up to Romanticism; after all, most movements are reactions against what precedes them. The printing press and Protestant Reformation blew open European thought, leading to centuries of philosophical upheaval. Empiricists like Bacon and Hume insisted that knowledge must be tested; rationalists like Descartes and Spinoza trusted pure reason. Kant eventually tried to unite both. Their world gave rise to the Enlightenment—and then came the Romantics, pushing back with emotion, imagination, and nature.That’s the world our poets wrote in. This week I used Pocket Book of Romantic Poetry and read Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats (skipping Novalis and Hölderlin). I loved some poems, disliked others. Blake’s mystical, anti-Christian tone left me cold. Wordsworth’s childhood wonder won me over. Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner shocked me--it’s gripping, almost epic. Byron was brilliant, scandalous, and endlessly readable. His Prisoner of Chillon might have been my favorite poem of the week. Shelley felt dreamlike and visionary, while Keats, to me, seemed talented but young. What did the world lose when he died?Reading these poets in their historical context changed everything. They’re passionate, experimental, and surprisingly radical—not quaint! We are missing out when we resort to tired anthologies to get to know these poets--something that I didn't expect to feel so strongly about! Paired with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Chopin’s preludes, this week was a revelation.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)That cool Medieval Science Book The Genesis of Science by James HannamCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts -

This week we leave the Middle Ages far behind and land squarely in the emotional whirlwind of Romanticism with Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. Written in 1774 when Goethe was just twenty-five, the novel became what might be the first true worldwide bestseller—so influential that young men across Europe dressed like Werther, and suicides even spiked in imitation of his tragic end.Werther himself is…a lot. His passion for Charlotte—who is engaged, then married, to another man—spirals into obsession. When he realizes life without her is unbearable, he stages an elaborate, melodramatic exit: visiting friends for final goodbyes, embracing Charlotte while they read Ossian together (a scene straight out of Inferno’s Francesca and Paolo), and then borrowing her husband’s pistols to kill himself. The ending is bleak, as it should be.Goethe’s writing is wonderfully accessible, but Werther’s self-indulgent emotionalism reveals the contradictions of early Romanticism: exalting nature and feeling while refusing the grounding work of actual life. Still, this novel opens a door into the powerful reaction against Enlightenment rationalism—a door we’ll walk through next week with the Romantic poets. Things are about to accelerate.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Ted Gioia warned this would be a tough week—and he wasn’t kidding. Week 33 of the Immersive Humanities Project had me wrestling with three giants of philosophy: Descartes, Kant, and Spinoza. I started with Descartes’ Discourse on the Method, where his famous “I think, therefore I am” felt surprisingly direct and human. His four rules for reasoning—question, divide, simplify, and review—made him seem less like an abstract philosopher and more like a kind, curious friend.Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals was another story. Dense and demanding, it centers on the “Categorical Imperative”: act only according to principles you’d accept as universal law. It’s a moral system built purely on duty, not emotion.Then came Spinoza’s Ethics, written like a geometry proof. His radical idea—that God and Nature are one—left little room for the supernatural or free will.When reading failed, I turned to the 1987 Great Philosophers series with Brian Magee, which unlocked everything. These thinkers—Continental Rationalists all—believed reason alone could uncover truth, unlike the