Winter and Bookish Goals

 

Happy 2025! I hope this new year has treated you well and you're feeling a good start to the best month of the year, in my opinion. Here's why:

Winter goals

Winter is here and I could not be more delighted! These are the days I dream about all year. I know, call me crazy. In fact, when I woke up a few days ago and it was 36 degrees Fahrenheit, I promptly sat down at my desk and wrote this poem (after I put on a sweater and made a cup of coffee of course):

Oh! wake the morning frosty cold -
If I may be so bold
I don't have to be told
That the glorious Winter is here
In an air so crisp and clear
With the dawn and sun near
My heart awakens to wonder
It sets my mind to ponder
And encourages my feet to wander.
With nicks of cold at my face
I call it a blessing and grace
To enjoy cold walks in this place.

To say I enjoy the cold weather is a bit of an understatement - saying that probably results in some glares. Certainly it's the unpopular opinion. But hey, we all have things that we like that others don't. And everyone who knows me well, knows that I am smiling without even trying on cold days that are accompanied by a greyscale sky. Ahh, yes, it's the perfect combination to get to work with reading and getting cosy with coffee/tea! Which leads to my next point: 

Bookish goals

I don't set book goals for myself. I want to read at my leisure as much as I want and not feel pressure to hit a certain number. I read a lot, so I am not concerned that I won't read "enough". Plus, I sometimes read very long books that take a lot of time, effort, and pages to get through, yet it still only counts as one. I feel a bit of the Legolas and Gimli competition in The Lord of the Rings, when Legolas and he are in a competitive game of keeping track of their numbers as they kill Orcs during the siege at Minas Tirith, when Legolas takes down a huge elephant with all the deadly men on top, taking them all out,  Gimli sees it and shouts "that still only counts as one!"

I read 82 books in 2024. It's a bit astounding to me because January - March I was studying full time (all my spare time outside of work) for my big exam I took in March, so that took out a lot of reading time.

My longest and shorted books:

Some of my top books from new reads this year (not including any re-reads):

I keep coming back to this beautiful collection of the Psalms, written in lyric poems by the brother-sister Mary and Philip Sidney. Extremely talented poets in their English Renaissance time (1580s). These Psalms were passed around in manuscript before they were officially published in the19th century, and praised by John Donne and George Herbert, arguably two of the best poets. The way they work with language is worthy of study of what good poetry is, such as:
The sacrifices sacrify
Of just desires, on justice stayed
Trust in that Lord that cannot lie.
Indeed full many folks have said,
'From whence shall come to us such aid?'

Simone Weil was an amazing, brave French Christian philosopher who died so young during WWII (she joined the suffering and starved). This is a book of spiritual wisdom, left in notebooks that were published after her death. They are short snippets of insights that one can ponder for years, such as:
"God could create only by hiding himself. Otherwise there would be nothing but himself. Holiness should then be hidden too, even from consciousness in a certain measure. And it should be hidden in the world."

A new book that came out about Tolkien's Catholic faith by Holly Ordway. I loved learning more about how devoted he was, and how he incorporated his faith in his life, especially life in Oxford including conversations and experiences he had with others. His faith is not much talked about, as he didn't write "theology books" even though this study shows so clearly how infused his faith is in all his writings, so I deeply enjoyed this book for more depth and appreciation of Tolkien.

How have I not read this biography before now? Don't ask me. It was sitting on my shelf when I purchased a used hardback from Blackwell's probably 8 years ago. I picked it up and realized I had not read it, and got to it right away With Hooper and Green's personal stories and relationship with Lewis, this was hugely enjoyable and insightful on Lewis's life, especially in Oxford.

A different way of looking at saving and spending (for retirement) - why wait until you are too old to enjoy life or gift to your children? Do it now, while you can, when you can enjoy it and when your children are younger and can use and enjoy it, with the caveat to be sure your retirement is set-up for goals needed first. Really good fodder for having financial conversations. Build up memory dividends that will pay out to you the rest of your life.

Fascinating journey around the world visiting abandoned places, natural and man-made, leftover from wars, disasters, or left behind for other reasons. Forbidden places. Haunted places. Places where humans no longer live. How has nature taken over? What can we learn from these places? Full of interesting encounters with places humans dare to go.

A purposefully offline journal, only available in print. Essays old and new. Thought-provoking and topically curated. I love these beautiful hardback journals - there are four out so far. I have two of them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this every morning.

Ending and Beginning

 

Rising on the last day of the year, and rising on the first day of the year encourages some reflection. Thankfulness always rises to the top with each year, reflecting on the blessings that I did not deserve, and to me I feel that to those who receive much, much is required. Meaning, I feel the responsibility to use my gifts well, for good. To hopefully do good, create good, and be a blessing to someone, even if only in a small way. As always, during Advent and Christmas I read the poetry anthology from Malcolm Guite Waiting on the Word. Somehow I am enjoying it even more than previous years, and I ask myself why. I realize that I have felt less stressed and anxious this year. I take in moments and appreciate them, noticing the details of a moment. Taking a moment to linger. When I allow myself that space I am filled with peace and calm. Giving myself that clarity of time to ponder. To let words sink in, perhaps as if for the first time.

The poem for the last day of the year was Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush", and it's a beautiful year end reflection on the gloom of the world suddenly turned by the sing-song of a Thrush choosing to "fling his soul upon the growing gloom". Oh, so beautiful, I love that. I will aim to fling myself upon the growing gloom everyday.

Against the darkness this Thrush sings, when the frost is "spectre-grey" and the land has features that resemble "His crypt the cloudy canopy, the wind his death-lament".  Infinite hopelessness. No germ of bloom to come or light to shine. It's a desolate feeling of dread and gloom at the end of the year (Hardy wrote this poem on December 31, 1900).

But then the song is heard, and the final stanza-

So little cause for carolings
of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware. 

To Hardy, who turned his back on faith, this is even more hopeful. As he catches a glimpse of joy amidst dark gloom you can't help but wonder if he followed that trail of light to see Christ as the source of all joy and truth. The hope reflects that joy - when one can be filled with joy even whilst dwelling in darkness, grief, or gloom. The joy with Christ is not dependent on any of those things of the world. It dwells within us through all things - it is the darkling Thrush that never stops singing the tune of the heavenly realm we often block ourselves from hearing/seeing. It's there, but do we choose to not to attend to it, only seeing the dead year, the dread and threat, and completely ignore the light that sits there singing amidst it all, knowing that what is right there is not all there is. There is more beyond what we can see. Much more is around us - song and presence. Do we not entertain angels unaware? Lingering in the mist, near the cracks of gloom, all is riven to the glory of God, hidden from those who will not see, who choose not to see.

Welcome 2025!