The Top 5 Plus (January31)

My apologies for skipping last weekend's edition of The Top 5 Plus but with several pressing tasks (including being in Washington D.C. for the March for Life), we just couldn't get to it. Let's get back on track with this weekend's selections...

1) “‘Medical Malpractice’: DOJ Asks Court to Stall Federal Case on Abortion Drug” (S.A. McCarthy, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Last year, the DOJ similarly asked the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the FDA by Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas. That case also challenged the weakening of safeguards around mifepristone, but the DOJ argued that the states had brought their challenge in the improper venue and lacked standing.

Louisiana and other states with pro-life laws in place have filed lawsuits, issued arrest warrants, and requested extraditions in an effort to bring blue state abortionists to justice for violating state pro-life laws, killing children, and harming women, but “shield laws” in states like California and New York block the pro-life states’ efforts. In a recent bid to circumvent “shield laws,” Florida legislators introduced a bill empowering women and their families to sue out-of-state abortionists directly, rather than pitting two states against each other in court.

In July, the FDA launched a review of the safety standards surrounding mifepristone, following numerous studies and reports demonstrating the damage that the drug does to pregnant women — in addition to the unborn children killed by the drug. However, the agency quickly outraged pro-life Americans when it moved to expand mifepristone, approving a generic version of the abortion drug in September 2025.

Related article: “FDA Wants Pause On Landmark Abortion Pill Suit. Pro-Lifers Say It Will Cost” (Jordan Boyd, Federalist)

2) “Slouching Towards Fort Sumter? Minnesota’s defiance of federal immigration law echoes pre–Fort Sumter nullification, forcing Trump to choose between enforcement and letting blue states slide toward open rebellion.” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness) 

From the article -- But after Fort Sumter, Lincoln—who was hated as much by the Confederates as Trump is by the woke and socialist left—gained a consensus that the Constitution had no clauses about any lawful departure from the union. But it did operate under a clear supremacy clause that made state obstruction of federal law and occupation of federal property veritable sedition.

Lincoln and the preservationists felt that they easily had the moral high ground of abolition versus the continuance of slavery. Nor did they want a North America of fragmenting, warring nations in the manner of Europe.

Something similar is emerging over Minnesota, the South Carolina of our age.

Once sanctuary states, cities, and counties had established the precedent that, with impunity, they could nullify federal immigration law, then what followed was a logical and mounting descent into the current open defiance of the federal government. How odd that self-described progressives are now acting out the visions of prior kindred nullificationists and neo-Confederates from John C. Calhoun to George Wallace.

Related articles: “The Rise of the New Confederacy: Democrat insurrectionists have a poor track record.” (Josh Hammer, American Spectator) “Like Their Southern Secessionist Ancestors, Today’s Democrats Push New ‘Massive Resistance’ to Federal Law Enforcement” (Mark Tapscott, Washington Stand)

3) “From Classroom to Clash: The Long March to Disorder -- As cities descend into repeated cycles of chaos and lives are lost in Minnesota, Americans are asking a simple question: how did we get here?” (Tony Perkins, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Minnesota is not an outlier; it is a case study of what happens when institutions that once fostered moral restraint abandon that role. The real cause is less obvious because it is far removed from the tragic events we see today in the headlines. It can be traced back decades to what was called the long march through the institutions — a phrase coined in the late 1960s by Marxist student leader Rudi Dutschke. The phrase deliberately echoed Mao Zedong’s Long March, but Dutschke’s was not a military campaign. It was a cultural and ideological one, measured in decades rather than battles.

The strategy was to transform society not by overthrowing government outright, but by infiltrating its core institutions: universities, primary and secondary education, the media, the courts, and even churches. The objective was to shape what people were taught — what would be considered normal, respectable, and acceptable — so that political outcomes would eventually become inevitable.

4) “Congressional Republicans Launch ‘Sharia Free America Caucus,’ Shining A Light On The Dangers Of Rising Islamic Ideology” (Harbinger’s Press)

From the article -- With twenty-six members from seventeen different states, the newly launched “Sharia Free America Caucus” in the US House of Representatives is working to reveal the dangers and safeguard America from freedom-trampling Islamic ideology.