British Empiricists who demanded evidence. It was a mentally exhausting but fascinating stretch, and next week I’m relieved to return to fiction with Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week on Crack the Book, we move from Rousseau’s Social Contract to his Confessions, and let’s just say my opinion hasn’t improved. Before we get to the books, I share some strategies for getting through a book you don't like (because I needed to take my own advice this week). Then we move on to our two books for the week.In Confession's Book One, Rousseau recounts his early life with all the self-importance of a man convinced he’s unlike anyone else who’s ever lived. Between tragic beginnings, cruel masters, and an overshare about his youthful “discipline” preferences, I found little humility and even less personal growth. Rousseau insists his passions still rule him—no maturity, not even irony, just Rousseau being Rousseau.Thank goodness we had Voltaire’s Candide, a complete tonal shift. This whirlwind satire—part travelogue, part absurdist adventure—follows Candide and his companions through war, earthquakes, El Dorado, and endless misfortune. Yet beneath the chaos lies a sharp moral insight: life’s purpose isn’t in grand philosophies or endless striving, but in the quiet wisdom to “cultivate our own garden.” The cinematic pacing (that Italo Calvino helpfully points out) is an interesting development, too.Preachy Rousseau and playful Voltaire were a great combination, and Candide was the clear winner of the two. Candide’s brisk storytelling and biting humor still feel modern, even cinematic. One book made me roll my eyes; the other made me laugh out loud. Next week: Descartes, Spinoza, and Kant—wish me luck.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week on Crack the Book marks a jarring shift in tone — and in time. After months steeped in medieval imagination, we start there with  Niccolò Machiavelli and end firmly in the Enlightenment with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Their works, The Prince (1513) and The Social Contract (1762), straddle that uneasy moment when faith and hierarchy gave way to “rational” thinking. And wow, does it sound different. I didn’t realize how accustomed my ear had become to the older world until now.First up, The Prince. I had only known it practically caricatured as a manual for ruthless rulers. Instead, I found that Machiavelli offers sharp, almost Aristotelian observations on how power works. Writing amid the chaos of Renaissance Italy — with popes, princes, and mercenaries vying for control — he tries to help leaders (well, Lorenzo di Medici) survive reality, not reinvent it. His advice is startlingly pragmatic: if you must be cruel, do it swiftly; keep the people’s goodwill by leaving their money and families alone; and above all, don’t be hated. Virtue matters less than the appearance of virtue — but even so, he respects human nature enough to work with it rather than against it. For someone with such a bad reputation, he’s refreshingly honest.Before we move to Rousseau, I spend some time reviewing the Enlightenment: what it was, when it was, and how it changed thinking and therefore every other thing in the world! I think it’s a necessary bridge between these two time periods and books.On to Rousseau. Two centuries and one worldview later, The Social Contract begins not with observation but with imagination: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Rousseau builds an elaborate theory of how people ought to behave, then blames reality when they don’t. His faith in reason and “natural goodness” feels detached from the messiness of human life that Machiavelli understood so well. And by the time he turns his ire on the Church in his final pages, the tone borders on bitter — foreshadowing the excesses of the French Revolution.After this week, I find myself mourning the grounded wisdom of the Middle Ages. Machiavelli may be cynical, but at least he’s real. Rousseau feels like a man disappointed that humanity refuses to fit his theory.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate -

