In today’s post I’m sharing the reading challenge I’ve designed to slow down, engage more and stop scrolling; a year-long invitation to read intentionally, reflect thoughtfully, and reconnect with yourself.

Thank you, as ever, for taking the time to read this post. If you’d like to support me on my writing journey, you can find me on Instagram, buy me a coffee, or subscribe!

There’s a shift going on at the moment - a shift away from digital towards physical media and slow, more intentional engagement with what we’re consuming. I’ve seen it across many social media platforms recently, Substack included, and have had multiple conversations about it IRL over the past few months - and I am here for it.

For me, this desire for intentionality hasn’t been sudden. It’s been a slow accumulation of feelings and circumstances over the last few years, gradually leading me to crave deeper connection and engagement with my own life. Going into 2026, it feels like I’m finally beginning to understand what that craving is really about. I talked a little more about this in the post below:

A gentle refresh (and a thank you)

Sophie E

·

December 12, 2025

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This reading challenge, which I’ll explain properly shortly, isn’t really about reading more books. Reading is only one small part of something bigger: to understand myself better; to engage more intentionally with my thoughts, my ideas, and the world around me and to be more mindful about how I move through life.

It’s an answer to a calling that has been brewing within, spurred on by the incredible inspiration I see from others carving out their own way of life; at a slower pace, with a more intentional presence, with authenticity and integrity. Writing on here has been something of a catalyst for this; it has helped me to reflect more on what I’m thinking, writing about thoughts, feelings, books, the world - it has all helped me to feel more tuned in to what’s going on in and around me. It is also a call to arms against the throwaway society we have come to live in, one where trends come and go in minutes, where we are inundated with ideas and opinions, where we value surface level attributes over deep connection with each other and with creativity, the arts.

So if you, too, are craving a deeper connection with yourself, this might be the post and challenge for you.

I would like to pause a moment here to comment on the title of this challenge, ‘becoming well-read’. I call it this purely as a catchy title - I don’t believe that to be considered ‘well-read’ you have to have read any of the books I will be mentioning in this post. Reading well means to read something you enjoy. For me, engaging more deeply with what I’m reading is something I want to do for fun - it’s certainly not a prerequisite for picking up a book and enjoying the process.

I am, primarily, a writer. I am writing my first full-length novel, currently sat at around 15,000 words (long way to go), but on my writing journey I am discovering a few things:

1. I love reading. This is not, in fact, a new discovery. I have read for as long as I remember, but in my adulthood is where reading has really become a proper hobby.

2. I love reading to understand more. Up until about four years ago I read for enjoyment and enjoyment alone. A good story with a good plot and good characters was all I needed. But being someone who always enjoyed education, I found myself craving more. A deeper understanding of what I was reading, a desire to be able to contextualise what I was reading, and - egotistically - to want to be able to say ‘Yes, I’ve read that!’ about many of The Classics.

3. Reading widely helps writing. It is advice we’ve heard time and time again, but it only becomes more apparent the more you do it. Reading other books infinitely improves your own writing.

Introducing: The 2026 Guide to Becoming Intentionally Well-Read

A year-long reading challenge focused on reading more slowly, thoughtfully, and intentionally.

The challenge is simple: read one classic book per month and read it closely (I am including modern classics in my definition). This means taking the time to engage fully, thinking not only about what the author explicitly says, but also what lies between the lines. I’m very interested in looking at the bigger structure of the books (being in the middle of writing my own) and examining how stylistic choices can impact the narrative. As well as this, something I really want to get from this challenge is understanding more how the historical context shapes texts, how the books might have impacted readers at the time, and the intertextual connections that provide so much hidden context.

To do this, there are a few simple steps I’ll be following and you’re invited to follow along too:

1. Annotate the book as I read, including my own thoughts and feelings, as well as highlighting snippets that may be important contextually

2. Spend 15-30 minutes after finishing the book answering the questions outlined here

3. Craft a mini-essay on one theme or idea from the book (more on this below)

Here on Substack, I’ll be writing companion newsletters which will include additional resources as well as my own mini essay, along with a further reading list which will include books related to or connected with the book we’ve explored that month, for anyone who wants to dive a little deeper.

