December is when “Best of” and “Top Ten” lists spring up in all sorts of places, including MORE TO COME.
This list is your selection of the top posts for the year of 2024.
Because MTC is not your typical single-focus newsletter, I want to thank you once again for reading this eclectic mix of observations. I am so grateful that readers keep checking in, providing feedback through their choices of what’s of interest.
Here’s a baker’s dozen of the top stories from the past year, as selected by the readers of MORE TO COME. And yes, you have to scroll almost to the bottom to see what’s #1.
THE JOYS OF TRAVEL
Two top posts from this year provided readers with views of my travels as an educational expert on National Trust Tours.
- While on a visit to Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea, we visited eight harbor cities in seven countries. A tale of two harbor cities was a look at Copenhagen and Tallinn, two of my favorites.
- I’ve had the opportunity to both lead and learn on visits to some of the world’s most picturesque and historic cities, towns, and landscapes. In what became a reader favorite, I looked ahead at six exceptional upcoming tours in Exploring places that matter.
BOOKS OPEN UP NEW FRONTIERS
Reviews of several of the sixty books I read in 2024 made the list of top reader views.
- Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable, an Earth Day post that featured the musings of Barbara Brown Taylor and the poetry of Mary Oliver, continues to bring readers to MTC to drink in the wisdom of these two extraordinary seekers.
- I’m convinced that the catchy title of There is no “Dr. No” caught the interest of some search engine algorithm, for while I found the stories of art thefts to be fascinating, I never expected this review to make the top views list. Shows how much I know.
- The annual summary of books I’ve enjoyed over the past twelve months—The 2024 year-end reading list—was a big hit with my readers.
CHANGES
Two top posts from this year explored passages in life, in this case cataract surgery and the celebration of yet another trip around the sun.
- Perhaps it was because of all the cute pictures of the author in his youth, or perhaps it is because so many people who read the newsletter have undergone cataract surgery, but for whatever reason Seeing the world with new eyes was a big favorite. I wrote about the fact that the weirdest part of this seemingly ubiquitous surgery comes when your self-image gets all screwed up along with your eyesight.
- A lifetime of letting go is my annual birthday post from March 4th (the only day that is a command). This year I’ve been noticing the value of slowing down in order to see the wonder around us, to focus on my place and calling in life, and—simply—to enjoy the ride.
FAMILY
I’ve always included family stories as part of this newsletter. Four of those posts from 2024 made this list.
- Our year in photos – 2024 is the latest in an annual collection of family photographs that began in 2008.
- Achieving a musician’s dream captures one of Andrew’s trips to sing at Carnegie Hall. It includes a cool video produced by Boston University.
- Speaking of music, I include A kind of alchemy here in the family section because I really learned to love communal singing around the piano with my mom, brothers, and sisters. (Daddy was not allowed to sing!)
- The fifteen years our family lived in Staunton, Virginia, remain among our most important and treasured memories. I wrote about that time, and our support of a great new project in the city, in the post Celebrating the creators. It was near the top of the MTC 2024 list of favorites. And when we returned to Staunton for Thanksgiving, I got to see the poster that Pam and Thom Wagner of the Arcadia project produced that highlighted this very piece. How cool is that!
AUTHORS TELL THEIR STORIES
In a series of questions & answers, five authors graced MORE TO COME this year with their presence. Two of those conversations were among this list of top reader views, including the post which garnered the most views in 2024.
- Undermining the conventional has been an integral component of the Edith Farnsworth House since Dr. Farnsworth and Mies van der Rohe met at a dinner party one fateful winter evening in 1945. To help expand our understanding of this iconic place, Michelangelo Sabatino and his fellow authors produced a richly illustrated, deeply researched, and well-crafted source of unending pleasure for the eyes, mind, and soul. Michelangelo graciously agreed to answer my questions about this important new book, which made the list of reader favorites in 2024.
AND THE WINNER IS . . .
What happens when one of the most transformative events in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth at the hands of the Roman Empire sometime around the third decade of the Common Era, has to rely on witnesses for transmission across centuries? The transformational power of stories—my Q&A with author Amy-Jill Levine which topped this year’s list of most-read MTC posts—considers the book Witness at the Cross: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Friday which examines the stories, texts, social contexts, religious background, and perspectives of those who watched Jesus die. Dr. Levine, known as AJ to friends, brings her deep understanding of scripture, insightful commentary, broadness of perspective, and engaging wit to our conversation to help us consider this climatic moment in the Christian story.
BTW, I WAS RATHER FOND OF THESE AS WELL
These are a few additional pieces that I was fond of but that didn’t get quite so much notice:
Citizenship (April 15th) — We each choose what type of country we want. How we respond to others is part of that choice.
When The New York Times came calling (May 22nd) — Seeing one of my photographs appear in the New York Times left me with mixed feelings.
Willie Mays, R.I.P. (June 20th) — Saying goodbye to a childhood hero.
Memory is a poet . . . the scrapbook edition (July 1st) — Some old memorabilia reminds me that memory is more poetry than history.
The gold standard of being a dude: Kris Kristofferson, R.I.P. (October 5th) — If you look up Renaissance man in the dictionary, you may find Kristofferson’s picture.
Whatever you found to enjoy this year on MTC, Thanks, as always, for reading!
More to come . . .
DJB
Last year’s listing of the top posts on MORE TO COME as selected by reader views can be seen by clicking on the link. You can also check here to find similar lists from:
Photo credits: Windmills on the Greek Island of Mykonos by DJB; Meteora monasteries from Getty Images on Unsplash; Shrouded valley by Pine Watt on Unsplash; Photo of DJB by the “Celebrating the Creators” poster in Staunton by Andrew Brown; View of the Edith Farnsworth House, now a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, from the Carol Highsmith Collection, Library of Congress; Crucifixion by a Strasburgian painter, possibly Hermann Schadeberg.
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