This week we pair two early-modern comedies that show how laughter can reveal truth. But first, we do a quick review of European history, looking at France, Spain, Italy and England, trying to place the things we're reading inside history. (I knew next to nothing about Spain at this time so it was really helpful for me!)Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605) introduces a middle-aged dreamer who decides to become a knight-errant, setting out with his baffled squire Sancho Panza to defend honor and right wrongs. The famous windmill scene is only the start of his misadventures. Quixote is absurd yet strangely noble—so devoted to his ideals that he reshapes reality around them. His neighbors burn his books, a shepherdess defends her independence, and somehow, amid the chaos, it’s all deeply human.Molière’s Tartuffe (1664) offers lighter, sharper satire. The pious fraud Tartuffe charms his way into Orgon’s household, scheming for both wife and wealth while the women—wife, daughter, and maid—quietly outsmart him. The play’s snappy dialogue and quick pacing make it pure joy, right up until its too-neat royal ending.Both works explore self-delusion and sincerity, showing how belief, hypocrisy, and humor can coexist. This week’s music—Spanish piano by Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados—was the perfect accompaniment: bright, bold, and unexpected.We'll be back next week with a look at The Prince (Machiavelli) and The Social Contract (Rousseau). See you then!LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

After three (very full!) weeks of Shakespeare, we reluctantly leave England for Italy—and step into the vivid world of Renaissance art. Ted Gioia’s Immersive Humanities List serves up a refreshing change of scene with Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists and Benvenuto Cellini’s Autobiography.Both were brand-new to me, and both were a delight. Vasari, himself an accomplished painter and architect, profiles the greats—Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo—not as remote geniuses but as human beings: witty, flawed, brilliant, and endlessly ambitious. His writing reminded me of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars—a chronicle of greatness, but with warmth instead of gossip. Vasari captures not just the artists but the culture that shaped them: a world where beauty was power, art was currency, and patrons competed to prove their taste and influence.Each artist glows in Vasari’s telling. Giotto, kind and devoted to the Church; Botticelli, charming and hopeless with money; Leonardo, the restless perfectionist who could give a lizard wings; Raphael, the graceful imitator who died too young; Michelangelo, the divine genius who could never quite trust the world that adored him. Reading Lives left me wondering how Florence could possibly have produced so many masters at once—and wishing we could live, just for a moment, in a world that valued art that deeply.Then came Benvenuto Cellini, the goldsmith, sculptor, and self-styled rogue whose Autobiography reads like an adventure novel. He’s talented, impulsive, funny, and so honest that you can’t help but like him. Cellini’s stories—his fiery temper, his father’s musical ambitions, his devotion to Michelangelo—make the Renaissance feel wonderfully alive.This week’s title, “True Colors,” fits perfectly. Vasari and Cellini reveal the true colors of art and ambition—divine inspiration, human pride, and all the messy brilliance in between.This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for Cervantes and Molière.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)All the video links are available in this Substack PostCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate -

This week on Crack the Book, I’m still in awe of Shakespeare — and not ready to leave him behind. Somewhere between Falstaff’s jokes and Othello’s heartbreak, I realized just how much I’ve climbed the Shakespeare learning curve. The language that once felt impossible now feels like music, and these plays — Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, and Othello — have been my favorite week yet.To start, though, I covered a little of Shakespeare's own history, so that we can better understand what was happening around him as he wrote his plays.The Henry IV plays are part of Shakespeare’s “Henriad,” tracing Prince Hal’s transformation from tavern-dwelling prankster to King Henry V. Part 1 sets up the tension between fathers and sons — King Henry and Hal, Northumberland and Hotspur — while Falstaff brings both comedy and chaos. I was surprised by how much I loved the histories: the mix of battle and banter, the political drama, and the emotional depth. By Part 2, the story turns elegiac. Henry IV is aging, Hal is ready to lead, and Falstaff’s charm finally wears thin. The final father–son scenes left me sobbing under a tree outside our hotel — Shakespeare reached across 400 years and hit me right in the heart.Then comes Othello, which could not be more different. Where Falstaff is funny, Iago is chilling. He’s not a misunderstood fool — he’s pure manipulation, the “honest” man who deceives everyone. I was struck by how quickly Shakespeare draws each character: Desdemona’s sweetness, Emilia’s courage, Othello’s nobility. The tragedy lands hard because we believe them all. And even here, amid jealousy and death, Shakespeare finds humor — like a quick, ridiculous debate about national drinking habits.I watched the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Henry IV with Anthony Sher’s Falstaff, and they were brilliant — vivid sword fights, excellent pacing, and real warmth. By Othello, I’d developed my ear enough to read without watching.This project keeps surprising me — and this week, it reminded me why Shakespeare endures. His plays aren’t ancient; they’re alive, human, and heartbreakingly funny.This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists and Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts -

Back with more Shakespeare! Before we get started with Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Tempest, I share a little about my experience with Shakespeare before this project.In short, it was almost ZERO. I tell you this so you can have confidence as you start your own Shakespeare journey. I have been shocked, amazed and gratified at how rewarding the time put in with Shakespeare has been. And now, on to the plays!This week’s Shakespeare trio is a true mix of tones.Romeo & Juliet isn’t merely a teen love story—it’s an indictment of a society where everyone stays locked in their roles. No one is evil, yet parents, the Nurse, and Friar Lawrence all fail to act, and two young lives pay the price. Far more than “star-crossed lovers,” it’s a drama of systemic failure that rewards an adult reread.After four tragedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream felt light and mischievous. Dame Judi Dench as Titania (in the 1960s BBC version) was delightful, though I found myself too drained for full comedy—still, it’s hilarious on stage.Finally, The Tempest surprised me most: part adventure, part morality play. Prospero’s obsession with magic—and his choice to reclaim true leadership—offers a sharp reminder that power and technology can distract from real responsibility.Three plays, three moods, and a deeper appreciation for Shakespeare’s range. And we aren't done! Join us next week to finish our Shakespeare trilogy with a couple of histories and the wonderful, tragic, Othello.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)My Romeo and Juliet Movie PickMy Midsummer Night's Dream Movie PickCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