The books

The list that follows isn’t a definitive canon, nor is it a syllabus in the currently trending sense of the word. It’s simply a collection of books that are considered classics and that I am feeling drawn to add to my read list by the end of the year.

These are novels that have endured not because they are perfect, but because they continue to invite conversation. They might ask questions about identity, morality, class, love, power, belief, or life itself. Reading them with intentionality and a critical eye will, I hope, open up a much bigger conversation (in my mind, with you, with the world), and that’s really exciting.

You’re very welcome to follow along exactly, to dip in and out, or to use this list simply as a guide for your own intentionally well-read year.

The books are shared below and also here, in the roadmap guide.

• Persuasion

• The Great Gatsby

• East of Eden

• Beloved

• I Capture the Castle

• Hunger

• Norwegian Wood

• Wide Sargasso Sea

• Giovanni’s Room

• The Haunting of Hill House

• Anna Karenina

• The Handmaid’s Tale

Expectations

I am not a scholar. I didn’t take English Literature at school (as I wrote about here!) or university, so the mini essays I write would not be described as critical. Instead, I’m learning as you learn, so rather than pretending to know more than I do - or simply re-stating interpretations that already exist - I’ll be leaning heavily on the insights of those far better placed to help us understand these books. My role here is not to reinvent the wheel, but to gather, reflect, and respond thoughtfully using my own interpretations.

I love learning, and I hold a dream of one day undertaking a Master’s degree focused on literature or writing. This year of close, intentional reading feels like a meaningful way to explore whether that path is one I’d like to pursue.

With this in mind, here are a few videos I have found particularly useful to get started on reading classics/hard books:

The On Wednesdays We Read Book Club

On the second Wednesday of each month, I’ll be publishing a companion newsletter and mini essay reflecting on the previous month’s book. Think of it as your internet book-club without having to actually turn up anywhere or interact with anyone (bliss). You’re welcome to read along with me, catch up on my thoughts alongside your own, and engage with the ideas the novel has sparked using this set of questions designed to prompt deeper thinking and reflection (this is loosely what my newsletter updates will be based around).

Mini Essays

I would also encourage you, if you want to engage more with what you’re reading, to craft your own mini essays: short, informal pieces shaped around a single idea or question that emerges while reading. I came across this concept in detail from Odysseus who has a few great videos on how and why you should do it. He also has a great newsletter that, if you enjoy this sort of content, you’ll love - check it out.

A mini essay doesn’t need to be time-consuming. He suggests setting aside just 20–30 minutes and under 500 words. Rather than only relying on your annotations or notes in a journal, a mini essay asks you to gather your thoughts into a somewhat coherent narrative so you can clarify what you think, notice what you don’t yet understand, and sit a little longer with the ideas that matter. While annotation is great, it can make you feel as though you’re doing something, without actually taking much of it to heart. A mini essay gives you some space to bring it all together.

There’s no pressure to publish these pieces or perfect them. The value lies in the thinking itself.

The first book we will be reading is Persuasion by Jane Austen. I have already begun reading this and creating the first companion newsletter to enable time to publish this on time on January 14th 2026.

If you’d like to join me, subscribe below to keep up to date:

A Gentle Manifesto for Becoming Intentionally Well-Read

I want to close this off by reiterating: this is not about reading more. I’ve tried that, setting myself outlandish Goodreads goals that only set off panic and pressure. This is no longer what I crave.

It is about reading with care.

It is about slowness, attention, and presence.

It is an invitation to read attentively and to begin to rewire your brain away from quick fix dopamine hits and towards meaningful, deep interactions with the content you consume. So much of what we (I) see and read online shapes our opinions before we’ve had time to form our own and one of the core reasons for undertaking this challenge is to push back against that, to form my own opinions, with some contextual guidance from outside resources about the books I’m reading.

You may read one book or many, abandon what no longer serves you, and return to what does. All of this counts.

That is enough.

Thank you for reading, and if I don’t see you before then, Happy New Year.

Sophie