War & Peace Plan + Ten, wait, 11 Book Clubs worth Subscribing to

Vintage New Year postcard, public domain

Happy 2025, dear Reader & Writer community!

This post is part-housekeeping for War And Peace, and part-celebrating and encouraging your participation with other Substack bookish communities similar—but different—than The Reader & the Writer in 2025.

War and Peace Plan

First, the housekeeping:

If you’ve been following our 2025 book list you know we are reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy as our year-long read. Here is our general reading plan and what you can expect in our discussions on the podcast and in essay form:

1. We will release one episode a month at the end of each month.

2. Each episode will cover approximately 30 chapters.

3. In these podcast discussions expect us to lean heavily into themes and motifs we see developing in W&P that are similar to other books we are reading or have read. We will also spend considerable time, particularly in early episodes, situating us in Tolstoy’s world through his masterful character and setting development.

4. We’ll extend and deepen the conversation further through Substack essays that either expand on discussion points from a podcast episode, highlight my personal interactions and thoughts as reading, or respond to your questions and comments as we go.

Highlighting that last point: Your engagement! Your involvement will shape how we focus our discussions. Our entire goal with this year-long read is to challenge our own reading; offer a model (amateur model, in the original and historic sense of the term) for reading and interacting with longer, often intimidating works; and—most importantly—foster a community for those who want a reading challenge, too, but are scared to go it alone.

Communities live and thrive through interaction. Rhea and I are excited about what we will all learn through our year with War & Peace when, together, we ask questions of the text and one another, and discuss what new discoveries our questions may take us.

Other Substack Book Clubs You May Enjoy

Now for the celebrating and encouraging.

When Rhea and I began The Reader & the Writer last April, we had vague notions and loosely-held expectations for how the podcast and subsequent Substack page would grow and develop. All we knew (and still know) is: we love reading (mostly fiction, but beautiful non-fiction, too), we love discussing together what we are reading, we believe literature plays a unique role in developing wholehearted human beings, and we want to share these loves and beliefs with others.

Not surprisingly, there are LOTS of literature lovers just like us, working to share their loves and beliefs with others as well. For the rest of this post, I want to highlight eleven (out of tons!) I think complement our own efforts on The Reader & the Writer.

A note about my selection process: I did NOT come up with this list after hours of research pouring over ALL the book club on Substack. These are Substacks that I’ve “bumped” into over the past 6 months that are also doing slow/close/deep reading of literature like we are, but from different angles and perspectives, with different genres (quite a few are classics focused), and offering different levels and ways of engagement.

Most of them have a paywall for gaining access to the entirety of their book club community. While we don’t have a paywall here on R&W (for now, or possibly ever), I deeply respect those who do. For many of them it is their livelihood. I also appreciate the way paying can create greater buy-in and thus participation from its members.

Now, onto the list (in no particular order):

1. Close Reads. This is the podcast that has probably most inspired Rhea & myself. It’s also the one we work most to complement but also contrast, and not overlap with our reading. Close Reads has been in existence since 2015—ten years; Congrats to them!! I’ve listened to Close Reads on and off for several years now. The hosts have great, dynamic conversations, and have built a fantastic community of readers over the years. Like Rhea and myself, their conversations do not shy away from including their Christian faith perspective (particulalry Orthodox), but also allow this perspective to bubble up naturally and through—I think—a generous, non-judgemental lens. They offer several group opportunities, free and paid: their primary group, a mystery book club, year-long reads, poetry hour, and more. You can learn more about them here.

2. Footnotes And Tangents. Simon Haisell’s Substack is newer to me, but already, I am excited about what he is doing with his book club. He does slow reads of major works of historical fiction. He calls them “gentle reads”, which I love, because these are otherwise intimidating books that require a “gentle” approach. Simon offers book guides with his read-alongs that he publishes through his weekly posts and newsletters. These are full of background information, analysis, and discussion topics to help readers gain the most from what they are reading. Simon also keeps a giant list of book groups that he regularly updates. In 2025, Footnotes and Tangents will both be reading War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy. Rhea and I are excited to read along with the F&T community, even as we foster a W&P community here on R&W. Don’t expect us to regurgitate what we learn from Simon. That would: a) not honor all the hard work Simon does on his Substack; and b) not really line up with our R&W approach to our own deep reading of War & Peace. If ever, through our W&P year, you are looking to do a deep, deep dive into the background or story analysis, I highly HIGHLY recommend you join the Footnotes and Tangents community.