After the last three weeks with Dante, we jump to another three-week series with Shakespeare and NINE plays!Shakespeare can be daunting, so I offer a few thoughts on how to approach him: Watch a movie FIRSTGet a good edition (hello, Folger Shakespeare Library)Keep a one-line-per-scene summary as you readEnjoy!! It will get easier and the plays are so very worthwhile.Hamlet dazzles with layered characters and razor-sharp language. Prince Hamlet wrestles with grief, revenge, and perhaps madness, while Claudius broods over the cost of his own sin. My own final note: “Everyone dies except Horatio.”Macbeth feels darker and almost Greek. The witches act as oracles, but Macbeth isn’t their puppet—he chooses evil. Lady Macbeth is more accelerant than mastermind, and the play pulses with ominous energy.King Lear hit me hardest. Lear is not villainous, just weary and reckless, longing to lay down his burdens—yet no one gets that choice. Dividing his kingdom invites betrayal from his elder daughters and the scheming Edmund, while steadfast Cordelia stands tragically apart. The repeated “nothing” captures the emptiness of abdicated duty.Together they reveal Shakespeare’s trademarks: sudden madness, clever disguises, and language that still crackles, showing three kinds of downfall—the victim (Hamlet), the villain (Macbeth), and the feckless ruler (Lear).LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)My Hamlet Movie ChoiceMy MacBeth Movie ChoiceMy King Lear Movie Choice (Not actually that good but I still think about it)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

Jack is back as we discuss Paradiso, Jack's favorite part of Dante's Divine Comedy. I absolutely love getting to chat with him again (see a couple of earlier episodes linked below). We talk about why he loves Dante in general, and Paradiso in particular. Highlights include:Dante's bravery (or chutzpah!) in writing his poetry and scholarly works in Italian rather than Latin;Who Dante is for (spoiler--it's for YOU), and why (the title of this episode is a big hint!);How people of different ages see Dante in a different light;Why a map of Heaven is really hard to draw, especially compared to Hell and Purgatory.Jack wrote his thesis on part of Paradiso, and he has a lot of experience in the classroom with the Divine Comedy, so he brings a lot of his knowledge to expand on what we've been talking about for the last two weeks.This episode forms a kind of trilogy on Crack the Book: two weeks ago we discussed Inferno, and last week my friend Lisa and I covered Purgatorio. It's my hope that these three podcasts will inspire you to pick up your own copy of the Divine Comedy and jump in.Next week we start Shakespeare...so get ready.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)Crack the Book, Inferno EpisodeCrack the Book, Purgatorio EpisodeCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

