Currently reading (November 2025)

New York’s Secret Subway
The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach and the Origins of Mass Transit
by Matthew Algeo

I’ve doodled my way through several of Algeo’s other books and secretly hope I could read this one without flagging / doodling anything. So far, so good. Fingers crossed!

Presidential Spirits
by Dan Coonan

Dan and I met at History Camp. He sent me a copy of his book and I’m aaaaaalmost done. If I’m incredibly irresponsible with my time, I may even finish it today.

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Up next:

FICTION

Behold the Dreamers
by Imbolo Mbue

The Blind Assassin
by Margaret Atwood

NON-FICTION

I’m torn between these two:

The Beast in the Clouds
The Roosevelt Brothers’ Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda
by Nathalia Holt

I heard Holt speak at Theodore Roosevelt Association’s annual meeting and holy cow this story is bonkers. Leaning toward starting with this one. Given the topic (it’s about Theodore Roosevelt’s sons), I’m wondering if I can quickly zip through it without wanting to doodle too much. Then maybe I can jump to…

Founding Mothers
The Women Who Raised Our Nation
by Cokie Roberts

This book could either result in a tremendous wealth of doodles to use in my upcoming Virtual Presidential Series.

Or it could slow me down and result in me constantly having to revise and rethink my presentation.

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More!

You can find all the books I’ve read or am reading this year in my Bookshop:

Or check out my related doodles:

More book ideas in my gift guides: