Hello Friend.
Welcome to the Contemplative Reading Project! Below, you can learn a bit about our goals and how to connect with us on social media. Please use #theCRPblog for any sharing on your socials. Want to recommend a book for a future group read? Click here!
What is the Contemplative Reading Project?
The idea for The Contemplative Reading Project began percolating in 2020, when I was reading 100+ books per year and trying to keep up with them all on my book blog. I realized I wasn’t reading very well, or deeply, and that after getting some thoughts down about a book, I could barely remember much else about it later. I also hadn’t given myself time to consider any impact the books might have had on me.
As an English Professor working and teaching through the pandemic, and in this digital age, I’ve realized that my students, too, struggle with connecting to a text, partly because of distractions and partly because our technology has shaped us into creatures of instant news, instant answers, and instant gratification.
Then, in the Fall of 2022, I participated in a contemplative read of James Bridle’s Ways of Being, hosted by Krista Tippet of the On Being podcast. I loved that experience so much and wondered how I would make it a regular practice in my life. To that end, I want to acknowledge the sabbatical assistance I received from the Nevada System of Higher Education, which allowed me the time necessary to develop and implement this project.
In August 2023, I developed a plan for a long-term contemplative reading project of my own. I would read one book per month, slowly and carefully. I would think deeply about it and connect it to what I know and feel about life and living. I will be alternating between genres, selecting from fiction, drama, poetry, and non-fiction. After the first season, for which I’ve already selected the texts, I will invite project companions (readers like you) to suggest reading recommendations for future months.
Who Runs the Project?
Adam Burgess is Professor of English at the College of Southern Nevada. He is one of the founders of The Classics Club and a long-time book blogger at Roof Beam Reader. Adam is now the host and creator of The Contemplative Reading Project, a space where he invites readers to engage deeply with literature and the self through intentional, reflective reading. His published works of poetry, creative nonfiction, and criticism can be found in Fish Barrel Review, Towers Magazine, Variant Literature Journal, America’s Emerging Writers, Watermark Journal, Broad River Review, and elsewhere. Some of Adam’s favorite writers are James Baldwin, Virginia Woolf, Ocean Vuong, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Joan Didion, and Mary Oliver. He lives with his husband in Las Vegas, where they eagerly explore the area’s remarkable landscape—trails, mountains, and wetlands—as well as the vibrant coffee scene. Adam is currently studying Creative Writing at UC Berkeley and pursuing a path towards Buddhist chaplaincy.
Want to Participate?
For those who join the project, I will be posting each season’s reads one month in advance of the new season. This will allow folks time to get the book(s) and plan their schedules.
- Autumn Season: October, November, and December.
- Winter Season: January, February, and March.
- Spring Season: April, May, and June.
- Summer Season: July, August, and September.
Don’t worry about your level of reading experience. This is not a place where we will delve too deeply into analysis. Our discussions won’t have much to do with hunting for themes and symbols, or discussing narrative structure, plot devices, or heroes’ journeys. Those conversations have their place in literature classrooms, but this is not meant to be a classroom.
We also won’t focus too much on whether we liked or hated the book, who our favorite characters were, or other topics that work well in a book club setting. Instead, this project is meant to be a kind of meditative reading practice. Bring who you are and what you know to the conversations. If you have a background in theory and philosophy, it makes sense to discuss the book from that perspective. If you’re a scientist or an artist, we’ll look forward to those diversities of responses, too.
I will be using the experience to engage with how the text makes me think and feel. How it helps me understand myself, connect to my place in the world, and to interconnect with other beings. In short, my hope for this project is that I–we–might learn to slow down, to savor, and through reading, to learn “to live deliberately.”
Conversations on Social Media
The Contemplative Reading Podcast is in production. I hope to air the first episode in January 2026. You can also find the project online in the links below. We’ll use #theCRPblog to find one another.
Wishing you thoughtful reading,
~Adam
Contemplative Reading Project 
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