My very dear friend Lisa Beerman joins me for this episode, and we talk all things Purgatory. Since we share a deep love for this book of the Divine Comedy she's our perfect companion for this part of the journey.We have a wide ranging conversation about translations, "ways in" to the Comedy, and the usefulness of Dante in everyday life. I hope you enjoy this conversation! Links to a few of the resources we discussed are below.We left Dante and Virgil climbing down Lucifer’s frozen body—and suddenly what was down is now up. They emerge at the base of Mt. Purgatory and climb past shades until reaching its gates in Canto 9, just a quarter of the way into the book. From there, the journey ascends through purgation, penance, and eventual joy. At the summit, Virgil departs, and Beatrice steps in as Dante’s new guide, leading him into the spheres of Paradise and toward the Highest Heaven.Reading Purgatory quickly has given me a fresh perspective. Unlike Hell’s hostility, the shades here are eager to talk with Dante, sometimes asking for prayers, sometimes simply glad to meet him. Light is everywhere—Dante’s shadow a reminder of the sun, not the flames of Hell. Each sin is purged through fitting penance: the proud bowed low under heavy stones, the slothful running ceaselessly, each step of the mountain carved with examples of virtue--carvings that move!One highlight: the poet Statius meeting Virgil through Dante’s introduction. One heartbreak: Virgil’s final farewell.If you missed the first episode about the Divine Comedy, check out "Week 24" for a discussion of Inferno and Dante's Nuovo Vitae. Next week we finish in Paradise with another guest and Crack-the-Book frequent flyer, my son Jack!This is a year-long reading list from Ted Gioia and his Honest Broker Substack. This is Part 1 of Week 25.LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)Robin Fitzpatrick's Divine Comedy translation100 Days of DanteCONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week it’s Dante, and it will be amazing. Full stop. Of all the classics you could read, The Divine Comedy may be one of the most intimidating, but it’s also one of the most necessary. In this episode I’ll break it down and share how to make the journey approachable. You can do this.We begin with Dante’s early autobiographical work, the Nuovo Vitae (“New Life”), a short book of prose and poetry reflecting on his youth and his great love, Beatrice. It’s tender, romantic, and surprisingly fun, especially because Dante explains his own poems. For me, it echoed Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy with its mix of prose and verse, but here the focus is entirely on poetry itself.From there, we step into The Divine Comedy, starting with Inferno. This vast poem of 100 cantos (divided among Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso) is written in tercets, here translated by Mark Musa into smooth iambic pentameter. His translation is highly readable and captures the poem’s rhythm without forcing rhyme.The journey begins when Dante the Pilgrim finds himself lost “halfway through the journey of our life.” Guided by Virgil, he descends through the nine circles of Hell, encountering mythological figures, historical personages, and unforgettable imagery. The punishments fit the crimes (the doctrine of *contrapasso*): the lustful are blown by winds, fortune tellers walk with twisted heads, flatterers choke forever on filth.I’ll share tips for reading Dante without getting bogged down: read quickly, jot a one-line summary of each canto, sketch a map of Hell, and above all, focus on Dante’s evolving relationship with Virgil. More than an epic, Inferno is a story of finding yourself in darkness and but not staying there—and having a friend to help you. Next to the Odyssey and the Bible, this is one of the books that merits your effort.This is a year-long challenge! Join me next week for Purgatorio.LINKSTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTThe complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2rTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm 

This week marks the halfway point in my year-long reading project through Ted Gioia’s *Immersive Humanities* list, and instead of turning to Dante just yet, I’m stopping to take stock. Call it my “halftime report.”When Gioia built his list, he gave himself some rules: keep each week under 250 pages, make it global not just Western, mix in art and music, and move (mostly) in chronological order. I’ve tried to follow his structure, but I’ve also set some rules of my own: stick to the weekly schedule, read hard copies whenever possible, take notes faithfully, and—my personal favorite—skip the introductions until after finishing the book. These boundaries have kept me grounded and helped me push through the tough weeks.Along the way I’ve discovered a few key tools that make this project work. “Warm-ups” like short lyric poetry before longer epics have been surprisingly helpful in easing into a big text. Good translations (thank you, Penguin Classics) have been essential, while flashy but unreadable editions only get in the way. Writing in my books, flagging footnotes, and taking notes have become indispensable habits. And yes, the occasional YouTube lecture has saved me when I got stuck—no shame in that.There have been highs: falling in love with epic poetry, discovering Boethius’ *Consolation of Philosophy* with my son, and realizing Aristotle’s *Ethics* was hard but worth it. There have also been lows: weeks that felt too open-ended, a disappointing second half of *Confessions*, and the frustration of wanting more time to chase connections between authors. But even the “hate-reads” (looking at you, Mwindo Epic) have taught me something: knowing why you dislike a book can be as valuable as knowing why you love one.Most of all, I’ve learned that this project has changed how I read. I’m less afraid of poetry, drama, or “hard books.” I’ve discovered that reading fast has its place, that writing alongside an author can deepen the experience, and that I actually thrive on having a big, purposeful challenge in front of me.So here I am halfway through, still going strong, and more convinced than ever that the classics have something to offer ordinary readers like you and me. Next week we begin Dante, and I can’t wait. This is a year-long challenge! LINKTed Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)CONNECTTo read more of my writing, visit my Substack -  https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cldrury/ LISTENSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bdApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crack-the-book/id1749793321 Captivate - https://crackthebook.captivate.fm