3. Beyond the Bookshelf. I have newly discovered Matthew Long’s Substack; more like Matthew recently discovered R&W and we are so grateful! Beyond the Bookshelf is “a community of readers interested in exploring how our reading experiences resonate with and impact our lives. We share a curiosity about where the written word can lead us, extending its influence long after we've closed the covers of a book.” This resonates deeply with what Rhea and I are efforting to do through The Reader & the Writer, and so we are thrilled to have connected with Beyond the Bookshelf. I also personally share a kindred spirit with Matthew with regards to his former military service (Thank you, Matthew!). My husband also served in the Army for 13 years (not a full career like Matthew), which has certainly shaped much of our family’s life over the years. I deeply admire Matthew’s essay on A Philosophy of Self-Education. I think his 2025 Book List is an excellent mix of fiction and non-fiction titles (many titles I’ve long wanted to read, or cause me to sigh in love at the recollection of reading them). We are both reading The Odyssey this year. I’m excited to see how our deep readings may complement one another. :)

4. The Common Reader. Henry Oliver writes the Common Reader. He hosts book groups on Shakespeare and, new in 2025, Jane Austen, as well as writes literary essays and criticism. He is the author of the book, Second Act, a book about late bloomers. Henry doesn’t mind the long form essay in digital form. He is also unapologetic in his opinions regarding all things literature and culture. His commentary is never boring. :) I mention his Substack particularly for those interested in diving deeper into Shakespeare and Jane Austen and wanting a wise guide for the journey. You can learn more about his Substack and book clubs here.

5. Reading Revisted. Kelsey Hartley, Hannah Suire, and Jessica Risma are the creators of Reading Revisited, a podcast and Substack dedicated “for friends to enjoy some good old-fashioned book chat while revisiting the truth, beauty, and goodness we’ve found in our favorite books.” Their effort is primarily to support live, in-person, book groups gathering to read and discuss the books from their currated list. They offer book and discussion guides for these in-person groups to follow, and also will help you start a Reading Revisted group in your community. I mention this group particularly for those practicing a Catholic faith tradition, and who also homeschool. Their podcast has lots of fun “mom-life” divergences to appreciate if you’re in this stage of life.

6. Read the Classics with Henry Eliot. If you want wade deep into the Classics, Henry Eliot’s your go-to Substack. He offers a monthly classics read-along, as well as weekly newsletters on classic works, round-ups of newly released editions of classics, and more. Beginning in January 2025, he is doing a fourteen-month read-along of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (one of my favorites!). It would make an excellent complement to War & Peace, and at a 14-month pace, very doable. You can learn more about his Substack here.

7. Book of Titans. Erik Rostad created Book of Titans out of his own deep desire to “seek truth & beauty in the Immortal Books.” Erik’s goal is to: read the Great Books written by 200 authors over the next 15 years and share what he’s learning. Erik began his project in 2017. His podcast can be found on most major platforms. Here is his 2025 Reading List. I mention him also for those interested in reading the classics. I love Erik’s extensive and organized recording of all he has read since 2017. He has both paid and unpaid content.

8. The Big Read. Jeremy Anderberg is the creator of The Big Read Substack. He offers several “tracks” of book groups to choose from: classic/challenge, fiction, and non-fiction. In 2025, he’s doing something new: pairing two books—one fiction and one non-fiction—per month to see what interesting things he and readers may discover by reading in this way. This is similar to how Rhea and I are approaching War and Peace. We love the ways literature can “talk to one another” across place and time, and offer us new insights along the way. Jeremy’s approach this 2025 is the main reason I mention The Big Read. I also think his book list is great, and different from others mentioned thus far.

9. Closely Reading with Haley. If you want a PhD. level close reading experience, this is your Substack. Haley Larson is a PhD in transatlantic modern literature, which is a mouthful, but her approach to literature is warm and generous, even as it is incredibly in-depth. As she describes it: Closely Reading features “academic-ish writing in non-academic spaces.” Here is her 2025 Book Club List. It’s worth noting all her reads this year center around a theme: “all classic women authors, examine social class structures and how individuals move throughout those structures.” Also, she is reading Middlemarch by George Eliot over the summer, which is the exact timeframe we will be reading it here on R&W. Another fun comparison in approaches.

10. Study the Great Books. This is another Great Books-type book club by Jacob Allee. Jacob writes about and studies the great books from every era, from an unapologetic, classical Christian perspective. Through is his work on Study the Great Books, he is “working towards the publication of a complete classical Christian humanities curriculum for 7-12th grade,” which I think is wonderful, and heartedly applaud. I would have loved to have this Substack at my disposal when I was homeschooling my children. I especially mention Jeremy’s Substack for: teachers, homeschooling families, and anyone who years for a professionally developed, “curriculum-like” approach to your study of literature.

Wait! One more… One incredibly important more:

11. Miller’s Book Review. Joel J. Miller doesn’t do book club offerings in the same way the groups mentioned above. Rather, he generously offers excellent reviews of books he’s read… and he reads A LOT!! Besides his reviews, Joel writes about all things “bookish and literary.” Also Notes are awesome! Joel’s content is always interesting and his writing is engaging. Rhea and I featured one of Joel’s articles on the R&W podcast last year, as part of our Occasional Articles of Interest series. Joel is in the final stages of writing a new book on… books, which I’m excited to read. Joel’s was one of the earliest literary Substacks I found and followed, and I’m so glad I did! You can read about his 2025 reading goals here.

Cheers to a new year of amazing community, reading wide and well!

Happy New Year, 1910 vintage postcard, artist unknown, Missouri History Museum, Wikimedia Commons

Much Love,

Shari