A summary of the December posts from the MORE TO COME newsletter.

Holiday greetings this Christmastide where today our family is celebrating the 5^th day of Christmas! No golden rings are involved (especially since some historians believe that the “five golden rings” may actually be a reference to the rings around a pheasant’s neck), but all the Browns are home enjoying the season. We send our best wishes to you.

December’s MORE TO COME offerings were a mixture of seasonal celebrations, “best-of” lists for the year, and my regular takes on books and music. Let’s dive in to see what tickled my fancy. Hopefully some will pique your interest as well.

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TOP READER VIEWS: WHAT OUR BOOKS REVEAL ABOUT US

Eight totally subjective observations on what the 65 books I read in 2023 reveal about me topped the reader views this month.

Seeing myself in the books I read was an especially big hit in the “Writers and Authors” group on LinkedIn. Check it out to see if any of these observations ring true with you.

Of course, the post was referencing the books I read this year, which you can find in The 2023 year-end reading list. Note: this post is long but is meant to be skimmed. I’ve encouraged readers and friends to tell me which books they most enjoyed in 2023, so feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

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I LOVE A GOOD “BEST OF” LIST

Long-time readers know that I’m a sucker for a good “best of” list this time of year. Here are three takes on these lists from the newsletter.

• Best of the MTC newsletter: 2023 highlights your choices for which posts grabbed your attention over the past twelve months. The top reader views spotlighted some excellent pieces: the photographs of Carol Highsmith as well as my Q&A with authors Janet Hulstrand, Joseph McGill, Julia Rocchi, and Lisa Ramsay. Essays on the liminal passages through birthdays, retirement, and death were also reader favorites. Finally, thoughts on the meaning of home topped the list, which is a good place to land this holiday season.

• Some essays I especially enjoyed writing or that conveyed thoughts which I felt the readers of MTC would appreciate didn’t make the top reader-views lists. ICYMI: A few personal favorites from 2023 highlights those choices.

• The Saturday Soundtrack 2023 top ten featured the top reader views from this year’s posts on music. I’m not spilling the beans, but one of our family’s tenors (and it isn’t the author) rates a spot on the 2023 list.

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WRITING ABOUT BOOKS

There was a lot to consider in the books I read during the month of December.

• My review of one of the most important books I read in 2023 can be found in The search for hope in history. To understand the origins of modern America, author Robert P. Jones suggests we look at 1452 and the Doctrine of Discovery.

• Writer Robyn Ryle goes on book tour with Ernest Hemingway in a new anthology on playing authors. Who gets to tell the stories? is my review of the book, plus a Q&A with Robyn about her sad, insightful, and laugh-out-loud funny story imagining the great Hemingway in the rat race that is the modern book tour world.

• Don’t mess with the septuagenarian sleuths and my look at The Thursday Murder Club wraps-up my self-proclaimed “year of reading dangerously™”. 

• I’ve often said that I am the son of a “Roger Williams Baptist.” Concerns about the separation of church and state come easily to me. Corporate churches and freedom of religion was a deep dive into the study of American law, which has shown that it cannot think religion without the church. And that’s a problem.

• As I write in Love as the divine energy, some things cannot be described, even by the most celebrated of writers. C.S. Lewis and his take on love didn’t do it for me. I’ll accept that the fault may be with the reader.

• Talking with writers is a summary of my 2023 discussions with seven different authors about their most recent works.

• A Christmas full of wonderment and awe features excerpts from a Christmas sermon by the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, a nonbinary African American member of the LGBTQ community, a civil rights and women’s rights activist, the brilliant legal scholar who influenced Ruth Bader Ginsberg and who is responsible for producing what Justice Thurgood Marshall called “the Bible of Civil Rights law,” a poet and writer, the first female African American Episcopal priest in the United States, and a saint in the Episcopal Church. As one of the most consequential and hopeful figures of the 20^th century, her message still resonates today.

• And there is the always popular From the bookshelf: November 2023.

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MUSIC FOR DECEMBER

In addition to the yearly wrap-up noted above, this month I highlighted the work of Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts in A Celtic celebration as well as traditional carols performed by several of my favorite vocal ensembles in the seasonal Yuletide musical gifts.

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CONCLUSION

Thanks, as always, for reading. Your support and feedback mean more than I can ever express.

As you travel life’s highways be open to love, thirst for wonder, undertake some mindful walking every day, recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have, and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, immigrants, and others can feel especially vulnerable . . . because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy as the fight never ends.

Bash into some joy along the way.

And finally, try to be nice. Always be kind.

More to come . . .

DJB

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For the November 2023 summary, click here.

You can follow MORE TO COME by going to the small “Follow” box that is on the right-hand column of the site (on the desktop version) or at the bottom right on your mobile device. It is great to hear from readers, and if you like them feel free to share these posts on your own social media platforms.

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Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash