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4 Standout Reads for Your New Year

January 24, 2025

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Every year, I write down the titles of the books that I finish reading, a habit that I’ve been doing since 1993. These days, I typically write the titles in a note on my phone as I go along, but then I copy them out into a physical book at the beginning of the new year. I like having a nondigital copy of my reading list (not everything needs to be virtual!), and it also provides an opportunity to consider my “year in books.” My list reveals that in 2024, I read 113 books, about average for me. From those books, which ranged over fiction and non-fiction, recent publications and classics, here are four standouts (and some bonus suggestions) that I recommend for your reading enjoyment this year.

That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis

The third volume of the Ransom Trilogy (following Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra), That Hideous Strength is a compelling, deeply weird, and disturbingly prophetic science-fiction novel, and my favorite of Lewis’ works, not counting the Chronicles of Narnia. It’s the fictional counterpart to his The Abolition of Man, so if you’ve read one but not the other, now is the time to remedy that! (As a bonus, I recommend Michael Ward’s After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man for a companion to that title, and his Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis for insight into the planetary imagery that he used in both the Narnia books and the Ransom Trilogy). 

The immediate cause of revisiting That Hideous Strength was that I wrote an essay on Lewis’ use of Arthurian imagery as a contribution to Life on the Silent Planet: Essays on Christian Living from C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy. Having now read the other chapters in that volume, I was moved to start rereading the whole trilogy, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Ransom shows up again in my 2025 review!

You’ll notice I call it the Ransom Trilogy, not, as is regrettably printed on many editions, the “Space” Trilogy. In Out of the Silent Planet, when Ransom enters “outer space” for the first time, he discovers that the term “space” (with its connotations of vacuity and deadness) is, as he puts it, a “blasphemous libel” for the reality of the “heavens.” 

Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome

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Switching gears entirely, a different Ransome (real, and with an “e”) is the author of the Swallows and Amazons series of classic children’s books. Here we find 1930s-era children having adventures that are, in one sense, very ordinary, at least for their time (though extraordinary for our more protective age: camping without adult supervision!). There are no supernatural events, no monsters, no need to save the world, just imaginative play, well-drawn and likeable characters, and plots set on a human scale. In Winter Holiday (1933), the third volume of the series, we’re introduced to two new characters, Dick and Dorothea, who are first-time visitors to the lake where two other sets of children, the Swallows and the Amazons, have returned for the winter holidays from school. The “Ds” soon make friends with their neighbors and, among other adventures, make a voyage to the “North Pole” across the frozen lake. 

Winter Holiday is refreshment for the spirit, equally enjoyable when bundled up and sipping hot cocoa or on a hot summer’s day in contrast with the snowy setting. At any season, it (and the other Swallows and Amazons books) are a good reset of one’s mental state to a more human scale and pace of life. 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I think that the last time I had read Orwell was back in high school, a point at which I did not properly appreciate Animal Farm; since then, I had vaguely categorized it as one of those “important books” that aren’t necessary to revisit. How wrong I was! 

Animal Farm is an important book, yes, but more than that: a brilliant one, and horribly relevant today with the growth not only of totalitarian movements around the world, but an increase in people in democratic societies who approve of totalitarianism and authoritarianism. It’s particularly interesting to note that Orwell at first had difficulty finding a publisher for the book; Stalinism was in vogue, as the Soviet Union was at that point an ally of Britain and the US against Nazi Germany (though after Animal Farm’s publication in 1945, the merit of Orwell’s criticism of Stalinism was swiftly recognized). But Orwell was clear sighted, even prophetic, and Animal Farm is not just a relevant book for his historical period, but for ours. It’s a very short book; you can read it in one or two sittings. Go for it. And then I recommend some of Orwell’s essays, such as “Why I Write” and “Politics and the English Language,” both of which appear in the small and inviting volume Why I Write

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

Dame Judi Dench is one of Britain’s most renowned actors, with a career in theater and film over seven decades. The heart of her acting career has been in Shakespeare plays, and in Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent she reminisces about each play in which she has performed (including as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Ophelia in Hamlet, as well as many others). Rather than being a traditional narrative memoir, it takes the form of an extended interview with Brendan O’Hea, an actor and director, and a friend of Dench’s, talking with her about each play. The approach works well, allowing Dench’s voice and personality to shine through. Speaking to this point: readers who are sensitive to vulgar language should note that Dench peppers her remarks with the F word on occasion. Interestingly, in context, it came across more mildly than one might expect, as if she were saying “drat” or some other mild expletive; it’s not used in an aggressive and offensive way. As someone who loves Shakespeare and taught his plays often over the years, I found Dench’s commentary from the acting side to be highly interesting as well as offering a great deal of insights into the plays. 

Austenland by Shannon Hale  

I’ll wrap up with a quick suggestion for lighter reading. Austenland (2008) by Shannon Hale is a romp for Jane Austen fans. (There is also a film, which I have not seen.) The protagonist, Jane Hayes, can’t find any man who will live up to her ideal: Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Then she is given an all-expenses-paid trip to an immersive retreat called Austenland. Adventures ensue, in a suitably Austenian mode. 

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If you are looking for even more books to add to your to-read list, have a look at my previous set of recommendations as well! Happy reading!