The caucus, chaired by Texas Congressmen Keith Self and Chip Roy, underscores that Sharia Law poses a direct threat to the United States and Western civilization, noting that both members of Congress and American citizens must be educated to understand the danger.

“Sharia is a direct threat to our Constitution and Western values and seeks to replace our legal system and erode our basic freedoms,” Roy stated. “Our immigration system must be prepared to confront this challenge and defend our Judeo-Christian values.”

Congressman Self, in an interview with CBN, drew a “direct connection between a growing Muslim population in his home state to a gradual infiltration of Islamic control.”

5) “The emergence of Holocaust erasure: The world hasn’t learned the key point -- that it was a uniquely monstrous crime aimed specifically at the extermination of the Jewish people.” (Melanie Phillips, JNS)

From the article -- The United Nations chose Jan. 27—the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration/death camp—to commemorate the Holocaust, the term that developed specifically to describe the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Yet the message the United Nations posted on X on Tuesday omitted any mention of the Jews. It said: “The genocide started with apathy & silence in the face of injustice, and with the corrosive dehumanization of the other. Today and always, we need to remember this. And we must stand up for our shared humanity.”

The post was quoting from a statement issued by the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who also said that “a group of deluded killers inflicted unspeakable atrocities on millions of Jews and members of other minorities.”

As reflected in the U.N.’s abbreviated version of this statement on X, Türk universalized the Holocaust and thus blurred its real significance. But at least he mentioned the Jews. Others, shockingly, did not.

Other excellent articles from this week:

* “Iran’s Slaughter Of Civillians Reaches Unprecedented Heights As Fiery Warnings Sound From America And Israel” (Amir Tsarfati, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “The EU Just Murdered Western Civilization” (Bradley A. Thayer, American Greatness)

* “Two Decades Of Inconvenient Inaccuracies” (I & I Editorial Board)

* “Twenty Years of Justice Alito: Supreme Court Justices must be smart, wise, and steadfast, too, especially when under pressure. Alito checks all of the boxes and more.” (Aaron L. Nielson, Civitas Institute)

* “The Truth About Malaysian Flight 370 Is Scarier Than The Conspiracy Theories” (Hans Mahncke, Federalist)

You Get Rid of Religion...and You Can't Hire Enough Police

I believe it important to share Clay Christensen's profound video clip every once in awhile. It's only 90 seconds but its ever-relevant, ever-challenging. Watch it; reflect on it; share it.

The Top 5 Plus (January 17)

1) “GOP Turns Up the Heat on Trump to Clamp Down on Wildly Unsafe Abortion Drug” (Suzanne Bowdey, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Rodriguez’s testimony is part of a powerful new video released in December by Stop Coerced Abortions. Like so many former abortion center workers, Marya finally had a crisis of conscience about what she was doing, and the testimonies she remembers from helpless, hurting women still haunt her. “The phone calls that strike me the most were the clients with the abortion pills that will call me in the middle of the night and said, ‘So you guys told me to push a blood clot on the toilet, and I tried to do that, but I didn’t make it, and it’s not a blood clot, it’s actually a baby. So what do I do?’” she recalls. 

She says, “You’re instructed to tell them to go ahead and grab it and throw it in the toilet, flush, and don’t look.” The moms would almost always reply with panic. “‘But, you told me it was just a blood clot. But I can actually see the hands, the feet, the face.’ And they will be crying.” 

2) “Parents Must Actively Opt Out Of Turning Their Kids Into Digital Age Zombies. The highest civic skill in the digital age is not coding or content creation, but the ability to look away.” (Julianna Frieman, Federalist)

From the article -- Do you remember when television was the technology we were warned about? When parents fretted over too many hours glued to the screen after school, teachers rolled in a TV on a metal cart like contraband, and cultural critics cautioned that the glowing box in our living rooms might rot our brains. Television was the villain of its age, and just like social media today, it existed as a passive, mind-numbing force that threatened attention spans and civic life. Neil Postman took that fear seriously, and in 1985 he declared that we Americans are Amusing Ourselves to Death.

What feels almost quaint now is not Postman’s alarm, but his target. Television was merely the prototype for the power that cellphones and tablets have over the population. The danger was never the screen itself, but what happens when a society allows its dominant media to define how truth is presented, how politics is understood, and how meaning is measured. Postman was not arguing against technology; he was warning that every medium carries a philosophy, and that some philosophies are incompatible with serious thought.

