November '26 Reading List

Confessions about my October reading:

I begin by admitting defeat: I didn’t get to finish Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey Complete Short Story Collection and John Ng’ang’a’s Leadership: King David’s Style. I ran out of time, monthly speaking. There were just so many books on the list, and I also happened to be writing quite a bit, almost to the point of inundating you with the devotionals. Nor have I finished Mark Noll’s Turning Points, Timothy Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage, and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. Turning Points and Mere Christianity are club reads; Tree and Fruit(TAF) Book Cafe and Medical School Christian Union(MSCU) Book Club respectively. We are still reading The Meaning of Marriage with my girlfriend. I hope to finish all three in due course. Emma is the current Philokalia read-along. The schedule goes into November but I had intended to and I successfully finished it within the month. I will now have the privilege and pleasure of rereading the assigned portions when preparing for the Sunday Night discussions. I had read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in August but was rereading it for the Catherine Project discussions. The discussions would happen every Wednesday from 6pm EST which meant I had to be up by 2am on Thursday. Of course I went back to bed afterwards. I encourage you to be on the look out for the next Catherine Project enrollment.

I get to read so much because I read some, and sometimes most, of my books in community; read-alongs, book clubs, with friends (I read Nancy Pearsey’s Total Truth with a my doctor-friend Kamau Ndichu). I have been meaning to read an essay on the importance of and the help we get from book clubs for our reading but it all comes to this: book clubs and read-alongs help keep us 1. accountable and 2. disciplined in our reading. We should plan and arrange for such read-alongs and discussions with friends, family, and even with work colleagues. It gives opportunity to bond over a book and deepen the relationship we have with each other. There are several read-alongs on Substack. I think that at minimum, one should be part of one virtual and one physical read-along.

That said, I have my list for November drawn out. I will also be announcing five ‘big’ reads for 2027. The five books will form the backbone of my reading in 2027. Spoiler alert: the titles won’t surprise you as such. I intend to read a Lord Peter story every once in a while within the month. I will also see what’s to be done with John Ng’ang’a’s book. The two will be sort of the silent and invisible titles in the list.

Also, my roommate, Njoroge, moved. Subsequently, I lost the shelf and I have had to arrange my books on my study table. Finances being what they are, I won’t get my own shelf soon and the books will have to live here for quite a while. Generally, however, they give a beautiful and imposing view of my desk, or so I think.

I now also have a night stand. Nothing particularly aesthetic, but I hope it counts. Aside my study desk, which is in the same room (I am a student) it has turned out to be a nice and convenient place to get some of my reading done, especially my devotion. I find that I can get into my reading as soon as I am out of bed, and I can also get a little reading done before I tuck myself in. Reading before bed, I have found, helps me fall asleep easily and quickly, and it helps me have particularly restful nights. I have also found that I start my day just as I finished the previous one. If I read before bed, I will wake up to do some reading. If I spend time online before bed, I will wake up and instinctively reach out for my phone. I, therefore, recommend this nightstand thing.

Now to the list, with brief explanations for them.

1. Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I don’t have the best money habits and have decided to start making an effort to remedy that with this popular ‘self-help’ book.
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I started this, and I am already 100 pages in, courtesy of my nightstand. I actually meant to read Alices’s Adventures in Wonderland but I somehow distracted myself with Huck Finn only to find myself sucked into his adventures, and Jim’s, instead. It is the novel of the month.
3. The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. Zoe Kazan’s Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden led me to this one. I was so inspired seeing Lee up early, and in bed late, reading a book. When he puts the book back on the shelf, I noticed it was one of William James Principles of Psychology. The late Annie Dillard is also accused of reading and quoting William James too much. I have since asked myself, “Why have I not read William James yet?” I think The Varieties of Religious Experience will be a good entry point.
4. Escort-In-Chief: Through the Eyes of a Physician by Dr. Bundi Karau. I have been intentionally reading memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies, and this is next. (Update: I have finished reading the memoir.)
5. The Lord of the Rings Part One: The Fellowship of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. This really wasn’t part of the list until yesterday(27/10/2026) when my girlfriend gifted me the book for my birthday. It was a pleasant surprise and a thoughtful gift too considering I had just finished C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. I had also read The Hobbit a few months back. It appears that in a given month, I will have a novel, a memoir/autobiography/biography, and a fantasy read. The Fellowship of the Rings is divided into two books, I will read the first in November, and the second in December.

All this, Deo vollente.