New Year, New Friends, New Books

Well, here we stand on the threshold of a new year.

As in other years, our daughter had plans for New Years Eve, and we did not. I looked forward to a quiet evening at home, after having house guests for a little over two weeks. We had taken my parents to the airport on the afternoon of the 30th, when Leif came to me later that day and said, "So... there's a guy I know from a couple conferences. I told him that if he's ever coming through this way, he should stay with us. And... he's coming through, so I told him he could stay with us."

"... Tonight?" I asked, hesitatingly.

"Tomorrow."

"Okay. You know that's New Year's Eve, right?"

So... we had plans after all. With a guy I'd never met, but Leif had met a couple times.... and his wife... and their three kids... and a german shepherd.

Feeling the weight of very little time to my introverted self over the past couple weeks, I braced myself for a social next day and set about cleaning up the house from the Christmas chaos that had descended upon it.

Sometimes I forget that we have this house so that we can bless others with it. We certainly don't need a house this large for our family of 3, but we can easily accommodate a family of five when they drop in. And I'm thankful they dropped in.

We rang in the new year playing Monty Python Fluxx, laughing and chatting with these new friends. We had a wonderful time. They brought cinnamon rolls, which we ate for breakfast, and it was, all in all, a lovely time.

As I went to bed a bit after midnight, I pulled out my current book and read before falling asleep. Last year I aimed to read 30 books. I finished 2019 having read 65. And a half, if you count the one I'm in the middle of. In 2020, my goal is to read 50 books. Today, I spent time listening to The Literary Life podcast on their 20 for 2020 reading challenge. I think I'm going to tackle that this year. I may also do a reading challenge from a friend's blog over at While I Was Reading. I am also going to work my way through some books that friends recommended I read in my 40th year.

40th Birthday Book Recommendations:

• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent
• Food Matters by Mark Bittman
• Habits of Grace by David Mathis
• The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh
• Everybody Always by Bob Goff
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
• Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
• Women Rowing North by Mary Pipher
• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

While I Was Reading Challenge Categories:

• A book with an emotion in the title: Awe by Paul David Tripp
• A young adult novel: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle OR The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
• A book translated from another language: The Song of Roland OR Latin: Story of a World Language
• A book that's centered around a holiday: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• A novel based on a true story: Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen 
• A book with song lyrics in the title: 1984 by George Orwell
• A book that's been on your shelf for more than a year: Norms and Nobility by David Hicks
• A book with a non-human narrator: The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
• A book with a month in the title: The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
• A book you heard about on TV / Radio / a podcast: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 
• A book set in the state you live in: Conjugations of the Verb To Be by Glen Chamberlain
• A romance novel: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Literary Life 20 for 2020 Challenge:

• A Shakespeare Play: Winter's Tale
• A Classic Detective Novel: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
• A Classic Children's Book: The Complete Takes of Winnie the Pooh 
• A Contemporary Novel: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• A Historical Fiction Novel: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
• A Ancient Greek Play: The Bacchae OR Prometheus Bound
• A Collection of Short Stories: The Return of the Light by Carolyn McVicar Edwards
• A Biography or Memoir: Take This Bread by Sara Mills
• A Devotional Work: The Desert Fathers
• A Book About Books: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• A Foreign (Non-Western) Book: Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson OR And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
• A "Guilty Pleasure" Book: The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
• An Intimidating Book You Have Avoided: Confessions by St. Augustine 
• A Satire: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• A Book of Essays: The Art of the Commonplace by Wendell Berry
• A Book by a Minor Author: A Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent
• A Classic Book by a Female Author: Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila
• A Complete Volume of Poetry by a Single Author: A Timbered Choir by Wendell Berry
• An "Out of Your Comfort Zone" Book: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
• Reread a Book You Read in High School: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Reading these gives me 40 specific titles to read over the next year. It does not include these books, which I have on my shelf to read: 

• Slow Church
• This Organic Life
• Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
• The Prophetic Imagination
• The Nordic Theory of Everything
• Long Live Latin
• The Roman Way
• Making of Latin
• Sabbath
• Reading for the Common Good

So... There are 50 books I would like to read this year. We'll see how many of those I actually make it through. Right now, though, it's no longer January 1st, so I'm going to go to bed. Now that I've made some decisions, the reading can begin. Tomorrow.