Book Notes from Recent Facebook Posts

* Since Claire and I celebrate all 12 Days of Christmas (today is Day 10), our reading is still Christmas-oriented. I mentioned the other day having enjoyed Joseph Bottum's "Wise Guy" from Amazon Kindle this weekend as well as a couple of Charles Dicken's Christmas ghost stories, "The Haunted House" and "The Signal-man." Well, today I re-read a delightful and warm-hearted novella written by our late friend Calvin Miller. It's called "Snow." I have always recommended it highly and re-reading it today didn't change my mind a bit. You can, by the way, get a very inexpensive copy by following this link.

* The cold-hearted flight of NCAA bowl games from the networks to the cable channels continues. Just a few years ago, my New Year's Day was completely filled with college football. This year I was able to watch...one. That's right, there was but a single bowl game available on network TV. But, hey; it's not all bad. I was able to spend more time starting the year off with good books; specifically, a re-reading for the nth time of Charles Dickens' remarkable "The Haunted Man" and a first time enjoyment of one of Joseph Bottum's sparkling $.99 Kindle singles from Amazon, "Wise Guy."

* Fox News video clip focusing on “Unbroken” author, Laura Hillenbrand