3) “The Jewish Test: History has already run the experiment that Tucker Carlson and his friends are urging upon us. The results are not favorable for America.” (Michael Doran, Tablet)

From the article -- Two thousand years ago, a Roman emperor built an arch to commemorate the defeat of the Jews. Today, Rome is a museum. The Jews survive. Israel has been reborn in its ancestral land.

Empires rise and fall. The Jews alone among peoples are eternal. Their survival is one of history’s great mysteries. Conquered, dispersed, and persecuted, a small tribe endured across millennia. From antiquity to the modern age, Jews moved from empire to empire, barred from land ownership, excluded from politics, and confined to narrow professions while pressured to convert. In times of eased repression, many assimilated, while others adapted and flourished. With repression’s return, survival again took precedence. A faithful remnant preserved communal cohesion and carried tradition forward without territory, army, or state.

To explain the mystery of Jewish survival, European observers have repeatedly reached for supernatural causes. Their accounts tend to fall into two camps. The first interprets Jewish endurance as demonic. Its most influential exponent was Martin Luther, who insisted that “the devil … has taken possession of this people,” leading them to worship not God but “their gifts, their deeds, their works.” Accusing them of usury, deception, and moral corruption, Luther concluded that “no heathen has done such things and none would do so except the Devil himself and those whom he possesses, like he possesses the Jews.”

The second camp retained the supernatural frame but reversed its moral valence. Instead of demonic possession, it discerned divine design...

4) “Iran And The Red-Green Alliance: A Warning For The West” (Thomas Fretwell, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- The enduring hostility of the Iranian regime towards Israel and the United States must be understood within this historical framework. Both nations symbolise the Western political and moral order that the alliance defines as its enemy. The real target is Judeo-Christian civilisation. This pattern is now evident in many Western cities. In the UK, it is common to see Islamist activists and far-left progressive students uniting in demonstrations, carrying slogans and placards calling for the elimination of Israel and the “Zionists.”

With the full collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red side of the alliance lost its primary state sponsor. The Green Islamist side, however, did not disappear; it quickly found a new generation ready to partner. Marxist-derived ideologies continued to flourish within Western universities, media institutions, and leftist student activist movements. As a result, this new generation of the Red-Green Alliance marches in support of causes that ultimately oppose the cultural, political and religious freedoms they themselves enjoy. Ironically, they are marching for their own destruction.

Iran serves as a warning to us in the West. History shows that when Islamist ideologues seize power by exploiting leftist progressive allies, those allies are often discarded once they have served their purpose. It is abundantly clear that the Red-Green Alliance is controlling much of the political landscape in the UK right now. This is why the same protestors who so loudly yelled “free Palestine” have very little to say when a real freedom revolution begins. Its existence undoes their entire narrative. The crucial question facing the UK and the West right now is whether they will recognise this pattern before it is repeated.

Related article: “Iran Is Not Simply A Political Talking Point, Its A Major Player In End Times Prophecy” (Greg Laurie, Harbinger’s Daily)

5) “When We All Get to Heaven” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

From the article -- “When We All Get to Heaven” was written in 1898 by Eliza Hewitt, a teacher and poet from Philadelphia whose life, though deeply affected by pain caused from a spinal injury, was a profound blessing to family, friends, and the untold numbers of Christians around the world who glorified God by singing such hymns of Eliza’s as “More About Jesus, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place,” “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today,” and yes, “When We All Get to Heaven.” I myself have been encouraged by these songs (most of which were set to the music of Mrs. Emily Wilson) and I am looking forward to meeting these faithful saints in what undoubtedly will not be all that far away. 

But what is it about the song that so lifts our spirits and sparks our imagination? Well, several things actually...

Other recent entries from Vital Signs Blog that you may find of interest?

