Another Remarkable Year

As the raging snow ushers Suzannah and I out of town for the break there’s been almost no time to reflect on the momentous year that was 2008. Three cheers to the adults moving back into power in Washington. Jim tells me he’s got a tops list that he’ll post. But other than that blogging will be suspended until the new year.

Tony Horwitz (Baghdad Without A Map, Confederates in the Attic, Blue Latitudes) has a new book I’d planned to read while away. It was too good – A Voyage Long and Strange tells of what happened in the (future) United States between 1492 and 1620, the two dates most of us remember from school. Fills in a lot of gaps and puts a lot of subsequent events in perspective. And even though many of the details are tragic it’s a forgotten place in our national memory that bears remembering. And he tells of it compellingly.

Hallelujah Junction: Composing An American Life by John Adams will travel. And call me crazy but I like to read Paul Auster on the beach. John Berger’s Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches On Survival and Resistance comes. And Huffington’s Guide to Blogging so we can see about spiffing this place up in the new year.

Best wishes to all for a safe and happy holiday.