That's a wrap for 2024, and Swedish Christmas

Well, here we are at the end of 2024. 

Wife and I have had a good year in many ways. We are still in relatively good health for our ages as I await knee replacement surgery and we both notice we tire a bit more easily. But all things considered, not bad. 

We were lucky enough to take some nice trips this year, which I recounted here. 

But as with any year, there were challenges and sadness, perhaps more than in recent years. We both lost dear friends, which was difficult. The cancer journey for my son-in-law continues, and he will be having more surgery. While there is still no spread beyond the colon, a new tumor was recently detected in that area. 

Right now, he and my daughter and their three children live a normal life, looking from the outside. Their faith and good humor stand them in good stead. But this weighs heavily on them and all of us. We are praying for complete eradication and for them to be able to move on with their lives. 

I will likely retire this coming year, with the date being as yet unknown. This is equal parts exciting and terrifying for me. Lots to process there as I come to the end of my working life. 

I think what you call all of this is life. Ups and downs. Happiness and sadness. Challenging times and less challenging times. Changing seasons and transitions. 

Wishing all of you a happy and prosperous New Year. I hope we will continue to check on each other  here and on your blogs. I appreciate our little community here. 

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Before I sign off for the year, I want to report on this year's international Christmas Eve, an annual tradition with our family. Full disclosure, as a family we observe Christmas Eve December 26th and Christmas Day December 27th, but that is a minor detail. 

This year's country was Sweden, and we can't seem to remember how we picked it. I think Wife and I decided we should do a Scandinavian country and Sweden it was. Given that there are no Swedish restaurants around, this year's meal was all home cooked and, as usual, Wife did an outstanding job. 

One of the pictures includes the menu. FYI, Wife decided to nix the green beans and added a marinated tomato dish, not on the menu, that was delicious. In fact, all the food was above average and would be good in any setting. 

Decorations had a woodsy theme, and we were able to borrow some props from the Canadian year as well as acquire a few new ones. The table runners and needlepoint hanging came straight from Sweden via Etsy. 

Pictures will tell it better than I can. As usual, drinks and apps were in the entry hall before dinner in the dining room. 

Reading 2024: Fiction

 As promised, here are the fiction books I read this year: 

1.    Beartown by Fredrik Backman

2.    Kindred by Octavia Butler

3.    House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

4.    A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash

5.    The Skin and its Girl by Sarah Cypher

6.    Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

7.    The Long Way Home by Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache series)

8.    The Man Who Died Twice (Thursday Murder Club series)

9.    A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

10.    Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

11.    James by Percival Everett

12.    As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

13.    Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

14.    The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club series)

As I mentioned in my post on non-fiction, I read more NF than fiction this year, although it was only one more, so it was about even. 

I liked all of these, but the clear favorite was number 13, Theo of Golden, the story of an elderly gentleman who goes to live in a seemingly random community in Georgia and makes an indelible mark. You are not likely to find this on any reading lists (by all indications, it is self-published), but I think you are likely to find it as compelling, poignant and moving as I did. 

Numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5 were all selections from the book club I started attending early in the year, and all books I would not likely have read had it not been for that group. I enjoyed all of them and had the good fortune to visit Edith Wharton's (author of House of Mirth) home, "The Mount," on my trip to New England in October. Unfortunately, as the year progressed, for a number of reasons my book club attendance lapsed, but I hope to go back in January. 

I continued my plodding along in the Inspector Gamache series with The Long Way Home. It was up to the usual standards. I also marked off two more in the Thursday Murder Club series, both of which were excellent. 

Covenant of Water is a close second behind Theo of Golden, by the author of Cutting for Stone. Weighing in at over 700 pages, I use it as my excuse for reading fewer books this year! 

James and Demon Copperhead (another long one) were also page turners worth calling out. My nod to the classics was As I Lay Dying (which I picked up at the recommendation of a friend who is reading through all of Faulkner's works). John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany might not yet qualify as a classic, but it's one I had heard about for years but never gotten around to reading. It was worth the wait. 

A Land More Kind than Home is the second I've read by North Carolina author Wiley Cash, who I discovered last year. I highly recommend.

The TBR stack for 2025 is already high. Several of you who read this blog have made good recommendations over the years, and I hope you will keep them coming. 

Reading 2024: Non-fiction

As far as quantity of books, I did not have my best year in 2024, coming in at 29. I doubt I will finish another one by year-end, so this is probably a good number. 

Interestingly, non-fiction edged out fiction this year. I must say I read some very good non-fiction books, as follows: 

1.    How to Know a Person by David Brooks

2.    People to be Loved by Preston Sprinkle

3.    American Carnage by Tim Alberta

4.    The Kingdon, the Power and the Glory by Tim Alberta

5.    The Spirit of Our Politics by Michael Wear

6.    Prayer in the Night by Tish Harrison Warren

7.    Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar Dillard

8.    Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie

9.    LIV and Let Die by Alan Shipnuck

10.    Hannah's Child by Stanley Haeurwas

11.    Ghosted by Nancy French

12.    Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream by Doris Kearns Goodwin

13.    An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin

14.    A Fine Sight to See by Sophie Hudson

15.    On Call by Anthony Fauci

As you can see, there are a couple of repeat authors, Tim Alberta and Doris Kearns Goodwin. 

The first Alberta book listed (America Carnage) is about the Trump presidency, while the second one (The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory) centers around the unlikely, but very real, partnership of Trump with evangelical Christianity. Both are excellent, although I am probably biased as I agree so strongly with Alberta's point of view on Donald Trump. 

The second book listed by Doris Kearns Goodwin is the joint memoir she began with her late husband, Richard N. Goodwin, and finished following his death. The first is a detailed account of the LBJ presidency and more about his life, from the front row seat the author had by working for him, and post-presidency when he asked her to help write his memoirs. I loved both of these.

I would call out three others: Prayer in the Night, Tish Harrison Warren's (my favorite Anglican priest, who also wrote Liturgy of the Ordinary) lovely homage to the Compline Prayer; Hannah's Child, theologian Stanley Hauerwas's memoir which is at times hilarious but also so deep I had to read certain passages over and over; and On Call, Dr. Anthony Fauci's autobiography which, if I had to pick a favorite from this list, this would probably be it. While most of us came to know him because of COVID, this retrospective on his life covers much, much more. 

I would recommend all of these listed and hope you will find something of interest. 

I will be back soon to close the year with my fiction list.

(In the meantime, Merry Christmas!)