*  “Is Reading Among Your Resolutions? -- Including 10 Reasons to Read More” (90-second video -- Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog) 

*“The Reading Year in Review” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

Other excellent reads from this week:

* “Persecution of Christians Has Expanded across the Globe, Report Reveals” (Dan Hart, Washington Stand)

* “Resisting Law Enforcement Is Violence And This Administration’s Job Is To Stop It At All Costs” (Eddie Scarry, Federalist)

* “Anatomy of an Insurrection” (Mark Pulliam, Misrule of Law)

* “The Decline and Fall of Republican Government in America” (Paul A. Rahe, The American Mind)

* “The world without Europe: This is the sad fate of a continent that has bet on its own demise. It wanted to be the great regulator and beacon of the world but is instead committing suicide homeopathically.” (Rafael Bardají, VOZ)

“When We All Get to Heaven”

“When We All Get to Heaven” 

Sing the wondrous love of Jesus;

Sing His mercy and His grace.

In the mansions bright and blessed

He’ll prepare for us a place.

Chorus: When we all get to heaven,

What a day of rejoicing that will be!

When we all see Jesus,

We’ll sing and shout the victory.

While we walk the pilgrim pathway

Clouds will overspread the sky.

But when travelin’ days are over,

Not a shadow, not a sigh.

Onward to the prize before us.

Soon His beauty we’ll behold.

Soon the pearly gates will open;

We shall tread the streets of gold.

What a comforting, joyful, exhilarating prospect this song presents!  For though we are certainly walking “pilgrim pathways” these days with “clouds” of lawlessness, lies, and the lunacy of the cancel culture all around us, reminders of our coming redemption are of the utmost value.

“When We All Get to Heaven” was written in 1898 by Eliza Hewitt, a teacher and poet from Philadelphia whose life, though deeply affected by pain caused from a spinal injury, was a profound blessing to family, friends, and the untold numbers of Christians around the world who glorified God by singing such hymns of Eliza’s as “More About Jesus, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place,” “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today,” and yes, “When We All Get to Heaven.” I myself have been encouraged by these songs (most of which were set to the music of Mrs. Emily Wilson) and I am looking forward to meeting these faithful saints in what undoubtedly will not be all that far away.

But what is it about the song that so lifts our spirits and sparks our imagination? Well, several things actually:

1) The fact that the only way I can be allowed into God’s holy heaven in the first place is the “wondrous love” of Jesus that is hailed at the very beginning of the hymn.  Jesus demonstrated that love through “His mercy and His grace” as He endured the cross to pay the penalty of my sin.  Thank You, Lord!

2) Jesus is preparing for His people a place amid His heavenly mansions -- a place that will be free of any stain of sin or rebellion.  Instead, there will be purity, peace, righteousness, happiness, and a complete harmony between the believer and himself, with all the saints, with all of redeemed creation, and with the Triune God. Wow.

3) No wonder we will be rejoicing!  No wonder we will “sing and shout the victory” when finally we see our Savior face to face.  No more sighing.  No sorrow or shame.  No excuses or promises to try harder.  The redemption that Jesus purchased with His death will be enjoyed by His adopted children in our glorified bodies and our undivided hearts.

4) That “day of rejoicing” will, of course, be a never-ending one. And though I have no doubt we will have adventures aplenty on the New Earth where God will dwell with men, the “travelin’ days” on this fallen planet where we are beset with continual temptations from the world, our own flesh, and the devil will be forever over.

5) And finally, I love the line from the final stanza: “Onward to the prize before us” for that phrase underscores the glories that will be awarded us by our gracious, generous God as well as the charge to actively pursue our sanctification until that upward call comes. As we relish the reality of those prizes, we find renewed and deepened resolve to endure the tests presently before us.

Today the clouds and sighs. But tomorrow the unveiled face of the Lord, the mansion, the shouts of victory, the prize, the oh-so-real-glories of heaven! That is absolutely wonderful news. And so today, with fresh resolve, I’m going to “sing the wondrous love of Jesus” indeed. Thank you, Eliza.

The January LifeSharer Is up!

Wow -- December was one of our busiest, most delightful, and most Christmassy ever!

 Read (and see) the action right here.

Is Reading Among Your Resolutions?

Is an increase in reading among your resolutions for 2026? If not, consider making that the plan.

And to help stimulate that resolve, check out this 90-second "public service" announcement, True, I recorded it several years ago but the 10 Reasons to Read More are as sound and relevant as ever.

The Top 5 Plus (January 10)

1) “Socialism is a hate crime: On socialism’s human and economic toll.” (James Piereson, The New Criterion)

From the article -- This raises the question: given the historical record, why don’t we label socialism as a hate crime?  

