In-Person Reading Group | 2nd Monday of Each Month | 7 – 9pm

The Short Great Books Reading Group

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2025 Monthly Reading Group

Join business manager Erik Rostad in a Great Books reading group! We’ll discuss short, 2-5 hour reads in person at Landmark Booksellers. Details on joining, dates, and monthly books below.

How it works: The only requirement is to purchase the book being discussed from Landmark Booksellers. If you already have the book, just purchase any other book in the store and that’s your ticket in!

Open to all ages.

Reading List

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January 13th

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Version: Stephen Mitchell Version | Purchase from Landmark

This is one of the earliest stories we have. It’s fascinating and even contains a flood epic within the main epic!

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February 10th

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Version: Signature Classics | Purchase from Landmark

This is an account of the early life of Frederick Douglass and is one you will never forget. This is one of the most impactful books from my entire reading project.

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March 10th

Agamemnon by Aeschylus

Version: Penguin / Robert Fagles Translation | Purchase from Landmark

Let’s kick off the Greek Tragedies with one of the most famous stories in literature, Agamemnon’s return from the Trojan War.

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April 14th

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Version: Any Authorized Edition | Purchase from Landmark

You read it in high school. If you were like me, you hated being forced to read it. It’s time to revisit it. You may even like it this time around.

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May 12th

Philoctetes by Sophocles

Version: Hackett / Peter Meineck & Paul Woodruff Translation | Purchase from Landmark

This is such an amazing tragedy play by the second great Greek tragedy playwright, with themes of truth/lies and deliberation/force.

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June 9th

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Version: Any Version | Purchase from Landmark

This is one of my favorite books and it was book #2 for this reading list back in 2017.

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July 14th

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Version: The Gothic Chronicles Collection | Purchase from Landmark

I read this 20+ years ago and it has stuck with me. An incredible story.

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August 11th

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Version: Any Version | Purchase from Landmark

One of the most impactful books I’ve read. A survivor of the concentration camps asks how to survive hell on earth.

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September 8th

Poetics by Aristotle

Version: Penguin Classics / Malcolm Heath Translation | Purchase from Landmark

It’s back to school time. Let’s dig into Aristotle as he comments on Greek Tragedy.

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October 13th

Medea by Euripides

Version: Any Version | Purchase from Landmark

It’s October. How about some spurned love, child killing, and overall devastation!

White Nights
November 10th

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Version: Penguin Classics / Ronald Meyer Translation | Purchase from Landmark

This will be my first reading of this short Dostoyevsky novel.

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December 8th

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Version: Rabbit Room Edition | Purchase from Landmark

Is it even possible to read something other than A Christmas Carol in December?