Many people I know have reading lists. My father has started reading Joseph Brodsky’s list of 83 classic works, and he’s publishing his notes on his new blog. Brodsky’s reading list is full of novels, philosophical treatises, Greek tragedies, and histories. A Stanford University blog posted the list in 2013. The point of the list is purportedly to enable the reader to have an “intelligent conversation.” I don’t know if that’s really what happens after reading all that, but I’m tempted to join the fun.

I’ve actually already read a few books on the list in high school and college: The Odyssey; at least one play from Sophocles; Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet; and The Wealth of Nations (well, most of it). And last year, as a sort of reading homework to prepare myself to be a father, I read Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, which I’m currently rereading.

My father is reading this list because his good friend Matt convinced him to start reading it after getting him to read some Stoic philosophy. (Matt has a blog, too, where he’s also writing about his readings, among other things.) Since my dad’s main motivation for reading is to learn more about philosophy, he aims to use Stoicism to analyze each book. He’s already on the fourth item, The Old Testament. I’m really excited to read what my dad has to say!