After all, the evidence for socialism’s malignant effects is obvious to anyone with sufficient curiosity to open a history book. Socialists are responsible for the murder, imprisonment, and torture of many millions and perhaps hundreds of millions of innocent people during the ideology’s heyday in the middle of the twentieth century. That history of murder and tyranny continues on a smaller scale today in the handful of countries living under the misfortune of socialism—Cuba, North Korea, and (most recently) Venezuela.  

How do socialists escape the indictment that they are purveyors of tyranny and mass murder? Some of them deny that Stalin, Mao, and others were true socialists or, equally absurdly, assert that true socialism has never really been tried. But socialism has been tried many times in many places and has always failed.

2) “An Industry ‘Drenched In Deceit’: The Shrouded Dangers Of The Abortion Pill” (Decision Magazine)

From the article -- Dr. Christina Francis, a practicing OB/GYN hospitalist and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says the most common complications she sees in her practice are hemorrhaging and incomplete abortions.

“We know that nearly one in nine women who take these drugs will have a serious complication,” Francis told Decision, “whether that be a visit to the emergency room requiring treatment or significant hemorrhage or blood loss, blood transfusion, emergency surgery, infection.” According to that statistic, about 100,000 women would have suffered a severe complication in just one year, Francis said. “And honestly, this is not surprising to those of us that are actually taking care of these women because we’re seeing these complications so frequently.”

Excessive bleeding often requires blood transfusion, and women who have not expelled all of the baby parts or the placental tissues can get infections and require emergency surgeries. Infections can lead to the scarring of a woman’s uterus, threatening her future fertility.

The FDA’s own drug label indicates that about 3-7% of women experience an incomplete abortion, and one in 25 women go to an emergency room after taking abortion drugs. In comparison to surgical abortions, drug induced abortions have four times the complication rate.

3) “An American Crisis” (Steve Huntley, John Kass News)

From the article -- Today American Jews have cause to be afraid.

It’s true that the vast majority of Americans are free of stench of antisemitism, but the rot is found in powerful places. It’s a driving force in our oldest political party. It has a voice in the halls of Congress. Its hands are on the levers of government in our largest city. Demonstrations on college campuses celebrate it. Popular podcasters give it a platform.

A hesitancy to confront it directly, forcibly and in all its manifestations stains the leadership of the liberal movement, the legacy media, elite universities, the office of the vice presidency and a think tank that once was known exclusively as the intellectual arsenal of conservatism.

So, Jews have reasons for their fears. There are likely more than a few homes where American Jews are for the first time thinking of making aliyah, the Hebrew word for immigrating to the homeland of Israel. That Jewish Americans are even whispering that means the wildfire of antisemitism is not just a crisis for them, but also a crisis for our country. Cruz put it perfectly: “It is a poison. And I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and our country.” It is an American crisis. And it must be confronted before it becomes an American tragedy.

4) “Nowhere to Hyde: Trump’s Chaotic Abortion Stance Rattles GOP” (Suzanne Bowdey, Washington Stand)

From the article -- “I almost fell out of my chair,” one House Republican admitted to Politico afterward. Thune had already conceded that getting past the Democrats’ objections to the Hyde Amendment was “probably the most challenging part” of any negotiations on the Obamacare subsidies. But now, with Trump’s sudden shakiness on a core value, more senators and congressmen are racing to underscore what an unmitigated disaster abandoning Hyde would be — not just for the party, but for millions of innocent lives.

“I’m not flexible on the value of every single child,” Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) insisted to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Tuesday’s “Washington Watch.” “Every single child is valuable,” he argued. “There aren’t some children that are disposable, and some children that are valuable. Every child is valuable. And so, that’s not an area that I’m flexible on.”

Like so many conservatives, the Oklahoman hands it to Trump for all of the pro-life strides he’s made but underscores what a fatal mistake surrendering on Hyde would be. “I do give him credit. He’s done what’s called the Mexico City Policy [to take away] funding from international abortions with taxpayer dollars. He has actually restored funding that Biden took away from pro-[lifers] with different grants that go to different states. He has been very good on defunding Planned Parenthood. So, there’s been a lot of very, very strong pro-life things that he’s done.” But this, Lankford shook his head, “That’s a red line I’m not going to cross. I’m not going to break [away from] what we’re doing in health care. The VA doesn’t do abortions,” he pointed out. “DOD doesn’t do abortions. [Native American] health care doesn’t do abortions. We don’t do abortions with Medicare, Medicaid. We should not have it anywhere.” Right now, he explained, “The only place that abortion funding for elective abortion exists and subsidizing it is in Obamacare. And that needs to go away.”

5) “Hunted For Faith In Christ: Shining A Spotlight On The Crisis Faced By Nigerian And Syrian Believers” (Calvary Chapel Magazine)

From the article -- Those speaking out against these atrocities are concerned over the lack of coverage by prominent news sources and attention from political leaders around the world. Some have attributed the removal of nations, such as Nigeria, from the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) and lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria as global measures that would have otherwise kept pressure on entities that severely violate international religious freedom.  

As many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are persecuted, driven underground, and even martyred for a faith that some take for granted, continue to pray that the joy of the Lord is their strength, that they would continue to shine their light to the lost even under such intense pressure, and that peace would come to their land. As the Lord leads, prayerfully seek to support organizations that have “boots on the ground” ministering to the persecuted Church and advocate for those who have no voice whether through social media platforms, your local church, or governmental agencies.

Other excellent articles from this week:

* “Want To Do Better In Your New Year's Resolutions?” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)

* “Courage is spreading, and the light of truth is breaking through.” (Video, Nebraska Family Alliance)

* “The Moral Blackmailing of the American People” (Josh Hammer, GOPUSA)

* “Lights going out all over Europe and the UK” (Rush Babe 49)

* “Animal rights, the parasite eating the heart out of conservation” (John Nash, TCW)

The Reading Year in Review

Okay, I am a reader. I have been since I was a little kid -- blessed by a mom who taught me (by precept and example), by an early acquaintance with libraries, and, in the 6th grade, my enthusiastic involvement with SRA Reading programs which in 1962 were still free from the leftist schlock that now dominates almost every public school exercise.

But my early love of and devotion to reading has, of course, been profoundly encouraged by the writers I’ve discovered along the way: Dickens, Doyle, Chesterton, Dumas, Lewis, Schaeffer, Stevenson, Scott, Tolkien, Solzhenitsyn, Alcorn, Buchan, Shakespeare, Beach, Sabatini, Thurber, O. Henry, Forester, Melville, Ironside, Heyerdahl, Wilder, Barrie, Sayers, Verne, Morison, Tournier, Churchill, Aldrich, Karon, Barnhouse and several other favorites.

However, even with this legacy, I must confess that a life of “purposeful reading” is not easy to maintain. The temptations to opt for more immediate gratification (television, internet surfing, social media trolling, getting lost in the political news, you name your poison) are always looming on the horizon. So too is the easier path of reading “fluffier” stuff, consuming the literary equivalent of potato chips instead of a nutritious, well-prepared, thoroughly-enjoyed meal. No, a life of “purposeful reading” takes work -- commitment, planning, motivation, accountability, creating a conducive atmosphere, and sharing the fruits of your laborers with others. 

For 30 years, these things were provided in great abundance to me by the Notting Hill Napoleons, a book club of dear friends and pro-life colleagues who tackled quality novels every month. But with the passing of that noble company 3 years ago -- and with the normal waning of energy that comes with advancing years, I have had to really redouble my efforts to keep a healthy pace. I still set reading goals; I still keep track of my reading; I still cherish those friends who help inspire me to read; and, from time to time, I still share my own book adventures to motivate others.

All of this today serves as a preface to my expression of thanks to a few of my reading friends (Greg, Ian, Jack, Jessica, Nancy, and, of course, Claire) whose devotion to good books (and reflections thereon) serve well as an ongoing motivation for me. Thank you; I do indeed appreciate your lives of purposeful reading and below I’ll share a quick report of my own reading this past year. Here you go...

2025 began with reading the Richard Hannay series by John Buchan and ended with E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker. The total for 2025 was 59 books, most of which were re-reads. The most noteworthy authors this year were old friends: Buchan, Dickens, Forester, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Randy Alcorn, Francis Schaeffer, George Patton, Edward de Vere (aka William Shakespeare), Dumas, Tournier, C.S. Lewis, J.M. Barrie, Zane Grey, Chesterton, Louisa May Alcott, and Rafael Sabatini.